R. W. Ells, LL.D., F.R.S.C., in the Geological Survey report on “The Bitumen or Oil Shales of New Brunswick and Nova Scotia, also on the Oil Shale Industry of Scotland,” says:—“The celebrated tar-sands of Athabaska river in Northern Alberta may at some time furnish material for distillation, since all attempts to find oil by boring have hitherto been unsuccessful. These tar-sands have been well described by Doctor Bell, and other officers of the Geological Survey who have visited the area. Doctor Bell, after describing the immense amount of tarry matter found along the river, states that ‘the pitchy sand itself may be useful for a variety of purposes. When chopped out of the bank in lumps like coal it was found to burn freely, with a strong smoky flame, if supported in such a way as to admit of the free access of air. As the bitumen became exhausted the fine sand fell to the bottom.’ . . . . A very superior lubricating oil may be manufactured from it. Doctor Hoffmann of the Geological Survey, Mr. Isaac Waterman, the well known petroleum refiner of London, Ontario, and Lieutenant Cochrane, Instructor in Practical Chemistry at the Military College, Kingston, have found it to contain twelve to fifteen per cent. of bitumen. Although this proportion may appear small, yet the material occurs in such enormous quantities that a profitable means of extracting the oil and paraffin which it contains may be found. The high banks of the river and its branches offer an easy means of excavating it, and as it burns readily one part might be consumed to extract the oil from another, there being practically no limit to the quantity which may be obtained for the digging.” [Illustration: Oil Well at McKay, Athabaska river.] Doctor Bell, in a paper before the American Institute of Mining Engineers, Toronto, July, 1907, said:—“Different experiments made with the tar-sands show that while they yield some good illuminating fluid, their principal value consists in the large proportion of FINE LUBRICATING OIL which they afford. This oil was found to remain liquid in the cold winter temperatures of the Canadian prairie provinces, and therefore, it is very suitable for car wheels and machinery working in the open air.”