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Table 3.Area and number of farmsin 1951 and 1988 (1, 4)AcresArea ofFarmsHectaresNumber of1951Farms19881 - 69 0 .4 - 28 34 3970 - 129 28 - 52 335 6930 - 179 52 - 72 645 11080 - 239 72 - 97 73 3140 - 399 97 - 161 315 117400 - 559 161 - 226 73 91560 and over 226 and over 29 114Total 1504 571The number of farms in the district has decreased by some 62% between the years 1951 and1988 (Table 3). The decline in number of farm operators is most evident in the farm sizes between70 and 179 acres. These farms have possibly become nonviable units for full-time livestockoperations . Larger farm units, greater than 400 acres, have more than doubled in number duringthe same period, but there has been a reduction of improved cropland over that time period .Bedrock GeologyThe bedrock geology of the Ville-Marie map sheet area is shown in Figure 3 . The bedrockis chiefly Precambrian, but sediments of Ordivician and Silurian age occur at the northern end ofLake Timiskaming, in an area about 33 miles long and 8 miles wide extending from North Cobaltto Englehart (5) .The oldest Precambrian rocks consist chiefly of metavolcanic basalts and rhyolites andintrusive granodiorites, found mainly in the northern and southeastern portions of the map sheet .Most of the remaining map sheet is occupied by younger Precambrian rocks of the Huronianand Cobalt Groups, consisting of conglomerate, greywacke, orthoquartzite, siltstone and argillite,with some diabase, gabbro and diorite intrusions .The Paleozoic rocks that occur in the fault block north of Lake Timiskaming consist ofSilurian and Ordivician limestone, dolomite, sandstone and shale.Surface DepositsThis region, like all of Ontario, was covered by massive glaciers during the late Wisconsinglacial period . The grinding action of moving ice masses produced considerable amounts of rockmaterial, ranging in size from boulders to rock flour, and distributed it over the landscape. Glacialstreams flowing within the ice, tumbled stones into smooth, rounded gravel, and as the ice receded,these were deposited as long, snake-like ridges, called eskers . Conical sandy hills (kames), weredeposited at the melting front of retreating glaciers . Sand and gravel outwash plains were left bythe large glacial streams that were spawned by melting ice .A large glacial lake known as Lake Barlow-Ojibway covered the Englehart-New Liskeardland area, and deposited a thick bed of lacustrine clay (5) . The lake is believed to have formedapproximately 11,000 years ago and ended about 8000 years ago when the ice readvanced .