This was pany concluded to go half a mile further down stream and sink a second shaft. done, but a depth of only 42 feet was obtained when a flow of water was struck; after three days' work bailing with a bucket and windlass the shaft had to be abandoned and work was suspended for two months and the company was reorganised. The reorganised company, on November 20th, 1905, started to work to find the channel by sinking a large shaft, building an overshot water-wheel to drive pumps and a large shaft-house, all of which are completed. The shaft was sunk 52 feet and a drift started in rock to find the channel. This drift is now out from the shaft 55 feet, but, as the rock encountered is very hard, the progress made is slow. Up to the present time the company have expended $10,000." Mr. Bertram Mellon, manager of the Slough Creek, Limited, kindly furnishes me with the following particulars of the company's operations : "Our operations for the current year consist of drifting in bedrock and tapping the gravel at various points at intervals during the year, but only as much work of this nature has been done as was necessary to maintain a flow of water from the gravel at a speed sufficient to keep both pumps running at from 70 to 80 per cent. of their capacity. The greater part of the year has been occupied with purely construction work. A water lodgment (having a capacity of about 60,000 Imperial gallons), has been driven below the level of the main tunnel for a distance of 140 feet. A drift is now being run from the main tunnel to connect with the pump chamber and provide a necessary exit. The old drain tunnel, commencing some 2,000 feet down the valley and connecting with the gravel shaft, has been opened up and repaired throughout. This drift is now being continued up stream, for the purpose of taking off the surface water and so reducing the possibility of this water finding its way to the bedrock gravels. Pumping, at the rate of from seven to eight million gallons a week, has gone on steadily throughout the year. It is now quite clear that the unwatering of this mine is a much greater undertaking than was anticipated, and in order to increase the outflow and assist the pumps it is proposed to elevate water with bailing tanks. Two additional boilers and a pair of 16" x 36" directacting winding engines will be installed. The work attending this increase of plant, new boiler house, an extension of shaft-house and a new head frame, etc., is now going forward. From 20 to 30 men have been employed and about 60 Chinese are at work cutting fuel, under contract." WILLOW RIVER. The Willow River Mining Company, Limited, has at last succeeded in reaching the deep channel of Willow river, and, I am credibly informed, when compelled to shut down on account of the fatal illness of the principal owner, was working on gold sufficient to pay, with the ground improving with every foot advanced across the channel. MOSQUITO CREEK. The Williams and Alabama hydraulic claims, owned by Flynn Brothers, owing to the light snowfall of last winter, had a short season; notwithstanding this fact, these claims still continue to be among the most productive of the district. EIGHT-MILE LAKE. Mr. T.-O. Burgess, Assistant Manager of the Thistle Gold Company, Limited, says :"Notwithstanding the fact that it was necessary to do considerable dead work before obtaining any returns from the mine, the season just past has proved a very successful one. This is due in great part to the unusual rainfall in the latter part of the season, there being, after the first day of September, 26 days (24 hours each) of water for hydraulic operations. From the commencement of the season to June 30th, there were 52 full days of water. In order to gain depth, a cut for a sluice flume two feet in width was brought up from the lake through the east side of the diggings. As the old sluice flume was on the west side, this also afforded better dumping facilities, that part of the lake into which the old sluice dumped having been filled up with tailings. With the exception of occasional bedrock, the cut was in hardpan, all of which it was necessary to blast before the 'pipes' would take hold. This cut, 800 feet in length, had a minimum depth of 8 feet, a maximum depth of 30 feet and an approximate width of 8 feet. Total length of new sluice flume laid, 1,200 feet. Grade of sluice, 4 inches to the 12-foot box. "While the above was in progress, the top material at the working face, which, in the fall of 1905, was prepared for washing by a bank blast, was worked off through the old sluice flume. The bottom or pay gravel was left until the fall run, when it was taken up and washed through the new sluice. At the same time a small pit was also taken out on the west side of the diggings. Another bank blast will be put off this fall; length of main drive 60 feet; length of T, 60 feet; charge, 3,000 pounds of black blasting powder. "Fifteen men were employed in the early part of the season. "The prospects for next season are bright, the ground is good, and all work will be live work." GROUSE CREEK. Regarding the Waverly mine, Mr. P. Carey, the foreman, says : "With a light snowfall during the winter, it was the general opinion that the water supply was going to be short, which proved well founded. After a short run with the best of the freshet, I decided to store the remaining flow in the reservoir, and thus keep the mine going steadily with the usual number of hands. The result of the clean-up was so satisfactory that the Board of Directors was able to declare a dividend of $5 per share, an increase of $1 a share over any previous year. Then the necessity of having to divert water from the main pipe line for the economical and convenient working of the west branch pit, a new giant, water gates and other apparatus had to be provided for. A contract has now been let for the supplying and delivering of this material at the mine, to be in readiness for next spring's operations. In concluding this report, I might add that, from present appearances, the large body of pay gravel in the faces of both pits of the mine will be a steady and increasing dividend-producer for years to come." CHINA CREEK. I am favoured with the following report from Mr. B. A. Laselle, manager of the China Creek Hydraulic Co.: "An early spring made it possible to commence hydraulicking the last week of April, ten days earlier than is usual. The total yardage' washed during the season was 150,000 cubic yards, of which 60,000 yards was piped off during the fall run and not cleaned up. The equipment on this property now has an average daily washing capacity of 2,000 cubic yards a day of 24 hours. The gold values here continued uniform, and the large amount of workable ground in this company's holdings makes the future of this mine satisfactory to the owners." this NUGGET GULCH. There is a new hydraulic mine of much promise on Nugget Gulch, which has been equipped and of which the manager, Mr. B. A. Laselle, says:— season, "This property has been equipped during the past season with a complete hydraulic plant, capable of handling 1,500 cubic yards a day of 24 hours. The water supply is secured from Victoria creek, where an earth-filled crib dam was constructed for storage and reservoir purposes, which will enable the property to be worked a part of the time during the dry seasons The water was turned into the pipe for a few days in the latter part of October, and the pit opened up enough to enable this mine to start hydraulicking with the first water available in the spring of 1907. Construction work on the property completed this season consists of 2 miles of ditch, with a carrying capacity of 1,200 miner's inches; an earth-filled crib dam 250 feet long, 14 feet high and 34 feet wide on the bottom; pipe-line, 1,250 feet long; sluice-flume, 200 feet long; camp buildings and three miles of new waggon road up Antler creek. This property is situated on what is apparently a pre-glacial channel coming in from the head of Cunningham creek, with every appearance of having been the principal source of the gold found on Antler creek during the early 60's, and the owners feel assured of profitable returns from this property in the future, as the workable ground is extensive and well suited for cheap and economic working." ANTLER CREEK. The Russian Creek Hydraulic Mine, on Lower Antler creek, is a new hydraulic mine of much promise, which is at the present time being opened up, and of which the superintendent writes me as follows: "The Russian Creek mine is situated at the junction of Russian and Antler creeks, having a bench over a mile in length, and ranging from 500 to 1,000 feet in width. Gold was first discovered late in the season of 1905 by a shaft sunk to a depth of 35 feet. Later, seven shafts were sunk, cross-cutting the bench, ranging from 20 to 30 feet in depth, all showing high gold values, which increased with depth, although it was impossible to reach bedrock in any one of the shafts on account of water. During the present season two men have been employed ground-sluicing a cut, which cross-cuts the bench, in order to determine the average value of a cubic yard. There was, approximately, 900 yards of gravel moved, producing 124 ounces of gold, which was an average of about 25 cents a cubic yard. The face of the present cut is about 38 feet high, with the bedrock pitching into the hill; therefore, it is impossible to determine the depth of the 'deep ground' at present. The company intends to install a hydraulic plant for next season, and at present there are four men at work digging a ditch about a mile long, which is 3 feet in the bottom by 5 feet on top, for the purpose of bringing water from Russian creek on to the grounds." CUNNINGHAM CREEK. The Bear Hydraulic Company, Limited, on Cunningham creek, which owns the second largest hydraulic mine in Cariboo District, has completed a large dam on Cunningham pas for storage purposes, which will enable the management to work the mine continuously during the season; also six or seven hundred feet of a large rock cut through the rim-rock to tap the bottom gravels of the channel was practically completed in the latter part of the season, thereby putting the claim in good shape for next year's work. QUARTZ. Mr. C. J. Seymour Baker writes me regarding his operations as follows: "A considerable amount of work has been done on Proserpine mountain, three miles from Barkerville, and several new reefs opened up, but they all appear to be low grade on the surface. The Forest shaft was bailed out and the fault examined. From its appearance, the reef is thought to be close by. 'Assays were made of galena found and in several places on the mountain the galena went 70 ounces of silver to the ton, and in one case as high as 180 ounces, but the quantity is so small and the distribution so irregular that the ore cannot be made to pay as a silver-lead ore. In no other place in the district has galena carrying such high values of silver been found. |