Geological Survey of Newfoundland. Alexander Murray ... director, James P. Howley ... assistant

Front matter

GEOLOGICAL SUBVEY OF NEWFOUNDLAND. ALEXANDER MURRAY, C.M.G., F.G.S., Director, JAMES P. HOWLEY, F.M.S., Assistant. LONDON: EDWARD STANFORD, 55 CHARING CROSS, S.W. 1881. PEEFACE. The constant demand made upon my office at St. John's, New foundland, for copies of the ' Reports of Progress on the Geolo gical Survey,' having nearly exhausted the stock placed in my hands for distribution, and many of the earlier numbers being now out of print, I have been induced to re-publish the whole set, in consecutive order, in one volume. The text of each year's Report has been to some extent modified, and they have all been carefully revised and corrected. The subject is divided into twenty chapters, the contents of each chapter being specified in an index and heading, by which means ready reference may be had as to the proceedings of each year, and the descriptions of the various portions of country visited given as examined.

My intention at one time was to condense the history of this investigation into a single work, illustrated by sundry characteristic scenes, a small-scale general geological map and sections, and drawings of typical fossils, explanatory of the views expressed in the text ; but the difficulties in the way of preparing such a work, in such form as to do justice to the subject, are so great, that many months, perhaps years, might elapse before it could be completed ; and I have consequently resorted to the only ready alternative, in order to establish a record of the proceedings of the survey, as a means of saving the results of many years' labour from being alto gether lost or forgotten. A map of the Island, drawn upon a scale of 7 miles to an inch, is now ready for publication, and will shortly be issued. On this map the coast line is reduced from the most recent surveys of the officers of the Admiralty Coast Survey, and from our own work in

Preface

. connection with the geological investigation. All the topographical features represented in the interior are from the work of the Geological Survey, except along the line of the proposed railway route, which was accomplished by the engineers under the direction of Sandford Fleming, C.M.G. In order to illustrate the physical configuration of the Island, a limited number of these maps will be coloured orographically, which will be found convenient in a general way, as showing the relative heights over the sea-level of the surface of the land ; while it also shows the relative depths of the sea over a large area off the coast. I wish to take this opportunity of expressing my very sincere thanks to the officers of the Admiralty Coast Survey, especially Captains Kerr, Robinson, and Maxwell, for much valuable assist ance and information, particularly in giving Mr. Howley and myself every facility for reference to their coast charts and other documents, which have been most serviceable data as starting points for our surveys of the interior.

Alexander Murray. Cbiebt, Pebthshuse, May 9th, 1881. PAGE ■I CONTENTS. CHAPTEE I. Report of Sir W. E. Logan, LL.D., F.R.S., &c, &c, addressed to the Hon. F. B. T. Carter, Attorney-General, &c, St. John's, Newfoundland i CHAPTER H. ERRATA. Page 511. — Line 10 from top. For 1\ miles to an inch, read 2,\ inches to a mile.

CHAPTER V.

Report fob 1866. — Surveys of the Codroy and Humber Rivers— Notes on the Carboniferous Rooks of St. George's Bay, and Central Countby 73

CHAPTER VI.

Mineral Resources of Newfoundland: addressed to W. C Sargeaunt, Esq., Cbown Agent for the Colonies, Spring Gardens, Charing Cross, London, and published in the 'Journal of the Society of Arts,' October 11th, 1867 CONTENTS.

Chapter I. Page

Report of Sir W. E. Logan, LL.D., F.R.S., &c, &c, addressed to the Hon. F. B. T. Carter, Attorney-General, &c, St. John's, Newfoundland i

Chapter II

Report of Alexander Murray, addressed to Sir W. E. Logan, F.R.S., &c, for 1864, upon the Geology of the Eastern Coast of the Great Northern Peninsula, and portions of Hall's Bay, Notre Dame Bay, and White Bay 4

Chapter III

Report foe 1865 ; being a Narrative of Exploration from the Eastern to the Western Shores of the Island, by the Valley of the Indian Brook, Hall's Bay ; and thenoe by the Grand Pond and Tributaries to St. George's Bay 51

Chapter VIII

Report for 1868. — Distribution of the Formations in the Peninsula of Avalon, with Sections ; An Account of the Economic Substances, &o. ; Also a Measured Section of the Carboniferous Rocks on the Western Coast, between the Great and Little Codroy Rivers 137

Chapter IX

Report for 1869. — Copper Lodes of Bonavista Bay — Survey of Terra Nova River — Mr. James P. Howley appointed Assistant Geologist — His Report on Coast of Trinity, Placentia, and St. Mary's Bay, &o. — Excursion up Bay East Riveb 187

Chapter XIV

Report for 1874. — Survey of the Gander River and Lake — Letter addressed to His Exoellency Sir Stephen J. Hill, K.C.M.G., &o. &o. — Mr. Howley's Survey and Examination of Port-a-Port Bay and parts of St. George's Bay CONTENTS. vii PAGE 423 470

Special Repobt upon the Discovery of Gold near Brigus, Conception Bay, dated October 8th, 1880 532 i GEOLOGICAL SUBVEY of NEWFOUNDLAND. ■»$

Chapter I. Report Of Sir

W. E. LOGAN, LL.D., F.R.S., &c, &c, ADDRESSED TO THE HON. F. B. T. CARTER, ATTORNEY-GENERAL, &c, ST. JOHN'S, NEWFOUNDLAND. Geological Suevey Office, Montreal, 1st May, 1866. Sir, — Mr. Murray has submitted to me the results of his geological exploration in Newfoundland during the last two seasons ; and it gives me much satisfaction to observe tbe progress he has already made in developing the general structure of the eastern part of the island. Before he commenced his labours, Mr. Richardson, under my instructions, had already visited the western coast, with the view of ascertaining facts to elucidate points con nected with the geology of Canada. It was then ascertained that a trough of Lower Silurian rocks must underlie the northern part of the Gulf of St. Lawrence, gradually narrowing toward the Strait of Belleisle, one side of the trough rising on the coast of Labrador, while tbe other forms the western shore of Newfoundland from Bonne Bay to Cape Norman.

On each side of the strait these rocks were found to rest on Laurentian gneiss ; and the mass of this ancient system, which presents itself in this part of Newfound land, was ascertained to extend from the neighbourhood of Bonne Bay to within 12 or 15 miles of Hare Bay, but its breadth was not determined. Mr. Murray's investigations have since proved that this mass of Laurentian rocks spreads in breadth to tbe Atlantic coast of the great northern peninsula of the island ; that B the base of the Lower Silurian strata, sweeping round the northern extremity of the gneiss, comes upon the coast near Canada Bay, and again strikes into the land at Coney Arm, in White Bay, where these Lower are overlaid by Upper Silurian, followed by rocks of Devonian age. Farther to the south-east, the Laurentian and Silurian series become partially and unconformably covered by rocks of the Carboniferous age, in two or three separate areas, which have heretofore been mentioned by Mr. Jukes.

One of them is upon Grand Pond, and another on St. George's Bay. In his traverse last year, from Hall's Bay to St. George's Bay, Mr. Murray traced the western margin of the more northern of these, for about 30 miles, and observed the more southern at several points on the north and south-east shores of the bay which has last been mentioned. Having thus ascertained the general position of these Carbon iferous areas, it is important to determine with as little delay as possible what workable seams of coal may be associated with them ; and Mr. Murray proposes to devote the chief part of his investigations during the ensuing season to this end, as well as to trace, as far as he can, tbe outcrop-course of any seams he may discover. The nearest known coal deposits to the Island of Newfoundland are the beds worked at Sydney, on the Island of Cape Breton ; and it is not unreasonable to suppose it probable that there will be a general analogy in the character of the measures on the opposite sides of the water dividing them.

At Sydney, between the base of the coal measures and the workable seams, there is a thickness of barren strata of between 3000 and 4000 feet ; and if the same conditions exist in Newfoundland, it will depend upon the attitude of the strata whether we may expect the occurrence of coal beds there to become available to commerce. Mr. Murray observed a regular coal seam of six inches in thickness ; but this would not be workable. Mr. Jukes has reported one of three feet ; but at Sydney there are four workable seams, measuring altogether upwards of fifteen feet, in a thickness of 3000 feet, that at the bottom being three feet; and no time should be lost in determining such facts as will make it known whether these seams exist, or may be reasonably searched for by capitalists in tlie Carboniferous areas of Newfoundland.

Mr. Murray's explorations on the east side of the northern REPORT OF SIR W. E. LOGAN. peninsula, and Mr. Richardson's on the west, have shown that the Lower Silurian series in the northern part of Newfoundland is characterised by a great spread of that portion of it, which in Canadian geology has been termed the Quebec group. This group may conveniently be separated into three divisions,* the middle one of which has proved rich in metalliferous deposits, in its course from the southern Atlantic States of the American Union to Canada, and through Eastern Canada to Gaspe. The indications observed by Mr. Murray are sufficient to authorise the expectation that the formation will prove productive of these metalliferous minerals in Newfoundland ; and the Tilt Cove and Terra Nova mines, which are both in serpentine belonging to the middle division, are evidences that a detailed investigation of the distribution of the Quebec group is only second in importance, in an economic point of view, to that of the Carboniferous series.

The occurrence of serpentine in the more southern part of New foundland has been pointed out by Mr. Jukes in various isolated places ; and it appears to be probable that this rock will, in most, if not all of these, be found to belong to the Quebec group. The scattered facts already thus known, prepare us to expect a great development of the metalliferous division of the group in the southern as well as the northern portion of the island, convincing me that a thorough knowledge of a great portion of the mineral wealth of the province will be vastly promoted by a careful and connected exploration and study of tbe Lower Silurian series. I have now the honour to transmit to you the accompanying Report of his first exploration, addressed to me by Mr. Murray while I was in England last year. The study of it required a reference to a collection of specimens which had been forwarded to the office of the Canadian Survey for examination ; and the death of my brother, soon after my return, forced me to postpone the consideration of it longer than I wished.

I have the honour to be, Sir, Your most obedient servant, W. E. Logan. * The relations of this group and of its divisions are so important that I append a brief synopsis of them, in which the Lower Silurian strata of Newfoundland and the two basins of north-eastern continental America are compared. B

Chapter II. Report Of Alexander Murray, Addressed To Sir

W. E. LOGAN, F.RS., &c, FOR 1861, UPON* THE GEOLOGY OF THE EASTERN COAST OF THE GREAT NORTHERN PENINSULA, AND PORTIONS OF HALL'S BAY, NOTRE-DAME BAY, AND WHITE BAY. London, IDA April, 1S65. Sir, — In accordance with an arrangement made by yourself with the Government of Newfoundland, by which I was selected to make a geological investigation of that province, I left Montreal, accompanied by Mr. H. H. Beckett as an assistant, on the 18th May last, and reached St. John's, Newfoundland, on the 31st of the same month, when I immediately placed myself in com munication with the Hon. H. W. Hoyles, Attorney-General, to receive final instructions. It being your desire that the great northern peninsula of the island, where most of the sea-coast is well exposed, should be examined as a commencement of the investigation, the Provincial Government were pleased, on my recommendation, to charter a schooner of 27 tons burden, called the A. M. W., of Harbour Grace, with a crew consisting of a pilot commanding, and four seamen for the service.

It was not, however, until the 22nd June that the vessel was refitted, and ready for sea ; and during the interval, I employed my time in partially examining that portion of the peninsula of Avalon lying between St. John's and Topsail Head in Conception Bay. We finally left St. John's upon the 23rd June, aud reached Twillingate, a port of some importance near the entrance to the Bay of Exploits, on the 27th of the same month, having been much detained on .the voyage by fog and stormy weather. On the 30th June we reached Little Bay, where the examination was begun in earnest, at Terra Nova mine, and where advantage was taken of the opportunity to explore the coast and portions of the interior between that bay and Ming's Bight. After leaving Little Bay, we proceeded to examine the northern peninsula, making 18G4. excursions into the interior on every convenient occasion ; and by the time this part of the work was accomplished, the season had advanced to the 3rd of October, after which we repaired to Twillingate to refit tbe vessel.

Finally, a rather hurried excursion was made to Hall's Bay ; and the Indian Brook, a large stream which falls into that bay, was ascended for a considerable distance, after which we sailed for St. John's, and reached that port on the 3rd of November. Sequence and Distribution of the Rocks of the great Northern Peninsula. The rock masses observed in the great northern peninsula are recognised as belonging to the following geological divisions, which are given in ascending order : — 1. Laurentian. 2. Potsdam group, i _. „., . o rs , . Lower Silurian. 3. Quebec group, ) 4. Upper Silurian. 5. Devonian. 1. Laurentian System. The rocks classed under this head occupy upwards of 50 miles of the eastern coast of the northern peninsula, extending from Little Coney Arm, in White Bay, to within a few miles of Canada Bay.

About four miles to the southward of the entrance to this bay, they strike into the land, and keeping to the westward of the bay, and of the Clouds Mountains, which are intermediate, they run a northerly course. The most noithern exposure of them which was seen, occurred between three and four miles west of the Long Arm of Canada Bay, on a brook joining the arm, towards the upper end. Here the strike still continues northward ; but there is little doubt that the limit of the series, beyond this, will soon turn gradually westward, to join the most northern position, where Mr. Richardson observed the hills composed of it on his visit to the western side of the peninsula in 1862. In an exposure of the series met with a little more than two miles up Salt Water Pond Brook, the rock, which is of a reddish colour, is fine grained, and is composed chiefly of flesh-red orthoclase feldspar, with white quartz and brown or black mica.

It is inter stratified with layers consisting chiefly of fine black mica with grains of white quartz ; and by these black bands it was easy to observe that the dip was to the eastward. In the two brooks which have been mentioned, there were no great exposures of the gneiss, but the loose blocks observed in the beds of the streams, and on the banks on each side, derived probably from the formation not far off, made it evident that what is given above is the general character of the gneiss in this part. Many blocks of greenstone were associated with those of gneiss, and on Salt Water Pond Brook, dykes of a similar description were seen intersecting the gneiss. In Hooping Harbour the general mass of rock is gneiss ; but at the mouth of the brook, which flows in at the head of the north east cove of the harbour, there are heavy bands of what cannot be distinguished from granite, some parts of them reddish and others grey, according to the colour of the feldspar, which is sometimes in large tabular crystals, the quartz being whitish and in fine grains, while the mica is usually black and in small scales.

On the east side of the cove these bands of granite alternate very regularly with thick beds of coarse black mica-slate, clearly show ing the stratified character of the mass, and giving a dip of S. 88° E. < 30°. Farther south, but on the same side of the harbour, there is a great amount of milk-white gneiss, deriving its colour from opaque white ortboclase feldspar and white translucent quartz, but having well-defined marks of stratification, in darker and lighter grey parallel streaks, deriving their colour from the presence of more or less black mica. At the head of the western cove, or arm of the harbour, there is a great mass of a somewhat coarse flesh-red granite, in which no stratification could be made out, but it was overlaid by finely laminated beds of gneiss, and those upon the north shore of the cove appeared to be nearly horizontal.

The cliffs on each side of the western arm, which rise almost perpendicularly to the height of between 650 and 700 feet, are all of gneiss, with bands of mica-slate, large tabular crystals of flesh-red feldspar being often observed in the strata. The dip at the head of the western arm is S. 80° E. < 25°, but there are numerous undulations and contortions which render it difficult to establish an average. In these cliffs, and generally in 1864. the harbour, the gneiss is cut by many fine-grained greenstone dykes, some of which are of great thickness. One of them, on the east side of the harbour, measured 130 feet across. These dykes appear generally to be about parallel to one another, their course being N. 54° E. and S. 54° W. Small veins of pegmatite, consisting of flesh-red ortboclase feldspar with some grains of quartz, are abundant in some places.

At the extremity of the cape, on the east side of the entrance to Hooping Harbour, copper pyrites was observed disseminated in a small mass of quartz, constituting a nest in the white gneiss of that part. No visible vein was con nected with the mass, and it is only worthy of remark as showing that the rock is not destitute of this ore, which may possibly be found in larger quantity in some other place in the neighbourhood. Between Hooping Harbour and Bay Fourchette the rocks seem to be all very much of the same character as those above described ; but the strata composing the cliffs between this bay, and the banks on either side of the stream which falls in at its western extremity, appear to be less red in colour than those farther north, and the contortions which they show are more numerous.

The highest point seen from the anchorage on the north side of the bay, rose up almost vertically from the water's edge to the height of 904 feet. The gneiss at Grandevache is very much like that at Bay Fourchette. In some beds it is red and in others grey. It is in general fine grained, and frequent layers of whitish quartzite and black mica-slate are interstratified in it. The strata are cut by dykes of fine-grained greenstone ; numerous veins of pinkish feldspar reticulate through the rocks, intersecting both the strata and the dykes, and cracks and joints in the rocks are frequently lined with a pellicle of specular iron ore. The prevailing dip of the strata is here about S. 70° E. < 40°-50°. Going southward, the limit of the Laurentian gneiss enters upon the land in a small bay about 2\ miles south of Devil's Cove, on the east side of White Bay ; and between this recess and Little Coney Arm, a narrow strip of the succeeding formation separates it from the water.

It is about a quarter of a mile from the water, at the head of Little Coney Arm, where the gneiss is red in colour, and rather coarse in grain. It is interstratified with bands of black mica-slate, and a considerable mass of the latter rock, perhaps 500 feet in thickness, forms the eastern limit of the exposure. In the cliffs, a little back from the extremity of the arm, the strata are contorted, but the general dip of the gneiss is here nearly vertical, tbe strike being about north and south. At the mouth of a small brook, however, in the south-west corner of the arm, there are some beds of dark grey gneiss, which dip S. 46° E. < 55°. From Little Coney Arm the limit of the Laurentian gneiss pursues a somewhat sinuous course southward, and the last exposures of it visited were met with about five miles westward of Gold Cove, near the upper end of White Bay.

Here the gneiss is of a dark grey colour, and its constituents are greyish ortboclase feldspar and greyish quartz, with black hornblende and dark brown mica, usually in very minute scales. The strata are a good deal corrugated, and white quartz veins are numerous, some of them running in the strike of the rock, and others some what oblique to it, while the strata are intersected by many dykes of dark grey fine-grained greenstone. The general trend of the strata and of the hill ranges is here about south by west. From this spot to that at which Mr. Richardson left the Laurentian gneiss, in tracing its limit south-eastward near Bonne Bay, the distance in a straight line, a little south of west, is about 30 miles. It is extremely probable that the same rock composes the country the whole way ; but where the opposite sides of this Laurentian mass, which forms the backbone of the northern peninsula, will ultimately join, in their trend southward, can only be determined by future exploration.

The rocks which have thus been described are considered Laurentian, not merely from the lithological resemblance which they bear to the strata of that system in various parts of Canada, but also from the relation they are seen to have to the Lower Silurian strata, which unconformably cover them in the northern part of the peninsula. They there present an exact analogy with the conditions of the masses seen on the north side of the Strait of Belleisle, the gneiss of which is distant from the nearest part of that of Newfoundland not more than 40 miles, while it is unin terruptedly connected with the great continental spread of the system in Canada. In Canada the Laurentian gneiss is iu some 18G4. parts interstratified with enormous bands of crystalline limestone, and it is usually in these, or in the vicinity of them, that are met with the Laurentian minerals of economic importance ; while the valleys that are underlaid by the limestones often give a considerable amount of surface capable of settlement.

These economic minerals are the magnetic and specular ores of iron, the ores of lead and of copper, apatite or phosphate of lime, mica, and graphite or plumbago. None of these bands of crystalline limestone have yet been met with among the gneiss of the northern peninsula; but as it is only the rim of the 3000 square miles of it there spread out, which has thus far been examined, the calcareous bands may yet be found in the interior, should the examination at some future time be carried into greater detail. It will be seen by the description already given, that the only traces observed of any of the economic substances mentioned, were thin leaf-like veins of specular iron ore in Grandevache Bay, and a nest of copper pyrites at Hooping Harbour. 2. Potsdam Group. Immediately east of the Laurentian gneiss, in the neighbourhood of Canada Bay, the Clouds Mountains rise to a greater height than any part of the country for many miles around, and their bold and fantastic outline forms a picturesque and conspicuous feature, readily recognisable for a great distance.

Three of the highest summits, on all of which the compass was affected by great local attraction, were found by triangulation to be 1173, 944, and 920 feet above the level of the sea. The first of these, called the Capped Mountain, is ou the north side of Salt Water Pond Brook, and the other two on the south. The rocks composing these hills consist, at the base, of a great thickness of dark grey slates, not very well seen, but probably amounting to 1500 feet. These are followed by dark grey, and occasionally drab-coloured slates, with many interstratified conglomerate beds, not in general exceeding six inches in thickness, holding small quartz pebbles in the same slaty base. This mass, which may attain a thickness of about 500 feet, is surmounted by about 40 feet of a dark purplish-grey diorite, apparently of an amygdaloidal character, containing nodules and numerous small masses of impure epidote, and jaspery peroxyd of iron, and is cut in many places by thin leaf like veins of the same jaspery ore.

The upper bed of this mass of strata, thus amounting to about 2000 feet, which we may designate as Division A, is seen at the summit of the more northern of the two hills which are south of Salt Pond Brook, from which the diorite slopes with the geographical surface, at an angle of about fourteen degrees, towards Canada Bay. The margin of the bay, however, from the point north of Weymouth Cove to Hell Mouth, a distance of about six miles, is composed of over lying rocks ; while for six miles farther, to the Gouffre, it consists of those of the Clouds Mountain range. Between the Gouffre and Canada Harbour, the coast is again composed of the overlying rocks. In the bed of Salt Water Pond Brook, at their junction with the Laurentian gneiss, the strata of the Clouds Mountain range are vertical ; farther removed from the gneiss, but somewhat to the north-west of the brook, they are highly tilted, with an inclination to the north-eastward ; but descending tbe brook to within less than a mile from its mouth, the beds gradually present a moderate degree of regularity with a dip N. 26° W. < 18°.

Between this and the pond, there is an interval of concealment, of about three-quarters of a mile, which is succeeded by exposures of higher rocks around the pond, and at the entrance to Long Arm. From these exposures, the following ascending series of deposits is gathered, the base being at the mouth of the brook, and the summit at the point on the north side of the entrance to Long Arm. These rocks we may designate as Division B. Feet. 1. Yellowish and grey argillaceous and somewhat micaceous slate, and grey compact limestone, having a conchoidal fracture, interstratified with one another towards the middle, in "beds of from 2 to 3 feet, with white and yellowish sandstone or quartzite in thin beds towards the top .. .. 300 2. Blue limestone, having a conchoidal fracture, in beds of from 5 to 10 inches, with a 1-foot bed of reddish variegated limestone towards the middle, almost made up of fragments of trilobites ; among them Olenellus Vermontanus (Hall) occurs, and weathered surfaces of other calcareous beds in some parts show the remains of fucoids 400 3.

Black and grey slate, in bands of from 15 to 20 feet, interstratified with beds of white sandstone, of from 5 to 7 inches thick, and of pale grey arenaceous limestone, weathering 1864. Feet. yellowish, and probably dolomitic, in beds of from 5 to 10 inches thick near the base; the exposed surfaces of some of the calcareous beds are covered with small reddish nodules, which probably replace organic remains. These were observed at the entrance of Salt Water Pond 53 4. Black or dark grey slates, many bands of them hard and silicious, interstratified with beds of quartzite. Some of the slates contain many specimens of a Lingula, which appears, according to Mr. Billings, to be a new species, but allied to L. prima (Conrad) 300 5. Blue and grey limestone in beds of 18 inches and 2 feet . . 100 1153 The locality in which Olenellus Vermontanus was observed was at the entrance to Long Arm ; and the presence of this trilobite in deposit 3, with a brachiopod so nearly allied to Lingula prima in 4, leaves little doubt that the strata in the above section belong to tbe Potsdam group, of which the trilobite is peculiarly characteristic, both on the west side of the gneiss in Newfoundland, and on the north side of the Strait of Belleisle.

Although the strata of the Clouds Mountain range were nowhere seen in imme diate contact with this recognised part of the Potsdam group, yet as they apparently plunge beneath it, without any observed reason to suppose a want of conformity, they will both for the present be classed together. The strata of the above section, in their strike south-eastward, come against those of the two hills south of Salt Water Pond Brook, belonging to the Clouds Mountain range, while the strata of the Capped Mountain run against the Laurentian gneiss. By this it is evident that there is here, on the south-east side of the valley of Salt Water Pond Brook, a great fault, throwing the measures up on the eastward side. The course of this fault is N. 53° E., and S. 53° W. The horizontal displacement produced by it appears to be between two and three miles, but the data are not sufficient to enable me to state with exactness the vertical amount.