The geology and mineral resources of New Brunswick

Front matter

OANADA

DEPARTMENT OF MINES

A GEOLOGICAL SURVEY BRANCH :

Part I. Physiography

The physiography of New Brunswick has been extensively discussed within the last few years by several able writers, including Professor W. F. Ganong,’ Drs. L. W. Bailey,’ G. F. Matthew’ and R. Chalmers,* Mr. W. J. Wilson’ and others. In this brief introduction to the geology and mineral resources of the province it is not therefore considered necessary to give more than a mere outline of the leading features with a view to the better understanding of what may follow.

The province of New Brunswick is the largest of the three that constitute what are usually known as the ‘ Maritime Provinces.’ At one time, with Nova Scotia, it formed what was called ‘ Acadia.’ It is an integral portion of the continent, while the province of Prince Edward Island is entirely surrounded by water. Nova Scotia was in early Post-Tertiary times also an island, though now connected with New Brunswick by a narrow isthmus, only fifteen miles wide, between the headwaters of the Bay of Fundy and those of the Gulf of St.

Azawrence. This isthmus consists in large part of marsh, but little raised above the sea-level, and its material has evidently been deposited largely by the action of the tides.“ Much of this marshy ‘area has been reclaimed from tidal action by an extensive series of f eanals and dikes and is specially valuable as constituting the finest Aands in the province for the production of hay, Reclamation is still going on by artificial methods.

The area of the province is 27,987 square miles. ~The population according to the census of 1901 was 331,120. New Brunswick, in its general outline, is nearly square, but the northwest portion projects westward between the province of Quebec and the state of Maine for some fifty miles, the River St. John for a part of this distance being the dividing line.

On the south side the province is bounded by the waters of the Bay of Fundy, which extends from the mouth of the St. Croix

1W. F. Ganong, Canadian History Readings, pp. 74-104-129, 1900. 2 Bulletins of the Natural History Society of N.B., 1896 to 1907. 3G. F. Matthew, G. 8S. Reports, 1877-8.

5W. J. Wilson, Canadian History Readings, p. 137, 1900.

G on the west to the head of Cumberland bay on the east, a distance in a straight line of about 150 miles. -On the east it is bounded by the waters of Northumberland strait, the Gulf of St. Lawrence and Chaleur bay, the latter forming the northern boundary of the east coast between Miscou island, which is the northeast point of the province, and the town of Dalhousie at the mouth of the Restigouche river. On the north the Restigouche divides it from the province of Quebec, as far as the mouth of the Patapedia, a distance of about fifty miles, whence the boundary between the provinces westward is broken to its connexion with the upper St. John. From a point about two miles west of Grand Falls the boundary between New Brunswick and the state of Maine is defined by a due north and south line, as far south as what is known as the Monument at the head of Monument brook, which is an upper tributary of the St. Croix river, whence it folllows that stream south to the Chiputneticook lakes, and thence by the St. Croix to Passamaquoddy bay on the Bay of Fundy.

The province is divided into fifteen counties, viz., Charlotte, St. John and Albert, bordering on the Bay of Fundy; York, Queens, Kings, and Sunbury in the interior; Westmorland, Kent, Northumberland, Gloucester and Restigouche along the Gulf of St. Lawrence and adjoining waters; Madawaska, Victoria and Carleton along the St. John river in the northwestern portion. The boundary between New Brunswick and Nova Scotia is along the Missaguash for the greater part of the distance between Cumberland bay and Bay Verte.

The southern portion, including large parts of Charlotte, St, John and Kings counties, is somewhat rugged, the surface diversified by a series of low mountains or hills which rarely exceed 1,200 feet in height. Of these the granite hills which extend across the greater part of Charlotte county are the most prominent in the area west of the St. John, while east of that river the range of crystalline and volcanic rocks, known in part as the Caledonia mountains, rises a few miles east of St. John city and continues into Albert county, terminating about six miles west of the Petiteodiac river. This hilly country extends northward along the St. John river for about thirty miles from the mouth, or nearly to the overlap of the rocks of the central Carboniferous basin.

The central portion of the province is occupied in large part by. the Carboniferous rocks, forming an area of not far from 12,000 square miles. Throughout this area there are no prominent hill features, the elevation along the river being very gradual as far west as the city of Fredericton after passing the hilly country along the lower part of this stream. This comparatively low, basin-shaped country extends thence north along the Nashwaak to the Main South-

PHYSIOGRAPHY 9 west Miramichi at Boiestown, which practically marks the northern limit of the Carboniferous formation in this area. The general level of the eastern part of the Carboniferous basin is rarely more than 250 to 800 feet, but in the northeastern portion, between Newcastle and Bathurst, ridges of this formation, indicating anticlinal axes, reach elevations of 500 to 600 feet.

The northern portion of the province, including that part north of a line drawn roughly from the vicinity of Woodstock on the St. John to Chaleur bay, contains the most strongly marked hill features. The country bordering the upper waters of the Tobique, the Miramichi and the Nipisiguit, in which are large masses of granite and other hard crystalline rocks, contains irregular chains of high hills or mountains, some of which reach elevations of not far from 2,700 feet above sea-level. The mountain features in this area have been carefully worked out in recent years by Dr. W. E. Ganongt, who has also spent much time in mapping the orographic details of the province generally. Several high peaks also occur in the area near the forks of the Upsalquitch and Restigouche, as Slate and Squaw mountains with elevations of about 2,000 feet, and at Campbellton in the Sugar Loaf with a height of 950 feet. On the Tobique river the Blue mountains are about 1,725 feet in height, and between this and the mouth of Portage brook on the Nipisiguit there are numbers of peaks with elevations between 1,600 and 2,500 feet above sea-level. To the north of this river the area occupied generally by Silurian rocks is very hilly, and, carefully traversed, may show the presence of masses of igneous rocks.

The rivers of the province are numerous, but small as compared with those of Ontario and Quebec. The St. John, taking its rise in the northern part of the State of Maine, is by far the largest with a length of 450 miles, and draining an area of the provinee of about 10,500 square miles. Along its course, which crosses the western portion of New Brunswick, there are a number of towns of considerable importance, including Edmundston, Grand Falls, Andoyer, Perth, Florenceville and Woodstock in the northern part, Fredericton, the capital city, about eighty-five miles by river from its mouth, Gagetown nearly midway to its mouth, and the city of St. John at its entrance into the Bay of Fundy. Numerous small villages are situated also along its course, and in the lower thirty miles above St. John it has in recent years become the favourite place of summer resort, many beautiful cottages having been erected along its banks. These are conveniently situated as regards communication with that city both by railway and by water.

+ Literature.

The river is navigable for steamboats of good size at all times during the season, as far as Fredericton, a daily line of communication being maintained; while above this as far as Woodstock navigation is possible during a part of the summer. In high water, boats can run as far as Grand Falls, which is the first great natural barrier in the river. Above this last point boats can run for another forty to fifty miles, but the facilities for travel along this upper portion by railway, which skirts the bank of the river below Edmundston, have greatly lessened the travel by boats, for this portion.

This river is the great highway for the transport of lumber from its upper waters, both for the northern part of the province and for a large part of northern Maine, huge rafts being sent down to St. John every season. The lower portion especially is a favourite route for tourist travel, the scenery along its course being varied and of great beauty at many points.

Along the lower fifty miles of its course several large bays extend to the eastward, including Kennebecasis, Belleisle and Washademoak, and the Grand lake, a sheet of water about twenty-five miles in length with a breadth of three to six miles, connected with the St. John by the beautiful Jemseg creek. These are all navigable for small steamers, and regular lines of boats ply on these waters during every season.

Among other comparatively large rivers on the west which are tributaries of the St. John may be mentioned the Madawaska rising to the north in the province of Quebec, along the course of which the railway between River du Loup on the St. Lawrence and Edmundston is built, which connects the main line of the Intercolonial with the Canadian Pacific at the latter place. The Grand river, though not large, forms a convenient canoe route to the upper part of the Restigouche, and joins the St. John about twelve miles above Grand Falls; the Aroostook enters on the west side about fifteen miles below that town, but has its course mostly in the state of Maine. The Tobique enters from the east a few miles below this stream and is the principal tributary of the St. John from the east. It extends for some sixty miles in a direct line to the upper waters of the Nipisiguit, to which there is a portage of about three miles and from which there is water communication by canoes with Bathurst on Chaleur bay, a distance by stream of eighty-eight miles. This is a favourite canoe route between the west and east, and both streams are celebrated for the abundance and excellent quality of the trout and salmon which everywhere abound along the whole distance. The scenery along this route is among the finest in the province.

Farther south the Becaguimee and Keswick, comparatively small streams, are found. Opposite the city of Fredericton the

PHYSIOGRAPHY ll

Nashwaak enters from the north and is a large and important stream rising near the upper part of the Main Southwest Miramichi. It is celebrated for the quantity and quality of its lumber. Farther east the Salmon river enters the upper end of Grand lake, the Canaan enters the head of Washademoak lake and the Belleisle and Kennebecasis enter the heads of their respective bays. On the west side of the St. John the Oromocto joins the river about twelve miles below Fredericton and with its two branches, the North and South, drains a considerable area in northern Charlotte and southern York counties.

The rivers entering the Bay of Fundy, with the exception of the St. Croix and St. John, are comparatively short owing to the belt of high lands which keeps a short distance to the north of the coast. West of St. John they include the Lepreau, the Magaguadavie, the Digdeguash and the Musquash, while east of that city they include the Black, the Big Salmon and the upper Salmon rivers. The Petitcodiac, however, which is in the southeastern part of the province, is a large tidal stream for some miles, and at high water vessels ascend as far as Moncton which is a shipping port; while the Memramcook, a few miles to the east, is also tidal, and at one time extensive shipbuilding yards were located near the head of the tidal waters of both these rivers. During low tide both rivers are practically empty with high mud banks, a feature caused by the great rise and fall of the tides along this portion of the Bay of Fundy. From data obtained from the latest published tide tables of the Department of Marine and Fisheries, it is seen that the rise of the tide increases in a marked degree as the bay is ascended, rising from twenty-five to twenty-seven and a half feet for spring and neap respectively in the western portion at St. Andrews to twenty-seven and twenty-three in St. John harbour, thirty and twenty-five at Quaco, forty-one and thirty-four and a half at Grindstone island at the mouth of the Petitcodiae estuary, and forty-five and thirty-eight at the mouth of the Petitcodiac, a rise only exceeded at a few points in Minas basin.

The rivers flowing into the Gulf of St. Lawrence are not navigable for crafts other than canoes beyond their tidal estuaries. They include from south to north, the Buctouche which rises in close proximity to the Canaan; the Richibucto heading near the upper part of the Salmon; with several minor streams between this and the Miramichi. The Main Southwest Miramichi is, next to the St. John, the most important as regards size. It traverses the greater part of the breadth of the interior of the province and heads near the lower part of the Tobique. It has a number of large branches, among which is Cains river from the south, while on the north are the Dungarvon, Renous, Little Southwest and the Northwest, the latter jnining the Main Southwest just below the crossing of the

Intercolonial railway near the town of Newcastle. All these rivers are important factors in the lumber industry.

Between this river and the Nipisiguit the rivers are small, but important fishing streams, abounding in sea-trout in their season. They include the Bartibog, Tabusintac, Tracadie and Pockmouche. They are navigable for canoes only for a certain distance according to the state of the water. The Southwest Miramichi and its branches abound in salmon and trout.

The Nipisiguit is an important river. Along its course immense quantities of lumber are floated, while as far up as the Grand falls, twenty miles from its mouth, it abounds in salmon and trout. The falls form an impassable barrier for salmon since no fishway has yet been constructed, though the upper portion would furnish the finest of spawning grounds for this fish. Above the falls to the head of the stream it is one of the best trout streams in the province. It. has no large tributaries, the South branch, nearly sixty miles from the mouth, being the most important. This branch heads in the great range of granite hills to the south. Along the lower part near the Grand falls are extensive deposits of magnetite which have not yet been developed.

North of this river several streams, including the Tetagouche, the Nigadoo, the Charlo and the Jacquet rivers are found, none of which are navigable except for canoes in good water, but all abound in trout and salmon.

The Restigouche is the most northerly on this coast. The lower portion flowing into Chaleur bay is a tidal estuary, navigable for steamers as far up as the town of Campbellton, twelve miles above which place it is joined by the Metapedia from the north. Six miles farther west the Upsalquitch comes in from the south, an important stream rising near the Nipisiguit and forming a fine canoe route across this part of the province. Still farther west the principal tributaries from the north are the Patapedia and the Quatawamkedgewick, both Quebec streams. The tributaries from the south are unimportant. All these streams are celebrated for the abundance and quality of the salmon and trout..

The height of land or principal watershed of the province follows a very irregular course. From a paper published some years ago by Mr. W. J. Wilsont the following extracts may be given:—‘ From the Isthmus of Chignecto (which connects the province with Nova Scotia at the southeast angle) it runs northwesterly almost to the boundary of Kent county, separating the Kennebecasis, Canaan and Salmon rivers from those flowing into Northumberland strait. From this point it runs southwesterly separating Salmon and Cains rivers.

+ Title, ‘Canadian History Readings,’ 1900.

PHYSIOGRAPHY 13

Then northwesterly in a zig-zag course dividing the waters of the Miramichi from those flowing into the St. John. This course continues into Carleton county where it is only nine miles from the St. John river. The watershed then runs northeasterly between the Miramichi and Tobique waters into Northumberland county. It then curves round again to the southwest into Victoria and Madawaska counties where it is again only ten miles from the St. John which at this point forms the western boundary of the province. The height of land then runs northwesterly into Quebec.

This watershed or height of land is by no means a prominent and distinct ridge through all its course, for in its southern half it is not easily distinguishable. The small streams forming the headwaters of many of the rivers interlock, and it is impossible in passing over the country to determine to which slope they belong without following them for some distance. This is true in a large degree of all watersheds except in mountainous regions. Another watershed of some importance runs through Charlotte and York counties and separates the rivers emptying into the Bay of Fundy from those flowing into the St. John river. Its direction is northwest and southeast.’

Lakes.—While these are numerous none are of large size with the exception of Grand lake already referred to, the area of which is about sixty-eight square miles. The surface of this lake is scarcely above high tide level of the Bay of Fundy, and a small tide is found near its head about seventy miles inland. This is due to the peculiar. phenomena of what is known as the ‘ Reversible falls, which are situated near the discharge of the St. John into the tidal harbour, where during low tide the river waters are discharged seaward with a descent of fifteen to twenty feet, while at high water in the harbour the fall is inward, the harbour water being then from eight to ten feet higher than the normal water in the river itself. During certain stages in the tide the passage at the falls is smooth and shipping can pass up and down readily. At other times they are of course impassable. The effects of this inflow are felt as far inland as Fredericton. Grand lake lies near the centre of the great inland Carboniferous basin and the shores are generally low and somewhat level. This lake forms the outlet by schooners for much of the coal mined near its upper part in the Newcastle basin.

Among other lakes are those of the Chiputneticook chain on the St. Croix in Charlotte county, the Maguagadavie and Oromocto in southern York and the South Oromocto in the northeast corner of Charlotte, in which area numbers of small lakes occur. Many small lakes are also found around the headwaters of the south branch of the Tobique and the Nipisiguit and in the country drained by the Miramichi. The northern portion of the province shows but few lakes though thickly intersected by streams.

The agricultural capacity of a country usually depends to a large extent on the character of its underlying rock formations. In this respect large portions of the province are of necessity, owing to the presence of masses of granitic and other hard rocks, almost barren since the destruction of the original timber growth which at one time probably covered the greater part of the surface. Much of this timber in the central and northern plateau along the Miramichi was destroyed by great fires, especially by that known as the ‘ Miramichi fire,” of 1825, in which the soil of the mountain portion was practically burnt off, so that many of these hill ranges are now bare masses of rock interspersed with small shrubs or low bushes only.

The portions best adapted for farming are those underlaid by the slates and limestone of the Upper Silurian formations and by. the red rocks of the Lower Carboniferous. Of these the former include a large part of the northern division from a line extending northeast from the vicinity of the town of Woodstock on the St. J ohn river to the headwaters of the Tobique and thence across to Chaleur bay a few miles north of Bathurst. Other areas underlaid by these rocks are found adjacent to the lower St. John. Much of the northern area is still heavily covered by timber, unopened by roads, and consequently almost entirely unsettled.

On the red rocks of the Lower Carboniferous excellent farming lands are found about Bathurst on the north and in the valley of the Tobique; while in the southern part they occur along the valley of the Kennebecasis river, and in parts of Kings, Albert and Westmorland counties.

A large part of the great triangular area occupied by rocks of the Middle Carboniferous of the central and eastern basin, where these rocks are often greyish and sandy, is not largely productive, the resulting soils being light and hungry, but occasionally there are belts of reddish shale which are valuable from the agricultural standpoint. The rougher portions of the province are underlaid by masses of hard igneous rocks, comprising granite, diorite, &c., the decomposition of which is much slower than the comparatively soft sediments of the sedimentary series.

The geological features of the province will be found described in the accompanying report on this subject. They range from Pre- Cambrian, which includes all those of a date earlier than the earliest known fossiliferous Cambrian formations, upward into the upper or Permo-Carboniferous, with small isolated patches of Triassic sandstone and trap. The descriptions of the various economic minerals found in these several formations, with their general distribution,

PHYSIOGRAPHY 15 will be found in the accompanying report on ‘ Mineral Resources.’

The animal and plant life of the province has been described quite fully by various writers. It is not considered necessary to reproduce the results of their studies fully in this paper.

Generally speaking the game animals include the three great divisions of the deer family, the moose, caribou and the red deer, which in the last few years, owing to careful preservation, have become very abundant in all parts of the province. The great area of wilderness lands about the upper waters of the Miramichi, the Tobique and Nipisiguit especially abound with these animals, though in the unsettled portions of Charlotte, Kings, Kent and eastern Queens they are also numerous. Black bears are plentiful and extensively hunted. Among smaller animals (Carnivora) the wild cat, loup cervier, several varieties of the fox, including the red, grey and black, are found in considerable numbers, the mink, martin or sable, otter, raccoon, fisher, ermine and the skunk are also abundant and are hunted for their furs. On the coasts seals of several kinds are frequently observed.

Among the rodentia, the beaver, which had some years ago become nearly extinct, has recently, owing to careful protection, again become fairly plentiful. Poreupines, rabbits (hares) and squirrels, especially the red, flying and ground varieties, the woodchuck and the muskrat abound, though in recent years the black and grey varieties of the squirrel appear to have practically disappeared. Of cetacea, whales are occasionally seen and are sometimes stranded in the shallow shores of the Bay of Fundy owing to the rapid retreat of the tidal waters, while black-fish, grampus and porpoise are also found.

The bird life is numerous. Lists of these were published in 1865, by Professor Hind, and later by Mr. Montague Chamberlain, the latter appearing in the Bulletins of the Natural History Society of St. John, 1882. Valuable papers relating to the physiography, history and general features of the province have also appeared in the bulletins of the same society, the results of the work and investigations of Professor W. F. Ganong.

GEOLOGICAL DIVISIONS IN NEW BRUNSWICK.

COMPARISON OF NOMENCLATURE OF REPORT, 1870-1, wITH THAT oF 1907.

1870-1.

Laurentian.

Huronian: Kingston, Coldbrook, Coastal.

Cambrian, St. John

group.

Mascarene series.

Dark argillite series.

Pale argillite seriese Devonian: Bloomsbury, Dadoxylon, Cordaite, Mispeck, Perry Sandstone group; Lower Carboniferous.

Lower Carboniferous.

Carboniferous: and Upper.

Middle,

New Red sandstone, or Trias.

Intrusive rocks.

1907.

Pre-Cambrian, in part igneous and in part altered Silurian and Deyonian.

Pre-Cambrian with associated igneous masses, Cambrian, BEtcheminian, div. O at base

Cambrian divs. 1, 2 and 3.

Siluro-Devonian.

Upper Silurian, in part metamorphic.

Devonian, not yet divided.

Bloomsbury division at base.

Dadoxylon sandstone and shale.

Cordaite shale and sandstone.

Mispeck shales and conglomerate.

Perry conglomerate, shale and sandstone.

Upper division of the Devonian, including the ‘ Albert Shales.’

Marine limestone, gypsum, conglomerates at base, shales, sandstone, &c. below the ~ Millstone-grit.

Millstone-grit, Upper or Permo-Carboniferous of the east coast, the productive coal measures of Nova Scotia being apparently absent.

Trias of the south coast.

Granite, gabbro, diorite and diabase, felsite, &e. of various age.

PAR Tee GEOLOGY.

The literature pertaining to the geology of New Brunswick extends over a period of nearly half a century, and expresses the views of nearly a score of observers. It has become at length so voluminous as to be in a manner somewhat unintelligible to one not familiar with the province and the peculiar geological problems there presented. For this reason it has been deemed advisable to produce, An concise form, an epitome of the work done and the opinions held, from time to time, by those who have laboured in this field. This is especially necessary when we consider that no matter how interesting the subject but few persons have the time for careful perusal of all the reports bearing on this special field, many of which also are now not to be obtained, haying been long out of print.

In addition to a brief summary of the results obtained by the earlier workers in this field the conclusions arrived at from the latest study of the problems there presented will be given.

The systematic study of the geological structure of New Brunswick may be said to have begun with the appointment, by the Local government, to the position of provincial geologist in 1838 of Dr. A. Gesner, a man of undoubted ability. The results of his labours were presented in a series of reports which may be said to constitute the basis of our knowledge in this direction. The first of these, appearing in that year, embraced the results of his examination of the country bordering on the Bay of Fundy, west of the St. John river, and along that stream as far up as Fredericton. This was followed, in 18389, by a report on the coast district east of St. John extending to the head of Shepody bay, with a brief description of the Tormentine peninsula and the country along the Hammond river. His third season’s work embraced generally the counties of St. John and Kings with a very complete description of the Grand Lake coal-field. The fourth described the western portion of the province as far north as Woodstock, on the River St. John, with the country contiguous to that river, as well as the character of the coal-fields lying along the Main Southwest Miramichi river, while the fifth included generally the area lying north of a line extending from Woodstock to Bathurst, on Chaleur bay.

Ws

9141—2

Considering the state of geological science in that early day, the reports of Dr. Gesner contained a large amount of valuable information. It must be borne in mind that the nomenclature of the science was very limited. The grand formation which now comprises the fundamental rocks of our record, the Laurentian, had not then received its now world-wide designation, nor had the term Huronian been even thought of. The divisions into Primary and Secondary, Old and New Red Sandstone, coal measures and granitic rocks, composed the bulk of the geological scale.

There could, therefore, have been no attempt to separate the rocks of the older systems into such an arrangement as now exists. But Gesner evidently did a large amount of good work in the delineation of his areas of coal measures and new red sandstones, his Transition or slate and limestone group, and his voleanie rocks, though many of his boundaries were, of necessity, from the sparsely settled and, in consequence, comparatively inaccessible character of the country, far from correctly laid down, and the stratigraphical order, as given in his reports, is, in some cases, the reverse of what is now known to be the true position.

He pointed out also the presence of the two great areas of granitic rocks which traverse the province, one along its southern portion, the other diagonally across the northern half, extending southwesterly into the State of Maine, where these two areas evidently unite. They were considered by him as of Primary age, and included a large proportion of the felsitic rocks, with which, in some places, the granites are intimately connected. He held that these so-called Primary ridges were flanked by beds of Cambrian age, consisting of slates and hard-grained sandstone, styled by him greywacké, while to the north of the northerly belt the great Silurian fossiliferous area of slates and limestones was clearly indicated. Then, as now, the geology of the southern part of the province was found to be much more complicated than that of the northern portion. The igneous rocks were arranged into two belts, the one composed of true granite and syenite, with mica or ‘hornblende, the representatives of the red granitic areas now recognized in Charlotte county and western Kings; the rocks composing the other comprised a large portion of the old Pre-Cambrian syenites and felsites of the present day, and were regarded as intrusive and as overflowing the schistose strata with which they are associated.