VERNON DISTRICT.

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VERNON MINING DIVISION.

REPORT OF L. NORRIS, GOLD COMMISSIONER.

I beg to submit the following report on the mining industry in this Division during the year 1907:

Considerable work has been done on what is known locally as Zion mountain, situated between the north and south forks of Short creek, which empties into Okanagan lake on the west, about 12 miles south of Okanagan landing. There are four mineral claims owned by Mr. E. H. Love, an old prospector, the No. 1, No. 2, No. 3 and No. 4. The No. 1 was staked as the Homestake by Mr. Love in 1903. These claims lie about seven miles up the creek. At this point the distance between the two forks is about three miles, and the hill (Mount Zion) rises to a height of between 1,200 and 1,500 feet above the bed of the north fork. The tunnel starts on the No. 1, about 10 feet above the creek-bed, and runs south for 90 feet; it then turns and runs due east for 75 feet, exposing on the face a 15-inch ledge at 80 feet below the surface. The ledge is free milling quartz but does not run very high, from $2 to $5 per ton. Although nothing worth while has yet been struck, the indications of the rock through which Mr. Love has driven his 165-foot tunnel has inspired him with unbounded faith in the ground he is prospecting. A good pack-trail in from the lake shore is the only means of transportation.

At the mouth of the tunnel Mr. Love has also staked a placer claim in the gravels of the creek bed. Here a 1,300 foot tunnel is needed to drain bedrock. The sinking of a 40-foot shaft, when he was driven out by water, and the construction of 150 feet of the abovementioned tunnel, constitutes the development work accomplished by Mr. Love to date.

Three claims, viz., the Rossland, Mascot and Evening Star (which with the Morgan constituted the McPhail group), on Monashee mountain, were sold by the owners, Messrs. A· A. McPhail and S. J. McCorkell, last fall, to the Fire Valley Gold Mining Co., a company incorporated expressly for the purpose of developing these claims. The transfer was not made until November, and owing to the lateness of the season work was deferred, but the company intend to commence operations in the early spring.

A group of three claims, the Fifty Cents, Prince Albert and Dipper, has been attracting some attention among mining men during the past six months. These claims lie on the west bank of the north fork of Mission creek, about five miles up from its junction with the main stream and about 20 miles east from Kelowna. The north fork at this point runs about S. W. and the claims lie on the face of a steep, rocky terraced hillside, covered with loose rocks and bunch-grass and but little timber. The ore-body is large, but irregular and with illdefined walls. The Fifty Cents claim was recorded by Mr. H. B. Mills in May, 1902, and he and Mr. A. E. Bishop, of Vernon, now own the group. There is a good waggon road for eight miles out of Kelowna and the balance of the way a very good pack-trail.

The aggregate amount spent in development work every year, even in this district, where mining operations are not carried on very extensively, is very great, and, while it might be difficult of accomplishment, much good would result if some means were devised whereby the average prospector might be advised or instructed as to the best method of developing his property. Too often the work done as assessment work is practically thrown away. A shaft is sunk sometimes when the same expenditure, if made in clearing off the underbrush and

stripping the surface, would show up the claim to much better advantage. The farmer, thanks to the Farmers' Institutes and the Department of Agriculture, has expert advice ready to hand on every conceivable subject connected with his business, while the prospector, confronted with infinitely more difficult problems, has no such assistance. It is true that a very close comparison cannot be drawn between the two industries. But were a mining engineer, a practical man and a man of some standing in the Province (and there are a number of them), to visit the different camps as a totally disinterested person, acting under the direction of the Department of Mines, and to advise the prospectors in a friendly way as to the best way to set to work to develop their claims, he would be very welcome to the prospectors, listened to with respect and attention and, I believe, his advice in the majority of cases would be followed. The result would be that less money would be spent under conditions which preclude any reasonable chance of success, and the annual assessment work on the different claims would enhance their value to a much greater degree than is now the case.

Mr. W. E. Winkler, of Penticton, and associates hold four coal prospecting licences on Powers creek, which empties into Okanagan lake on the west side, at Gellatley. These licences cover a tract two miles square, the eastern boundary of which comes within half a mile of the lake shore. On the 20th December last they commenced boring with a steam. driven diamond-drill and reached a depth of 451 feet on the 16th January last, under the superintendence of Mr. A. E. Thomas. The hole was started near the creek bed, at an elevation of about 500 feet above the lake and about two miles from the shore. The core taken out shows the drill to have gone through successively (as nearly as could be ascertained), from the surface in descending series

At 253 feet artesian water was struck which smells strongly of petroleum. In the bank near the scene of the drilling operations two seams of coal, of about one foot thickness each, are exposed. These two seams are divided by a parallel seam of two feet of clay. Samples taken from these seams (on the surface) gave, on analyses, fixed carbon 55.39 and ash 9.10, yielding a fairly good though somewhat friable coke. The company has funds on hand and intends to have its property examined by a competent man, and, if the report is favourable, resume operations in the spring.

OFFICE STATISTICS, VERNON MINING DIVISION.

Free miners' certificates issued

Claims recorded ....

Certificates of work recorded

Transfers recorded .....

Crown-granted claims on tax roll

109

24

16

5

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REPORT OF G. C. TUNSTALL, GOLD COMMISSIONER.

I have the honour to enclose the mining reports for the Kamloops, Ashcroft, Yale, Nicola and Similkameen Mining Divisions, embracing operations during the past year in those Divisions. In the Kamloops Division there have been few changes worth mentioning since the date of my last report. Not much prospecting has been done in consequence of the slump in copper. A few of the claims on Coal Hill are being worked by the owners, whilst in the majority of instances the labour has not exceeded the limit of assessment work. There is every reason to believe that a smelter, of considerable capacity, will be erected in the near future, in the vicinity of the line of railway. With that object in view, mine owners have been consulted in regard to the quantity of ore that would be available for treatment from their respective claims, and the information obtained has been deemed satisfactory.

The coal-boring operations, six miles west of the town, attained a depth of over 300 feet when a stratum of soft shale was struck, which made progress so slow that work was temporarily suspended, to allow of prospecting being performed with the drill at the shaft near the old Guerin property. I have since heard the operations in that vicinity have not proved successful in finding a seam of sufficient thickness as to prove of commercial value, and it is probable the drill will be removed to its former position.

Placer mining in the Yale Division is an event of the past. I regret to state that the operations of the Yale Dredging Syndicate, below Yale, have been a failure, and the proprietors are making arrangements for the disposal of their dredge, which was of the New Zealand type, and operated by men of experience in that country. It is, however, generally conceded that the completion of the V. V. & E. railway will bring into mining activity valuable mineral properties on the southern slope of the Hope mountain.

The Highland Valley mines in the Ashcroft Division are fulfilling the most favourable expectations of the parties interested in them. A large outlay has been expended in development work that has been amply justified by the results.

The coal companies in the Nicola Division are energetically prosecuting the development of their respective properties for a larger output, for which there will be an unlimited demand for the various purposes for which it is used. The recent discovery of a seam seven to eight feet thick on the Hamilton Hill, adjacent to Nicola, has produced much excitement, and a company has been formed, provided with the necessary capital to develop the property, and work will be shortly begun with a suitable force of men.

In the Similkameen mining is still handicapped by the lack of railway transportation, which is indispensable for the development of its resources. It is expected that the V. V. & E. railway will reach Princeton this fall, and stimulate activity in the mining locations of the district.

A seam of coal, from eight to nine feet thick, was discovered last year in the left bank of Granite creek, abont four miles from the old town. The coke obtained from this seam is pronounced to be of good quality. On the right bank of the Tulameen river, a short distance from the Tulameen townsite, there has been lately uncovered a deposit of coal, over seven feet thick. The foreman in charge of the work has received orders to employ sixteen men and proceed to run a tunnel.