Once, in Peace river district, on the way from Lake Chipewyan, he found a deposit of red stone; he did not know whether it was ochre or hematite of iron. He had any amount of it, but upset with his canoe and lost it. A large amount of ochre is found on the eastern bank of the Athabaska, between Athabaska and Grand rapids. He had also observed what seemed to him a large amount of hematite of iron between Athabaska and the mouth of greater Slave river, while on Slave river itself, at a certain point, large bodies of magnetic ore are indicated by the action of the compass, which gets entirely out of order. COAL AND LIGNITE. Mr. von Hamerstein informed the committee that there is a fine seam of coal at McKay, and went on to say that he had taken out, the season before his examination by the committee, about twenty tons, right on the river bank. There was a good quantity of bituminous coal, which could be used for common blacksmithing, but not for welding. Where exposed and worked, this seam goes down about five or six feet deep, and it seems to be getting larger. There is quite a bit of coal taken out every year by the people who live at Chipewyan. There is, according to Mr. von Hamerstein, another fine seam of coal at a little creek named Horse creek, which is about a mile and a half south from McMurray on the east side of Athabaska river. Coal may also be found in other places. There is a seam, for instance, about two miles below Stony island. W. F. Bredin, M.L.A., confirmed Mr. von Hamerstein’s evidence as to the deposits of coal near McKay, which is about twenty miles north of McMurray. In his report of 1888, describing his explorations the previous season, Mr. R. G. McConnell stated:— “Lignite was found in Peace river sandstone in Peace river in several places, but in seams too small to be workable. It also occurs in the plateaus south of Lesser Slave lake. In one section at the latter place, four seams, ranging in thickness from one to four feet, besides a number of smaller ones, was found, distributed through about a thousand feet of sandstone and shales. Drift lignite was also found in Marten river near the base of Marten mountain, but it was not traced to its source. On the Athabaska, the Grand rapid sandstone is lignitiferous, some of the seams being from four to five feet thick, but the quality is usually inferior. Several small seams also occur imbedded in the tar sands.” DEPOSITS OF GYPSUM.