Page:Encyclopædia Britannica, Ninth Edition, v. 20.djvu/182

Rh 166 QUEBEC >logy Beginning with the oldest rocks, the more northern part of the province of Quebec is based on the Laurentian a s ' system of Sir William Logan. This includes both the Laurentian proper and an overlying formation largely com- posed of Labrador and anorthite felspars, to which Sir William Logan gave the name Upper Laurentian, though it is now more usually known by the name Norian, applied to similar rocks in Scandinavia. This Upper Laurentian formation occupies but limited areas, one of which is near Lake St John, and another to the east of St Jerome, not far from Montreal. The Lower Laurentian of Logan, on the other hand, including the Ottawa or Trembling Mountain group and the Grenville series, extends from the Straits of Belle Isle to the Ottawa river in a continuous belt. It consists largely of gneiss and crystalline schists, and holds thick beds of limestone and beds of iron ore and veins of apatite. It is the chief seat of the iron and phosphate mining industries, and contains also the principal deposits of graphite or plumbago. It is on this formation that the remarkable forms, discovered by Dr Dawson (now Sir William), known as Eozoon canadense, and supposed to be the earliest form of animal life, occur. The Laurentian formation is succeeded in the western part of the province by the Potsdam sandstone, a probable equivalent in age of the Upper Cambrian of Britain. On this rests a dolomitic limestone the Calciferous formation, and on this the great and richly fossiliferous limestones of the Lower Silurian (Ordovician) age known as the Chazy and Trenton groups. These limestones afford the best building-stone of the province, while the Potsdam sand- stone also affords a good stone of construction. Above the Trenton is the Utica shale, a dark-coloured argilla- ceous deposit, rich in graptolites and trilobites, and on this is the Hudson River group, consisting largely of sandstones and calcareous beds. To the south-west of these rocks lie Upper Silurian and Devonian beds, the latter holding fossil plants and fishes, and at the extreme south-eastern part of the province, on the Bay of Chaleurs, is the outlier of the Lower Carboni- ferous area of New Brunswick. It is not likely that any true coal occurs in the province, though veins of hardened bitumen are found locally in the beds next to be noticed. From Quebec eastward along the St Lawrence occurs a great series of argillaceous and arenaceous beds, the equivalents of the Upper Cambrian and Lower Silurian of the interior districts, but deposited under different con- ditions, and abounding in some peculiar forms of trilobites and graptolites. In their extension to the southward they pass into the United States. Near the boundary they begin to be associated with various crystalline rocks. These were regarded by Sir William Logan as altered Silurian beds of the Quebec group; but later observers (MacFarlane, Selwyn, and Hunt) have maintained that they are, in part at least, of greater age. They contain several important economic minerals gold, copper, and iron ores, chrysolite used as asbestos, chromic iron, and serpentine ; marble and roofing slates are found in asso- ciated beds believed to be of Silurian age. A large part of the country, more especially on the lower levels, is covered with Pleistocene deposits of the so- called Glacial age. The lower part of these beds consists of tile or boulder-clay with local and Laurentian boulders, and in some places a few marine shells of northern species. On this rests a finer blue clay, in some places rich in fossil shells, and known as the Leda clay. It affords a good material for the manufacture of bricks and tiles. Above the Leda clay are sands and gravels, often with travelled boulders, and named the Saxicava sand, from a shell found very abundantly in some portions of their lower part. These superficial deposits appear to imply submergence and driftage of thick ice-fields with local glaciers descend- ing from the mountains. The prevalent directions of glacial striations is north-east and south-west or parallel to the course of the St Lawrence valley. In certain alluvial deposits in the vicinity of the St Maurice river there occur workable deposits of bog iron ore, which have been worked for many years. The climate of Quebec is variable. In winter the cold Climate is generally steady, and the atmosphere is clear and bracing. The thermometer often registers 20 below zero. Snow lies on the ground from the end of November until the middle of April, affording good sleighing for five months of the year. The inhabitants enjoy with zest and spirit all the out-door sports common to the country, such as skating, curling, tobogganing, snow-shoeing, coasting, and sliding. In Montreal winter carnivals are held which attract from all parts of Canada and the United States thousands of spec- tators. Snow falls to a very great depth, and though the winds are often sharp they are not often raw or damp, nor is there any fog. The summer is warm and pleasant, and the extreme heat is indicated at 90. The finest season of the year is the autumn, which lasts about six or eight weeks. Vegetation develops rapidly in Quebec. Much of the country is well adapted for agricultural purposes, the soil being rich and loamy, and well suited for the growth of cereals, hay, and fruit crops, all of which ripen perfectly, Wheat, barley, oats, rye, flax, pulse, buckwheat, maize, potatoes, turnips, carrots, beets, parsnips, celery, and the various roots thrive well. The principal fruits are plums, apples, melons, grapes, strawberries, raspberries, blueberries, gooseberries, cranberries, currants, and cherries. Hay has always been considered a leading crop, and much of it is exported to the United States, where it finds a ready market. Farming is carried on extensively in the eastern townships, and in all parts of the country agriculture is prosecuted with more or less activity. The amount of land under crops in 1881 was 4,147,984 acres, and in pasture, 2,207,422 acres. The crops raised were spring wheat, 1,999,815 bushels; winter wheat, 19,189; barley, 1,751,539; oats, 19,990,205 ; rye, 430,242 ; pease and beans, 4,170,456 ; buck- wheat, 2,041,670; maize, 888,169; potatoes, 14,873,287; turnips, 1,572,476; other roots, 2,050,904 bushels; hay, 1,614,906 tons; grass and clover seeds, 119,306 bushels. The number of horses in 1881 was 273,852 ; of working oxen, "49,237; of milch cows, 490,977; of other- cattle, 490,119; of sheep, 889,833; of swine, 329,199. In 1881 2,730,546 lb of wool and 559,024 ft of honey were produced. Dense forests cover enormous tracts of territory, and afford a Forest principal means of revenue to the province, as well as a source of industry for the people. The chief trees are white and red pine, spruce, ash, elm, beech, birch, maple, butternut, black walnut, fir, poplar, cedar, oak, cherry, hickory, basswood, &c. Upwards of fourteen hundred varieties of plants may be found, of which two hundred possess medicinal virtues. Lumbering is extensively carried on, and large quantities of dressed lumber and square timber are annually shipped to England. The total value of the forest products exported in 1882-83 was Expor $11,050,002; of the fisheries, $719,799; of the mines, $516,837 ; of and in animals and their produce, $11,714,674 ; of agricultural products, ports. $7,795,427 ; of manufactures, $1,437,254. The grand total value of the exports was $41,591,939, whereof produce of the province, $33,339,549. Of late years an active trade has sprung up in the exportation of beef and cattle to England. The imports in the same year amounted to $42,166,729 dutiable goods, and$13,743,142 free goods ; total $55,909,871. Shipbuilding, once a leading industry of the province, has Indus fallen off considerably, steamships and iron vessels having super- tries, sedcd wooden ships in the carrying trade. The number of vessels built in Quebec during 1883 was 42, tonnage 6594: On the 31st of December 1883, the vessels registered in the province, and remaining on the registry books of the several ports, were 1733, tonnage 216,577. There were engaged in the coasting trade, including steamers and sailing vessels, 6943 craft, representing a tonnage of 1,648,550. The number of saw and grist mills in the province in 1881 was 1729, employing 12,461 hands. There were also 419 tanneries, employing 2968 hands. Other industries are shingle-making, manufactures of wool and cloth, cheese and butter making, iron-working, sash, door, and blind factories, sugar-