NON-METALLIC MINERALS.
Twenty-two non-metallic minerals are re ported in the statistics for 1915, and several others occur in lists of former years, but atten tion may be confined to a few of the more important ones, beginning with the mineral fuels.
In 1915 the coal mined in the Do minion amounted to 13,209,371 tons, valued at $31,957,757. Of this Nova Scotia supplied 7,429,888 tons, Alberta 3,320,431, British Colum bia 2,089,966, New Brunswick 236,940, Saskat chewan 122,422, and the Yukon territory 9,724. The coal supply of the great manufacturing province of Ontario comes entirely from the United States, and much of that used in Quebec is obtained from the same source; but as a small offset Nova Scotia exports coal to the New England States, and British Columbia to the Western States, the total amount being 1,766, 543 tons. The coal of Nova Scotia is bitu minous and of Carboniferous Age; most of the coal mined in Alberta and British Columbia is bituminous, also, but of Cretaceous Age. A small amount of coal approaching anthracite is mined in Bow Pass, where seams of Creta ceous coal have been nipped in during moun thin building; and a considerable tonnage of lignitic coal and of lignite of poorer quality is mined at numerous points on the prairies. In general the older the deposits and the more they have been disturbed in the rise of the foothills, and especially of the mountains, the better is the quality of the coal.
Excellent coke is made from the coal of Cape Breton Island, Nova Scotia, and of the Crows Nest region of Alberta and British Columbia, and also of Nanaimo on the Pacific Coast, the amount in 1915 being 884,555 tons.
Though Canada is surpassed in the extent of its coal deposits by only two or three countries in the world, their distribution, mainly in the foothills and mountains of the West, leaves the populous central provinces and the largest cities mainly without a native coal supply.
Petroleum and Natural At present Ontario is practically the only producer of petroleum, which comes from a small area in its southwestern peninsula. Crude oil and its products to the extent of 215,464 barrels valued at $300,572 are reported in 1915, but the supply is slowly diminishing and before long will be exhausted unless other pools are struck. Petro leum is known from Gaspe in Quebec and from southern Alberta, and great stretches of "tar sands" along the Saskatchewan and Athabasca suggest oil deposits, though productive wells have not been sunk in these regions. See Prrao LEOS! INDUSTRY, THE.
Natural gas has been exploited in Essex and Welland counties of southwestern Ontario. In 1915 the wells of Ontario furnished gas to the value of $2,202,523. Natural gas is obtained on a large scale in Alberta, especially near Medicine Hat and between it and Calgary, where the production is valued at $1,037,919; and on a much smaller scale in New Brunswick.
In addition to the mineral fuels just men tioned Canada has large areas of bituminous shale from which oil may be distilled and of peat bog from which fuel may be obtained when the need arises.