Sir John Richardson gives a detailed account of the various localities between these two points in which beds of coal have been exposed, all pointing to the existence of a vast coal field, skirting the base of the Rocky mountains for a very great extent, and continued probably far into the Arctic sea, where, as is well known, lignite apparently of a similar character has recently been discovered by Captain McClure in the same general line with the localities above mentioned. In the coal of Jameson Land, lying in north latitude 71°, (on the east side of Greenland,) and in that of Melville island, in latitude 75° north, Professor Jameson found plants resembling those of the coal measures of Britain, and similar remains have been more recently discovered by Mr. Dana in the coal fields of Oregon and Vancouver's island. These facts are sufficient of themselves, as is remarked by Sir John Richardson, to raise a world of conjecture respecting the condition of the earth when these ancient fossils were living plants. If the great coal measures, containing similar vegetable forms, were deposited at the same epoch in distant localities, there must have existed when that deposition took place a similarity of condition of the North American continent from latitude 75° down to 45°.

The importance of this coal field in connexion with the construction and working of a Pacific railway can hardly be over-estimated. Beyond the Rocky mountains the geology of the territory is not so well known. There are ranges of mountains, (Laurentian,) but they are interspersed with great valleys, very favorable for agriculture and heavily timbered.

While the geologist has found in his researches many proofs of the wealth of the northwest territory, the mineralogist has not been far behind him. Almost from the landing upon the shores of Hudson bay of the first fur traders, the country has been represented as rich in minerals. Shortly after the Hudson Bay Company formed establishments there, two of their officers, Carruthers and Norton, in a journey along the western shores of the bay, were informed by the Indians that rich mines of copper existed in that direction; and Dobbs, in his Account of the countries adjoining to Hudson bay,” published in London, in 1744, says that he learned from Mr. Frost, who had been stationed for a long period at several of the factories upon the Hudson bay, that " upon the east main," (the eastern side of the bay,) "which had lately been discovered, there is an exceedingly rich lead mine, from which the natives brought very good ore." Dobbs also speaks of the rich copper mines north of Churchill, situated upon the other side of the bay. By the evidence of Robert Griffin, a silversmith, for five years resident at Hudson bay, taken in 1749 before the committee of inquiry of the House of Commons into the condition of the territory, alluded to by Mr. Robson, it appears that the former tested the ore brought from the east main, which he declared to contain lead; that he remembered several quantities of this ore being brought thence, from one to fifteen pounds weight, and that he learned from the Indians that it existed in abundance in the interior of the east main.

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Sir Alexander Mackenzie, in the course of his journeys to the Arctic sea and the Pacific ocean, in 1789 and 1793, respectively, saw "beautiful pieces of variegated marble, found on the surface of the earth by the Chepewyan Indians, which is easily worked, bears a fine polish, hardens with time, and bears heat." This marble he saw in the country between the sixtieth and sixty-fifth parallels. 'Among the stony flake-like slate," on the banks of the Mackenzie, he discovered "pieces of petroleum, which bears a resemblance to yellow wax,” and the Indians informed him that "rocks of a similar kind were scattered about the country at the back of Slave lake, where the Chepewyans collect copper." All the Indians whom he met had either copper or iron tops to their spears, and near the river of Bear lake he met with lumps of iron ore and springs of mineral water. Along the course of the Mackenzie, as far as 66° north latitude, and also in the Rocky mountains in 56° north latitude and 120°

west longitude he discovered coal and bitumen, and on the Peace river, a southwestern branch of the Mackenzie, he discovered several salt springs.

During the first and second expedition which he commanded along the Arctic shores of the continent and among its islands, Parry found, at Melville island, flint, coal, ironstone, madrepore, and sand of a greenish color; at Southampton island, a quantity of magnetic ironstone; near Lyon inlet, epidote; at Red Point, lapis ollaris and a piece of asbestos; at Rendezvous island, rose quartz, ledum palustre, ironstone, and graphite; along most of the beaches, rocks absolutely studded with garnets of a clear and brilliant color; at Winter island, several fine specimens of madrepore, some curious pieces of steatite, (soapstone,) fine specimens of asbestos and octynolite; on the mainland, opposite to Bouverie island, some verdigris substance among reddish sandstone, variegated with serpentine; and at Liddon island a species of ironstone, which, from its weight, appeared to be a rich ore, a good deal of asbestos, black slate, and indications of coal.

During his second voyage for the discovery of the northwest passage, Sir John Ross observed copper ore and agate at Agnew river, and gypsum, red marl, a rock studded with garnets, and white, pink, and yellow quartz, at Elizabeth harbor.

Franklin and Richardson, in their joint expeditions through the heart of the territory and along its Arctic shores, discovered, on the banks of Hill river, beds of quartz rocks containing precious garnets, also mica slate; at Knee lake, primitive greenstone with disseminated iron pyrites; at Trout river, magnetic iron ore and well crystalized precious garnets; at Lake Winnipeg, a beautiful china-like chert, and "arenaceous deposits and rocks having a close resemblance to those of Pigeon bay, of Lake Superior, where argentiferous veins occur;" at Cumberland House, on the Saskatchewan, salt and sulphur springs and coal; at Elk river, bitumen in such quantity as to flow in streams from fissures in the rock; upon the shores of Lake Athabasca, the finest plumbago and chlorite slate.

In a letter addressed to Sir R. Murchison, Sir John Richardson says that "towards the mouth of the Coppermine river there are magnificent ranges of trap, with ores of lead and copper, including much malachite." He also states that a rolled piece of chromate of iron was picked up there," which is a mineral very valuable on account of the beautiful pigments which are manufactured from it." From the Rocky mountains Sir John Richardson obtained a specimen of a pearl-grey semi-opal, resembling obsidian; also some plumbago and specular iron. Referring to the country about Slave river, he says: "The great quantity of gypsum in immediate connexion with extremely copious and rich salt springs, and the great abundance of petroleum in this formation, together with the arenaceous, soft, marly, and brecciated beds of dolomite, and, above all, the circumstance of the latter being by far the most common and extensive rock in the deposit led me to think that the limestone of the Elk and Slave rivers was equivalent to the sechstein of the continental geologists." The salt springs, situated further to the south, from which large quantities of pure common salt are deposited, Sir John Richardson classes as belonging to the celebrated Onondago salt group of the New York Helderberg series. By Sir William Logan's report it appears that from the latter springs "no less than 3,134,317 bushels of salt were profitably manufactured in 1851." From the many valuable salt springs which exist throughout the Hudson bay territory the finest salt could be obtained, which article would of itself become a considerable source of wealth were the country occupied by settlers in any number, and were the valuable and varied fisheries of its coast and rivers prosecuted to any extent.

The following are some of the specimens which were collected by Captain Back in his journey from Great Slave lake, down the Great Fish river, to the Arctic sea, in 1834: Loose worn pebbles of blueish-gray chalcedony, brown

jasper, and fragments of a conglomerate, consisting of portions of reddish jasper, flinty slate, and quartz of various hues of gray and brown, a variegated marl of a greenish-gray color.

Of the mineral wealth of a large portion of the territory Sir John Richardson thus speaks in general terms, in a communication published in the Journal of the Geographical Society for 1845: "The countries, by the expeditions of Sir John Franklin and Captain Back, are rich in minerals; inexhaustible coal fields skirt the Rocky mountains through twelve degrees of latitude; beds of coal crop out to the surface on various parts of the Arctic coast; veins of lead ore traverse the rocks of Coronation Gulf, and the Mackenzie river flows through a well-wooded tract, skirted by metalliferous ranges of mountains, and offers no obstruction to steam navigation for upwards of twelve hundred miles.”

The gold discoveries in the ranges of the Rocky mountains are so remarkable as to require a separate consideration at a later stage of this report.

PART II.

THE HISTORY AND ORGANIZATION OF THE HUDSON BAY COMPANY.

It has already been shown that the Hudson Bay Company no longer holds a license of exclusive trade with the Indians in Northwest British America. This expired in June, 1859, and Sir E. B. Lytton, then colonial secretary, interposed to prevent its renewal. Upon the Pacific coast and in the valley of the Mackenzie the company has no privileges over individuals, either in respect to trade or territorial dominion. A proprietary right to the scattered trading posts, as inclosures of land, will doubtless be recognized as surveys are extended.

Over the shores of the Hudson bay and the districts drained by all its tributaries the company claims exclusive proprietary right-to be absolute lord of the soil. I annex an abstract of the royal charter, which is the foundation of this claim to the country, known as Rupert's Land or Hudson Bay Territory.

The company's charter of incorporation is dated May 2, 1670, in the 22d year of King Charles the Second. It is given at length in the Parliamentary paper No. 547, sess. 1842. The preamble states that certain persons, seventeen in number, to wit, Prince Rupert, Christopher, (Duke of Albermarle,) William, (Earl of Craven,) Henry Lord Arlington, Antony Lord Ashley, Sir John Robinson, Sir Robert Vyner, Sir Peter Colleton, Sir Edward Hungerford, Sir Paul Kneele, Sir John Griffith, Sir Philip Carteret, James Hayes, John Kirke, Francis Millington, William Prettyman, and John Fenu, esquires, and John Portman, citizen and goldsmith, "have, at their own cost and charges, undertaken an expedition to Hudson bay, in the northwest part of America, for the discovery of a new passage into the South sea, and for the finding of some trade for furs, minerals, and other considerable commodities; and by such their undertaking have already made such discoveries as to encourage them to proceed further in pursuance of their said design, by means whereof there may probably arise a very great advantage to us and our kingdom;" and had therefore petitioned for a charter of incorporation. On these considerations, his Majesty "being desirous" to promote all endeavors tending to "THE PUBLIC GOOD," proceeds to incorporate the persons aforesaid under the title of "The governor and company of adventurers of England trading into Hudson bay," with "perpetual succession" and all customary corporate privileges, appointing Prince Rupert the first governor thereof, and seven of the other petitioners the first

committee."

The charter confers the "sole trade and commerce of all those seas, straits, bays, rivers, lakes, creeks, and sounds, in whatsoever latitude they shall be, that lie within the entrance of the straits commonly called Hudson's straits, together with all the lands and territories, coasts and confines of the seas, bays,

lakes, rivers, creeks, and sounds aforesaid, that are not already actually possessed by or granted to any of our subjects, or possessed by the subjects of any other Christian prince or State."

In a subsequent part of the charter the grant is extended to " 'all havens, bays, creeks, rivers, lakes, and seas, into which they (the company) shall find entrance or passage by water or land, out of the territories, limits, or places aforesaid," which, taken literally, may mean not only the whole continent of America, but the whole world, or at least such portions of both as were not "possessed by the subjects of any other Christian prince or state." All the earth was clearly accessible by land or water from Hudson bay. Coupled with the grant there was the reservation that the territories should "be from henceforth reckoned and reputed as one of our plantations or colonies in America, called Rupert's Land," but the governor and company for the time being, and in all time, were declared to be "true and absolute lords and proprietors of the same territory," holding it as the "manor of East Greenwich," and paying for it yearly "two elks and two black beavers, whensoever and as often as we, our heirs and successors, shall happen to enter" into the said countries, territories, and regions hereby granted.

The authority of the company rests upon this charter, but in 1690 the company sought for and obtained an act of Parliament to confirm it. In the body of this act the confirmation is "forever;" but whilst the bill was passing through Parliament the Commons limited it to "ten years," the Lords to "seven;" and the bill ultimately passed with the following rider: "Provided always, That this act shall continue in force for the term of seven years, and from thence to the end of the next session of Parliament, and no longer."

At the end of the seven years the company introduced a new bill, but, apprehending a defeat, withdrew it; and from that day to this it has relied solely for all its assumed territorial and trading rights over Rupert's Land to its original charter.

The claim of England to Hudson bay was founded upon a presumed discovery of Henry Hudson, who, in 1610, was the first navigator that sailed into the strait that leads into the bay. It does not appear that he sailed into the bay, for his crew, having mutinied, cast him adrift somewhere in the entrance of the strait, and he was never again heard of. The French, however, according to Charlevoix, vol. 1, page 476, had discovered Hudson bay at an earlier period, having arrived at its shores through means of the river flowing into James's bay from the countries lying to the eastward and northward of Quebec. And the French had likewise penetrated, by means of the St. Lawrence and the great lakes, to those vast countries lying to the westward of Hudson bay, and even as far as the Pacific. At all events, the French, at a very early day, exercised a control and had acquired possession of the entire Winnipeg basin. In 1626 Louis XIII granted a charter to a company called the Company of New France, conferring upon them exclusive rights and privileges, and giving them an absolute control over all the country of New France, called Canada, (dite Canada,) and the boundaries decided in that act or charter are definite, certain, and explicit, and are almost precisely those by which the Hudson Bay Company describe what they call their territories in more recent times. In 1670, forty-three years subsequent to the grant of the French monarch, and whilst France continued in the possession of Hudson bay and all the country west of it, Charles the Second of England made the great charter already mentioned.

The geographical knowledge of Charles, though very limited and imperfect as regards those straits, was evidently not so circumscribed but that some idea existed that they might lead to the possession of some other power, for a proviso exists in the charter excluding from the operations of the grant "all lands, &c., possessed by the subjects of any other Christian prince or state." The

company, however, acting under the charter, built forts on the shores of Hudson bay, in opposition to those erected by the French company, and the trade of the two was conducted amid a continual strife, and flourished until, by the treaty of Ryswick, in 1697, the English forts in Hudson bay were ceded to France. Bancroft, in his history of the United States, thus records the result of that treaty:

"In America, France retained all Hudson bay and all the places of which she was in possession at the beginning of the war; in other words, with the exception of the eastern moiety of Newfoundland, France retained the whole coast and adjacent islands from Maine to beyond Labrador and Hudson bay, besides Canada and the valley of the Mississippi."—(Vol. 2, page 192.)

As the treaty alluded to makes no allusion or reservation regarding the supposed rights of the Hudson Bay Company, it is urged by Canadians that the charter really had no existence legally, and was not recognized, or it was abrogated by the treaty. France held Hudson bay until 1714, when, by the treaty of Utrecht, Hudson's straits and Hudson bay were made over to England, and that was the first time that she acquired an undisputed right to that region of country, nearly half a century after the date of the charter by Charles II.

It was, however, provided by the articles of this last mentioned treaty, "That it shall be entirely free to the company of Quebec, and all the other subjects of the most Christian king, to go by land or by sea whithersoever they please out of the lands of the said bay, together with all their goods, merchandise, arms, and effects."

The French traders, after having left Hudson bay, confined themselves to that channel of trade which the great lakes opened out to them, and passing up through Lake Superior they spread themselves over the country westward, by establishing posts at Rainy lake, the upper Mississippi, the Red river, and on the Assinniboin and Saskatchewan rivers. The Hudson Bay Company then occupied the few forts along the shores of Hudson bay, and for the succeeding one hundred years contented themselves with trading around Hudson bay, and claiming no greater territory than those shores afforded them. In 1763 Canada was ceded to England.

About three years subsequent to the conquest, namely, in 1766, many British subjects, mostly of Scotch origin, engaged in the fur trade, and following the route pursued by the French traders carried their enterprises as far westward as the French had penetrated, and occupied many of the posts of these their predecessors in the valley of the Saskatchewan. And they even stretched away northward, and single-handed entered into direct competition with the Hudson Bay Company, which at that period confined their traffic to the coasts of Hudson bay only.

These circumstances were instrumental in originating a powerful organization in Montreal, under the style of the Northwest Company, in the winter of 1783, and from that date down to 1821 that company successfully competed against the Hudson Bay Company, treating the charter of Charles the Second as a nullity, in accordance with the written legal opinions of the then leading lawyers of England, Brougham, Gibbs, Spankie, Piggot, &c., &c.

The Northwest Company was not a chartered one, but as the successors to the old French traders they pursued a very lucrative trade throughout the whole western country, via the lakes, trading to the shores of the Pacific, and penetrating to regions which the French had not reached. Their fleets of canoes, laden with goods for the Indians, or furs for Montreal, traversed the continent in every direction through the connected chain of rivers and lakes from Montreal to Puget's sound. A perusal of Sir Alexander Mackenzie's voyages will afford some idea of the scale upon which the commercial enterprises of the Canadian company were carried on over the western part of the continent for nearly half a century, before the Hudson Bay Company entered there. This latter