BULLETIN OF THK UNITED STATES GEOLOGICAL SURVEY No. 6 ELEVATIONS IN THE DOMINION OF CANADA WASHINGTON GOVERNMENT PRINTING OFFICE 1884 ADVERTISEMENT (Bulletin 6.) The publications of the United States Geological Survey are issued in accordance with the statute, approved March 3, 1879, which declares that "The publications of the Geological Survey shall consist of the annual report of operations, geological and economic maps illustrating the resources and classifications of the lands, and Reports upon general and economic geology and paleontology. The annual report of operations of th^e Geological Survey shall accompany the annual report of the Secretary of the Interior. All special memoirs and reports of said Survey shall he issued in uniform quarto series if deemed necessary by the Director, but other­ wise in ordinary octavos. Three thousand copies of each shall be published for scientific exchanges and for sale at the price of publication; and all literary and cartographic materials receivt?d in exchange shall be the property of the United States and form a part of the library of the organization. And the money resulting from the sale of such publications shall be covered into the Treasury of the United States." ANNUAL REPORTS. From the above it will he seen that only the Annual Reports, which form parts of the reports of the Secretary of the Interior and are printed as executive documents, are available for gratuitous dis­ tribution. A number of these are furnished the Survey for its exchange list, but the bulk of them are supplied directly, through the document rooms of Congress, to members of the Senate and House. Except, therefore, in those cases in which an extra number is supplied to this office by special resolu­ tion, application must be made to members of Congress for the Annual Reports, as for all other executive documents. Of these Annuals there have been already published: I. First Annual Report to the Hon. Carl Schurz, by Clarence King. 1880. 8°. 79 pp. 1 map. A pre­ liminary report describing plan of organization and publications. II. Report of the Director of the United States Geological Survey for 1880-'81, by J. W. Powell. 1882. 8° Iv, 588 pp. 61 pi. 1 map. III. Third Annual Report of the United States Geological Survey, 1881-'82, by J. "W. Powell. 1883. 8°. xviii, 564 pp. 67 pL and maps. IV. Fourth Annual Report of the United States Geological Survey, 1882-'83, by J. "W. Powell. 1884. 8°. xii, 473 pp. 85 pi. and maps. No copies of the Fourth Annual have as yet been ordered by Congress for distribntion by the Geo­ logical Survey.. MONOGRAPHS. The Monographs of the Survey are printed for the Survey alone, and can be distributed by it only through a fair exchange for books needed in its library, or through the sale of those copies over and above the number needed for such exchange. They are not for gratuitous distribution. So far as already determined upon, the list of these Monographs is as follows: I. The Precious Metals, by Clarence King. In preparation. II. Tertiary History of the Grand Canon District, with atlas, by Capt. C. E. Button. Published. HI. Geology of the Comstock Lode and Washoe District, with atlas, by George F. Becker. Published. IV. Comstock Mining and Miners, by Eliot Lord. In prees. V. Copper-bearing Rocks of Lake Superior, by Prof. R. D. Irving. In press. VI. Older Mesoeoic Flora of Virginia, by Prof. William M. Fontaine. In press. VII. Silver-lead Deposits of Eureka, Nevada, by Joseph S. Curtis. In press. VIII. Paleontology of the Eureka District, Nevada, by Charles D. Walcott. In press. Geology and Mining Industry of Leadville, with atlas, by S. V. Emmons. In preparation. Geology of the Eureka Mining District, Nevada, with atlas, by Arnold Hague. In preparation. Coal of the United States, by Prof. R. Pumpelly. In preparation. Iron in the United States, by Prof. R. Pumpelly. In preparation. Lesser Metftls and General Mining Resources, by Prof. R. Pumpelly. In preparation. Lake Bonneville, by G. K. Gilbert. In preparation. Dinocerata. A monograph on an extinct order of Ungulates, by Prof. O. C. Marsh. In press. Sauropoda, by Prof. O. C. Marsh. In preparation. Stegosanria, by Prof. 0. C. Marsh. In preparation. Of these Monographs, Nos. LT, HI, and IV are now published, viz: £2305 ADVERTISEMENT. n. Tertiary History of the Grand Cafion District, -with atlas, by C. E. Button, Capt. U. S. A. 1882. 4°. 264 pp., 42 pL and atlas of 26 doable sheets folio. Price $10.12. HI. Geology of the Comstock Lode and Washoe District, with atlas, by George F. Becker. 1882. 4°. 422 pp. 7 pi. and atlas of 21 sheets folio. Price $11. IV. Comstock Mining and Miners, by Eliot Lord, 1883. 4°. 451 pp. 3 pi. Price $1.50. Nos. V, VI, Vll, and VIII are in press and will appear in quick succession. The others, to which numbers are not assigned are in preparation. BULLETINS. The Bulletins of the Survey will contain such papers relating to the general purpose of its work as do not properly come tinder the heads of ANNUAL REPORTS or MONOGRAPHS. Each of these Bulletins will contain but one paper and be complete in itself. They will, however be numbered in a continuous series, and will in time be united into volumes of convenient size. To facilitate this each Bulletin will have two paginations, one proper to itself and another which belongs to it as part of the volume. Of this series of Bulletins, Nos. 1, 2, 3, 4,5, and 6 are akeady published, viz: . 1. On Hypersthene-Andesite and on Triclinic Pyroxene in Augitic Rocks, by Whitman Cross, with a Geological Sketch of Buffalo Peaks, Colorado, by S. F. Emmons. 1883. 8°. 42 pp. 2 pi. Price 10 cents. 2. Gold and Silver Conversion Tables, giving the coining value of Troy ounces of fine metal, &c., by Albert "Williams, jr. 1883. 8°. 2p.l. 8pp. Price 5 cents. 3. On the Fossil Faunas of the Upper Devonian, along the meridian of 76° 30', from Tompkins County, New York, to Bradford County, Pennsylvania, by Henry S. "Williams. 1884. 8°. 31 pp. Price 5 cents. 4. On Mesozoic Fossils, by Charles A. White. 1884. 8°. 36 pp. 9 pi. Price 5 cents. 5. A Dictionary of Altitudes in the United States, by Henry Gannett. 1884. 8°. 325 pp. Price 20 cents. 6. Elevations in Canada, by J. W. Spencer, 1884. 8°. pp. Price 5 cents. Nos. 7 and 8 are in press. STATISTICAL PAPEES. A fourth series of publications having special reference to the mineral resources of the United States is contemplated. Of that series the first has been published, viz: Mineral Resources of the United States, by Albert Williams, jr. 1883. 8°. xvii, 813 pp. Price 50 cents. Correspondence relating to the publications of the Survey, and all remittances which must be by postal note or money order should be addressed to the DlBECTOR OF THE TJNITBD STATES GEOLOGICAL SUBVEY, Washington, D. O. WASHINGTON, D. C., June 15,1881. DEPARTMENT OF THE INTEBIOB BULLETIN OF THE UNITED STATES GEOLOGICAL SURVEY . No. 6 WASHINGTON GOVERNMENT FEINTING OFFICE 1884 UNITED STATES GEOLOGICAL SUEVEY J. W. POWELL DIRECTOR ELEVATIONS IN THE DOMINION OF CANADA BY J. W. SPENCER WASHINGTON GOVERNMENT PRINTING OFFICE 1884 LETTER OF TBANSMITTAL. COLUMBIA, Mo., January, 1884. SIB : I have the honor herewith of transmitting to you, for publica­ tion, almost all of the more important elevations in the provinces of On­ tario and Quebec, in Canada, which have been ascertained by railway a/nd canal surveys, completed at the close of the year 1882. Especially in the region between the Great Lakes is the record nearly complete. I have the honor, sir, to be your obedient servant, J. W. SPBFOBE. Hon. J. W. POWELL, Director of the United States Geological Survey. (455) PEEFACE. The knowledge of accurate levels in the study of many geological problems is growing to be as necessary as the balance has been in chemi­ cal science. In my various studies of the " Geology of the Eegion about the Western End of Lake Ontario," the necessity of having accurate alti­ tudes compelled me to collect many railway levels, and often to ascer­ tain the altitudes of other points myself. The result was that between 1876 and 1882 I had collected, with much trouble, the altitudes of all the railroads whose profiles were in existence. Owing to the fact that many of the smaller roads had been constructed independently, and subsequently united with larger organizations, it not infrequently hap­ pened that their profiles were buried away in some obscure office, or even altogether lost. The elevation of Lake Erie above Lake Ontario, by the levels of-the Welland Canal, is 326.75 feet. The United States Lake Survey's deter­ mination of the height of Lake Erie above mean ocean level is 572.86 feet Subtracting the one from the other, the elevation of Lake Ontario above mean ocean level would be 246.11 feet. The elevation of Lake Ontario, given by the United States Lake Survey, is 246.61 feet above mean ocean level. _T The Canadian survey levels have been referred to either Lake On­ tario, to Lake Erie, or to Lake Saint Peter. The latter is an expansion of the Saint Lawrence Biver, to which high tide reaches, and its mean level is 11 feet above the mean level of the ocean. Since these tables were compiled in 1882, the Grand Trunk Railway Company has absorbed the Great Western Eailway and most of the other. Canadian lines, but their original names are everywhere retained as divisions or branches of the Grand Trunk Eailway.