The Conquest of Canada, Vol. 1. George Warburton
of February, 1663, at about half past 5 P.M., felt through the whole extent of Canada: trees in the forests were torn up and dashed against each other with inconceivable violence; mountains were raised from their foundations and thrown into valleys, leaving awful chasms behind; from the openings issued dense clouds of smoke, dust, and sand; many rivers disappeared, others were diverted from their course, and the great St. Lawrence became suddenly white as far down as the mouth of the Saguenay. The first shock lasted for more than half an hour, but the greatest violence was only for fifteen minutes. At Tadoussac, a shower of volcanic ashes descended upon the rivers, agitating the waters like a tempest. This tremendous earthquake extended simultaneously over 180,000 square miles of country, and lasted for nearly six months almost without intermission.144
In the neighborhood of Quebec, a dark clay slate generally appears, and forms the bed of the St. Lawrence as far as Lake Ontario, and even at Niagara; bowlders and other large masses of rock, however, of various kinds, occur in detached portions at many different places. The great elevated ridge of broken country running toward the Ottawa River, at the distance of from fifty to one hundred miles from the north shore of Lake Ontario, and the course of the St. Lawrence, is rich in silver, lead, copper, and iron. On the north shore of the Saguenay, the rugged mountains abound in iron to such an extent as to influence the mariner's compass. The iron mines of St. Maurice145 have been long known, and found abundantly productive of an admirable metal, inferior to none in the world; it is remarkably pliant and malleable, and little subject to oxydation. In 1667, Colbert sent M. de la Potardière, an experienced mineralogist, to examine these mines; he reported the iron very abundant, and of excellent quality, but it was not till 1737 that the forges were established by the French: they failed to pay the expenses of the speculation; the superintendent and fourteen clerks, however, gained fortunes by the losses of their employers.
There is no doubt that immense mineral resources remain undiscovered among the rocky solitudes of Lower Canada. Marble of excellent quality, and endless variety of color, is found in different parts of the country, and limestone is almost universal. Labrador produces a beautiful and well-known spar of rich and brilliant tints, ultra-marine, greenish yellow, red, and some of a fine pearly gray.
In Upper Canada, the country north of Lake Ontario is generally characterized by a limestone subsoil resting on granite. The rocks about Kingston are usually a very compact limestone, of a bluish-gray color, having a slight silicious admixture, increasing as the depth increases, with occasional intrusions of quartz or hornstone. The limestone strata are horizontal, with the greatest dip when nearest to the elder rock on which it rests; their thickness, like the depths of the soil, varies from a few feet to a few inches: in these formations many minerals are observed; genuine granite is seldom or never found.
West of Lake Ontario, the chasm at the Falls of Niagara shows the strata of the country to be limestone, next slate, and lowest sandstone. Limestone and sandstone compose the secondary formations of a large portion of Canada, and of nearly all that vast extent of country in the United States drained by the Mississippi. At Niagara the interposing structure of slate is nearly forty feet thick, and fragile, like shale crumbling away from under the limestone, thus strengthening the opinion that there has been for many ages a continual retrocession of the Great Falls. Around Lake St. Clair, masses of granite, mica slate, and quartz are found in abundance. The level shores of Lake Huron offer little geological variety; secondary limestone, filled with the usual reliquiæ, is the general structure of the coast, but detached blocks of granite and other primitive rocks are occasionally found: this district appears poor in minerals. The waters of Lakes Huron, Michigan, and Superior have evidently, at some remote period, formed one vast sheet, which probably burst its bounds by a sudden action of nature, and subsided into the present divisions, all lower than the former general level: the separating ridges of these waters are but slightly elevated; great masses of rock and huge bowlders of granite are found rolled at least 100 miles from their original situations, and immense alluvial beds of fresh-water shells, apparently formed since the deluge, but when the waters were still of a vast depth and extent, are found in the east of Lake Huron.
Little or nothing is known of the dreary solitudes beyond Lake Superior; enormous muddy ponds and marshes are succeeded by open, dry, sandy plains; then forests of hemlock and spruce arise, again swamp, bog, windfalls, and stagnant water succeed; in the course of many miles there may not be one dry spot found for a resting-place. The cold is intense in this desolate region; in winter spirits freeze into a consistency like honey; and even in the height of summer the thermometer only shows thirty-six degrees at sunrise. Part of the north and east shore of this greatest of the lakes present old formations—sienite, stratified greenstone, more or less chloritic, and alternating five times with vast beds of granite—the general direction east, with a north or perpendicular dip. Great quantities of the older shell limestone are found strewn in rolled masses on the beach. Amygdaloid occupies also a very large tract to the north, mingled with porphyries, conglomerates, and various other substances. From Thunder Mountain westward, trappose greenstone is the prevailing rock: it gives rise to some strange pilastered precipices near Fort William. Copper146 abounds in this region to an extent, perhaps, unsurpassed any where in the world. At the Coppermine River, three hundred miles from the Sault de St. Marie, this metal, in a pure state, nearly covers the face of a serpentine rock, and is also found within the stone in solid masses. Iron is abundant in many parts of Upper Canada; at Charlotteville, eight miles from Lake Erie, the metal produced is of a very fine quality. The Marmora Iron Works, about thirty-two miles north of the Bay of Quinté, on the River Trent, are situated on an extensive white rocky flat, apparently the bed of some dried-up river; the ore is found on the surface, and is very rich, yielding ninety-two per cent.: the necessary assistants, lime and fuel, abound close at hand. Various other minerals have also been found there; among the rest, small specimens of a metal like silver.
There are many strong mineral springs in different parts of Canada; the most remarkable of these is the Burning Spring above Niagara; its waters are black, hot and bubbling, and emit, during the summer, a gas that burns with a pure bright flame; this sulphureted hydrogen is used to light a neighboring mill. Salt springs are also numerous; gypsum is obtained in large quantities, with pipe and potter's clay; yellow ocher sometimes occurs; and there are many kinds of valuable building stones. It is gathered from the Indians that there are incipient volcanoes in several parts of these regions, particularly toward the Chippewa hunting grounds.
The soil of Lower Canada is generally fertile; about Quebec it is light and sandy in some parts, in others it is a mixture of loam and clay. Above the Richelieu Rapids, where the great valley of the St. Lawrence begins to widen, the low lands consist of a light and loose dark earth, with ten or twelve inches of depth, lying on a stratum of cold clay, all apparently of alluvial formation. Along the banks of the Ottawa there is a great extent of rich alluvial soil; each year develops large districts of fertile land, before unknown. The soils of Upper Canada are various; brown clay and loam, intermixed with marl, predominates, particularly in the rich district between the St. Lawrence and the Ottawa: north of Ontario it is more clayey and extremely fertile. A rich black mold prevails in the district between Lakes Ontario and Erie. There is in this upper country an almost total absence of stone or gravel for building and other common purposes. So great is the fertility of the soil in Canada, that fifty bushels of wheat an acre are frequently produced, even where the stumps of trees still occupy a considerable portion of the ground: near Toronto one hundred bushels of wheat have been grown upon a single acre, and in some districts the land has yielded rich crops of that grain for twenty successive years, without being manured.
The quality of the soil in wild lands may be known by the timber growing upon it. Hard-wood trees, those that shed their leaves during winter, show the best indication, such as maple, bass-wood, elm, black walnut, hickory, butternut, iron-wood, hemlock, and a giant species of nettle. A mixture of beech is good, but where it stands alone the soil is generally light. Oak is uncertain as an indication, being found on various bottoms. Soft or evergreen wood, such as pine, fir, larch, and others of the species, are considered decisive of a very light soil. The larch or tamarack on wide, flat plains, indicates sand upon a substratum of marly clay, which the French Canadians hold in high estimation. It is, however, right to add, that some very respectable authorities
See Appendix, No. XXI. (vol. II.)
Professor Kalm visited the iron-works of St. Maurice in 1748, eleven or twelve years after their first establishment. "The iron-work, which is the only one in the country, lies three miles to the west of Trois Rivières. Here are two great forges, besides two lesser ones to each of the great ones, and under the same roof with them. The bellows were made of wood, and every thing else as in the Swedish forges. The ore is got two and a half miles from the iron-works, and is carried thither on sledges. It is a kind of moor-ore (Tophus Tubalcaini:
"M. Dantic, after a number of experiments to class the different kinds of iron, discovered that the iron of Styria was the best, and that the iron of North America, of Danemara in Sweden, of Spain, Bayonne, Roussillon, Foix, Berri, Thierache in Sweden, the communes of France, and Siberia, was the next class."—Abbé Raynal, vol. iii., p. 268.
Weld and Heriot mention that the bank of iron ore at the forges of St. Maurice was nearly exhausted in their time; new veins, however, have been since discovered.
Charlevoix says, in 1720: "Il est certain que ces mines de fer, que l'œil perçant de M. Colbert et la vigilance de M. Talon avoit fait découvrir, après avoir presqú entièrement disparu pendant plus de soixante dix ans, viennent d'être retrouvées par les soins de ceux qui occupent aujourd'hui leur place."—Charlevoix, tom. ii., p. 166.
Henry and others speak of a rock of pure copper, from which the former out off 100 lbs. weight. W. Schoolcraft examined the remainder of the mass in 1820, and found it of irregular shape; in its greatest length three feet eight inches, greatest breadth three feet four inches, making about eleven cubic feet, and containing, of metallic matter, about 2200 lbs.; but there were many marks of chisels and axes upon it, as if a great deal had been carried off. The surface of the block, unlike most metals which have suffered a long exposure to the atmosphere, presents a metallic brilliancy.—Martin's
Weld mentions having seen in the possession of a gentleman at Niagara a lump of copper, of several ounces weight, apparently as pure as if it had passed through the fire, which had been struck off with a chisel from a piece equally pure, growing on one of the islands in Lake Superior. Rich veins of copper are visible in almost all the rocks on these islands near the shore; and copper ore, resembling copperas, is likewise found in deep beds near the water.—Weld, p. 346.
In Charlevoix's time (1720), "on trouvoit sur les bords du Lac Supérieur et autour de certains isles, de grosses pièces de cuivre qui sont l'objet de cette superstition des sauvages; ils les regardent avec vénération comme un présent des Dieux qui habitent sous les eaux; ils en ramassent les plus petits fragmens et les conservent avec soin, mais ils n'en font aucune usage. J'ai connu un de nos frères lequel étoit orfévre de son métier, et qui, pendant qu'il étoit dans la mission du Sault Sainte Marie, en étoit allé chercher là, et en avoit fait des chandeliers, des croix, et des encensoirs, car ce cuivre est souvent presque tout pur."—Tom. v., p. 415.
Kalm says that the copper found is so pure that it does not require melting over again, but is fit for working immediately.—Kalm in Pinkerton, vol. xiii., p. 691 (1748).
"Before saying good-by to Lake Superior, let me add, that since the date of my visit, the barren rocks which we passed have become an object of intense interest, promising to rival, in point of mineral wealth, the Altai chain and the Uralian Mountains. Iron had long been known to abound on the northern shore, two mines having been at one time worked and abandoned, chiefly on account of temporary obstacles, which the gradual advance of agriculture and civilization was sure to remove; and, more recently, the southern shore, though of a much less favorable character in that respect, was found to possess rich veins of copper and silver. Under these circumstances, various enterprising persons in Canada have prosecuted investigations which appear to have satisfactorily proved that, in addition to their iron, the forbidding wastes of the northern shore contain inexhaustible treasures, both of the precious and of the useful metals, of gold and of silver, of copper and tin, and already have associations been formed to reap the teeming harvest."—Sir G. Simpson's
The following extract is from a Quebec newspaper, bearing date 25th June, 1848:
"The Copper Region: Singular Discovery.—A correspondent of the Buffalo Express, writing under date June 14, from Ontonagon, Lake Superior, says:
"'Mr. Knapp, of the Vulcan Mining Company, has lately made some very singular discoveries here in working one of the veins which he lately found. He worked into an old cave which has been excavated centuries ago. This led them to look for other works of the same sort, and they have found a number of sinks in the earth which they have traced a long distance. By digging into those sinks they find them to have been made by the hand of man. It appears that the ancient miners went on a different principle from what they do at the present time. The greatest depth yet found in these holes is thirty feet: after getting down to a certain depth, they drifted along the vein, making an open cut. These cuts have been filled nearly to a level by the accumulation of soil; and we find trees of the largest growth standing in this gutter, and also find that trees of a very large growth have grown up and died, and decayed many years since; in the same places there are now standing trees of over three hundred years' growth. Last week they dug down into a new place, and about twelve feet below the surface found a mass of copper that will weigh from eight to ten tons. This mass was buried in ashes, and it appears they could not handle it, and had no means of cutting it, and probably built fire to melt or separate the rock from it, which might be done by heating, and then dashing on cold water. This piece of copper is as pure and clean as a new cent; the upper surface has been pounded clear and smooth. It appears that this mass of copper was taken from the bottom of a shaft, at the depth of about thirty feet. In sinking this shaft from where the mass now lies, they followed the course of the vein, which pitches considerably: this enabled them to raise it as far as the hole came up with a slant. At the bottom of a shaft they found skids of black oak, from eight to twelve inches in diameter: these sticks were charred through, as if burned: they found large wooden wedges in the same situation. In this shaft they found a miner's gad and a narrow chisel made of copper. I do not know whether these copper tools are tempered or not, but their make displays good workmanship. They have taken out more than a ton of cobble-stones, which have been used as mallets. These stones were nearly round, with a score cut around the tenter, and look as if this score was cut for the purpose of putting a withe round for a handle. The Chippewa Indians all say that this work was never done by Indians. This discovery will lead to a new method of finding veins in this country, and may be of great benefit to some. I suppose they will keep finding new wonders for some time yet, as it is but a short time since they first found the old mine. There is copper here in abundance, and I think people will begin to dig it in a few years. Mr. Knapp has found considerable silver during the past winter.'"