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Capital Stock - - Guaranteed Stock - $10,000,000. - $500,000. .\^;: -T r- Principal Offices : Nos. 72 and 74 Cedar Street, New York, No. 3 Port Dauphine St., Quebec. /) /S"/^ ^5\ •\ 'SS NEW YORK: \ ' 15 Vandewater St. '^ "^ • * ,. , . 1.866. • ••••••■•' • . • ... '.'r .. :., • . . t . I OFFICERS. President, CHAUNCEY VIBBARD Secretary and Treasurer, J. M. WINCHELL. -;o:- AMERICAN DIRECTORS: Geo. D. Cragin, Chauncev Vibbard, Thos. C. Durant, F. G. Wheeler, Washington Hunt, J. M. Winchell, Nenv York City. CANADIAN DIRECTORS: J. Greaves Clapham, Thomas Glover, Geo. H. Simard, 5* . < » < > t 1 ^1 f '. « « * I I / ^ # * * • a t • • • * • » * « 4 • STATEMENT OF THE De Lery Gold Mining Company I. The business of mining for the precious metals, is confessedly one of great risks to the capital invested. All prudent men regard its allurements with suspicion. So general is the feeling of caution which it has in- spired, that none but the very bold will fearlessly venture money in a dired search for gold or silver ; and it is only when the promise of profits is so great as to dazzle the judgment, that investments are made with absolute confidence. That these apprehensions are well grounded, the history of Mexico and our Pacific coast furnishes abundant proof. Immense as are the fortunes which those regions, in numerous instances, have been forced to yield to the enterprise, the sagacity and will of man, yet have they been secured in spite of the most 58530 4 THE DANGERS OF MINING. formidable obstacles, and, very often, have been built on the wrecks left by previous failures. Still, it must be confessed that the profits of gold and silver mining, when fortunately managed, have often far surpassed the anticipations of the most sanguine. In- stances abound where the owners of successful mines have, in an incredibly short period, made them the sources of almost fabulous wealth. To those who have the patience and desire to study the subjeft carefully and master its details, it will appear that, while he causes of failure sometimes originate in accident, yet they are generally traceable diredly to rashness or bad management. In order to operate securely, we should make this investigation, and ascertain the conditions of peril to be avoided and those of safety to be secured. The parent of the greatest dangers that here lie in ambush for the capitalist, is dijiance. As a rule, mining regions have been remote from the monetary centers ; and the interval could be overcome only by slow and toilsome travel. The telegraph has but lately come in to alleviate this disadvantage ; and the mails have been subjed to frequent detention and occasional loss. Under such circumstances, any mining adventure would seem to court disaster. An incompetent or dis- honest agent can readily ruin his employers before the coming event can even be foreshadowed. Against such THE RESIUISITES OF SAFETY. 5 a danger, no richness of the property can avail. The catastrophe becomes sure, which, with the business under the immediate eye of its owners, would have been impossible. If manufafturers often fail, when personally mana- ging their own affairs ; if the great bulk of our mer- chants, as statistics show, at some period of their career become bankrupt; how unfair, how unwise is it, to charge upon mining as a business, those dangers which are principally due to the imprudence and folly of the investors. In fa(ft, it is now understood by experienced men, that, followed legitimately, with the exercise of the same caution, judgment, and steadiness essential to all successful pursuits, mining is as safe as any other busi- ness, and more profitable than most. The capitalists of California, who can dire6l the details of their own enterprises, run less risks than the merchants of New York. Once bring your investor face to face with his business, and if he has good mines, it will be his own fault if his dividends are not equal to his hopes. How well this Master Industry of the world can be made to pay when the conditions are right, a few instances abundantly prove. In our own country, the Gould & Curry mine is a shining example, conspicu- ous among hundreds equally brilliant, but of less mag- 6 IMMENSE PROFITS.— CANADA. nitude. Within four years, this mammoth concern, in addition to the waste of an improvident management, and the construction of the costliest works in the world, divided Four Millions of dollars among the in- vestors of One Hundred and Eighty Thousand. We know an English company, whose mines are in Brazil, and which is compelled to transport machinery hun- dreds of miles on the backs of mules, and to contend against the evils of distance, and semi -barbarism ; and yet the dividends are so m.uch to the satisfadion of the shareholders, that the stock can not be purchased. In the Old World, the revenues derived from mining, have always been adjudged not less than royal, and destined to the public treasury cr the coffers of princes. What, then, might be our reasonable expedations, if we had at our command, mines as rich as those of California and as accessible as our farming lands ? where cheap capital might be employed in the use of cheap labor apd machinery, and the details of the business subjefted to the constant criticism of those whose single interest it is to swell the profits ? II. It is barely known to the public that Canada pos- sesses some deposits of gold. None, save the very few who have personally made investigation, can believe that these deposits are at all comparable in amount AN ATLANTIC GOLD BELT. 7 and value with those of California and Australia. The brilliant history of our Pacific coast has quite captivated the popular fancy ; and the enchantment lent by dis- tance, unfits us for realizing the possibility that we are encountering the enormous costs and risks of distant in- vestments, to secure what we might achieve with infinitely less expense and time, almost at home. The ideas of peril and profit, seem inseparable in our minds -, and we can not realize that gold may exist in any region not a dangerous wilderness. We are loath to be con- vinced, even, that our continent possesses an Atlantic belt of auriferous rock, whose value approaches at least, probably equals, and may surpass, that of those far regions whose very air seems tinged with a sedudlive romance. For some years, however, scientific men have been changing their original views in regard to the gold found in Canada, and have been forced to concede that it is not an accidental deposit of some fabulous drift, but that it is the result of the same causes which have made it so abundant on the Western coast. The coarse particles profusely distributed through the soil of the Chajidiere Valley, are too sharp in outline to have been distant travelers. It is evident that their origin is close at hand. Still, during all the years which have clapped since the first discoveries in the Seigniory of Rujaud-Vaudreuil, science has made little progress in reforming its fossiliferous opinions on the subjed ; and ■H 8 DISCOURAGEMENTS IN CANADA. .s only w„h.„ a year past, when exploration ha, dis- closed ™„e„se ledges of gold-bearing quartz all through the d.stria, that the real source of tie alluvial god begins to be undet^tood, and the miners realize that they have w.chm reach a means of wealth, easy to develop and impossible to exhaust. The reasons for this inconceivable tardiness of per- ception, are many of them peculiar to the population and aws of Canada. To appreciate them, one must go there PWmining, to a considerable extent, has been followed on the Seigniory all the time; but it was with the rudest implements, and in a manner not deserving the very considerable success it has always metwitn. It was very like the Californian experience before .he inroad of American immigration; questions of title-disputes about taxation-the continual restraint of governmental red tape-all operated as discourage* ments; and the curious lack of enterprise in the French- Canadian population, and the profound ignorance of the subjea, more than account for the meager results obtained. Yet, under all these adverse circumstanc large amounts of gold have continually been washed out on the Seigniory by the hahUans; and the pro- dua, obtained by the use of old milk-pans, and in the mtervals of other labor and holiday idleness, has be- come so important, that the purchase and sale of crude gold m Quebec and by country traders, i, already a definite feature of business. It is not uncommon for I I OPINIOl . OF OLD MINERS. 9 nuggets to be found, worth hundreds of dollars each ; and those best informed, estimate the amount thus pro- cured in the Seigniory within two or three years past, at not less than hah a million of dollars.* These tacts have at length had their effect in the attraaion of old miners, returned from California and Australia, who are eager to ascertain the truth. Uni- versally, these men, while prospeding, become con- vinced of the great value of the mines ; and numbers of them are now working in full expedation of success. Lands are changing hands rapidly; enterprise and ex- perience are displacing indifference and ignorance ; and capital is beginning a steady flow thither, as it did DC Difartment 0/ Crown Lands^ Jesuits' Estate and Crown Domain Branch, Quebec, 9th November, 1864. Sir -.-I would beg to call your attention to my letter of the H^h ultimo, having reference to the De Lery Patent case. Nearly all the mining operations of the past and present seasons have been carried on exclusively in the Seigniory of Rigaud-Vaudreuil, the Crown having only received for license fees elsewhere some $66, while it is reported that about $50,000 were taken out in the Seigniory in question last season and at least $100,000 during the present one, the Crown Royalty on which alone, without reference to previous operations, under the Patent, reaches $15,000, of which no part whatever has been received. I have the honor to be. Sir, Your obedient servant, (Signed), A. CAMPBELL, Commissioner. The Honorable the Attorney-General for Lower Canada, &c., &c., &c. 1* 10 RIGAUD- VAUDRE UlL. eighteen years ago toward California. Even English caution is being overcome ; and the signs of the times indicate that the favorite gold fields of the world are speedily to find, in Canada, a formidable rival among the capitalists of London. III. The Seigniory of Rigaud-Vaudreuil, to which al- lusion has been made, demands the first place in anv sketch of the gold fields of Canada. It is a traft of country, twelve miles in length by nine in width, ymg about fifty miles south-east of Quebec, in the Chaudiere Valley, which the historical reader will re- collea as having been the route of Arnold's army in his famous expedition of invasion. Unlike most mining regions, this valley is one of the loveliest in the world; and this Seigniory embraces the choicest portion of the valley. The Chaudiere River runs across it the shortest way, dividing it into two equal portions; and each of these halves is trav- ersed by tributaries, among which the Gilbert, the Du Plantesy the Le Bras, and Mill River, are the most important. These streams give it a most admir- able diversity of hill and vale, and supply it abundantly with water for every variety of hydraulic use.* Chaud.ere and of the St. Franch, throughout the auriferous region, is such •i I THE DE LtRY PATENT. II i i It was here that the first auriferous discoveries were made, and it is from here that the great bulk of the gold heretofore found in Canada, has been taken. Originally, in this Province, the mines belonged to the crown; and the Seignior De l^ery, having discovered the immense treasure hidden in his patrimony, pro- cured a Royal Patent, in 1846, granting them to him and his heirs forever.* Since that grant, the govern- ment has relinquished, throughout all the rest of Canada, its title to the minerals, vesting them in the owners of the soil ; especial exception being made of the Seigniory of Rigaud-Vaudreuil, where the title had passed to the Seignior under the Patent. that it would not be difficult to secure a supply of Water with a sufficient head, without a very great expenditure in the construftion of canals ; and it may reasonably be expefted that before long the deposits of gold-bearing earth, which are so wid-sly spread over south-eastern Canada, will be made economic- ally available." * The following letter is written by the Honorable the Commissioner of Crown Lands : — , ^ , j Department of Crown Lands, Jesuits^ Estates and Crown Domain Branch, Quebec, 4th Auguft, I864. Sir:— I have the honor to direft your attention to the jjd and 34th seaions of the Aa Z7th and 28th Viaoria, chapter 9, entitled : " An Aa respecting Gold Mines ;" Letters patent, with reference to mines of gold, having been granted on the i8th September, 1846, to the owners of the Seigniory of Rigaud-Vaudreuil, of which it appears you arc now sole proprietor. 1 have the honor to be, &c., &c., &c., (Signed), A. CAMPBKLL, Commissioner. Alexander Chaussegros De Lery, Esquire, &c., &c., &c., Stf . Viarie or St. Fran(;ois, Beauce. 12 PLACER AND S>UARTZ MINING. ^ I IV. Various desultory efForts have been made to work placer mines in the Seigniory, but the means have been about as adequate, as for a modern farmer to cultivate his soil with the implements in use a thousand years ago. A good deal of money, however, has aftually been made in .his way, and the resident habitan is never without a deposit of gulch gold hidden in some corner of his cottage. But it is not in the alluvium that the intelligent miner searches for the reliable sources of wealth. However successful he may be in finding gold in the soil, he will value it chiefly as an evidence of the im- mensely greater amounts in the neighboring hills. The quartz rock is the mother or gold; and the real question in Canada has been, whether this rock exists in quantity, and from which the particles found in the streams have been detached and washed away. No efficient steps had been taken, however, to solve this question till within the last year j and then the results were such as to excite astonishment and con- viction. The hills were found to be full of quartz veins, which, when uncovered, proved to be of great width— sometimes as much as thirty feet; and the shafts already sunk on these ledges, reveal a richness at the surface, and continually increasing with the depth. THE TESTS OF SCIENCE. 13 scarcely paralleled in the experience of miners.* In some instances this gold is visible to the naked eye; often its abundant presence is revealed by the mag- niiier; and assays by reliable metallurgists, show its universal presence, and never in amounts less than should give a fair profit. These assays have gone as high as six hundred dollars to the ton, in quartz, and sixteen hundred dollars in the slate. As no shaft has as yet been sunk over fifty feet, these results are as sur- prising as they are encouraging. V. While these praftical operations are drawing ex- perience and capital to the distria, and stimulating the ereaion of suitable machinery, it may be well to notice the opinions of scientific men. Professor Silli- man's reports from Nova Scotia are measurably ap- plicable to Canada ; and the examinations of Hare and * In the report of a meeting of the Chaudiere Gold Mining Association, dated St. Francois, March 7th, 1866, accounts are given of fourteen different shafts now being sunk on quartz veins in the neighborhood. One of these is twenty-four feet wide ; another twenty ; another thirty ; and in neither have side walls yet been found. The assays reported run from seventy-five dollars to one hundred and fifty dollars per ton ; and thirteen hundredweight of ore, taken from one vein, and crushed, and worked in New York by mill process, yielded at the rate of forty dollars to the ton. As the whole expense of raising and working quartz at the mines need not exceed four to eight dollars per ton, the profitableness of such a mine is apparent. Machinery is also reported as having arrived at Quebec, and only waiting the opening of the season to be erected. H QUARTZ MINING THE TRUE POLICT. Hodges and Michel, leave in the minds of those gen- tlemen no doubts remaining. Professor Blake— than whom there is no better authority living— was satisfied by a visit to the Seigniory, in 1865, that there was "plenty of gold," and speaks in admiring language of the facilities for its extradion. It is conceded that the era of most profitable mmmg in California, began after the exhaustion of its placers. Deep mining in the maternal rock, is the sure source of rich and lasting profits. In Canada we shall enter on this profitable era without the unhealthy stimulant of any previous furore for gold washing. After suitable tests, convincing to the judgments of capitalists, the work will commence as one oi manufac- tunng. Shafts will be sunk, mills ereded, and the daily operations conduded with a view to steadiness and continuity. Unlike most regions, the rock pro- mises to pay from the commencement, thus freeing the business fro-a necessary risk; and so cheap are labor and food and materials of all kinds, that small capitals may be employed with equal chances of success and proportional profit that attend the use of large ones in the West. '! ^ ill VI. After what has briefly been said of the Seigniory of Rigaud-Vaudreuil, it is only necessary, in order to show the value of the property of the De L6ry Gold f^^K^to*«Bra*B THE PROSPECTS OF THE COMPANY. 1 5 Mining Company, to explain that it embraces all the minerals in this immense tradl, containing one hundred and eight square miles, or nearly seventy thousand acres. If there is any valuable mining property in Canada, this is most surely so ; and nowhere else in the Province, vnd scarcely in the world, can be found one of such magnitude. Something over half of this region — larger than the original Distria of Columbia— is occupied by censitoireSt who own the agricultural right, and are entitled to compensation for land damages from those who work the mines. The balance of the trad is unsettled, and free even from this trifling restridlion. The Company's right consists in a lease for thirty years from September, 1864, with a privilege of re- newal for thirty years additional. Of the entire cost of the property, less than fifty thousand dollars re- main unpaid, and that conveniently arranged. The Government, in the Royal Patent, stipulates for the payment to the crown of ten per cent, of the pro- ceeds of the mines, but conditioned on the eredion of works which the Company will never need. Nego- tiations with the Government will, probably, result in a compromise by which the tax will be reduced to one per cent. f i6 ORGANIZATION. VII. The organization of the Company is a source Oi satisfaction to the stockholders. It is based on a charter granted by the Canadian Government, with the privilege of stockholders, direftors, and offices in the United States; and the diredory was made with an especial view to its permanent and earnest objeft. The management is in the hands of men, most of whom are too well known to the business communities of Canada and New York to need description. The Capital Stock is Ten Millions of dollars, as any less sum would be disproportioned to the magnitude of the property. Of this. Five Hundred Thousand dollars is a Guaranteed Stock, on which all the profits of the Company are perpetually pledged to the amount ot ten per centum per annum. As it is anticipated that the profits eventually may largely exceed this dividend, this Guaranteed Stock is always convertible into Com- mon Stock at the pleasure of the holder. m The Guaranteed Stock is to supply the Working Capital of the Company, and complete the payment for the property. It is to be subscribed and paid for in cash, at par. Eighteen hundred shares (one hundred ■5 J I POLICY. 17 and eighty thousand dollars) have already been sold and the proceeds used for these purposes ; and the re- „.ainder (three hundred and twenty thousand do lars) will furnish ample funds for all ^^j-^^^'f' "^J^' Company ts orgamzed tn Canada, the Stock and alt accounts are on a gold basis. Notwithstanding the magnitude of the property, and its evident intrinsic value, the policy of the Company will be one of caution. It is not intended to corn-- mence improvements on any extravagant plan ■ but to follow one that will pradically demonstrate the most profitable modes of operation, and adopt such modes as fast as proven. By providing plenty of money, but using it with economy-by keeping out of debt and developing the property as far as possible with the profits-it is believed that the operations may be con- Laed with an absence of risk, and an assurance of good dividends. When we consider that a mere y initial exploration has revealed some for.y miles of gold bearing quart, ledges, a little calculation shows that there ts room in the Seigniory for from Jive hundred to one thousand companies. Viewed in the light ot the faas, the sum of Ten Millions of dollars is a very moderate one on which to realize large annual profits But in limiting the Working Capital to Five Hundred Thousand dollars of Guaranteed Stock, the safety of the investor is greatly increased; and in case the whole of this stock shall be sold, it will require a profit of only J ill i8 OFFICIAL TESTIMONY, Fifty Thousand dollars «-.. aJa c ^^^ ^""""^ ^o insure thi« dlvJ dollars, wuh an expenditure of about twelve thousand < over two hundred and fifty per cent „ \l'""''^'"i '■ -ed, and this with cheap'™';; ne" a:d t T^/ enterprise. J smg/e kL. worked Ih ^ skill, should give ut nrofirt u ordinary cent on t),, , r, '^ ™°''8'' '° divide ten per cent. ™ the whole Guaranteed Stock, and leave a large VIII. nole of e T"'. ""' '' '""'"'''' """'"" =°-"' in 1 uf^'"'"^"'™^^'''''^ '■-''- -de Lord Elgm, Governor-General of the Province in a dispatch to the Secretary of State for ,k. i , in Aueust tSr, "'^ """' '""l^' glomes, made ^;^'^|«^JPe^ very encouragingly in regard to the "nd dollars per month. "^ ^ '''°"''' ^' ''''''"£ »"' t^«nty thou- SIR IVILLIAM LOGAN. 19 mines, and states that he saw a considerable quantity of gold washed out from the gravel of the Du Flantcs, Sir William Logan has given some attention to the subjeft, and in his work of 1863 (pages 739 to 745), asserts that the auriferous drift of the Cliaiidiere \% far richer than that which, in California, affords ample returns to hydraulic mining. The examinations made under his diredlion during the past year, have resulted in largely increased confidence in the richness of both the gulch and quartz mines. On the 16th of March, 1865, an elaborate report was made by a Parliamentary Committee, after a search- ing investigation of the subjed, filling a closely printed pamphlet of one hundred and twenty-fix pages. A large number of witnesses were examined, taken from all classes, and including many of the residents of the Seigniory, and old miners who had worked here at their trade. This evidence leaves on the minds of those reading it, not a doubt of the presence of gold in quantity to make its extradtion a business of superlative profit. Two or three extradls from this Report, will show the charader of this evidence. « In regard to the extent to which gold has been mined or discovered, your Committee have obtained very valuable and reliable evidence. The Gold Mining Inspedor, Major De Bellefeuille, states the whole quan- 20 THE PARLIAMENTARY REPORT. tity of gold produced during the past season, in the Chaudiere Gold Mining Division, to be One Hundred and Sixteen Thousand dollars ; and this, considering the comparatively small number of hands employed, must be regarded as a very handsome return, the average of the season being no less than four dollars per day per man. The Gold Mining Inspectors Report, how- ever, can not be taken as representing the total quantity, as it comes only to the 30th of November, since which period, mining operations have been constantly carried on, and with highly satisfactory results, on the Gilbert, The greater portion of the gold so far obtained, has been taken from a small area on the Gilbert River, a few miles from its mouth, in the parish of St. Francis. It appears, however, that considerable quantities of gold were obtained in various parts of the country, oi which he was furnished with no return. Thus, for example, on the Stafford Brook, the evidence shows that Two Thousand dollars were obtained, while his return shows only Three Hundred dollars." '* In regard to the winter operations carried on, on the Gilbert^ the evidence of the miners is highly im- portant, as it was to some extent against their interest to give it. They have found hill tunneling beneatji the snow in winter, as profitable as alluvial washing in summer. >> " With regard to the general richness of the Gilbert COMPARISON WITH CALIFORNIA. 21 diggings, the evidence of these witnesses is conclusive. William Abbott took from one claim of only sixty- feet front, one thousand seven hundred and fifty dol- lars in gold, during the early part of the summer; and in the month of August, he took from another claim of only twenty-five feet frontage, five hundred and ninety-five dollars. He had seen or found nuggets worth from seventy-nine dollars up to three hundred dollars. "John McCrea exhibited a nugget weighing twelve ounces fourteen pennyweights, besides a quantity ot gold in rough nuggets, amounting to many ounces in weight." "Your Committee, desirous of obtaining such evi- dence as would admit of a comparison being made with the Gold Fields of California and Australia, examined several witnesses who had been long engaged in mining operations in those countries ; and the result warrants the Committee in expressing the opinion that the Cana- dian Gold Fields exhibit at least as fair indications rs were in the first instance observable either in California or Australia ; v/hile, in certain cases, the adual average amount of gold obtained to the hand per day, quite equals the returns in those countries, except, of course, in the cases of extraordinarily rich strikes." The entire Report of this Committee manifests in- 22 NOVA SCOTIA. telligence and candor; and it indicates a desire to avoid any adion which should give to the Canadian • Gold Fields a higher reputation than future develop- ments shall sustain. IX. A few words in regard to the Nova Scotia mines, of which mention has been made, will aid in under- standing the value of those in Canada. Nova Scotia has the advantage of precedence in intelligent and systematic working; so that she has already been able to show more conclusive results than has her sister Province. Operations in the quartz rock have been made the basis of the mining industry; mills, though small and imperfed, have been ereded and used ; and though the policy of the capitalists seems to have been cautious, even to the verge of ti- midity, yet have they been able to achieve the adual demonstration oi profits. The Report of the Chief Commissioner of Mines for 1865, shows the following fa6ls : — The total yield of gold was over Twenty -five Thou- sand ounces, mainly from the quartz, and worth over half a million of dollars. SUPERIOR ADVANTAGES OF CANADA. 23 This yield exceeded that of 1864 by one-fourth, and equaled the combined yields of i%6z and 1863, This result was procured by the labor of a much less number of men than Had been employed in pre- vious years. The number of tons of quartz raised per man, was larger than ever before. The quartz was richer, yielding more gold per ton. Comparing with these data the Reports of the Companies working, it appears that a large profit was made on most of the operations ; and it would seem to be settled that the business in that Province can be made lucrative. When we consider that the quartz veins of Canada are similar to these in charader, but wider and richer, and that labor and material are equally cheap, these fads supply a logical, if not an adual demonstration, of the pradlicable profits within our reach here. The accessibility of the Seigniory of Rigaud-Vau- DREuiL, is an argument of great force, as it is only a pleasant journey of twenty-four hours from Boston or Montreal, and of forty-eight from New York. X. This brief Statement but imperfedly shows the reasons for believing that the J)il Lery Gold Mining • . t . • • • . • ' ' ' 24 CONCLUSION. Company possesses the most valuable property of the kind in the world. The one objeft of the Direftors is the development of this property into a source of rich and steadily in- creasing income to the Stockholders. The organiza- tion has been attended by no profits to individuals. These are expeded from the dividends. All sales of Stock are made for the sole purpose of work, and every dollar goes diredly into the Treasury. New investors will participate in all the advantages given to previous ones, till money enough is provided for the current year. The plan proposed is eminently liberal, fair, and safe. But all persons wishing to sub- scribe to the Stock, are invited to a most thorough pre- vious investigation, and enjoined to aft on the respon- sibility of their own judgments. To see the property will be the wiser course, and to this end the officers will afford all facilities. Maps and specimens can be seen at the New York Office, and additional information obtained of the Secretary. April, 1866.