Robert Abraham (August 14, 1804 - November 10, 1854): Medical Doctor, Writer, Editor, Lawyer: The first to report on the tracks we now call Protichnites

 In my August 29, 2013 blog posting entitled “Abraham, Logan and Owen: The Discovery of the First Protichnites trackways " I described the first reporting of  trackways at Beauharnois, Quebec by Robert Abraham in an 1847 edition of the Montreal Gazette newspaper, and Logan’s and Owen’s subsequent descriptions of the trackways in scientific journals.  I also  provided a few details on Robert Abraham life.   In this posting I will provide additional details on Robert Abraham.

GEOLOGICAL WRITINGS OF ROBERT ABRAHAM

In my earlier blog posting I provided extracts from  Robert Abraham’s 1851 article entitled

“Tracks of a Chelonian Reptile in the Lower Silurian formation, at Beauharnois” where he described finding the tracks at Beauharnois that we now call Protichnites. 

I was able to find only one other geological paper authored by Robert Abraham: a single page 1842 report entitled “Geology of the Ward of Allerdale above Derwent” which appeared in a book entitled ‘The History and Antiquities of Allerdale Ward, above Derwent, in the county of Cumberland’.  Allerdale Above Derwent lies within the Lake District National Park in Cumberland.  This is part of Robert Abraham’s submission:

      “ At the back of the Ward we find mountains of red granite. Gable is the centre, at the head of the valleys of Wasdale, Ennerdale, and Borrowdale, and the minor ones of Miterdale and Calder. In the depths of these valleys lie the lakes, cavities scooped out when the elevation of the mountains took place, and afterwards filled with water. Reposing on the granite are mountains of great elevation, of trap or primitive rocks. At the bases of these, climbing their sides, or occupying the valleys, we find the transition rocks, principally grauwacke and clay-slate. In the latter are found the minerals, namely calcareous and siliceous spars, and the ores of zinc, silver, lead, antimony, manganese, and other metals.

     Coming now to the secondary formations, we have first the blue or mountain limestone, full of marine remains, and rich in the hapatic iron ore. A broad belt of it extends from the Derwent to the Ehcn, namely from Cockermouth to Egremont. At the latter town it is lost, and is not seen again until we reach the other extremity of the Ward, the borders of the Duddon, near Broughton in Furness.

     The next formation is the coal measures, which in various degrees of productiveness occupies the whole country from the limestone to the sea under which it dips, from the Derwent to Whitehaven. This formation contains the gray iron ore, plastic clay, and ferruginous shale.

     To the southwest of Whitehaven, at St. Bees head, we find the new red sandstone with gypsum and magnesian limestone, overlying the coal measures, which are thrown down ninety fathoms and cut off by dykes injected with trap or basalt from beneath.”

As Robert Abraham was a medical graduate of Edinburgh University it is not surprising that he had more than a basic understanding of geology, as  other medical graduates of Edinburgh University contributed to the geological knowledge of Canada during the 1800's, include Dr. James Wilson, Dr. Andrew Fernando Holmes and Dr. Bigsby (see my blog postings).  It is also worth noting that William Logan enrolled at Edinburgh University as a medical student,  did  well scholastically, but left after a year to work.

DETAILS OF ROBERT ABRAHAM’S LIFE

Robert Abraham was  born at Penrith, Cumbria, England on August 14, 1804.   He was the eldest son of  Thomas Abraham and  Orpah Abraham (née Clarke).    Robert Abraham had a sister Mary, a brother John born in 1813 who was a distinguished  pharmaceutical chemist in Liverpool, and five other siblings who died in infancy.  Robert Abraham’s father is reported to have worked as an accountant and also as a schoolmaster.  Interestingly, Robert’s brother John Abraham was arguably even more  accomplished than his brother.   Amongst other things John was founder of the Liverpool  Naturalists’ Field Club,  president of the Liverpool Microscopical Society, was involved in forming the Gallery of Inventions and Science in connection with the Free Library and Museum, and helped found  Liverpool’s School of Pharmacy (see Cox, 2019).

Robert Abraham’s father Thomas Abraham was  born in Seaton, Cumberland in England.    In 1803 in Penrith, Cumberland, Thomas Abraham married Orpah Clarke.   Thomas outlived his eldest son Robert, and died in Carlisle in 1861, aged 91, having lived his whole life in Cumberland.   Robert Abraham’s mother died at Carlisle in 1833.

Robert Abraham married Sarah Seed, but I have not been able to determine the date of the wedding.  When Robert Abraham  died at Montreal, Canada on November 10, 1854 he left a widow (assumed to be Sarah), and no children. 

Robert Abraham studied medicine at the University of Edinburgh, starting his studies in 1823, and graduating in 1825.  He was a Member of the London College of Physicians and a practicing surgeon, first at Guy's Hospital in London, then at Carlisle in Cumberland.   The dates on articles that he published in medical journals suggest that the practiced medicine from at least 1825 to 1827.    One source says that he gave up his practice in Carlisle as a qualified medical man to edit the Whitehaven Herald  which suggests that he practiced medicine only from 1825 to 1831.   However, his obituary notice in The Farmer’s Journal mentions that he  practiced his medical profession  during his time in Whitehaven.

 Robert Abraham  was the first editor of the Whitehaven Herald, with issue one published on August 30, 1831.  The newspaper is said to have been started at the time of passing of the Reform Act (that expanded voting privileges and reapportioned constituencies to address the unequal distribution of seats) to counter the influence of the Lowther family in Cumberland.   Robert Abraham remained  editor of Whitehaven Herald newspaper for five and a half years, leaving on  March 14, 1837, when he published a farewell (valedictory) letter to readers.      He later worked as medical editor of a Liverpool newspaper.   I have not been able to determine whether he practiced medicine in Liverpool.

About 1843, Robert Abraham came to Canada, where he became the proprietor and editor of the Montreal Gazette newspaper.  He is credited with being the first to issue daily issues of the Gazette, which he introduced in 1844 during the summer months, the time of peak commercial activity.    His connection with the Gazette continued until December, 1848, when he disposed of the paper to Mr. Ferres, and retired from its management.  

In 1849 he became senior editor of the Transcript, also a Montreal paper, and the first editor of a Lower Canada agricultural journal, which was known as the Agricultural journal and Transactions of the Lower Canada Agricultural Society from 1948 to 1952 and as The Farmer's Journal and Transactions of the Lower Canada Board of Agriculture starting in 1953.   An obituary notice for Robert Abraham appears in the December, 1854 edition of The Farmer’s Journal, and is repeated with few changes in the January, 1855 edition of The Canadian Agriculturist.  That obituary notice mentions that Mr. Abraham,  “who has conducted the Farmer’s Journal from its commencement, and who gave in its pages such earnest evidence of his deep seated interest in agricultural pursuits, ... was born, in the fine grazing and agricultural county of Cumberland . ... Mr. Abraham was originally a man of robust and herculean frame, and was famous as a young man for excelling in all the manly and athletic sports and, exercises, which prevail in the rural districts of the northern counties of England.”

Interestingly, Robert Abraham  was editor of both the Whitehaven Herald and the Montreal Gazette for under six years, about the same amount of time that he would have edited a Liverpool journal, and the period of time he edited the Montreal Transcript and The Farmer’s Journal.

Robert Abraham was called as an advocate to the Bar of Lower Canada on May 10, 1849.    In 1849 he published a well researched and informative legal booklet entitled “Some remarks upon the French tenure of "franc aleu roturier", and on its relation to the feudal and other tenures.”   In 1851 he was appointed as assistant solicitor of Montreal by the municipal council, under pressure from English speaking members, to assist Toussaint Peltier, a high profile French speaking lawyer.    His appointment has been criticized by Beullac and Surveyer (1949) in their history of the bar in Quebec who commented that Abraham’s work as editor was poor preparation for the Bar. 

 Penrith where Robert Abraham was born is a market town in Cumbria, England. It is less than 3 miles (5 km) outside the Lake District National Park and about 17 miles (27 km) south of Carlisle.  It is about 180 km (110 miles) south of Edinburgh, Scotland, and 170 km (105 miles) north of Liverpool.   Whitehaven is a town and port in Cumberland near the Lake District National Park.   By road Whitehaven is 38 miles (61 km) south-west of Carlisle.  London is 460 km (290miles) south of Penrith.   Montreal is 5,200 km (3,300 miles)  from Penrith.  I mention those places and distances  as they were all mentioned in this post.

In my August 29, 2013 blog posting I mentioned that in the notice of Robert Abraham's passing the Gazette highlighted his editorial writing, but also mentioned:  “As a geologist and naturalist (particularly in his favourite branch of Natural History, Entomology) he had few equals in Canada– perhaps no superior on this continent.”   The obituary notice for Robert Abraham that appeared in Montreal’s ‘la Minerve’ newpaper mentions “Il était excellent géologue ; comme naturaliste, on va même jusquà dire qu’il n'avait peût-être pas de supérieur en Amérique.”  Which translates as ‘He was an excellent geologist; as a naturalist, some would even say that he perhaps had no equal in America.’    

MEDICAL WRITING OF ROBERT ABRAHAM

Robert Abraham published four articles in medical journals:

1825– A Case of Sanguineous Apoplexy, in The Edinburgh Journal of Medical Science,

1826– On the influence of civilization on the progressive increase of, certain diseases, in The Edinburgh Journal of Medical Science;  

1827– On Medicines of whose immediate action we are conscious, in The Edinburgh Journal of Medical Science; and , 

1827– Description of an Acephalous Foetus, in the London Medical and Surgical Journal. 

The first and fourth would be considered scientific, while the second and third are more philosophical than scientific.   Only the first and fourth are mentioned in summaries of his life and accomplishments.

The University of Edinburgh  has in its collection an unpublished manuscript dated 1825 by Robert Abraham entitled  "An Enquiry into the Elements of General Therapeutics, with Special Illustrations, to which is prefixed an Essay on the Nature Value and Utility of Theory".   I suspect, based on the introduction to the third published paper above,  that it was taken from this unpublished manuscript, as it is said to be “detached from a larger and systematic work on the operations of medicines.”  

As Robert Abraham was editor of the Whitehaven Herald newspaper for close to six years ending March 14, 1837,  medical editor of a Liverpool newspaper, possibly from 1837 to 1843, editor of the Montreal Gazette newspaper from 1844 to 1848, editor of the Montreal Transcript newspaper from 1849 to 1854, and editor of  The Farmer's Journal from 1948 to 1954,  I assume that there are numerous medical articles that might be found by a diligent sleuth.   For example, the January, 1848  issue of the Agricultural journal and transactions of the Lower Canada Agricultural Society contains a two page article on typhus, which I attribute to Robert Abraham.

 MCGILL UNIVERSITY ARCHIVES

McGill University’s Archives has copies of various letters that Robert Abraham wrote to and received from family members, letters and notices published in Newspapers, and documents relating to the sale of the Montreal Gazette.  See:

https://archivalcollections.library.mcgill.ca/index.php/correspondence-by-robert-abraham

The documents  include:

 - an obituary notice for Robert Abraham published in the Montreal Transcript on November 14, 1854

https://digitalarchives.library.mcgill.ca/RBSC/MSG1112/rbsc_msg1112_abraham-family-letters-folder35.pdf

- a letter that he wrote dated March 7, 1830 published in the Carlisle Journal dealing with staffing of surgeons at the Carlisle Dispensary and Infirmary

https://archivalcollections.library.mcgill.ca/index.php/letter-to-the-carlisle-journal-1830

- Robert Abraham’s valedictory letter dated March 14, 1837 addressed to readers published in The Whitehaven Herald

https://digitalarchives.library.mcgill.ca/RBSC/MSG1112/rbsc_msg1112_abraham-family-letters-folder26.pdf

- an issue of the Montreal Gazette, dated  August 26, 1843, edited by Robert Abraham

https://digitalarchives.library.mcgill.ca/RBSC/MSG1112/rbsc_msg1112_abraham-family-letters-folder27.pdf

-  an issue of the Montreal Gazette, dated October 16, 1848, edited by Robert Abraham

https://digitalarchives.library.mcgill.ca/RBSC/MSG1112/rbsc_msg1112_abraham-family-letters-folder29.pdf

- a letter dated November 9, 1849 From Robert Abraham to the Editor of the Montreal Courier, published in the November 12, 1849 edition of the  Evening Courier of Montreal, responding to innuendos raised against Robert Abraham in a pamphlet by Major MacDougall of the Royal Canadian Rifles, arising from the  cross-examination of MacDougall by Abraham in a matter relating to a duel

Christopher Brett

Ottawa, Ontario

REFERENCES, SELECTED BIBLIOGRAPHY AND SUGGESTED READING

Agricultural journal and transactions of the Lower Canada Agricultural Society

https://www.canadiana.ca/view/oocihm.8_04880

Anonymous, 1854   Mort d'un réducteur. [Translation: Death of a journalist,  la Minerve, 14 novembre 1854 [ an  obituary notice of the death of Robert Abraham that appeared in Montreal’s  French language newspaper la Minerve.]

https://numerique.banq.qc.ca/patrimoine/details/52327/4130267?docsearchtext=robert%20abraham

Anonymous, 1854  An untitled  obituary notice for Robert Abraham published in the Montreal Transcript on November 14, 1824

https://digitalarchives.library.mcgill.ca/RBSC/MSG1112/rbsc_msg1112_abraham-family-letters-folder35.pdf

Anonymous, December 1854  Robert Abraham Late Editor of the Farmer’s Journal.  The Farmer's Journal and Transactions of the Lower Canada Board of Agriculture, vol. 2, no. 8, pages 123- 124    https://www.canadiana.ca/view/oocihm.8_06434_20/4

Anonymous, December, 1854  a Notice of the death of Robert Abraham.  The Journal of Education for Upper Canada,  Volumes 7, No. 12, Page 200, 

 https://www.canadiana.ca/view/oocihm.8_06242_84/13

Anonymous, January, 1855   Robert Abraham Late Editor of the Farmer’s Journal.  The Canadian Agriculturist, and Journal of Transactions of the Board of Agriculture,  Volume 7, no. 1 (Jan. 1855), pages 30-31

https://www.canadiana.ca/view/oocihm.8_04016_73/37

Anonymous, 1963    The Macmillan dictionary of Canadian biography.  Publisher London : Macmillan ; New York : St Martin's.  Robert Abraham at Page 2 

https://archive.org/details/macmillandiction00wall/mode/2up

Anonymous, 2025 [?]  Abraham, Robert, fl 1823-1825 (Physician, journalist and lawyer; University of Edinburgh alumnus).  Archives Space at Edinburgh. University of Edinburgh Archive and Manuscript Collections   [fl: The floruit date refers to the time when the person was known to be active]

https://archives.collections.ed.ac.uk/agents/people/19648

 Abraham, Robert,  1825   A Case of Sanguineous Apoplexy.  The Edinburgh Medical and Surgical Journal, 1825 Oct 1; 24(85): 301–304. “By, Robert Abraham, Surgeon, and Member of the Physical Society of Guy’s Hospital.”  Dated at end “Worcester, March 14, 1825.”

  https://pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/articles/PMC5828725/

Abraham, Robert,  1826    On the influence of civilization on the progressive increase of, certain diseases, in The Edinburgh Journal of Medical Science, Vol. 1. 1826. No. 2. Apr. p. 347-53.

https://archive.org/details/edinburghjourna00unkngoog/page/847/mode/1up  

Abraham, Robert,  1827   On Medicines of whose immediate action we are conscious.  The Edinburgh Journal of Medical Science, Volume 6, pages 266-286  “By, Robert Abraham, Surgeon, Carlisle.”  Dated at end:  Carlisle, 1 October 1826.

https://archive.org/details/s1id13297170/page/266/mode/2up

Abraham, Robert,  1827  Description of an Acephalous Foetus, in London Medical and Surgical Journal , vol 57 (vol 2) 1827, No. 336 Feb p. 135-36   “By, Robert Abraham, Surgeon, Carlisle.”  Dated at end: Carlisle; December 15th, 1826 “

   https://pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/articles/PMC5674619

Abraham, Robert, 1842   Geology of the Ward of Allerdale above Derwent, page 446 in  The History and Antiquities of Allerdale Ward, above Derwent, in the county of Cumberland: with Biographical Notices and Memoirs, by  Jefferson, Samuel.  “Communicated by Mr. Robert Abraham, of Liverpool.”

https://archive.org/details/TheHistoryAndAntiquitiesOfAllerdaleWard/page/n485/mode/1up

Abraham, Robert 1849  Some Remarks upon the French Tenure of " Franc-Alleu Roturier," and on its relation to the Feudal and other Tenures,  Montreal: Armour and Ramsay.  pp. 81.    https://archive.org/details/cihm_22162

Abraham, Robert,  1851  Tracks of a Chelonian Reptile in the Lower Silurian formation, at Beauharnois.  The British American Medical & Physical Journal, Volume 7, No. 5,  pages 195-200

https://www.canadiana.ca/view/oocihm.8_05181_17/6?r=0&s=1

Beullac, Pierre et  Édouard Fabre Surveyer, 1949  Le centenaire du Barreau de Montréal, 1849-1949. Librairie Ducharme, Ltée., Montréal,     Page 22   https://numerique.banq.qc.ca/patrimoine/details/52327/3259522

Brett, Christopher P,  2013   Abraham, Logan and Owen: The Discovery of the First Protichnites trackways – Part 1; blog posting dated August 29, 2013 https://fossilslanark.blogspot.com/2013/08/abraham-logan-and-owen-discovery-of.html

Brett, Christopher P, 2017  Abraham, Logan and Owen: The Discovery of the First Protichnites trackways – Part 2, blog posting dated Monday, 4 September 2017;  https://fossilslanark.blogspot.com/2017/09/abraham-logan-and-owen-discovery-of.html

Brett, Christopher P, 2018  Where on the Internet to find Information on Sir William Edmond Logan, the First Director of the Geological Survey of Canada; blog posting dated Monday, 1 January 2018

https://fossilslanark.blogspot.com/2018/01

Brett, Christopher P, 2020  John Jeremiah Bigsby, M.D.(1792-1881) – Geologist, Physician, Entomologist, Author and Artist, blog posting dated Tuesday, 22 September 2020

https://fossilslanark.blogspot.com/2020/09

Collingwood, W. G. (Editor), 1866  Transactions of the Cumberland & Westmorland Antiquarian & Archaeological Society, VOLUME X.— NEW SERIES.   Robert Abraham At pages 335, 336.

https://archive.org/details/transactionsofcu10cumb_0/page/335/mode/1up

Cox, Norma, 2019  Four pharmacy education entrepreneurs in Victorian Britain: Robert Clay (1792- 1876), John Abraham (1813-1881), John Muter (1841-1911) and George Wills (1842-1932). Pharmaceutical Historian · 2019 · Volume 49/3, pages 74-82

https://www.ingentaconnect.com/content/bshp/ph/2019/00000049/00000003/art00002?crawler=true&mimetype=application/pdf

Creighton, Charles, 1891  A history of epidemics in Britain  

https://archive.org/details/historyofepidemi02crei/page/406/mode/2up

Foster, Joseph, 1871  A pedigree of the Forsters and Fosters, of the north of England, and of some of the families connected with them.    Robert Abraham, his parents and siblings at pages 10 and 19.  Place of publication not identified. Printed for private circulation. 

https://archive.org/details/pedigreeofforste00fost/page/n59/mode/2up  

 Gibb, G. Duncan (George Duncan), Sir, 1869  Discoveries in science by the medical philosopher: An oration delivered on the ninety-sixth anniversary of the Medical society of London, Monday, March 8th, 1869. London: Henry K. Lewis, 62 pages,  https://archive.org/details/b24882215/mode/2up 

Morgan,  Henry James, 1867   Bibliotheca Canadensis: Or, A Manual of Canadian Literature. G. E. Desbarats, Ottawa.        Robert Abraham at  Pages 4 and 5 

https://archive.org/details/bibliothecacana01morggoog/page/n20/mode/1up

p, Harriet   Sept., 2020  Cholera, flu, whooping cough: welcome to the 1830s, a blog posting on web site  Port Carlisle – a history built on hope

https://crimesofthecenturies.com/index.php/2020/09/27/cholera-flu-epidemics-1830s/

“In 1830s Cumbria (as the rest of Britain), epidemics/pandemics were a constant threat to life.... [it] …was a time of much sickness of other kinds — the Asiatic cholera of 1831-32, the influenza of 1831, 1833, and 1836-37, and the general unhealthiness of the year 1837.”

Ward, Thomas Humphry,  1885  Men of the reign; a biographical dictionary of eminent persons of British and colonial birth who have died during the reign of Queen Victoria; Publisher, G. Routledge and Son, London, New York;  Robert Abraham at page 2. https://archive.org/details/menofreignbiogra00wardrich/page/2/mode/1up

A Specimen of Eozoon Canadense at the Matheson House Museum in Perth, Ontario - Part 2

 For Dawson’s calm and steady hand

Is known feared by young and old. 

       Anonymous, 1869, extract from Eozöon canadense [ a Poem]

My  April 29, 2016 blog posting summarized the dispute as to whether Eozoön Canadense is organic (as claimed by Sir William Dawson, Sir William E.  Logan and  William B. Carpenter) or inorganic (as claimed by William King,  Thomas Rowney,  H. J. Carter, Otto Hahn,  Karl Möbius,  J. W. Gregory, and others). 

There are five main types of Eozoön Canadense (all from the Grenville province of the Precambrian Shield):

- the Burgess type, alternating bands of dark green serpentine with grains of spinel and thinner bands of grey dolomite,  from North Burgess, south of Perth, Ontario

- the Calumet type, alternating bands of a light grey clinopyroxene and bands of calcite,  from Grand Calumet along the Ottawa River

- the Côte St. Pierre type, alternating layers of white calcite and light green serpentine, from near Grenville, Quebec

- the Tudor type, parallel crescentic bands of calcite, from Tudor township in Hastings County, Ontario about 45 miles inland from the shore of Lake Ontario, in comparatively unaltered crystalline limestone

- the Huntingdon type, quartz bands alternating with bands of tremolite and calcite, from the Henderson Talc mine a few miles southeast of Madoc, in Huntingdon Township, Hastings County, Ontario

I concluded my 2016  blog posting by noting that “It was left to work in the early 1980's by Marika S. Bourque and other members of the Ontario Geological Survey to recognize and promote the Huntingdon type Eozoon, namely quartz bands alternating with bands of tremolite and calcite, from a few miles southeast of Madoc, and found in surrounding townships, as being of biogenic origin– silicified and recrystallized  algal colonies.    Bartlett and DeKemp (1987) comment “Eozoon canadense comprises several similar, but distinct morphologies.  A biogenic origin for one of these forms, the “huntingdon” type, has recently gained general acceptance, largely due to the contribution of M.S. Bourque to the present study.  This does not, however, imply an organic origin for the other Eozoon canadense forms...”   R. M. Easton (1992), relying on Bourque and deKemp, commented “Eozoon canadense huntingdon is an algal-laminate stromatolite.   Other E. canadense types, however, may not be biosedimentary in origin and should be regarded for the moment as pseudofossils...”  One is left to wonder whether the Tudor type is also a stromatolite.”

Surprisingly, Eozoon Canadense is back in the news.   Sendino ( 2021) discussed the curation and conservation of the The Carpenter Eozoon Collection at the Natural History Museum in London, England.   The collection consists of “a huge collection of rock samples from around the world containing Eozoon from which more than 1000 slides were made”, which was presented  to the British Museum (Natural History) in 1892.   She notes that “The Eozoon specimens were housed in William Carpenter’s private residence from his retirement in 1879 until his death in 1885. It is during this time when Carpenter devoted most of his time to his Eozoon Collection, working on a monograph, accumulating further material and making drawings to support his interpretation of this “fossil” as a foraminiferan.”   Sendino’s (2021) blog posting follows a paper by Sendino , Cuadros , Allington-Jones, Barnbrook (2015) which sets out that the Carpenter’s Eozoon Collection was "rediscovered" by staff of the Natural History Museum and that “the collection was found to be distributed in different buildings and contained in several cabinets. Part belonged to the Mineralogy Section and part to the Palaeontology Section, reflecting the early controversy over the inorganic vs. organic origin of Eozoon.”   The collection consists of “cavity slides, thin sections and hand samples.” Worth noting is that “Surface deterioration can be seen on the rock samples, which is probably related to the experimental decalcification of some specimens that were etched in acid to show their structure more clearly. ...   The Carpenter Eozoon Collection has not only suffered deterioration from general environmental conditions contributing to granular disintegration, but also from the accumulation of dust interacting with the decalcified specimens.”   Also worth noting is that “A search of all Carpenter's manuscripts, illustrations, and letters in the archives of the NHM UK revealed several volumes of illustrations and photographs of Eozoon” , including a volume of photographs of Eozoon taken by Charles Berjeau. 

Schwartz ( 2022) in her history of the use of photography in science in Canada, and the ways in which photography contributed to the creation and circulation of knowledge in mid-to-late nineteenth-century Canada, singled out Dawson for illustrating his 1864 paper on Eozoon Canadense  with a photograph of a specimen of Eozoon Canadense from Petite Nation Seigniory,  and subsequently incorporating photographs of specimens in his papers.

Walter Etter (2022),  Curator of Palaeontology at the Natural History Museum Basel, gave a short talk entitled ‘Eozoon and the strange case of Otto Hahn.’   Etter’s abstract states:   

 “ [Hahn] at first was a decided opponent of the organic theory. But just a few years later he made a complete turnaround. He interpreted the structures not as foraminifers but mostly as algae. Then he somehow lost the ordinary judgement. He started to see Eozoon-like structures everywhere, also in magmatic and metamorphic rocks, and later even in meteorites. He published two books on the subject, both richly illustrated with photographs and drawings, and described countless new species and named them e.g., after Reich Chancellor Otto Bismark, after Darwin, and even after the German Emperor Wilhelm. His theories had, not surprisingly, very few support, and then he somehow lost interest in the subject and emigrated to Canada.” 

Seven years ago when I came across  Otto Hahn’s publication on Eozoon – ‘Die Urzelle '–  I reached a different conclusion.  I viewed it as an over-the-top piece of satire, written to ridicule and criticize Dawson’s theories, rather than a serious scientific paper.   I don’t see how it can be taken as anything but satire even if it consists of 71 pages and 30 plates.  Dawson (1881), however,  missed the point and analyzed it as a scientific paper, concluding that Hahn’s paper lacked ‘any scientific value’.  King and Rowney (1881) comment that Dawson had wasted “some pages in fruitlessly criticizing  Otto Hahn's ‘Die Urzelle ' ” is apt.  Hahn’s publication was treated as an  “enormous joke” by an anonymous reviewer in the Popular Science Review, who noted  that “it has been treated as serious by several writers, both in Germany and in this country [England]; but it seems to be ironical throughout; and every one knows that of all figures of speech irony is the one which is least readily understood.” concluding “Dr. Hahn is not quite a Swift, and even the great Dean’s irony was not appreciated by everybody.”   (See Anonymous, 1880a).    Hahn’s paper was also recognized as satire by another reviewer who commented “Dr. Dawson also criticized at length a contribution by Dr. Otto Hahn to the literature of Eozoon, which he appears to have taken for a serious instead of ironical production.” (See Anonymous, 1880b).  

This year  Bechly (2023), Dolan (2023), O’Connor (2023) to varying degrees  reviewed the history of Eozoon Canadense up until O’Brien (1970) and Hofmann (1971)  and relied on  reviews such as Schopf (2000), Adelman ( 2007), Brasier (2009), Roosth (2018) to conclude that Eozoon is inorganic, without mentioning the work by the Ontario Geological Survey.    Further, it does not appear that any of Bechly (2023), Dolan (2023), O’Connor (2023) sectioned, analysed or looked closely at any specimen of Eozoon.  

What is needed is both [A] a careful review of the five  main types of Eozoon Canadense using modern techniques, as was recently done by Lee and Riding (2021) who looked at the  stromatolite Cryptozoön of upper New York State and concluded that it is a keratose sponge microbial consortium, and [B] a comparison of specimens and outcrops of Eozoon with examples of stromatolites found in the Grenville marbles of Ontario and Quebec.   I make that suggestion because photographs of stromatolites in Precambrian carbonates in peer-reviewed publications (e.g., see Wacey (2010), figure 7b, 7c; Hickman-Lewis,  Westall & Cavalazzi (2018)   Figs. 42.2 and 42.3:  finely laminated, carbonaceous, crinkly, nonisopachous horizons interpreted as microbial mats with flat-lying and microtufted morphologies)  look suspiciously like drawings and photographs of  specimens of Eozoon. 

Christopher Brett

Ottawa, Ontario

References and Suggested Reading

Adelman, Juliana, 2007:   Eozoön: debunking the dawn animal.  Endeavour Volume 31, Issue 3, September 2007, Pages 94-98    https://doi.org/10.1016/j.endeavour.2007.07.002

 Anonymous, 1869: Eozöon canadense [ a Poem], in Exeter Change for British Lions, at  Pages 24-25, Published for the Exeter Meeting of the  British Association for the Advancement of Science.  Edited by John C. Brough (alias, Snug the Joiner). London: Benjamin Pardon & Son, 32 pages  https://www.palaeopoems.com/palaeopoems/eozoon-canadense 

 https://www.google.ca/books/edition/Exeter_Change_for_British_Lions/EAABAAAAYAAJ

 Anonymous 1880a:  The Eozoon Question.  Popular Science Review, New Series, Volume IV, No. XIV, pages- 176 - 178   https://www.biodiversitylibrary.org/item/192451#page/198/mode/1up

Anonymous 1880b: Eozoon Canadense.  Journal of the Royal Microscopical Society, Volume III, 471-472   https://www.biodiversitylibrary.org/item/37125#page/527/mode/1up

Antcliffe, Jonathan and Nicola Mcloughlin, 2009:  Deciphering fossil evidence for the origin of life and the origin of animals: Common challenges in different worlds. From Fossils to Astrobiology pp 211–229  Cellular Origin, Life in Extreme Habitats and Astrobiology, vol 12. Springer, Dordrecht. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-4020-8837-7_10  available on https://www.researchgate.net

Bartlett, J .R.  and DeKemp , E. A., 1987: Lithofacies, Stromatolite Localities, Metallic Mineral Occurrences, and Geochemical Anomalies associated with Carbonate Metasediments of the Burleigh Falls-Bancroft-Madoc Area, Southern Ontario.  Ontario Geological Survey, Map. P.3079 

Bechly, Günter , 2023:  Fossil Friday: Eozoön, the Dawn Animal Fallen from Grace.  Blog posting dated July 21, 2023,

https://evolutionnews.org/2023/07/fossil-friday-eozoon-the-dawn-animal-fallen-from-grace/

Black, Riley, 2020: Why It's So Difficult to Find Earth's Earliest Life.  Smithsonian Magazine.

https://www.smithsonianmag.com/science-nature/earth-earliest-life-fossils-stromatolites-180974442/    [photo of Stromatolites at Strelley Pool chert (SPC) in Western Australia ]

Brasier, Martin D., 2009:   Setting the scene: milestones in the search for early life on earth. In Wacey, D., (ed.) Early Life on Earth, Springer, Berlin, pp 1-19.  https://link.springer.com/chapter/10.1007/978-1-4020-9389-0_1

https://www.academia.edu/440648/Milestones_in_the_Search_for_Early_Life_on_Earth

Bressanon, David, 2014: Charles Darwin and the Early Search for Extraterrestrial Life

https://blogs.scientificamerican.com/history-of-geology/charles-darwin-and-the-early-search-for-extraterrestrial-life/

Brett, Christopher P., 2016:  A specimen of Eozoon Canadense at the Matheson House Museum in Perth, Ontario.  Blog posting dated Friday, April 29,  2016

http://fossilslanark.blogspot.com/2016/04/

Dawson, J. William, 1881:  Notes on Recent Controversies respecting Eozoon Canadense. Canadian Naturalist, Vol. 9, pages 228 -240 https://www.biodiversitylibrary.org/item/32317#page/241/mode/1up 

Dolan, John R., 2023: The saga of the false fossil foram Eozoon.  European Journal of Protistology, Volume 87, February 2023, 125955  https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/abs/pii/S093247392200092X

https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ejop.2022.125955

Easton, R. M., 1992: The Grenville Province and Proterozoic History of Central and Southern Ontario, Chapter 19 in Geology of Ontario, Ontario Geological Survey Special Volume 4, Part 1, pages 715-904 at 796-797

Etter. Walter, 2022:  Eozoon and the strange case of Otto Hahn.  Abstract Volume, 20th  Swiss  Geoscience Meeting 18-20 November 2022, Lausanne.  Abstract 5.4 at page 180.

https://geoscience-meeting.ch/sgm2022/program/session-program/ 

Carter, T.R. 1984:  Metallogeny of the Grenville Province, Southeastern Ontario, Ontario Geological Survey Open File Report 5515, 422p., 58  figures, 35 tables, and 14 photos.

http://www.geologyontario.mndm.gov.on.ca/mndmfiles/pub/data/imaging/OFR5515//OFR5515.pDF

[Plate 10:  Fragment of a laminated, siliceous bed in dolomitic marble at the Madoc talc mine, in Madoc Township. It may represent a metamorphosed stromatolite.   Plate 11:  Laminated, siliceous rock at the Madoc talc mine that may be a metamorphosed stromatolite horizon. ]

Hahn, Otto, 1879:  Die Urzelle: Nebst dem Beweis, dass Granit, Gneiss, Serpetin, Talk, gewisse Sandsteine, auch Basalt, endlich Meteorstein und Meteoreisen aus Pflanzen bestehen: Die Entwicklungslehre durch Thatsachen neu begründet , 1879 – The Primordial Cell: In Addition to the Proof that Granite, Gneiss, Serpentine, Talc, certain Sandstones, including Basalt, finally Meteorite and Meteoric Iron Consists of Plants: The Development of Theory Newly Established by Facts, 71 pages, 30 plates

https://archive.org/details/dieurzellenebst00hahngoog/page/n9/mode/2up [in German]

Hickman-Lewis, Keyron & Westall, Frances & Cavalazzi, Barbara, 2018:  Traces of Early Life From the Barberton Greenstone Belt, South Africa.  In book: Earth's Oldest Rocks (pp.1029-1058) Publisher: Elsevier 10.1016/B978-0-444-63901-1.00042-3. 

[Figs. 42.2 and 42.3:  finely laminated, carbonaceous, crinkly, nonisopachous horizons interpreted as microbial mats with flat-lying and microtufted morphologies   ]

Hofmann, H. J., 1971:  Precambrian Fossils, Pseudofossils and Problematica in Canada,  Geological Survey of Canada, Bulletin 189, 146 pages

King, William and Rowney, Thomas Henry,  1881 : An Old Chapter of the Geological Record with a New Interpretation: Or, Rock-metamorphism (especially the Methylosed Kind) and Its Resultant Imitations of Organisms: With an Introduction Giving an Annotated History of the Controversy on the So-called "Eozoon Canadense," and an Appendix 

London: John Van Voorst,  https://books.google.ca/books?id=ocq7AAAAIAAJ

Lee, Jeong-Hyun and  Robert Riding, 2021:  The ‘classic stromatolite' Cryptozoön is a keratose sponge microbial consortium. Geobiology. 2021;19:189–198

https://robertriding.com/pdf/lee-riding-2021.pdf

https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/33325101/

O'Brien, Charles F., 1970: Eozoon Canadense "The Dawn animal of Canada", ISIS, A Journal of the History of Science Society, Volume 61, No. 2, 206-223

O'Connor, Alan,  2023:  Canadian Pseudo-fossil: This specimen was once thought to represent the earliest life on Earth. National Museum of Ireland website. https://www.museum.ie/en-IE/Collections-Research/Collection/Documentation-Discoveries/Artefact/A-Canadian-Pseudo-fossil/4272e35f-065a-4605-9be0-90a3404eada2

[Describes and includes a photograph of  specimen NMING:F582 in the National Museum that was donated by Dawson, from Petite Nation, Canada.]

Petryk,  Allen, A. 1991:  Remnant stromatolites and cross-bedding in upper amphibolite grade Grenvillian marble and quartzite, southern Labrador Trough, Quebec.  Program with Abstracts - Geological Association of Canada 16: 99

Rayne, Elizabeth, 2021:  Could Things That Look like Fossils Trick Us into Thinking There Was Once Life on Mars?  https://www.syfy.com/syfy-wire/even-if-mars-had-alien-life-these-fake-fossils-arent-it

Riding, Robert, 2011:  The Nature of Stromatolites: 3,500 Million Years of History and a Century of Research. Pages 29 - 74 in  Reitner et al., Advances in Stromatolite Geobiology, Lecture Notes in Earth Sciences 131, DOI 10.1007/978-3-642-10415-2_3,   # Springer-Verlag Berlin Heidelberg 2011

https://robertriding.com/pdf/riding2011kalkowsky.pdf

Roosth, Sophia  2018: The Shape of Life, an Essay in aeon

https://aeon.co/essays/the-shape-of-life-before-the-dinosaurs-on-a-strange-planet

Schopf, J.William,  2000:  Solution to Darwin's dilemma: Discovery of the missing Precambrian record of life. PNAS 97(13), 6947–6953. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1073/pnas.97.13.6947

Schwartz, Joan M.,  2022:  Photography: Science, Technology, and Practice in Nineteenth-Century Canada.  Scientia Canadensis Volume 44, Number 1, 2022

https://www.erudit.org/fr/revues/scientia/2022-v44-n1-scientia07177/1098144ar/

Sendino, Consuelo, 2021:  The Carpenter Eozoon Collection, linking curation and conservation.  Blog posting dated  October 10, 2021

https://naturalhistorymuseum.blog/author/conulariahomtailcom/

Sendino, M.C.,  Cuadros J., Allington-Jones L., Barnbrook J.A.,  2015:   Chemical Analysis of the Dust on a Historically Important Collection: The W. B. Carpenter Eozoon Collection at the Natural History Museum, London. Collections: A Journal for Museum and Archives Professionals, 11 (4): 291 – 304.

https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/10.1177/155019061501100403

https://go.gale.com/ps/i.do?p=AONE&u=googlescholar&id=GALE|A490768981&v=2.1&it=r&sid=AONE&asid=6d2733f3

Wacey, David, 2010:  Stromatolites in the ~3400 Ma Strelley Pool Formation, Western Australia: Examining Biogenicity from the Macro- to the Nano-Scale.  Astrobiology 10(4):381-95

DOI:10.1089/ast.2009.0423

Wilson, Mark 2011:  Wooster's "Fossil" of the Week: The most famous pseudofossil ever (Proterozoic of Canada). Wooster Geologists May 8, 2011. https://woostergeologists.scotblogs.wooster.edu/2011/05/08/wooster's-fossil-of-the-week-the-most-famous-pseudofossil-ever-proterozoic-of-canada/

[Includes a photograph of a specimen Eozoön canadense  - the holotype in the U.S. National Museum of Natural History ]

Geodiversity Day – October 6 – and Geoheritage Day – October 8 – in Eastern Ontario

 For over a decade the geology department at Carleton University and the Ottawa-Gatineau Geoheritage Project have held an annual Geoheritage Day celebrating the geoheritage of Ottawa and surrounding areas.   This year those of us in Eastern Ontario will  also be joining in celebrating International Geodiversity Day, a worldwide celebration, bringing people together on October 6 each year, to promote the many aspects of geodiversity.  International Geodiversity Day was proclaimed by UNESCO at the 41st General Conference in 2021 and this year will be celebrated at various locations in Europe, Asia, South America, North America and Zealandia   [See https://www.geodiversityday.org/ ].

In Ottawa the Department of Earth Sciences, Carleton University, in partnership with Ingenium (Canada’s Canada Agriculture and Food Museum, Canada Aviation and Space Museum and the Canada Science and Technology Museum), presents “Celebrating Geodiversity: The Critical Foundation for Diverse Ecosystems on a Changing Planet. ” This event will be held at the Canada Science and Technology Museum from 6:00 to 9:00pm, on Thursday, October 6th as well as on zoom, and will feature a talk by Carleton Earth Sciences Professor Emeritus Dr. Claudia Schröder-Adams about her research in Canada’s High Arctic.  Following that talk, Beth McLarty Halfkenny will be moderating a discussion with Dr. Claudia Schröder-Adams  and other panelists with expertise in biodiversity, local ecosystems, and water and mineral resources, to make connections between Canada’s  landscapes, ecosystems, and human societies.    For registration information for this free event in-person or virtually on Zoom visit:  Geodiversity Symposium: The Foundation for Diverse Ecosystems on a Changing Planet | Faculty of Science (carleton.ca) [  https://science.carleton.ca/geodiversity-symposium/ ]

Another online Geodiversity Day Zoom Presentation in Canada is on the Geodiversity of Percé UNESCO Global Geopark, Gaspé, Quebec.  Max Deck-Leger will give an online presentation about the evolution of life through the Geopark, as visible in the fossils found in our five distinct geological formations covering over 500 million years.   The event takes place on Thursday,  October 6,  2022, starting at 17:30   (GMT -5:00) Eastern Time (US & Canada).  For more information: https://www.facebook.com/GeoparcdePerce/ or https://geoparcdeperce.com/

In person Geodiversity Day celebrations are also being held in Newfoundland on October 6th.

Selected Worldwide Geodiversity Day Zoom Presentations

The web site https://www.geodiversityday.org/ shows the location of many international Geodiversity Day events, including the following two zoom presentations that I found of interest.

The South Wales Geologists' Association in Cardiff, Wales is presenting an online talk by Duncan Hawley, describing William Smith's trips to South Wales before creating his  geological map of Britain in 1815.  This was the first geologic map of Britain.   The talk looks at the locations William Smith  visited and considers “why he interpreted the local limestones so wrongly.”   The event is scheduled for Thursday,  October 6, 2022, 19:30  (GMT) Western Europe Time, London, U.K, which I believe is about 4:30 pm in Eastern Ontario.  The event is open to the public. For more information see   register@swga.org.uk   

The Charnwood Forest Geopark is presenting an online event with the description:   Join us for an online extravaganza, linking amazing sites and people from around the world to celebrate all that geodiversity has to offer.   The event is scheduled for  Thursday,  October 6, 2022, at 14:00 (GMT) Western Europe Time, London, U.K., which I believe is 9 am in Eastern Ontario.  For more information:  facebook.com/CharnwoodForestGeopark

GEOHERITAGE DAY 
October 8, 10 am 3 pm in Ottawa, Ontario and Gatineau, Quebec

The 16th annual Geoheritage Day will take place on October 8th, 2022, with volunteers hosting a number of geological sites around the National Capital region.  Details can be found at:

https://earthsci.carleton.ca/outreach/explore-geoheritage-day

Other Geoheritage Resources

Beth McLarty Halfkenny, Curator, Outreach Coordinator, Department of Earth Sciences, Carleton University, gave a talk on September 23, 2022 entitled “ Geoheritage of the National Capital Region; what’s here and why care” that can be watched on YouTube at 

https://youtu.be/M6y6msgKMNg    This is a 38 minute presentation followed by seven minutes of questions 

Carleton University has web site entitled at https://geoheritageday.carleton.ca which provides a map showing the location of over 30  Geoheritage sites across Canada with a brief description and web links to web pages providing information on the sites.   The links work, but have to be pasted into a browser, as merely clicking on the link results in a blank Redirect Notice.

The Ottawa-Gatineau Geoheritage Project maintains a web site  with descriptions of twenty-six Geoheritage sites in and around Ottawa at: 

https://www.ottawagatineaugeoheritage.ca .   Also available on the site, under the link ‘Field Trips’,  are [A] a brochure entitled “Introduction to the Geodiversity of Perth”, a self-guided tour of rocks on display at the Crystal Palace, Tay Basin, Perth, Ontario; [B] Geology of the Ottawa Area, a self-guided field trip that takes you to rock exposures in the Ottawa area that show geologic features typical of the local Precambrian and  Paleozoic rock; and [C] One Billion Years of Geology, a self-guided field trip that takes you to rock exposures in the Ottawa area, plus to the Mer Bleue bog (a former channel of the Ottawa River) and to the Lemieux Landslide.

 The Metcalfe Geoheritage Park in Almonte Ontario has 20 permanent rocks and one guest rocks on display. See: http://metcalfegeoheritagepark.com/specimens/

Christopher Brett

Ottawa, Ontario

A Kinked Orthopyroxene Megacryst from the Mealy Mountains Anorthosite, Labrador

While attending university I worked for three summers as a field assistant in Labrador for the Geological Survey of Canada under Dr. Ron Emslie mapping parts of the Harp Lake anorthosite body, the Mealy Mountains anorthosite complex and the Ptarmigan Complex in the Red Wine Mountains. While mapping in the Mealy Mountains I picked up a loose, highly kinked, bronzite crystal, which later thin sectioning revealed contained exsolved plagioclase and clinopyxene lamellae along (100) of the orthopyroxene host. Below are three photographs of that specimen. It was about 7 cm long, by 3.5 cm wide by 5 cm thick (before sectioning). 

 

The middle photograph shows a cut and polished surface.   In the  edited version of that photograph provided below I have used pink lines to show the kink zone  boundaries.   I’ve shown some of the (100) exsolution planes with  blue lines.  The (100) exsolution planes run roughly diagonally upwards  from right to left, but changes direction in each kink zone.  

 

 

Below are two photographs of a polished thin section made from this specimen.

The very fine lamellae are exsolved clinopyroxene.  The thicker lamellae are exsolved plagioclase.  Plagioclase grains  (some displaying twinning) can also be seen along the kink boundary.   Some of the fine clinopyroxend lamellae bend as they approach the kink boundary.

The specimen is an aluminous orthopyoxene megacryst –  an example of a Type 1 megacryst  “interpreted to have crystallized within the mantle and at deep crustal levels” (see Emslie, 1975) commonly found in anorthosite intrusions.   Most believe that the aluminum is present in the original orthopyroxene megacryst  as various Tschermak components  (Ca,Mg,Fe)Al2SiO6 and/or as Ca(Ti 3+, Fe3+) AlSiO6 where  trivalent titanium  Ti3+ or trivalent iron Fe3+  is a  cation in the M1 site, before exsolving in a reaction that produces plagioclase and any of  ilmenite,  spinel, rutile and various iron oxides.

Interestingly, while most mineralogy texts and web sites mention that the typical orthopyroxene cleavages is  parallel to (210), with planes intersecting  at ~90̊, with parting on (100) and (010), the specimen shown in the above photographs displays  very good cleavage parallel to the (100) exsolution planes, with  good parting on (010) and (001).

It is worth noting that the specimen  in the above photographs is not representative of orthopyroxene megacrysts from the Mealy Mountains as it is much more kinked than many other crystals that I found.  While mapping the Mealy Mountains anorthosite I found hundreds of large loose bronzite and hypersthene crystals scattered across the surfaces of outcrops, and many examples within the anorthosite.   The largest ones I observed were rounded and larger than a meter in diameter.   Many crystals displayed distorted zones and some displayed kink bands.  None of the other pyroxene crystals that I looked at were as kinked as the specimen shown in this blog posting. 

Others have reported and figured kinked aluminous orthopyroxene megacrysts. Ron Emslie (1975) noted that plagioclase lamelllar structure in alumious orthopyroxenes pyroxenes from anorthosites “is frequently warped and sometimes is crossed by kink bands”, and included a photograph (Fig. 1,E)  from the Morin Anorthosite showing minor kinking.  Emslie (1976) includes as figure 33.7  a photograph of a kink banded specimen from the Mealy Mountains with the caption “Orthopyroxene megacryst showing kink-banded  cleavage. Kink-banded is a common feature in these megacrysts and the enclosing rocks are not deformed.”   Nunn et al. (1986), in a report on the Atikonak River Massif, Western Labrador, for a rock unit comprised of troctolite, leucotroctolite and anorthosite, include a photograph (plate 14, page 136) showing “Strong kink banding in a giant orthopyroxene; the crystal is over 40 cm across.”

Numerous authors have remarked on the kinked orthopyroxene crystals in the Lac-Saint- Jean anorthosite in Quebec.  Benoit and Valiquette (1971) mention that along the road between Saint-Bruno and Larouche, some of the hypersthene crystals are a foot long and that “Les cristaux d'hypersthène déformés au point de montrer des faces cristallines ondulées sont d'observation commune.” [Translation:  Hypersthene crystals distorted to the point of showing wavy crystal faces are a common sight.]  Berrangé (1977), in a discussion of the Lac- Saint- John anorthosite reported that “very large hypersthene crystals are not rare” and included a photograph as Plate IV-B of a large (18 cm x 13 cm)  “Kink banded crystal of  orthopyroxene (En72 —70).”    David  Duguay (2012) in a study of aluminous pyroxene megacrysts from an  outcrop located along the Route du Pont in Arvida, Quebec, part of the Lac-Saint-Jean anorthosite complex, reported plagioclase exsolution lamellae, clinopyroxene exsolution lamellae,  ilmenite exsoloution lamellae, and exsolved  rutile, and kinkbands in the crystals.  Photographs 10C and 10D at page 24 of his thesis show spectacular kinking on par with the specimen shown above from the Mealy Mountains.   Klein and Philpotts (2016, Figure 9.47 (B)) include a photograph of a “Single crystal of orthopyroxene showing kink bands from the Lake St. John anorthosite massif, Quebec.” where the crystal is about 30 cm long by 15 cm wide.

Low (1896) in a report of an anorthosite occurrence along the Romaine River, Labrador, mentions (page 235) that it contains “masses of brown hypersthene, often several inches in diameter.  The hypersthene often exhibits a zig-zag crumpled texture.” and that the anorthosite “holds much hypersthene, often in large masses, some a foot across.”  Low also reported that the zig-zag structure in hypersthene was seen in thin section.  I suspect that Low’s "zig-zag crumpled" hypersthene crystals are kinked aluminous orthopyroxene megacrysts, but can’t find where anyone has studied them since Low visited the site in 1892-95.   Sabina (2003, page 189) mentions the Romaine River ‘zigzag, crumpled’ hypersthene occurrence in her mineral collecting guide for Labrador, but does not appear to have visited the occurrence.
 
Numerous authors have reported on kink bands in orthopyroxene crystals.   All agree that the bending and kinking of bronzite and orthopyroxene is  indicative of the intense deformation and pressure experienced by the host rock .   Berrangé (1977) notes that “ Turner and others (1960) who have studied identical [kink] bands produced in  experimentally deformed orthopyroxenes, and in orthopyroxenes  from the Adirondacks and elsewhere, attribute the kink bands to  post-crystalline plastic deformation by translation gliding on {100} parallel to [001]." Numerous authors have reported on clinopyroxene exsolution along the (100) plane of orthopyroxene.   Most believe that the exsolution of Ca-clinopyroxene from orthopyroxene is aided by deformation (in part because experiments show that highly strained  bronzite inverts to clinoenstatite along the (100) plane).   I’ve provided a number of the more interesting papers below in the list of references.  

Deformation textures such as kink bands in orthopyroxene, bent exsolution lamellae in orthopyroxene, curved cracks in pyroxenes, are a common feature of mantle xenoliths (Mundl et al, 2015; Alifirozva, T.A. and Pokhilenko, L. N. , 2008;  Engvik et al.,  2020).  Kinked pyroxenes are also common in high grade metamorphic rocks.  For example Sturt (1969) mentions that pyroxene crystals in amphibolite facies regional metamorphism “show such features as small faults, kink bands, strain-induced twin lamellae, and in some cases exsolution lamellae” and includes as plate 3B a photograph of a thin section of a pyroxene showing exsolution and kink bands.

 Below is a schematic drawing of an ideal kink band, modified from McLaren and  Etheridge (1976), who conducted a  transmission electron microscope study of naturally deformed orthopyroxene.   The kink band boundaries are A-B and E-D.

The slip planes are normal to the drawing and the slip directions are indicated by the arrows.  Note that the slip planes are bent in the areas ABC and DEF.

As noted by Plummer et al. (2021) “Kinking is a deformation mechanism ubiquitous to layered systems, ranging from the nanometer scale in layered crystalline solids, to the kilometer scale in geological formations.”   Below is a schematic drawing of an ideal kink band, modified from Donath, 1968; Rousell, 1980 and Noël and Archambault, 2006, who all studied kink bands in rock formations.

The fluorescent pink arrows show the relative direction of movement.  Here the rotation and slippage of the lamellae produces voids (blue triangles)  at the end of rotated lamellae along the kink zone boundary.  In the above photographs of thin sections of kinking in the orthopyoxene megacryst, the voids are filled by plagioclase, clinopyroxene and estatite.  The kink zone is shortened by twice the base of the blue triangles.

In a YouTube video on pyroxenes, Professor Kenneth Befus  (2020) includes a bronzite specimen to show the metallic bronze colour of bronzite.  It is almost as kinked as the specimen in my photographs.  

Christopher Brett
Ottawa, Ontario

References and Suggested Reading

Alifirozva, T.A. and Pokhilenko, L. N. , 2008
A variety of textures in mantle xenoliths of peridotites and pyroxenites from Yakutian pipes: petrological interpretation; 9th International Kimberlite Conference Extended Abstract

Anonymous
Orthopyroxene Deformation.  Structure Database.  University of Otago New Zealand. Blog at WordPress.com.
https://structuredatabase.wordpress.com/mineral-deformation/mineral-deformationorthopyroxene-deformation/

Anonymous
Phase transitions and exsolution phenomena in pyroxenes. 
https://www.uni-muenster.de/imperia/md/content/mineralogie/lecture_3_pyroxenes.pdf

Befus, Kenneth, 2020
Mineralogy: Lecture 45, Pyroxenes. Duration: 17:42.  Posted: Nov 16, 2020. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TZlMGDYB6xA
[includes photograph of kinked bronzite at 16:00  to 17:30 ]

Benoit , F.-W. et Guy Valiquette, 1971
Region du Lac Saint-Jean (Partie Sud).  Gouvernement du Québec, Ministère des Richesses Naturelles, Direction Generale des Mines , Service de l'exploration Géologique, Rapport Géologique 140  https://gq.mines.gouv.qc.ca/documents/examine/RG140/RG140.pdf

Berrangé, Jevan P.,  1977
Final report, Antoine-La Trappe area, Roberval county [Quebec], report DP 462.  Quebec Ministere Des Richesses Naturelles, Direction Générale  des Mines, 204 pages
https://gq.mines.gouv.qc.ca/documents/examine/DP462/DP462.pdf

Bertrand, Claude, 1963
L'hypersthène alumineux du Lac St. Jean  [Aluminous hypersthene of Saint Jean Lake] Master's thesis.  thèse de maîtrise non publiée. Ecole Polytechnique, Montreal, QC, Canada, 64 pages

Brett, Christopher P., 2014
Layering in the Mealy Mountains Anorthosite Complex, Labrador.  Blog posting dated  November 4, 2014, http://fossilslanark.blogspot.com/2014/11/layering-in-mealy-mountains-anorthosite.html

Brett, C. P. And Emslie, R. F., 1979
Orthopyroxene Megacrysts in anorthosites of the Mealy Mountains. Prog. With Abstr., Ann Meeting Geological Society of Canada

Brey  G. P. , Köhler T. ,  1990
 Geothermobarometry in four-phase lherzolites II. New thermobarometers and practical assessment of existing thermobarometers . Journal of Petrology  31 , 1353 – 1378

Bruijn , Rolf H.C. and Philip Skemer, 2014
Grain-size sensitive rheology of orthopyroxene. Geophysical  Research Letters 41,
https://cpb-us-w2.wpmucdn.com/sites.wustl.edu/dist/7/3170/files/2016/11/Bruijn-2014-2gm8yus.pdf

Bystricky, M., J. D. Lawlis, S. J. Mackwell, F. Heidelbach, and P. C. Ratteron , 2016
High-Temperature Deformation of Enstatite Aggregates.  Journal of Geophysical Research: Solid Earth, Volume 121, Issue 9 p. 6384-6400 September 2016 https://doi.org/10.1002/2016JB013011

Dewey J.F. 1965.
Nature and origin of kink bands.  Tectonophysics. 24: 213-242.

Donath F.A. , 1968
Experimental study of kink band development in strongly anisotropic rock.    In Conference on research in tectonics: kink bands and brittle deformation, eds. A.J. Baer and D.K. Norris, 255-293.

Duguay, David. 2012
Déterminer l’origine des mégacristaux de pyroxène de l’affleurement situé en bordure de la Route du Pont à Arvida .   Mémoire présenté dans le cadre du cours Projet de find’études
Université du Québecà Chicoutimi Avril 2012
https://eweb.uqac.ca/bibliotheque/archives/travaux/030300974/PFE_Memoire_DavidDuguay.pdf

Emslie, R .F. , 1975
 Pyroxene megacrysts from anorthositic rocks: New clues to the sources and evolution of parent
magmas. Can. Mineral. 13, 138-145.
https://rruff-2.geo.arizona.edu/uploads/CM13_138.pdf

 Emslie R. F., 1976
 Mealy Mountains Complex, Grenville Province, southern Labrador. In: Report of Activities, Part A. Geological Survey of Canada, Paper 76-1A, 165–170 https://doi.org/10.4095/119844

Engvik, Ane K., Cornelia Mertens, Claudia A.Trepmann, 2020
Episodic deformation and reactions in mylonitic high-grade metamorphic granulites from Dronning Maud Land, Antarctica. Journal of Structural Geology, Volume 141, December 2020, 104196
 
Etheridge, M. A., 1975
Deformation and recrystallisation of orthopyroxene from the Giles Complex, Central Australia,
Tectonophyics, 25, 87-114
 
Gasparik, Tibor,  2003
Phase Diagrams for Geoscientists: An Atlas of the Earth's Interior.   Springer Science & Business Media, Apr 9, 2003 - Science - 462 pages at pages 14 and 34
 
Harley, Simon  Leigh,  1981
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Harrison, Richard
Phase transitions and exsolution phenomena in pyroxenes. Natural Sciences Tripos Part 1b
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Jackson,  J. M.,  S. V. Sinogeikin  M. A. Carpenter and J.D. Bass, 2004
Novel phase transition in orthoenstatite. American Mineralogist, Volume 89, pages 239–245, 2004   http://web.gps.caltech.edu/users/jackson/pdf/Jackson_AmMin04_89_239.pdf
 
Jonnalagadda, M., M. Benoit,  S.  Harshe ,  S. Phule,  R. Tilhac, 2021
Geodynamic evolution of the Tethyan lithosphere as recorded in the Spontang Ophiolite, South Ladakh ophiolites (NW Himalaya, India).   2021Geoscience Frontiers 13(10):101297
 
Kaczmarek, M. And O. Muntener, 2008
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Kirby, S. H. and  M. A. Etheridge, 1981
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Kohlstedt, D.L. and Vander Sande, J.B., 1973.
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Ediacaran Fossils in Blocks at the Base of the Big Ben Statue in Perth, Ontario

The bronze statue of Big Ben and Ian Millar in Stewart Park in Perth, Ontario will be familiar to all who live in Lanark County.   Located opposite Code’s Mill on Wilson Street in Perth it is a tourist draw for all those who are fans of equestrian events.   What is not so well known is that the thick slabs of rock at the base of the statue were quarried from Tackaberry’s quarry on Highway 7 north of Perth and, more importantly, are Ediacaran rocks from the quarry and contain examples of the concentric, circular Ediacaran fossil Aspidella.

Below are photographs of a few of the concentric circular structures in the rock slabs at the base of the statue.

The circular structures are the Ediacaran fossil Aspidella.  The first photo shows two circular structures. The second and third  photos show closeups of single circular structures. The fourth photo shows at least ten circular structures.  The circular structures are about two centimeters in diameter.  (They are easier to spot on the slabs than in the photos.)

The tops of at least five of the large slabs that function as retaining walls bear the circular structures.  

Other blocks and slabs of Ediacaran rock can be found at various places in Perth.  Some are used as steps for buildings, benches in parks and patio stones.  Some exhibit microbially induced sedimentary structures. 

I have included photographs of Aspidella specimens in rock at two of Tackaberry's quarries in Lanark County in previous blog postings.

Christopher Brett

Ottawa, Ontario

References and Suggested Reading

Anonymous

Big Ben & Ian Millar.   https://www.beautifulperth.com/bigben.html

Brett, C. P., 2019a

Concentric Structures in the Sedimentary Rocks of Lanark County, Ontario that are identical to the Ediacaran Holdfast Aspidella.  Blog posting dated   March 8, 2019  

http://fossilslanark.blogspot.com/2019/03/holdfasts-in-lower-ordovician-march.html

Brett, C. P., 2019b

Possible Fossil Microbial Mat Structures in Rocks Near Perth, Ontario.  Blog posting dated   March 28, 2019.  http://fossilslanark.blogspot.com/2019/03/possible-fossil-microbial-mat.html

Brett, C. P., 2019c

A Selection of Fossils from the ‘March Formation’ in Lanark County, Ontario - A Correction.  Blog posting dated  March 24, 2019

http://fossilslanark.blogspot.com/2019/03/a-selection-of-fossils-from-march.html

Brett, C. P., 2019d

If the Ediacaran discoid holdfast Aspidella, why not Ediacaran Stalks, Spindles and Fronds in Lanark County?   Blog posting dated   March 29, 2019

http://fossilslanark.blogspot.com/2019/03/if-ediacaran-discoid-holdfast-aspidella.html

Brett, C. P., 2019e

Photographs of GSC 221, one of Alexander Murray’s specimens of Aspidella terranovica, Billings 1872. Blog posting dated Wednesday, May 1,  2019

 Brett, C. P., 2019f

A Chronology of References to Aspidella terranovica from its Discovery by Murray, Naming in 1872 by Billings, Through the Initial Period when it was Recognized as a Fossil, Through the Decades when it was Dismissed as an Inorganic Concretion or Gas Escape Structure, to its Resurrection in the late 20th Century, and Crowning in 2000 as the First Named Ediacaran Body Fossil.  Blog posting dated Sunday, June 30, 2019 

Brett, C. P., 2020

Dave Forsyth’s Photographs of Aspidella from the Richmond Quarry, Lanark County

Blog posting dated Thursday, August 27, 2020

http://fossilslanark.blogspot.com/2020/08/dave-forsyths-photographs-of-aspidella.html

  

Burzynski,  Greg,  T. Alexander Dececchi, Guy M. Narbonne & Robert W. Dalrymple, 2020

Cryogenian Aspidella from northwestern Canada.  Precambrian Research.  Volume 336, January 2020, 105507  https://doi.org/10.1016/j.precamres.2019.105507

Liu, A.G., Tindal, B.H., 2021

Ediacaran macrofossils prior to the ~580 Ma Gaskiers glaciation in Newfoundland, Canada 

 Lethaia, Volume54, Issue2 April 2021 Pages 260-270

https://doi.org/10.1111/let.12401

Schwid, M.F., Xiao, S., Nolan, M.R., An, Z., 2021

Differential Weathering of Diagenetic Concretions and the Formation of Neoproterozoic Annulated Discoidal Structures PALAIOS (2021) 36 (1): 15–27.

https://doi.org/10.2110/palo.2020.018

 

Segessenman, Daniel C.  And Shanan E. Peters, 2022

Macrostratigraphy of the Ediacaran System in North America.  In  Geological Society of America special publication entitled Laurentia: An Evolving Continent GSA Memoir.

https://eartharxiv.org/repository/list/?page=2

Tarhan, Lidya G.,  Mary L.Droser, James G.Gehling & Matthew P.Dzaugis, 2015

Taphonomy and morphology of the Ediacara form genus Aspidella

Precambrian Research. Volume 257, February 2015, Pages 124-136

https://doi.org/10.1016/j.precamres.2014.11.026

 

An Iron Ore Deposit in the Potsdam Sandstone of Eastern Ontario: The Hematite Deposit Between Delta and Furnace Falls - Part 2

 Part 1 is my November 18, 2012 blog posting.  In that posting I relied on Murray (1852) who identified the hematite occurrences on Lots 23, 24 and 25 in the tenth concession of Bastard Township, just south of Delta, and east of Lower Beverley Lake, as the likely source for the iron ore smelted at Furnace Falls (now, Lyndhurst).   It appears the Murray (1852) was wrong and that I was wrong, as that deposit was discovered after the smelter at Furnace Falls ceased operations.

In 2018 I was contacted by email by Ken Watson, who for over twenty years has done volunteer work for the Old Stone Mill at Delta, Ontario and has written extensively on the Rideau Canal.  Ken told me that he had noticed my November 18th, 2012 blog posting on the hematite deposit between Delta and Furnace Falls (now Lyndhurst) and wanted to let me know that he was investigating the source for the iron smelted at Furnace Falls and that Art Shaw was having archaeological work done on the Lansdowne Ironworks at Lyndhurst.  At that time we exchanged a few emails.  On January 6, 2022  Ken Watson sent me an email telling me that he and Art Shaw have published three articles on the Lansdowne Iron Works at Furnace Falls and the source for the iron used at the iron works.   The three articles are:  

    Art Shaw, 2018 - The Lansdowne Iron Works NHS Lyndhurst, Ontario

    Art Shaw & Ken Watson, 2018 - Delta and Lyndhurst – Forged Together

    Ken W. Watson, 2021 - The Source of the Iron Ore for the Lansdowne Iron Works

The three articles can be downloaded from the web site for the Old Stone Mill at Delta, Ontario:

 http://www.deltamill.org/history.html    All are worth reading.

Ken’s research strongly suggests that the hematite deposits adjoining Lower Beverley Lake that were identified by Murray (1852)  were likely not the source for the iron smelted at Furnace Falls.  While Murray (1852) identified the occurrences in the tenth concession of Bastard Township as the source for the ore smelted at Furnace Falls, Ken’s research shows that they had not been discovered when Sunderlin’s smelter at Furnace Falls was in operation.   Ken’s research suggests that the likely sources close to Lyndhurst include the following:

a) hematite in outcrops of sandstone near Furnace Falls, that were quickly exhausted [see Shaw, 2018, quoting Sunderlin 1807 that “ the ore adjoining the works did not turn out as expected”] ;

b) hematite in outcrops of sandstone on Sunderlin’s property on lots 11, 12 and 13 of Concession XIII of Lansdowne Township, about two kilometers to the east of the occurrences identified by Murray, and only 100 meters to a kilometer east of the outcrop of hematite in sandstone on County Road 42  mentioned in my blog posting, and six kilometers northeast of Lyndhurst;

c) hematite in outcrops on lot 10 of Concession XI of Lansdowne Township (see Wing,1800), about two kilometers southeast of the occurrences identified by Murray, and three to four kilometers northeast of Lyndhurst. 

Ken Watson’s (2021)  Map 3 clearly shows the location of those deposits in relation to Lyndhurst and to the hematite deposits east of Lower Beverley Lake.   For those that don’t bother looking at the map, it is worth noting that Concession X of Bastard Township borders the township line with Lansdowne township, and that Sunderlin’s lots on  Concession XIII of Lansdowne Township border the township line with Bastard township.

Ken concludes “What we are left with today is the knowledge of several potential sources of iron in the vicinity of Lyndhurst with a likelihood that the Lower Beverley Lake iron deposit[s] were not known and were not used to supply the furnaces at Lyndhurst.”    

What is known for certain is that eight sleigh loads of iron ore were taken from the 2nd Concession of Montague Township (between Smith Falls and Merrickville) and smelted at Furnace Falls.   I have deliberately used the word ‘taken’ as Art Shaw (2018) mentions that “In February 1803, Justice of the Peace Thomas Smith, for whom Smiths Falls was later named, took a deposition by John Covell, accusing Wallis Sunderlin, Peleg Sunderlin, Steven Washburn, William Stevens, William Patterson, Abel Stevens Jr and Adam Shook of stealing 8 sleigh loads of iron ore from his property in the 2nd Concession of Montague Township, between Merrickville and Smiths Falls. The circumstances suggest that the ore was probably mined by prearrangement for that purpose, but Sunderlin’s need for the immediate delivery of the ore, at some point overcame all other considerations, including his ability to pay. The extreme of taking eight teams of horses or oxen with drivers, 40 miles north through the wilderness in winter, and returning across frozen rivers and lakes with eight sleighs loaded with ore, is a testament to his desperation.”

Lieutenant  Baddeley’s (1831) Report on the Lower Beverley Lake Deposit

Ken’s email reminded me that since I published my original blog posting on the subject I had come across an article by  Lieutenant  Baddeley of the Royal Engineers published in 1831 discussing the occurrence at Lower Beverley Lake.    Lieutenant  Baddeley  (1831) agrees with Ken’s analysis that the deposit adjacent Lower Beverley Lake (then known as Henderson's Lake or Beverley Lake) was discovered “long after” the smelter at Furnace Falls was abandoned.   Here is part of Lieutenant  Baddeley’s (1831) report: 

“Red Oxide of Iron [hematite]  has been noticed in two or three places in Canada, but most abundantly in the neighbourhood of Henderson's Lake, on the Gannanoqui, where it forms apparently an extensive bed in a ferruginous sandstone (old red sandstone).   

At the Furnace Falls about three miles below this deposit there was formerly a smelting establishment, where some few articles were manufactured, not however from the ore above alluded to, as that was discovered long after these works were deserted, and none of it appears to have been smelted for any other purpose than experiment, which is said to have been favorable.    ...   

The deposit here alluded to is situated on the eastern shore of Beverley or Henderson's lake, an enlargement of the Gannanoqui, in the upper portion of its navigable waters. It is about one quarter of a mile from the lake, on the opposite side of a cedar swamp, and on the summit of a small hill. An inhabitant of Beverley [now called  Delta] desirous of ascertaining whether it was in abundance or not, opened a portion of the ground about ten feet every way, and found a considerable quantity. He seems to have struck a vein of it at the depth of about eight feet, which dips towards the north-east. But it also appears in the section he has made in large heavy blocks on and near the surface. I examined the ground in several places to the northward and eastward of this excavation, and always found it near the surface, it was also met with to the westward. As I remained on the spot only twenty minutes or half an hour, it is not possible to pronounce as to the quantity in which it occurs, it however, appears to be considerable. To obtain positive information on this point, it would be necessary to cut a few sections or sink a few holes on the hill, which might be done at a trifling expense— an expense amply repaid by even the chance of finding an extensive bed of ore in so desirable a locality.”

Lieutenant  Baddeley also provided an extensive report on the iron minerals present.

Pilon (2003), who prepared a short biographical note on Baddeley (Lieutenant, then Captain, Major and Major General),  mentions that Lieutenant  Baddeley was posted to Quebec in Lower Canada in 1821, and comments that “Baddeley was one of the original members of the Literary and Historical Society of Quebec in 1824 and served as its president in 1829. He read numerous papers before the society describing exploring expeditions he undertook in Canada and giving his observations on the geology of the country.”  I have not been able to determine when between 1821 and 1830 Lieutenant  Baddeley visited the occurrence  at Lower Beverley Lake.

Iron Ore Taken by Sunderlin from Montague Township, Lanark County

In a separate email Ken mentioned that he had not followed up on the iron ore occurrence in Montague Township, other than to note the it is mentioned in Glenn Lockwood ‘s history of  Montague township.   This was a reference to:

Lockwood, Glenn J.   1980  -  Montague: A Social History Of An Irish Ontario Town Ship 1783-1980; Publisher: Township of Montague, 639pp

Lockwood (1980, page 242) quotes from an article from the July 20, 1865 edition of the Smith’s Falls Review discussing the proposed iron mine stating “That ore exists there in inexhaustible quantities cannot be questioned. In various parts before coming to Roseville "surface indications," ...  are plainly observable, and the beds of it can generally be traced as far as the elevated land extends.”    Lockwood (1980, page 242) also notes that “despite further assurances from the Review editor that the fine quality of the ore was beyond dispute, that analysts in New York and Montreal affirmed samples to be seventy-six percent iron ore in content, and that the proprietor of the Burgess mines was "organizing a company with the view of having the rights of mining opened forthwith",  in the end no such development occurred.”   

That the 1865 proposed iron mine was at Roseville means that this deposit was likely the source for the eight sleigh loads of iron ore were obtained from John Covell’s  property in the 2nd Concession of Montague Township.  This is because Roseville  is a small village that is shown on Miles & Co.’s (1879) map as falling in Lot 21, Concession II of Montague Township.   The bedrock at Roseville, and underlying all of the 2nd Concession of Montague Township, is mapped as the March Formation on the Ontario Geological Survey’s Map P2494  (Carson , 1982).  It is worth noting that all occurrences of hematite ore bodies in Eastern Ontario are found in the Potsdam Group sandstones or the underlying Precambrian Marbles.  None have been found in March Formation sandstones.

Another  reference that I located dealing with  iron ore in Montague Township is by James Bell (1889) who mentioned that “I have also an interest in an iron ore property in Montague, county of Lanark about 1,000 acres, there is bog ore on that property.  I took out about 800 or 1,000 tons of the bog ore; some of it was sold in the United States and was smelted there, and they told me at the furnace it turned out 5l per cent. The country there is full of springs, and the ore is always found where there has been a flowing spring. I think  there was some manganese in the iron.”   I believe that there is a good chance that James Bell’s (1889) reference to bog iron ore in Montague Township relates to the 1865 report in the Smith’s Falls Review of ore at Roseville, and could be the source for the eight sleigh loads of iron ore were taken from the 2nd Concession of Montague Township by Sunderlin, but further research would have to be undertaken in order to link bog ore to the 2nd Concession of Montague Township.   Right now there is a foot of snow on the ground in Eastern Ontario and the weather (minus 15 degrees Celsius) is not conducive to looking for outcrops.

Art Shaw (2018, page 14) mentions that during excavation at the furnace “a layer of iron bearing material found in one of the pits during archaeology in 2017, was tentatively identified as bog ore.”  If it turns out that the iron ore at Roseville is bog iron, then the material found in the pit could relate to the ore taken by Sunderlin in the winter of 1802-1803.

Bog-iron ore, also known in the 1800's as  brown hematite, limonite and hydrous peroxide of iron, was smelted in Upper and Lower Canada in the early 1800's.    Logan (1863, page 510-511) mentions that bog iron ore was found in great abundance in many localities in Upper and Lower Canada.   Yellow ochre, a mixture of ferric oxide and varying amounts of clay and sand, was often associated with and derived from bog iron deposits.  

Other Reports of Iron Ore and Iron Minerals In Leeds County

There have been other reports of iron ore and iron minerals from Leeds County. However, I found no indication that any of these deposits was known when the smelter at Furnace Falls was in operation.  Gourlay (1822) mentioned that “Yellow ochre also is dug up in Gananoqui.”   and that ironstone (a sedimentary rock that contains a substantial proportion of an iron ore) was found in Bastard Township.  Bigsby (1829, page 268) mentioned that ‘Magnetic iron ore occurs high up the Gananoque River, and on an islet in the St. Lawrence, one mile south-west from the mouth of the Gananoque.”  Murray  (1852, page 82) reported that “ A bed of bog ore was observed on the twenty-first lot of the seventh concession of Bastard, not far from Beverley [now Delta]. It was found to be about two feet thick in one spot;”.  Hunt (1852)  provides an analysis from bog iron ore from  “Bastard, twentieth lot, second concession” in Leeds County containing 77.8% peroxide of iron, that had been found by Murray.   The twentieth lot of the second concession of Bastard would now be at the west end of the Village of Portland, and is nine miles north of Delta.  Murray  (1852, page 82) also reported hematite on the  the 9th Concession of Lansdowne Township. 

R. C. Sherret (1889) mentioned that “At Charleston lake, in the county of Leeds, there is hematite. The deposit is 15 or 16 feet wide and is rich. I have seen a piece that was taken out and analysed something about 70 per cent. The lot belongs to the government and has been covered with water. Some 300 or 400 tons of it have been taken up and crushed for pigment by Mr. Ramsay.”     

More recently Baker (1922) reported hematite in Potsdam sandstone on lot 13, Concession IX,  Bastard township where test pits were dug.  Fréchette (1923) commented that “In Leeds county there are a number of small deposits of iron ochre in swampy ground, in most cases adjacent to Potsdam sandstone or Beekmantown dolomite.  The deposits probably owe their origin to iron leached from these rocks. Such deposits were seen on lot 20, concession II, and lot 21, concession VII, Bastard township, and lot 24, concession X, Leeds township. None of these can be considered of commercial interest.  On lot 18 or 19, Broken Front, Yonge township, there are two deposits which, about forty years ago, were exploited for raw material for paint making. One is composed of earthy hydrated oxide, which has been deposited in a swamp by a spring issuing from rocks carrying-much iron pyrites.”   Lockwood (1996, page 214) mentions that “by the early 1850s it was reported that mining for an unspecified mineral, possibly yellow ochre  pigment, had taken place on one of the islands of Charleston Lake” relying on Smith (1852) and a notation by Art Shaw.  

While Ken Watson and I both assumed that hematite from Potsdam sandstone in Leeds County was smelted at Furnace Falls, the possibility that the iron ore from  Montague Township smelted at Furnace Falls was bog iron suggests that bog iron ore occurrences in Leeds County are also possibilities.   The  bed of bog iron ore  observed on the twenty-first lot of the seventh concession of Bastard is  a mile east of Phillipsville, anywhere from two to four miles north of Delta, and about eight miles north of Furnace Falls.   The  bog iron ore  observed on the twentieth lot of the second concession of Bastard is now  at the west end of the Village of Portland, nine miles north of Delta, and 17 miles north of Furnace Falls.  Both of those areas were settled before the smelter at Furnace Falls was constructed.  Art Shaw (2018) has also considered whether the bog iron from Leeds might have been smelted.

Joseph Bawden’s (1893) Report of Iron Ore in Leeds Township

Joseph Bawden was a Barrister and Solicitor, Mining Engineer, mine owner and lecturer on the law of mines at Kingston’s School of Mining, who lived and practiced in Kingston, Ontario.   He was admitted as a Barrister and Solicitor in 1867 and died in 1906.  He was on the faculty of the School of Mining as the Lecturer on Mining Law from 1894 until he passed away in 1906, and played a part in the founding of the School of Mining.

Joseph Bawden was an authority on mines and mining in Eastern Ontario. He owned and operated a graphite mine, at least one mica mine, an apatite mine, and had interests in two iron ore mines.  Ingall (1902) mentions J. Bawden a number of times in his publication ‘Report on the  Iron Deposits along the Kingston and Pembroke Railway’ as the source for information on the Glendower Iron Mine and the Foley Iron Mine, and as owning a property on the north shore of Birch lake, Frontenac County on which hematite had been found.   He is mentioned and relied on numerous times in the Report of the Royal Commission on the Mineral Resources of Ontario And Measures for Their Development (1890).

Joseph Bawden authored a number of papers including one published in 1893 that I don’t believe anyone has referred to in over 100 years.  That paper is entitled ‘The Iron Ores of Frontenac and Leeds, Ontario.’  In that paper Bawden noted that “Along the outcrops on the shores of Charleston Lake,... red hematite ore is met, but in what quantity no thorough exploration permits the statement.”  He also discussed red hematite of the Potsdam formation noting, among others, the following occurrences:   

“Lansdowne - Lot 13, 10th Con.; lots 17, 18, 8th Con., lot 20, 7th Con., rear of Lansdowne, Lot 11, 12th Con.   Bastard- Lot 23, 10th Con.”   

The occurrences in Lansdowne are all within six kilometers of Lyndhurst.   The three on the 8th and 7th Concessions are just west of Charleston Lake.  The occurrence in Bastard is the one discussed by Lieutenant Baddeley (1831) and  Murray (1852).

Bawden also noted two occurrences of Limonite falling on “Lot 1, 11th Con., Rear of Lansdowne, lot 21, 7th Con., Bastard.”  The latter occurrence is the bog iron ore noted by Murray (1852); the former is a kilometer or two northwest of Lyndhurst.

The most interesting part of his paper is the sentence “The first furnace and forge built in Ontario at the beginning of this century, were supplied with ore from Lot 11, 12th Con. Rear of Lansdowne. Tradition does not speak well of the character of the material made. [My emphasis.]"    I’m not sure what to make of his placing the source for the ore on “Lot 11, 12th Con. Rear of Lansdowne.”   It certainly muddies the water, as that lot is just southwest of Sunderlin’s lot 11 on Concession XIII and northeast of lot 10 Concession XI where Wing found ore.   It is hard to discount his statement as Bawden was an authority on iron ore in eastern Ontario.  However, the statement was made 83 years after the Sunderlin’s furnace closed and I can’t rule out that the “12th” was a typo and should have been the “13th”. 

Joseph Bawden’s above paper was presented at the meeting of the American Institute of Mining Engineers held in Montreal in  February 1893 and was published in both The Journal of the General Mining Association of the Province of Quebec (1893-94) and in the Canadian Mining & Mechanical Review (1893).  

Intriguingly, in 1896 Joseph Bawden donated to Queen’s School of Mining a “Map of Locations of Hematite and Magnetic Iron Ores in the Counties of Frontenac and Leeds, Ont.”.  I have not been able to locate the map but I have a lead on where it might be found.

Hiel Sliter

Most who write on the source of the iron ore for Furnace Falls invariably mention Hiel Sliter.  In 1858 Hiel Sliter wrote that “The ore was of inferior quality and had to be drawn a considerable distance, consequently the enterprise was not a financial success...” (See: Leavitt,1879, pages 61- 62).   Another version is “ Sliter  recorded  that  the  "attempt  to  cast  hollow  ware  (pots, kettles,  etc.). ..was  a  failure  [because]  the  ore  was  poor,  a  great  distance  to  draw"  in  winter,  "and the  road  was  bad." (See Lockwood, 1996,  page 66, and his footnote 31)”.   Hiel Sliter  would have had personal knowledge that the ore smelted a Furnace Falls came from a “considerable distance.”  Sly (2014) reports that “Born in Vermont in 1795, Jehiel (Hiel) Sliter came with his family to Upper Canada where his father Nicholas Sliter was the collier at the Lansdowne Iron Works. “   Hiel Sliter arrived at Furnace Falls in 1804 (see anonymous, 1994; Lockwood, 1996 ) served in the war of 1812 and died in 1890.  Hiel’s ‘considerable distance’ would cover the occurrences from south of Delta to Roseville.

Henderson's (1870)  Report

A reference that I am having trouble with, and that I don’t believe anyone else has ever referred to,  is a report by Henderson (1870) in which he describes a trip  taken in January and February, 1804 from Montreal, Lower Canada to Kingston, Upper Canada, and back, with a stop in Gananoque.  He mentions that near the source of the Gananoque River, “in the Township of Bastard, I am told that there is a valuable iron-mine, where iron-works have been constructed and iron manufactured a few years ago; but for some unexplained cause it is now abandoned.  The ironstone, in lumps of all sizes,  constituted a moderate-sized hill, some half a mile long and eighty to one hundred feet  high-something in the shape of an oval  dish-cover -situated on a level plain isolated from all other elevations, consisting wholly of this ironstone, which, from the specimen shown to me, from color and weight and magnetic power, had the appearance of pure iron.”   As Henderson has mistakenly placed the iron works in Bastard township, I would be loath to accept his description of the ironstone as being in Bastard township.

Map of Possible Sources for the Iron Smelted at Furnace Falls

Below is an extract from Keith et al.’s (1946) map M1946-09 of Part of Southeastern Ontario showing the distribution of Potsdam sandstone, an Ontario Geological Survey publication, upon which I have marked the location of Lyndhurst and  Delta, a number of surrounding towns, and the possible sources for the iron smelted at Furnace Falls.  Lyndhurst is shown by  a light blue hexagon, Delta with a dark blue hexagon, Perth with a black square and Smiths Falls with a black square.  Potsdam sandstone is shown in yellow on the map.

Ken Watson (2021) believes that hematite found in small outcrops in Potsdam sandstone just south and north of Lyndhurst, that were soon exhausted, furnished the early ore.  The outcrops are shown in yellow on the map (but can be best seen on Ken Watson’s (2021)  Map 3.)

I’ve used a red hexagon to locate Roseville in the 2nd Concession of Montague Township.   Art Shaw determined that in the winter of 1802-1803  Sunderlin stole iron ore from here.   Art Shaw suggested that the occurrence is 40 miles north of Furnace Falls.   The scale on my maps suggests that the distance is closer to 30 miles as the crow flies, but as there was no direct path between Furnace Falls and Roseville, the trip could easily have covered 40 miles in each direction.  Not an easy journey in the winter of 1802-1803.

Ken Watson (2021) believes that  Sunderlin’s property on lots 11, 12 and 13 of Concession XIII of Lansdowne Township, which I’ve  shown by the upper green hexagon and Wing’s property on lot 10 of Concession XI of Lansdowne Township, which I’ve shown by the lower green hexagon, are likely sources for ore.    Ken relies on a petition by Wing in 1800 to get “the privilege of one half of the Iron ore found on Lot No. 10 in the 11th Concession” and a petition by Sunderlin In  1807 stating “iron ore having lately been found on Lots No 11, 12 & 13 in the 13th Concession of Lansdowne”.    Lot 11, 12th Concession, Rear of Lansdowne, which was identified by Joseph Bawden as the source for the ore for the furnace, falls between those two green hexagons.

Murray (1852) observed “streaks and patches of specular ore” on Lot 9 of Concession XII of Lansdowne, which lies between Sunderlin’s and Wing’s occurrences.   Interestingly,  the outcrop that I mentioned in my November 18, 2012 blog posting on County Road 42 is close to Sunderlin's property, being 100 meters to a kilometer west of any outcrop of hematite on Sunderlin’s property.

I have used a coral pink hexagon to mark the location of the occurrence east of Lower Beverley Lake falling on Lots 23, 24 and 25 in the tenth concession of Bastard Township that was discovered after the smelter closed.  This was described by Lieutenant Baddeley (1831) of the Royal Engineers, by Alexander Murray (1852), Ingall (1901), Ells (1903), Wright (1921) and Wynne-Edwards (1967) of  the Geological Survey of Canada, and by Baker (1922) and Brinsmead (1975) of the Ontario Department of Mines.

I have also marked the locations of two early reports of bog iron ore that were found by Alexander Murray: Hunt’s (1852) analysed  bog iron ore occurrence on the twentieth lot, second concession of Bastard (i.e. at Portland) is shown with a brown hexagon; Murray’s (1852) bog iron ore occurrence on the twenty-first lot of the seventh concession  of Bastard is shown with a purple hexagon.  Both of those areas were settled before the smelter at Furnace Falls was constructed.

I have used an orange hexagon to mark the location of  Baker’s (1922) report of hematite in the Potsdam sandstone on lot 13, Concession IX,  Bastard township where test pits were dug.

In the end, I have to agree with Ken Watson’s conclusion that “What we are left with today is the knowledge of several potential sources of iron in the vicinity of Lyndhurst with a likelihood that the Lower Beverley Lake iron deposit[s] were not known and were not used to supply the furnaces at Lyndhurst.”

The Origin of the Hematite Deposits in Potsdam Sandstone 

For those interested in the origin of the hematite deposits in the Potsdam sandstones and conglomerates of Eastern Ontario I would recommend two Ontario Geological Survey publications by Carter (1984) and  Di Prisco and Springer (1991).    Professor Selleck (2005) commented on the association of hematite and the Potsdam sandstones and conglomerates in New York State as follows: “The hematite deposits also share the common presence of nearby or directly overlying inliers of Potsdam Sandstone . The paragenesis of the hematite deposits is generally interpreted as multi-stage with pre-Potsdam surface weathering of Proterozoic iron sulfide leading to accumulation of locally thick gossans of limonite/hematite prior to Potsdam Sandstone deposition.  Post-Potsdam reconstitution of the iron oxides involved hydrothermal fluids that dissolved and re-deposited hematite within Potsdam Sandstone as thick botryoidal masses, specular crystalline aggregates, veins and disseminated cements in sandstone and highly altered Proterozoic basement gneiss.” 

Christopher Brett

Ottawa, Ontario

Addendum (January 31,2022) : On January 31 I added the references to Joseph Bawden's paper.  I have directed Ken Watson's attention to the papers by Lieutenant  Baddeley and Joseph Bawden.   Baddeley's (1831) paper had not been cited by anyone in  well over 150 years; Bawden's (1893) paper, in 100 years.  I do have a lead on the 'Map of Locations of Hematite and Magnetic Iron Ores in the Counties of Frontenac and Leeds, Ont.' donated in 1896 by  Joseph Bawden to Queen’s School of Mining  and will post if I find it.  [I didn't. See below.]

[Added February 22, 2022:]   I conducted an online search of Queen’s Archives and found “Correspondence Between M.R. Allison and Joseph Bawden with Iron Ore Analysis (1882)”,  “Bawden, Joseph Notes relating to Charles Sangster [a poet]”, “Lot 3, 13th & 14th con., Portland twp.; agreement, J.M. Machar to George Bawden”,  and  “Letters to Joseph Bawden, administrator of Herchmer Estate”,  but no map.   I also found a file entitled “Maps to accompany report on the Iron Ore deposits”, part of the A. W. Jolliffe fonds.  In reply to my email Queen’s Archives looked at that the file and told me that it did not contain Bawden’s map.  Professor Jolliffe will be familiar to many older Queen's graduates, as he taught geology at Queen’s University from 1950 until his retirement in 1972.  When I attended Queen’s he was still fondly remembered for his lecture on water witching given yearly to the first year engineering class. 

     A water filled polygonal structure that is about 100 meters wide by 120 meters long  can be seen in Google satellite view (44.596759, -76.088919).   It lies north of County Road 42 at the junction with Lyndhurst Road. It straddles lots 9 and 10 of Concession XII of Lansdowne Township. It possibly an abandoned quarry.  It is just south of Sunderlin’s property on Lots No. 11 &  12 in the 13th Concession of Lansdowne, and just west of the lot identified by Joseph Bawden as the source for the iron ore smelted at Furnace Falls. 

References and Suggested Reading

Akenson, Donald Harman   1984 (First Edition), 1999 (Second Edition)  -  Irish in Ontario, A Study in Rural History. - McGill-Queen's University Press; Second edition, 448 pages, Furnace Falls at pages 82-86

Anonymous, 1827  -- Localities of Canadian Minerals, with Notes and Extracts, Chiefly collected from the Writings of John Bigsby, M.D., F.L.S., M..G.S..  The Literary and Historical Society of Quebec. 73 pages   https://books.google.ca/books?id=rNdhAAAAcAAJ

Anonymous, 1893  -- Iron Making in Ontario.  Pages 13-30, Second Report of the Bureau of Mines 1892.  https://www.geologyontario.mndm.gov.on.ca/mndmfiles/pub/data/imaging/ARV02//ARV02.pdf

Anonymous,  1994  -- Lillies Baptist Cemetery: An Historical Sketch. https://lilliescemetery.ca/history/

Baddeley, Frederick Henry, Lieutenant, Royal Engineers,  1831  -  An Essay on the localities of Metallic Minerals in the Canadas, with some  notices of their Geological associations and situations etc.  Transactions of the Literary & Historical Society of Quebec, volume 2, 332- 426   at pages  336-7, 347, 383- 386 [Baddeley is incorrectly spelt as Baddley in the publication. ]  https://archive.org/details/transactionsofli02lite/page/332/mode/2up

Bell, B.T. A., 1896  -- Iron and Steel. The  Canadian Mining, Iron and Steel Manual, 286-346   at 291

Baker,  M. B., 1922  -- Geology and Minerals of the County of Leeds , Thirty-First Annual Report of the Ontario Department of Mines, Vol. XXXI, Part VI, 24 pages

Bartlett, James Herbert, 1885  -  The manufacture, consumption and production of iron, steel, and coal in the Dominion of Canada.  Montreal: Dawson, 167 pages at page 25 https://archive.org/details/cihm_03006/page/n37/mode/1up    1886: Transactions of the American Institute of Mining Engineers, Volume XIV, pages 508–542

Bawden, J., 1893 -  The Iron Ores of Frontenac and Leeds, Ontario. Canadian Mining & Mechanical Review : [Vol. 12, no. 4 (Apr. 1893)], page 71  https://www.canadiana.ca/view/oocihm.8_04199_28/22?r=0&s=1     The Journal of the General Mining Association of the Province of Quebec, 1893-94 , 341

Belden, H., & Co. (1880) -   Lanark Supplement in Illustrated atlas of the Dominion of Canada. Toronto : H. Belden & Co., 1880.  https://digital.library.mcgill.ca/countyatlas/showtownship2.php?townshipid=montague    Illustrated Atlas of Lanark County 1880, Renfrew County 1881, H. Belden & Co., Toronto

https://digital.library.mcgill.ca/countyatlas/showtownship2.php?townshipid=montague

Bell, James, 1889  -- in John Charlton, Robert Bell, William Coe, William Hamilton Merrit and Archibald Blue,  Report of the Royal Commission on the Mineral Resources of Ontario   52 Victoria, Sessional Papers (no. 67), A. 1889 , 556 pages at page 141-142

 http://www.geologyontario.mndm.gov.on.ca/mndmfiles/pub/data/imaging/NSP011//NSP011.pdf

Bigsby, John J., 1829  -- A sketch of the topography and geology of Lake Ontario. The Philosophical Magazine. New Series, vol. 5, 1-15, 81-87, 263-274, 339-347, 424-431, map

https://www.biodiversitylibrary.org/item/53111#page/15/mode/1up

Brett, Christopher, 2012  -- An Iron Ore Deposit in the Potsdam Sandstone of Eastern Ontario: The Hematite Deposit Between Delta and Furnace Falls.  Blog posting dated Sunday, 18 November 2012

http://fossilslanark.blogspot.com/2012/11/an-iron-ore-deposit-in-potsdam.html

Brinsmead, R.A., 1975  - North Leeds Planning Area: North and South Crosby, South Burgess, Bastard and Rear of Leeds and Lansdowne Townships, Leeds County, Ontario.   Ontario Division of Mines Geological Branch, Open File Report 5142.  16 pages 1 map.

Carson, D. M., 1982   -- Paleozoic Geology of the Merrickville Area, Southern Ontario; Ontario Geological Survey, Map P.2494, Geological Series - Preliminary Map, Scale 1:50 000. Geology 1981

Carter, T.R., 1984  – Metallogeny of the Grenville Province of Southeastern Ontario.  Ontario Geological Survey Open File Report 5515, 422 pages. Hematite at 165 -170, 414-422.

Cruikshank, E. A.  1934  - “The Settlement of the U E L on the Upper St. Lawrence and Bay of Quinte in 1784”, Ontario Historical Society, 1934.   [cited in Art Shaw, 2018; not found]

Cruickshank, Ernest Alexander, 1936  - The activity of Abel Stevens as Pioneer, Ontario History, volume 31, pages 56-90.   https://ontariohistoricalsociety.ca/   [ not available - cited in Akenson, 1984, 1999; Art Shaw, 2018, etc.]

Di Prisco, G. And J. S. Springer, 1991 – The Precambrian-Paleozoic Unconformity and Related Mineralization in Southeastern Ontario.  Ontario Geological Survey Open File Report 5751.

Ells, R, W. 1903: - Ontario with adjacent parts of Quebec, p 129-139,  at p. 138A. in  Summary Report of the Geological Survey Department for the Year 1900,  Part A, Geological Survey of Canada, Ann. Rept. 1900, vol. 13, 769 pages

Fréchette, Howells, 1923  - Iron Oxide Pigments in Ontario. .  Summary report of investigations made by the Mines Branch during the calendar year ending December 31, 192a; Canada Mines Branch, Publication no. 586, 1923, 346 pages, pages 9-12  https://doi.org/10.4095/20739 

Gourlay, Robert, 1822 - A Statistical Account of Upper Canada: compiled with a view to a grand system of emigration / .  London: Simpkin & Marshall,  660 pages

https://www.canadiana.ca/view/oocihm.35937/3?r=0&s=1

Henderson,W., 1870  - A Winter Journey Long Ago.  The New Dominion Monthly, February, 1870, page 28-34

https://www.google.ca/books/edition/The_New_Dominion_Monthly/e9IhAQAAIAAJ

Hunt, T. S., 1852  - Report of T.S.  Hunt, Esq., Chemist and Mineralogist to the Provincial Geological Survey, addressed to W. E. Logan, Esq. Provincial Geologist.  In Geological Survey of Canada.  Report of Progress For the Year, 1851-52.

Ingall, E. D., 1901  - Report on the Iron Ore Deposits along the Kingston and Pembroke Railway in Eastern Ontario With Map No . 626 ,  Geological Survey of Canada, Annual Report vol. 12, (1899), pt. I, 1901, 91 pages, https://doi.org/10.4095/287887.  Geological Survey of Canada, Separate Report 723

https://www.canadiana.ca/view/oocihm.84251/1?r=0&s=1

Keith, M.L., 1946 -  Sandstone as a Source of Silica Sands in Southeastern Ontario.  Fifty-fifth Annual Report of the Ontario Department of Mines Being Vol. LV, Part V, 1946, 36 pages

Keith, M.L,  M.B. Baker, J.F. Wright, A.E. Wilson and M. Wilson, 1946 - Part of southeastern Ontario showing distribution of Potsdam sandstone, Ontario Geological Survey, M1946-09,   1900 Series Map  Scale: 1 :2 miles

http://www.geologyontario.mndm.gov.on.ca/mndmfiles/pub/data/imaging/M1946-09//M1946-09.pdf 

Leeds & 1000Islands Historical Society (2013)  -  Hubert Sly Fonds, 2013-032 Fonds n.d. :  “John Hurd Covell vs Wallis Sunderlin, Peleg Sunderlin, Steven Washburn, William Stevens, William Patterson, Abel Stevens Jr & Adam Shook, Copies of letters regarding land matters involving Benjamin Slack, Joseph Wiltse, & Wallis Sunderlin,” Leeds & 1000Islands Historical Society. LTI Archives   https://www.ltiarchives.ca/index.php/merchant-billheads

Leavitt, Thad. W. H. ,1879   -  The History of Leeds and Grenville, Ontario, from 1749-1879.   Brockville: Recorder Press, , https://catalog.hathitrust.org/Record/100252372

Lockwood, Glenn J. 1980  - Montague a Social History of an Irish Township 1783-1980  Publisher: Township of Montague

Lockwood, Glenn  J 1996  - "The Rear of Leeds & Lansdowne : the making of community on the Gananoque River frontier, 1796-1996".   Lyndhurst, Ont. : Corporation of the Township of Rear of Leeds and Lansdowne  https://archive.org/details/rearofleedslansd00lock

Logan, W.E., 1863.   - Geology of Canada. Report of Progress from its Commencement to 1863; Geological Survey of Canada, 983 p. [accompanied by an Atlas of Maps and Sections.] doi:10.4095/123563

MacKenzie, George Cleghorn, 1908  - The Iron and Steel Industry of Ontario, Report of the Bureau of Mines - Volume 17 - Pages 190-342 Ontario Department of Mines, 

 McKenzie, Ruth, 1967  - Leeds and Grenville: Their First Two Hundred Years. McClelland and Stewart,   Grenville (Ont. : County) - 243 pages at psge 32

 Miles & Co., 1879  Counties of Leeds and Grenville. - Scale 1:126,720. - Toronto :  . 1861-62

https://digital.library.mcgill.ca/countyatlas/Images/Maps/TownshipMaps/lee-m-bastard.jpg

https://digital.library.mcgill.ca/countyatlas/showtownship2.php?townshipid=lansdowne

Murray, Alexander, 1852 - Report of Alex. Murray, Esq., Assistant Provincial Geologist, Addressed to W. E. Logan, Esq,., Provincia.l Geologist.   Pages 58- 91, in Geological Survey of Canada.  Report of Progress For the Year, 1851-52.

Pilon, Henri, 2003  - Baddeley, Frederick Henry, in Dictionary of Canadian Biography, vol. 10, University of Toronto/Université Laval, 2003–, accessed January 17, 2022, http://www.biographi.ca/en/bio/baddeley_frederick_henry_10E.html. 

Rose, E. R., 1958 - Iron Deposits of Eastern Ontario and adjoining Quebec; Geological Survey of Canada, Bulletin 45, 132 pages, https://doi.org/10.4095/100563  Hematite at 59-66

Selleck , Bruce,   2005 -  Trip A-2 Exploring the Root Zone of an Ancient Fault-driven Hydrothermal System in the Adirondack Lowlands, New York.   New York State Geological Association.  77th Annual Meeting, Field Trip Guidebook, pp. 12–31.

Shaw, Art 2018  - The Lansdowne Iron Works NHS Lyndhurst, Ontario, 22 pages.

http://www.deltamill.org/history.html

Shaw, Art & Ken Watson, 2018  - Delta and Lyndhurst – Forged Together

http://www.deltamill.org/history.html

Sherret,, R.C., 1889  -  At Charleston lake, in the county of Leeds, there is hematite.   in John Charlton, Robert Bell, William Coe, William Hamilton Merrit and Archibald Blue,  Report of the Royal Commission on the Mineral Resources of Ontario 52 Victoria, Sessional Papers (no. 67), A. 1889 , 556 pages at page 139-140 http://www.geologyontario.mndm.gov.on.ca/mndmfiles/pub/data/imaging/NSP011//NSP011.pdf

Sliter, Hiel 1856  - Pioneer  Privations:  A  Sketch  by  the Father  of  S.P  Sliter,  Morton. Unpublished  manuscript .  [Lockwood’s (1996)  footnote 31].   See: Sliter Family, File, Part of Research Collection, Leeds and 1000 Islands Historical Society.   File contains a copy of "Pioneer Privations: A sketch by the Father of S. P. Sliter, Morton.  https://www.ltiarchives.ca/index.php/sliter-family

Sly, Keith, 2014 - Jehiel Sliter, 2nd Regiment Leeds Militia. | Graveside Project .  

 https://gravesideproject.ca/?paged=3&tag=2nd-regt-leeds-militia

Smith, W.H., 1852 - Canada:  Past,  Present  and  Future  being a historical, geographical, geological and statistical account of Canada West.  Volume 2, Toronto: Thomas  Maclear,   

https://catalog.hathitrust.org/Record/001445015

Walling, H.F.,  1861  - Map of the United Counties of Leeds and Grenville, Canada West

https://maps.library.utoronto.ca/hgis/countymaps/leeds_grenville/LeedsGrenville_merge.jpg

https://www.bac-lac.gc.ca/eng/collectionsearch/Pages/record.aspx?app=fonandcol&IdNumber=3997726&new=-8585897987553385587

https://images.ourontario.ca/lakesandislands/2299848/image/912613

Walling, H.F., 1863

Map of the Counties of Lanark and Renfrew, Canada West : from actual surveys under the direction of H.F. Walling [provides lots and Concessions in Montague Township]

https://collections.leventhalmap.org/search/commonwealth:4m90fh65g

Watson, Ken W., 1981  -  Geological History of the Rideau Canal, pages 72-74 in Watson’s 2021 Guide to the Rideau Canal, available at http://www.rideaufriends.com/whatsnew.html 

Watson, Ken W., 2021 The Source of the Iron Ore for the Lansdowne Iron Works, 10 pages

Wright, J. F., 1921  -  Brockville-Mallorytown Map-Area, Ontario. Geological survey of Canada Summary Report, 1920, Part D, 78D-83D, https://ftp.maps.canada.ca/pub/nrcan_rncan/publications/STPublications_PublicationsST/297/297670/sum_rep_1920_d.pdf

Wynne-Edwards, H. R. 1967  - Westport Map-area, Ontario, With Special Emphasis on The Precambrian Rocks.  Geological Survey of Canada , Memoir 346