THE KEEWATIN AREA.
(Newest Ontario and Northern Manitoba.)
Economic Minerals.
The Rocks in Many Cases Highly Magnetic.—Norite Rock Similar to
That at Sudbury About Trout Lake.—Peat in the District North of
Lake Winnipeg.—A Large District Underlain By Keewatin and
Huronian Rocks Which “Has Large Possibilities.”—Gypsum.—
Building Granites.—Quartz Veins on Grassy River Below Reed
Lake.—A Possibility of Nickel Occurring.
The evidence contained in the report of the British parliamentary
investigation of 1749 shows that from the establishment of the first
trading posts along the shores of Hudson bay, the attention of the
officials and servants of the Hudson’s Bay Company was attracted by the
statements of the natives as to the existence in the country of deposits
of economic minerals. The earliest authorities of the trading company
appear, however, not only to have abstained from investigating the
mineral resources of the region, but to have discouraged their employees
from prospecting, desiring them to concentrate all their efforts upon
the fur trade. Many of the witnesses before the committee repeated in
their evidence statements obtained from the Indians as to the existence
of deposits of lead, and particularly of copper, in the north, doubtless
referring to the then unknown Coppermine district.
The only evidence heard before the committee, unquestionably bearing
upon the mineral resources of the territory immediately under review in
this chapter, was given by Alexander Browne, who had been six years in
the company’s service as surgeon at the bay, and who stated that he had
seen large quantities of red earth, which was obtained about thirty-six
miles to the southward of Churchill river; that he had tried some of it
in a crucible, and found it to contain a heavy metallic substance like
cinnabar, and a fluid like quicksilver. This trial was only to satisfy
his curiosity, having received no orders to make it; but the
GOVERNOR WAS PRESENT AT THE EXPERIMENT,
and upon the witness presenting his surprise to him that the company did
not endeavour to improve these discoveries, the Governor answered that
he was likewise surprised that they did not.
Rev. John Semmens (See p. 36), writing of his observations while on
service as a missionary in the Burntwood district, says:—“It was not my
business to seek for minerals, but having been a miner in earlier years,
I had my eyes open, and found many indications of deposits which, in my
opinion, at no distant day will contribute largely to the commercial
development of the north. I shall be surprised if one of these lodes is
not found at or near the southern outlet of Beaver Dam lake. And there
will be many others.”
Doctor Robert Bell, of the Geological Survey, describes the rocks of the
eastern part of Lake St. Joseph as “corresponding with some of those of
the Huronian series. On the northern side, three miles from Osnaburgh
House, there is a grey mica schist.” On the Albany, two and a half miles
below Shabushquaia river, “Huronian rocks make their appearance. They
consist of light-greenish, rather finely crystalline hornblende schist;
black, with some light-coloured schist, together with fifteen or twenty
feet of fine-grained banded magnetic iron ore, with slaty partings. A
specimen of this ore was analysed by Mr. Kenrick of the Geological
Survey, and found to contain 42·09 per cent. of metallic iron, and to be
free from titanic acid. Along with the magnetite is a band of iron
pyrites, a few inches thick, with traces of copper.” A dark green
hornblende schist occurs at two miles before coming to Shabushquaia
river. It holds patches of calc-spar and quartz running with the
cleavage. Specks of copper pyrites were found in small quartz veins in
the schist at the foot of the falls at the eighth portage below Lake St.
Joseph on the Albany. At the eleventh portage Doctor Bell examined a
number of veins of quartz holding epidote and hornblende, but no ores
could be detected.
Doctor Bell, before the Senate committee of 1887, referring to his first
voyage to Hudson bay, explained that lignite had been found inland in
the country south and west of James bay. It belongs to a more recent
geological formation than the lignite in the vicinity of Edmonton.
Mr. A. P. Low, in his report of his examination of the country between
Lake Winnipeg and Hudson bay, says “The rocks in several places
ARE HIGHLY MAGNETIC,
and probably contain large quantities of iron ore, both disseminated in
small crystals through the rock, and in large masses.” When being
examined before the Senate committee in 1907, Mr. Low, then Director of
the Geological Survey of Canada, drew attention to the fact that the map
of Keewatin showed a large number of lakes, like Gas lake, Island lake,
Favourable lake, Severn lake, Trout lake, etc., and remarked that
wherever these patches of water are seen it indicates softer rocks than
the other parts. These rocks are usually Huronian, and in many places
they carry good indications of minerals, copper pyrites and different
sulphides of that kind. At Trout lake there is a large area of what is
called norite rock. These are the rocks in which the nickel deposits of
Sudbury occur, and there is great probability of a small deposit being
found up there.
There have been no indications of coal discovered in Keewatin, but Mr.
Low explained that on hurried trips such as he had made it was
impossible to examine mineral deposits very much, and one is liable to
lose many of them. The general character of the southern part of
Keewatin as regards mineral resources is good.
In the bank of Nelson river, opposite the mouth of Pine creek, Mr. J. B.
Tyrrell reports a dark grey, rather fine-grained diorite or uralitic
diabase, probably forming part of a large dyke cutting the gneiss. “Near
the north end of Little Playgreen lake is a light reddish-grey massive
biotite-granite cut by veins, a foot or more in width, of red pegmatite
containing crystalline masses of molybdenite, with occasional crystals
of pyrite and magnetite.”
Mr. Tyrrell reports copper and arsenical pyrites in a diabase dyke
exposed in an island in Pipestone lake two miles and a quarter from the
mouth of the river.
He reports the cliffs on the lower part of Burntwood river as being
“occasionally overlain by a small thickness of peat.” He reports other
deposits of peat in the district north of Lake Winnipeg.
Before the Senate committee of 1907, Mr. Tyrrell explained that the
primary object in all his explorations was the mineral development of
the country, and any other information that he collected was incidental.
He stated that there is a district from Cumberland House northeastward
towards Nelson river which is underlain by what are known as
KEEWATIN AND HURONIAN ROCKS,
the same kind as those in which minerals are found in northern Ontario
at the present time. The very existence of those rocks was barely known.
There had been practically no exploration of them, no prospecting, so
that no one could say as to whether they were to be a barren portion of
those rocks which are rich elsewhere, or whether they were to be like
the Huronian and Keewatin rocks elsewhere, rich in mineral of some of
the kinds so much desired. Comparing them with the rocks in other
places, they have large possibilities. From that point there is an area
of sandstone in the vicinity of Cree lake which may contain copper, but
nothing much was known of it. It is about the age and character of the
rocks that are rich in copper around Lake Superior, but no mineral
wealth has yet been found in it.
Mr. D. B. Dowling, in his report on the survey of Burntwood-Nelson-Lake
Winnipeg district in 1899, predicts that the several large areas of
Huronian rocks which he outlines will at some future time be thoroughly
prospected, and, as has been the case in nearly all such areas, ores of
the useful and precious metals are likely to be found. “As it is at
present, a very hasty visit has shown that many quartz veins and
intrusive dykes cut these rocks, and indications of the precious metals
are not wanting. In the Pipestone area on Nelson river, mispickel and
copper pyrites are recorded by Mr. Tyrrell, as well as a promising
showing of mica on the south side of Indian Reserve island, on Cross
lake.”
In Severn district, in the southern part of the old district of Keewatin
(now part of Ontario), there is a large region lying to the southwest of
Cape Henrietta Maria, that had never been geographically explored before
1901. In the year named, Mr. Dowling was entrusted to do this work, and
was instructed to make an instrumental survey of Ekwan river, the
largest stream in this region. A micrometer survey of the river was made
to the mouth of the Washagami branch, a distance of one hundred and
fifty miles. The general valley was found to be a narrow cut through
clay, with cut banks on either side for most of the distance to the
first branch. As directed by his instructions, Mr. Dowling
LOOKED FOR GYPSUM
between Moose Factory and Albany, and found some loose pieces of it in
the vicinity of Nomansland.
“It is quite likely that this mineral occurs in situ in the vicinity,”
Mr. Dowling states in his report.
In another part of his report Mr. Dowling states:—“Silurian limestone
is found on Trout river, draining Mill lake, as well as in the bed of
this lake just north of the trap rocks. The rocks at the narrows of the
lake, described in the maps, as ‘high and romantic’ are cliffs one
hundred and fifty feet in height of trap, capping horizontal beds of
probably Animikie age. The trap overflow covers the uneven surface of
these rocks, in much the same manner as Nipigon bay in Lake Superior.
The underlying rocks are dark slates impregnated with iron ore, and
interbanded with beds of jasper. Some of the beds seem to contain a high
percentage of magnetite and hematite. On the east shore a section of
about ninety feet of these jasper and iron-bearing slates is exposed
above the lake, but on the west side they have been brought down to
below the water level by a series of north and south faults and the
exposures there are of trap alone. These rocks form an east and west
ridge reaching to the lakes on the Washagami and eastward to a large
lake on a branch of Trout river, which, as before stated, drains Sutton
Mill lake and runs to the north.”
Mr. Dowling reported iron ore in the vicinity of Sutton Mill lake, west
of James bay, and south of Hudson bay. On the east coast of James bay
and Hudson bay abundant evidence of iron ore had been discovered; in
fact, two large islands, Taylor and Gillis islands, are said to be
almost pure iron ore.
Mr. D. B. Dowling, in his report of 1902 (Part F.F. Geol. Sur. Report)
says:—“Small deposits of peat are to be found in various places, but
the most important, from an economic point of view, is the area north of
Lake Winnipeg described by Mr. Tyrrell. Along the valley of Burntwood
river, where it is cut through the thick clay deposit, the general
surface of the terrace is quite level. The drainage near the river is
general, but back from the edge of the valley, on the more level parts,
there is very often a wide expanse of swamp covered by a stunted growth
of spruce and carpeted by heavy layers of moss. These swamps may at some
future time supply peat for fuel.”
According to the report of Mr. Wm. McInnes, who explored in 1906 (See p.
23) the basins of Reed and Wekusko lakes and Grass river, there are
areas of intrusive granite, some of which, below Reed lake, are of even
texture and bright red colour and would furnish very beautiful stones
for monumental work and ornamental building. Palæozoic limestones cover
all the country between the Saskatchewan and an east and west line
cutting the southern ends of Reed and Wekusko lakes. The rocks are, as
far as examined, magnesian and are probably all dolomites. They occur in
flat-lying or gently undulating beds, varying in thickness from six feet
or more to quite thin and shaly, the latter occurring near the base and
the heavy beds forming the mass of the formation. Many of the heavy beds
are even-grained and uniformly bedded so that they can be readily taken
out in blocks of even thickness and of any required size. Many of the
low cliffs near the lakes are so situated as to be admirably adapted for
quarrying. Quartz veins are plentiful throughout the Keewatin belts,
but, with the exception of arsenical and iron pyrites and traces of
copper (near File lake), no valuable minerals were found in them, though
their character, particularly where exposed on Grassy river below Reed
lake, was
CONSIDERED PROMISING ENOUGH
for the occurrence of the minerals that are so often associated with
these rocks. The prevailing rocks exposed along Nelson river are biotite
gneisses. Only at two places on the shores are other rocks seen, at
Pipestone lake and on the southern shores of Cross lake, where a belt of
Keewatin rocks crosses, and for some miles follows the river valley. The
exposures at Cross lake are promising looking for the occurrence of
gold, resembling closely, as they do, the gold bearing strata of the
district east of Lake of the Woods. They are cut by intruded masses of
the same crushed granite with blue opalescent quartz, known locally in
the eastern region as _Protogene_.
Mr. William McInnes, in his evidence before the Senate committee of
1907, stated that in the region just west of Hudson bay there are only
two or three belts of what is known as the Keewatin rocks. These are the
rocks which in western Ontario hold gold. The witness found no minerals
in commercial quantities. He found traces of copper on File lake. At
Cross lake there is an area of these Keewatin rocks cut by intrusive
granite of the same character as the protogene of western Ontario, which
are almost always gold-bearing, but nothing has been found there. The
limestones would make excellent building material. There are some
intrusive granites on Grassy river which are of fine texture and
beautiful red colour, which would make very fine monumental stone
trimmings for buildings, etc., and would quarry very well. That would be
along the projected line of the railway.
NICKEL MAY BE FOUND.
An occurrence, which seemed to Mr. McInnes to be of particular interest,
was his discovery on upper Winisk river of a large area of so-called
norite rock. That is the rock in which the nickel of Sudbury occurs. It
is quite a characteristic rock. Mr. McInnes examined samples under the
microscope, and they are not to be distinguished from the Sudbury rock.
That led him to hope that there was a possibility of nickel occurring
there too, but he did not find any, although he examined as well as he
could. But he had not much time, and was too far away. There are two or
three areas of these Keewatin rocks occurring unfolded in the
Laurentian, but Mr. McInnes found no minerals in economic quantities in
them at all. Near Eabamet river, a tributary of the Albany, he saw
crystals of mica in the granite, two and a half inches in diameter. Of
course that is not large enough to amount to much, but it shows a
possibility that there might be something better there.
Mr. A. W. G. Wilson says of the district north of Lac Seul explored by
him (See p. 74):—“There seems to be little prospect of finding valuable
economic minerals in the region in paying quantities. In almost all the
bands of basic schists small, less often large, veins of quartz occur.
At the surface these veins and the associated schists present the usual
rusty appearance due to the decomposition of the pyrite. The granites
are occasionally cut by pegmatitic dikes. Near the head of Cross lake, a
rock, apparently of this character, carries a small amount of
molybdenite in crystals varying in size up to an inch and a half across;
it is uncertain whether the mineral is of economic importance, but the
small size and the poor character of the specimen seen, and the
difficulties of transportation point to the deposit being economically
unworkable. The extent of the vein is not known. Near the inlet into
Slate lake, about three-quarters of a mile from its northeast end, on
the eastern shore, is the only place where magnetic minerals were found
sufficiently segregated to produce a noticeable local variation of the
compass. Here, stringers of a metallic mineral, probably magnetite, were
found. Though this metal is sometimes a constituent of the basic rocks,
the more common occurrence of iron ore is in the form of ilmenite. No
hematite was noted in the district.”
In his report (See p. 60) Mr. J. R. Dickson speaks of the mineral
deposits of the area explored by his party south of Cross lake as
follows:—“Judging by such necessarily superficial observations as the
members of the party were able to make, the region we covered is not
well supplied with economic minerals.
TRACES OF COPPER
were found at Wekusko lake, and samples of iron ore at Sipiwesk lake,
and careful prospecting might perhaps disclose deposits of commercial
value, but everywhere else so far as observed, the obtruding bedrock was
either pure granite or limestone. The latter, however, is mostly
dolomite, the variety used as a flux in the reducing of iron ores, and
future ore discoveries may give rise to such demand. This dolomite also
will prove a valuable building stone for prairie towns, when made
available by the Hudson Bay Railway.”
According to Mr. McLaggan (See p. 58) the section of country about Reed
lake is very rocky. Dark coloured granite, streaked with white quartz,
extends along the lower end of the lake and for six miles along the
river. Four miles farther Mr. McLaggan found indications of iron and saw
a good water power. Above Herb lake he saw another splendid water power,
very easy to develop, and along the river below rapids in five places
from which fair power could be generated. At the lower end of Herb lake
and along the river, granite mixed with white quartz was seen, and at
the falls in the river, about twenty miles below the lake, good slate
was found. On this lake Mr. McLaggan noted indications of iron. In
places along and back from Grass river, on either side, quartz was seen.
The country has been burned over, leaving only a few bunches of spruce,
and the surface of the rock has been well exposed, so that prospecting
would be easy. Mr. McLaggan thinks that this part of the country may
prove rich in mineral.
On September 10, Mr. McLaggan reached Paint lake. Quartz was still in
sight, but not so frequent in occurrence. There are a number of islands
in the lake with rocky shores and small, mixed timber. Below Elbow lake
the river banks are high, the country becomes rougher, and fire has
bared the rocks of soil. White quartz crops out in considerable
quantities. Along the banks of Cumberland lake there are considerable
quantities of limestone, which may “become very valuable in time.”
Speaking of the region explored, as a whole, Mr. McLaggan considered
that as a mineral country it offers a wide field for prospectors. “In
the country travelled over there are indications of gold, silver, iron
and limestone, and Indians and white men from the north tell wonderful
stories of a place called Indian lake, north of Nelson House, and of an
island on Burntwood river where various minerals and oil are said to
exist.”
In his report on the preliminary surveys for the Hudson Bay Railway,
John Armstrong, C.E., states:—“Our definite knowledge of minerals is
limited to limestone and marble. The limestone occurs in the southern
portion of the line a short distance from The Pas, in unlimited
quantities favourable for quarrying, and will probably prove the future
source of supply for the greater part of the provinces of Saskatchewan
and Manitoba. Marble of a very high grade occurs on Marble island in
Hudson bay, and is also found of a fair quality at Churchill. Iron ores,
gold, silver, galena, mica and other minerals have been discovered by
the Geological Survey at various localities on the bay, all of which are
fully described in the reports of that department. Various specimens of
the precious metals have been shown to our engineers, but their origin
was preserved in so much mystery that they could not be treated as
evidence of the existence of the metal in that territory, and might have
been used with equal effect to demonstrate the richness of a deposit in
Colorado or Johannesburg.”