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I.aa diagrammaa suivants iiluatrant la m4thoda. 1 2 3 1 2 3 4 5 6 f^cpof-t: . .. ■^^^^WJi u HtL wr nnHkr'^. EEPOET ON TBS SLOGAN. NELSON AND AINSWORTH MINING DISTRICTS IN WEST KOOTENAY, BRITISH COLUMBIA, BT WILLIAM A. CARLYLE, ;, Provincial Mineralogist BULLETIN No. 3. By Authority. JAMES BAKER, Minister of Mines. For Reports and Information address The Bureau of Mines, , Vi(rroRiA, B. C. January, 1897. r ' H, t / REPORT. To tfie Hon. Col. James Baker, Minister of Mines, British Columbia. Sir : — I beg leave to present, in Bulletin No. 3 of the Bureau of Mines, a description of the mines and mining industry in the Slocan, Nelson, and Ainsworth Mining Divisions of West Kooteney, from the examination of which I have lately returned. I wish to acknowl- edge again ray indebtedness to the mining men for their continued assistance, by which I have been enabled to make this report of much more value, by reason of the fact that not only have I been able to examine many of the mining properties, but to have before me a copy of the smelter returns of nearly all the ore shipped from these districts, so that the values of the ore from the different mines herein given are known to be correct. Every endeavour was made to visit as many as possible of the leading properties within the time available, but even then some important mines were not seen. In every direction new claims were l)eing opened up, but, as seldom satisfactory information can be given concerning mere prospects, examination was mostly confined to these claims on which more or less work had hecn done, and on which underground conditions could be studied. The fame of the large and unique gold-bearing deposits of Rossland has now spread far afield, with the result that during the past year the attention of mining men and capitalists from all parts of the world has been drawn to British Columbia, and many have been here and bought mining property, or will return next year to seek investment, for which this Province without peradventure now offers most favourable and advantageous opportunities. The mining industry of British Columbia, it must be remembered, apart from the placer, gold and coal mining, is of very recent inception. Until eight or nine years ago the great extont of the mountainous country south of the Canadian Pacific Railway to the Boundary Line, was a wilderness known to few save the Indians and hunters, or the prospectors for gold diggings, but the finding of silver-copper ore on Toad Mountain, and the beginning of work on the silver-lead ore deposits on the east of Kootenay Lake, discovered many years ago by men in the Hudson Bay Company's employ, with the subsequent discovery among the moun- tains near by of other silver ledges, signalized the commencement of mining in Kootenay. But it was not until 1890-91 that these silver veins were beginning to attract mining men to this Province from abroad, and active operations were getting well under way despite the difficulties and great cost of bringing in supplies or transporting ore to the smelters, when all progress was for a time stopped and hope crushed by the sudden collapse in silver values, occasioned by the closing of the Indian mints to the free coinage of this metal. Work, nevertheless, on some of the veins was persevered in, and in 1894 nearly $650,000 worth of silver ore was sent out of Kootenay. Then better means of communication were pro- vided, and in 1895 the production of the different kinds of silver ore increased to over $1,000,000, which production has been doubled in 1896. Meanwhile the gold-bearing pyrrhotite deposits on Trail Creek were being exploited under many vicissitudes, until *,he shipments of pay ore, in 1894, to the value of $75,000, and of nearly ten times this amount, in 1895, from the large ore bodies of the Le Hoi and War Eagle, commanded wide-spread interest by reason of its being gold ore and very profitable, and in 1896 has been seen a great influx of capital's representatives and mining men, who are not only securing gold properties, but are investing in silver as well. The production of the Kootenay mines, when compared with that of many of the mining centres in other countries, will not appear so very large to a casual reader, but when all the conditions are understood, that an entirely new country of large territorial extent is being rapidly opened up under difficulties, that the supply of needed capital, until recently, has been meagre, and that in reality not a single mine has had time to do sufficient development to put it on a really proper basis for extraction of ore and further exploratory work, this production will then be seen to indicate a most flourishing and hopeful condition of affairs. ■f 36 As to the future there is now no doubt but that tlie number of paying mines autl the mine out-put vill steadily increase in the districts to be described, but not with that extrava- gant rate of increase predicted by some — at least not until those conditions exist that will permit the extraction of a much greater tonnage of ore. Such conditions are being supplied, and judging from the shipments already made in the new year, which exceed those of any previous year for the corresponding time, the out-put from Kootenay for 1897 will show a very substantial increase. For some time back there has existed a strong antipathy to silver properties, and foreign investors especially have refused to entertain any proposition that was not on a gold basis, but now the fact is being realised that with silver even at its greatly reduced value, if there is a sufficient number of ounces of this white metal in the ore, a silver or silver-lead mine is quite as profitable and as desirable as a gold mine, and the handsome returns from the very high grade silver ores being mined in the districts to be described, are attracting increasing attention, as is testified by the numbers now seeking silver properties and the transactions recorded, as many mines or claims have been bought or bonded by English, American, and Canadian investors during the past season, not only within these districts but other parts of British Columbia. The out-look for the coming year is especially bright, as many properties are beginning the new year with ore in sight, new mines have been added to the list, very promising pros- pects are being opened up, and during 1897 nearly every claim from which ore has been shipped in the past, will be on the list of shippers. There promises to be a steady increase in the amount of the ore extracted and sold, and in the amount of development done, but it is both unwise and hurtful to predict very large and sudden advances in the mineral out-put, as it must be remembered that a greatly increased out-put requires also a greatly increased amount of under-ground work, unless large bodies of very high grade ore are uncovered. Extravagant prophesies may travel far, and if the actual results do not approach the amount thus foretold, harm unjustly a mine or district, in which the progress has been most favourable and satis- factory, quite equal to the expectations of those best qualified to know. These districts described in this bulletin, being essentially silver-bearing regions, suflFered a severe set-back at the time of this disastrous fall in the price of silver in 1893. Nearly all -vork was suspended and it was only towards the end of 1894 that, taking new courage, work was recommenced with the result that a great increase in the production was evident in 1895, and progress ha^ since been rapid and continuous. The following is a short resum^ concerning the three districts examined, further details and descriptions of the mines, &c., being appended. The Slogan. The Slocan, according to the number of its shipping mines and the amount and value of the ore sold, now ranks as the most productive mining district in the Province, and in point of importance is not surpassed by any other. In an area of fifteen by twenty-five miles, there have been discovefred many veins of high grade silver-lead ore, which are being developed with great vigour and success, and among the mining men is every feeling of confidence and hopefulness. This winter nearly fifty of these properties are shipping high grade ore that yields very profitable returns, and a large number of other claims are being opened up. So far but comparatively little imported capital has been expended here, as in the case of nearly every mine now esti years, 912,600 ounces of silver and 13,482,000 ll)s. of lend havelicen paid for by the smelters, and of these amounts 7,000 tons yielded 600,000 ounces of silver and 9,000,000 lbs. of lead during the past season of 1896. Many of the veins are small, varying from 2 or 3 inches in width to 20 to 30 inches of solid ore, but the high value of silver at present makes this ore very profitable together with the low cost of breaking ground. The small Reco-Goodenough vein, the width of which is measured in inches, is probably the richest vein yet mined, ivs from the smelter returns of about 600 tt)ns, the average was 407 ounces of silver per ton and 42 % lead. The high per- centage of lead makes this ore a very desirable one for the smelters, and the lead contents are usually sufficient to pay the freight and treatment charges, and the duty charged on the letid. At no time in the history of this district have so many mines had high grade ore exposed, and of such mines can be named among others the Slocan St- the most country ; such men to be familiar with this work and able to locate such lines of trails as would benefit the greatest number of mining claims, bo suitable for tlie transport dotvn of ore, and be extended as further claims are proved up. The present agents have done good work, but they are unable, with so much other work demanding constant attention, to give that personal oversight necessary. It may happen that by special representation a trail may be built to a single group of claims, while another district that would be much more benefited by the opening of a wider field, would be denied, or the trail or road would not be built to serve as a main outlet, but be deflected to favour some particular property, instead of being located so that many more claims could easily connect v;ith it by other trails. Well directed assistance in this line is money well spent, as the more accessable this country is made the more rapid will be its certain development, as not only are the prospectors and miners better able to reach their finds and to spend the slight capital many can command in actual work on their claims, adding so materially to their value if such work shows up favourably, but investors and men with capital able to more quickly and thoroughly develop these locations can reach and examine properties more expeditiously and with less difficulty. Now that special interest is aroused and capital is here seeking investment, the more the country is opened up the more rapid and substantial will be the advance. Cost of Roads and Trails. The cost of trail-building in most parts is not high, as only in some of the deeper valleys and gulches is there much heavy timber, and if carefully supervised should average from #80 to $125 a mile for a good ordinary mountain trail, and if possible there should always be a down-grade to facilitate the transport of ore by "rawhiding." In building roads an instru- ment should always be used, or otherwise, if trusting to the eye only, the results will not be 41 of the best. Some of the very best roads travelled over this summer were thus properly laid out, such as the road up into the Washington and Best Basins, to the "Kuth" mine at Sandon and the Enterprise road up Ten Mile Creek. The cost of the mountain waggon road varies from $800 to $1,200 a mile, with a safe average of 1 1,000 per mile, complete. In the winter time temporary trails and roads are often easily made when the snow has fallen to some considerable depth. Means of Access and Transport. West Kootenay is now easily entered from two directions, and almost any part important can now be reached with dispatch and comfort, an agreeable surprise to all entering the country for the first time. First — From the north, at Revelstoke, on the main transcontinental line of the Canadian Pacific Itailway between Montreal, Winnipeg and Vancouver, on the Pacific Coast, a branch line runs down the Columbia River 32 miles to Arrowhead, at the north end of Upper Arrow Lake, whence («) a small steamer runs up the north-east arm of Evansport, the port of entrance, to the Lardeau and Trout Lake Districts ; (b) the large stern- wheel steamers of the Columbia and Kootenay Navigation Company, for which Company a large boat is being built at Nakusp, to be ready to go into commission next spring, as the traffic has grown quite beyond the capacity of the present equipment, runs as far south as Trail, connecting at Nakusp with a branch line of the C.P.R. into the Slocan, and at Robson with another branch of the same Company into Nelson, along the Kootenay River, and at Trail with the Columbia and Western to Rossland. Second — From the south, from Spokane, Wash., where direct connections are made from the main trunk lines of the Great Northern and Northern Pacific Railways to all parts of the United States, the Spokane Fulls and Northern Railway runs north to Northport, a few miles south of the boundary line, whence (a) this road, known as the Nelson and Fort Sheppard Rood, follows up the east bank to Waneta and Sayward, in Canadian territory, and thence across to Nelson, connecting directly with the Kootenay Lake steamers at a point 5 miles east of Nelson, whence the road switch- backs into the town; (b) from Northport another branch, or the Red Mountain Railway, crossing the Columbia by large ferries, runs to Rossland; (c) while daily steamers run up the river to Trail, from which point again Rossland is reached, or the steamers taken for Robson, Nakusp and Arrowhead, as detailed above. C.P.R., Nakusp to Sandon. This branch has a daily train each way. From Nakusp it is 28 miles to Roseberry, on Slocan Lake; 32 miles to New Denver; 37 miles to Three Forks; and 41 miles to Sandon. O.P.R., Robson to Nelson. A train will run both ways daily to connect with the steamboats on both Arrow and Kootenay Lakes. Kaslo and Slogan Railway. This road runs daily trains between Sandon and Cody, east to Kaslo, on Kootenay Lakes, stopping at points whence roods or trails lead directly to many of the Slocan mines. Slogan Lake. A large steamer will soon be running on this lake, as well as the small one now running daily between Roseberry, New Denver, Silverton, Brandon, Slocan City and any olher point on the lake desired. Kootenay Lake. valleys •m $80 rs be a instru- not be Three commodious and rapid steamers, the Kokanee, Alberta and International, run daily each way between Kaslo and Nelson, stopping at Ainsworth, Pilot Bay smelter, Balfour or other points along this route when called for. Other smaller boats traverse the lake from the upper end down as far south as Bonner's Ferry, stopping, among other places, at the terminals of the trails into East Kootenay. Generally, if required, a small steamer can be engaged to go to any point on these waters. 42 Assistance of Steamboat Lines. On all these steamboat lines every endeavour is made to assist the prospectors, miners, etc., by willingly stopping at any point where signalled or requested to land or take on board men, pack animals, supplies, ore, etc., and this accommodation is simply invaluable. On the swift waters of the Columbia River, the very clever navigation exhibited there is admired by all travellers, as great skill and steady nerve are called for at several points along this river, especially in the season of low water when these boats have to contend, in going up stream, with a powerful current which, in the late autumn and winter seasons, compels the use of steel hawsers fastened to the bank or rocks and the steam capstan. Large scows are used on the Columbia River line, being fastened directly in front of the steamers, and capable of cariying eight loaded railway cars, are used between Arrowhead and Robson, on which loads of 370 tons of coke for the Nelson smelter, loaded from the cars at Arrowhead, have been brought down this fall, but if necessary loaded cars can be thus transported from the main line of the C.P.R. on to these branch lines running in at Nakusp and Robson. Rise and Fall op Water. The difference on these water-ways between the high and low water marks is great, or 12 to 15 feet, and the season of high water is during the months of July and August, when the hot weather causes the rapid melting of the snow on the ranges. As so much of the country is being cleared by forest fires, permitting the more rapid melting of the snow, the floods may be expected to be even higher, and every precaution must now be taken in any work or building along the water front to be well up beyond any possible height the waters may reach. New Railroad Lines, '■ The demand for more railroad facilities is now great. The ultimate benefit to our country and Province of some new lines now pi-ojected, and their own financial success, are, in the judgment of many acquainted with conditions, assured. These new lines, while having engineering difficulties to overcome, sliould open up a large part of the southern part of British Columbia now lying practically dormant, and make not only possible the development of resourses now almost inaccessable and valueless, but known to exist, and the easy assembling at large smelting centres of the different classes of ores and fuels, but also the fostering of a large demand for agricultural produce, for which no better market can be found than in these mining centres. Of the new lines projected there are : — (a) the Crow's-Nest Pass Railway, connecting with eastern lines, thence passing close by the deposits of coal in the Grow's-Nest Pass of large extent and fine coking qualities, through East Kootenay, with branch lines to the Kootenay River and along the west shore of Kootenay Lake to Nelson ; (6) A branch of tho C.P.R from Slocan City to a point on the Robson and Nelson line: (c) The extension of the line from Arrowhead into the Lardeau.and Trout Lake districts to the head of Kootenay Lake : (d.) The extension of the Columbia and Western R.R. from Trail, up the west bank of Columbia to a point opposite Robson, and thence west int*, other places, while bosses of granite, separated from the main area, break through the slates at Paddy's Peak, Reco Mountain, and north-east of New Denver. " The upper series of stratified rocks, consisting mostly of dark, evenly bedded slates, with some limestones, is largely developed in the Slocan Country, and is well shown along the Kaslo waggcui road from Fifteen-Mile House westward, to a point a couple of miles west of T\ i I s 1 H \ y I ! 46 Three Forks, where this series is cut off by iin area of eruptive rocks. Soutliwiird the slates of this series strike into the great granite mass which occupies the central part of the district, and are all cut off, with the exception of a narrow strip which skirts the granite on the east, as far south as the west area of Kootenay Lake." * AiNswoRTit Division. " The Shuswap series occupies the basin of the Kootenay Lake, from Kaslo south for at least 40 miles. It borders both shores of the lake in bands varying in width from one to two miles or more. The strike north of Balfour is nearly north and south, but south of the west arm of Kootenay Lake it trends more to the west. The dip is almost invariably to the west, except where overturns have taken place. " The aeries of green schists, dark argillites and lime.stones which overlies the Shuswap rocks, is well exposed along the waggon road from Kaslo to Three Forks. The green schist and associated rocks extend southward with a gradually diminishing width to a point on the west area of Kootenay Lake, two miles west of Balfour, where they are nearly, or altogether, cut off by the granite. Southward from this point, about four miles east of the Ymir Mountains two bauds of argillites interbeddod with crystalline limestones occur, which prob- ably belong to the same formation." East of the lake the Shuswap series, extending to the summit of the i-ar.ge, is developed on a grand scale, while from the Town of Ainsworth westward each of the series is repre- sented, the " Number One " and " Skyline " mines being in the narrow border of Slocan Slates Series along the eastern limits of the granite border, as res. W. J. iit Spokane, pp, are the I or matrix li the dykes Iccur in the bed from 3 Ihas not yet ^at any one as in the Ihese rocks Lvities, and by impregnation of the country rock, and in the cavity-filled veins can be seen the banded structure described elsewhere, or the solid, usually big-cubed galena, shows lines of foliation parallel with the walls, but it is evident that further motion has occurred along some of these vein fissures, after ore has been deposited. Most of the veins are narrow, varying from 2 and 3 inches, to 15 and 20 inches in width, with occasional widenings to 3 or 4 feet of solid ore, and even much more, as seen in the Slo- can Star and the Alamo-Idaho veins. The ore shutes are not persistent horizontally, as is characteristic of nearly all veins, but ore is often continuous for several hundred feet, and where it then pinches, a thin streak of oxides is the index usually followed in the search for more ore, which seldom fails to re-appear with more or less work. The mistake is made some- times of following along a slip-wall or crevice that may cross the vein crevice at a flat angle, and thus lead the miner astray, fiesides the solid ore, some veins have associated with them 2, 3 or more feet of mixed ore, gangue and country rock, or a brecciated mass, which may be of such grade as to pay well for concentration ; and already there are three concentrators, the Alamo, Slocan Star and Washington, doing very satisfactory work, and the Noble Five mill almost completed, with the erection of two, at least, contemplated this year. The product or concentrates is silver-bearing galena, but any value contained in the decomposed material that may enter the mill, will in all probability not be saved, likewise, that in much of the grey copper, which apparently slimes btuily and escapes. The ore is shipped as "crude," or the solid or unaltered sulphides, or as " carbonates," i.e., the decomposed ore, consisting of oxides and carbonates of iron, lead and silver, the mass hav- ing a reddish-brown colour, with more or less yellow material ; those carbonates with a soft, velvety feel, assaying highest in silver. All material about these veins should be carefully assayed before being relegated to the waste-dump, where good ore, unsuspected, has already been thrown, especially soft, iron-stained decomposed rock or vein matter. Gold. — It might be well to be on the lookout for gold, remembering the good gold values found in the galena ores of the Monitor mine, which yield from ?2 to $14 in gold per ton; one lot of 20 tons of crude ore assaying $'20 per ton in gold, while the " carbonates " average $13, the smelter paying for all gold above $2, or one-tenth of an ounce. The "carbonates " seldom are as high grade in silver as the unaltered, or crude ore in the vein, but in some mines this class of ore is very valuable. While most of the veins are not wide, the richness of their ores greatly compensates, as may be seen from the lead and silver values as per smelter returnn from a few of the mines as: — Slocan Star 80 to 95 ozs. silver per ton, 70 to 75 % lead. Recb 83 to 730 i. .i 19 to 67 % n Good-enough 167 to 507 i. » 15 to 67 % i. Noble Five 62 to 543 .. .. 30 to 75 % .. Last Chance 135 to 238 .. m 35 to 78 % .- Wonderful 113 to 133 ., ., 70 to 76 % .. Ruth 40 to 125 M M 15 to 73 % -. Monitor 142 to 367 m .. 32 to 57 % .. Wellington 125 to 328 .. .. 10 to 55 % .. Whitewater 72 to 326 i. « 10 to 65 % ,i Dai-danelles 149 to 470 m m 15 to 55 % m Enterprise 155 to 180 n n 18 to 30 % t. Two Friends 248 to 380 n n 38 to 52 % n etc., etc., etc., etc. The other Slocan mines have ore of the same character and high grade, as may be seen in detailed accounts below. The lowest values in the al)ove indicate the lowest smelter returns on ore that is classed as "carbonates." The average value of all the ore sold has been given above. Zinc. — In most of these veins the zinc blende carries a small silver value and is sorted or concentrated out of the ore, so that vary little ore sent to the smelters has over 10% zinc limit. But in the " Enterprise " mine, on Ten-Mile Creek, the best silver assays are said to be got from the zinc blende, which is much more valuable than the galena. As is to be expected, small lots of very rich ore are mined, lots that will yield from one to two thousand ounces per ton, but the average figues already given will indicate the importance of these veins that are now being mined in both the granite and stratified rocks of this district. i : 1 1 =' i i 48 2. The veins of argentiferous tetrahedrite or grey copper and jainesonite and silver com- pounds in a quartz gangue. These veins can be seen in the granite exposure on the " Best " and " Rambler " mines, and in the stratified rocks on the "London JHill" property, from which very high grade ore b^ hoen shipped. 3. The " dry ore " mina on Springer and Lemon Creeks, in the granite, with a quarts gangue containing argentite, native silver, and gold. These veins are now attracting much attention, as high assay returns have been secured as per smelter returns; sorted ore of this character from the Howard fraction yielding 163 to to 206 ounces of silver per ton, and $16 to $26 per ton in gold. The " Chapleau " recently received the smelter returns on four tons of sorted ore, from which 3.6 ounces of gold and 94.7 ounces of silver per ton were returned, netting to the own- ers $102 per ton after 'deducting freight and treatment charges. 4. The gold-quartz veins in the southern part of the granite, such as those reported' to be on the Alpine group. The values and characteristics of the last three mentioned classes of vein will be better known later on, as the work now begun yields results and information. Costs. Mining. — (a.) The cost of driving tunnels and drifts varies from $3 to $9 per foot in stratified rocks, and from $7 to $10 in the granite: (6.) The cost of sinking shafts from $12 to $20, but so far little work of this kind has l)een done: (c.) The cost of stoping cannot be ascertained, but the following table, compiled by Edmund B. Kirby, M. E., and given in a paper to the Colorado Scientific Society, December Si-d, 1894, from experience gained in Colorado, where nearly similar conditions and cost of labour, supplies, etc., obtain, may be of value: — Approximate Yield and Cost of Stoping per ton of ore broken. Thickness of Pay-streak. Calculated for ore vi'heii 13 cubic feet = 1 ton. A streak 4 inches wide yields M O M II M O II II II 10 II II II 1a II II II 14 II II Tons per square fathom of ore sheet. 0.92 1.38 1.85 2.31 2.77 3.23 Cost of stoping per ton. $17.33 11.55 8.67 6.03 5.78 4.95 (d.) For labour the average paid miners is $3 50 for 10 hours, or $3 for 8 hours ; timber men, $3.50 for 10 hours ; shift bosses, $4 to $5 a day ; blacksmiths, $3.50 to $4 per 10 hours ; trammers and topmen, $2.50 to $3 for 10 hours: (e.) For supplie.s, No. 1 s?iant powder costs about 18 to 22 cents a lb.; No. 2, $9 per 50 lb. box ; drill steel, IG cents a lb.; candies, $7 a 40 lb. box ; cordwood, $1.50 to $2.50 at the mine ; rough timber, $11.50 to $12.50 per M. The cost of food and other supplies is now very reasonable. Transport ATT JN. — (a.) The cost of packing down ore on horses in the summer time varies from $5 Lo $8.50 per ton to raih'oad. In the winter time, by rawhiding, $2.60 to $3.60 per ton : {(>.) By waggons or sleighs, $1 to $2.50 per ton : (c.) Cost of transportation from shipping centres to the smelters in the United States, from Sandon, $7.50; from Slocan City, $11.00. Treatment. — The treatment charges depend upon whether the ore is crude or "carbon- ates," aiid on the latter according to the percentage of lead. On the crude ore, or nearly pure galena, the smelter charges vary from $15.50 to $18 per ton; on the carbonates from $9 to $15 per ton ; the $9 rate being given in one case where the leail did not exceed 20%. l± silver com- )r" mines, 1 grade ore )h a quartz )en secured ling 163 to i ore, from X) the own- orted'to be 1 be better per foot in is kind has DUipiled by , December md cost of Cost sloping per ton. «17.33 11.55 8.07 6.93 5.78 4.95 rs ; timber 10 hours ; 2, $9 per o $2.50 ut ilies is now nraer time to $3.60 ;ed States, r "carbon- early pure jom $9 to 49 The smelters pay for 95% of the silver and 90% of lead, assay values, at the New York quotations at time of settlement. For zinc, 50 cents is charged per unit— about 10%. The diHy on lead in the ore entering the United States is J of a cent per ff). Db8C!RIption of Claims. In describing the mining properties the following grouping has been followed. Beginning at Sandon, on the south fork of Carpenter Creek, now the distributing and main shipping centre in the Slocan, where recently the Bank of British Columbia and the Bank of British North America have opened offices : — (n.) The mines and claims on the mountain range south of the creek are the Slocan Star, Ruth, Wonderful, Canadian, and Adam's groups, Ivanhoe, Yakima, Alamo, Idaho, Cumbtr- land. Queen Bess, Monitor, and adjacent claims : (6.) The mines and claims on the south slope of the mountain range running east and west, north of the creek, as Lucky Jim, Payne, Slocan Boy, R. E. Lee, Last Chance, Noble Five, American Boy, Reco, Ooodenough, Blue Bird, ifec, with the claims in the basins on the north slope as Northern Belle, Dardanelles, Rambler, Best, Surprise, Antoine, Washington, Ac: (c.) The mines and claims north of the K. &». R. R., as the Whitewater, Wellington, London Hill, (fee: (d.) The mines and claims on the creeks tributary to Slocan Lake : (e.) Claims on Cariboo Creek and its tributaries. • Slogan Star. This property has not only paid a larger amount of dividends, or $300,000, than any other mine in British Columbia, apart from the coal and placer mines, but has proved itself to be the largest silver-lead mine so far developed in the Province. It was discovered October 17th, 1891, by one of the present owners, Mr. Bruce White, and others, who, following up Sandon Creek, discovered in the bed of this stream, a mile above its junction with the south fork of Carpenter Creek, the site of the Town of Sandon, a vein 13 feet wide, of quartz and spathic iron interspersed with galena, zinc blende, and angular pieces of the slate country rock. Prospecting to the west in a dense forest of heavy timber along the strike of the vein, at about 800 feet, a large exposure of the surface croppings of the large ore-shute was found, and here the Slocan Star claim has developed the ore-body to be described below. This group of claims, all Crown Granted or Crown Grants applied for, comprises the Slocan Star, Slocan King, Silversmith, La Plunta_ Windsor, Shogo, Emma, and Jennie, of which the Slocan Star, Slocan King, and Silversmith, arex claims, are located along the trend of the vein for about 4,000 feet. It is owned by the Byron N. White Co., Pres., Angus Smith, Milwaukee, Wis.; Gen. Manager, Byron N. White; Superintendent, Bruce White, Sandon. Capital stock of the company 1,000,000 shares at 50 cents each. Ore-Body. — This vein cuts across the steep, heavily timbered mountain side and nearly at right angles to the well stratified slates, quartzites and silicious limestones of the Slocan slate series, with an east and west strike and a dip of 54° to the south. While this vein has been traced through and beyond this property into other claims, it has not yet been traced continuously, nor has it any constant width, varying from a width of a few feet to 20 or 30 feet, with in other places no signs of mineralization at all along the lissure along which the country rock has been more or less shattered and the ascending mineral-bearing solutions have formed large deposits or shutes of fine ore. A large porphyry dyke runs nearly parallel with the vein and in places in the mine is found in it, but evidently afl'ected by this fissure. Along this fissure is seen much brecciated slate cemented together by the gangue materials, galena and blende, and in many other parts of the mine was noticed more or less parallelism in the deposition of the different minerals; but one interesting peculiarity noticed was the fact that many samples of ore clearly showed by the separation by the quartz of corresponding parts that the sulphides, as galena or blende, after deposition, had been shattered, perhaps, by further movement along this line of break, and then cemented into the present mass by quartz. It is doubtful if two well-defined walls can be traced in this mine, for while the hanging or fissure wall is very distinct, the ore merges into the country rock towards the supposed foot-wall, but more time could not be spent in very careful observation. In the mining of this one large ore shute as has been opened up and exploited upon the Slocan Star, the ore body T 1 ! III Jl 1 1 I III 50 has been found to vary from a few feet to 25 feet in wichh of mixed but pay ore, and n large amount of ore has been mined from bodies 2 to 8 and 10 feet wide of solid galena. Ore. — (a) The first-class ore consists of the nearly pure galena, both fine and coarse-grained, carrying some grey copper and some blende, but not enough to pass the excess line, or 10% of zinc. Average value, 95 ozs. silver per Ion, 72 to 75% lead. This ore is sacked and shipped direct to the smelters. (6) The concentrating ore consists of the mixed ore or the spathic iron quartz ganguo with galena, with a little grey copper, and in all the oie there are evidently some of the silver sulphides. The large amount of mixed ore taken from the upper workings and kept separate became available on the construction of the concentrator, and was being sent down the hill. In concentrating most of the blende is removed so that the concentrates carry not more than 6% zinc. Average value of concentrates, 80 ozs, silver per ton, 70% lead. The Mine. — This main ore shute has been developed for a distance of 430 feet along the vein and to a depth of nearly 350 feet from the surface down on the dip, and from it several small bodies of ore have formed along divergent crevices. Tunnel No. 1 was first run into the large surface exposure for 50 feet and then stopes were run to the surface or 30 feet. , Tunnel No. 2 is a cross-cut for 100 feet, and then a drift for 100 feet, with a stope up to No. 1 80 feet long and 4 to 10 feet wide. Tunnel No. 3 is 70 feet below No. 2, and in cross-cutting at 70 feet, intersecting a leader of ore drifted upon for 25 feet, and then passing through the slates, more or less mineralized, cut the main lead at 150 feet. A drift 150 feet to the west, through low-grade ore, entered a splendid body of high-grade ore which, on being stoped back 110 feet to the east, had led back to within a few feet of connecting with the short drift run at a 70-foot mark in the tunnel, thus leaving a pillar nearly 40 feet wide of what promises to be low grade, but paying, concentrating ore. This stope is now 180 feet long and 4 to 7 feet wide, and is worked up for most of the distance to the upper level, while the drift has a total length of 430 feet along most of which is much concentrating ore. But this shute has developed its largest and most productive ore body between the level and No. 4, below which no work will be done until Tunnel No. 5 reaches the ledge. Tunnel No. 4 was the main working entry at the time of visit, and here were erected the ore-bins at the upper terminal of the gravity tramway to the concentrator. At a distance of 575 feet this tunnel entered the vein, where it was 10 to 12 feet wide, and to the west a drift of 75 feet long had encountered a fault which had not been explored, but up along which a stope had been extended a short distance in, 8 to 10 feet of mixed ore. Easterly from the tunnel, at 100 feet, an up-raise had been made 210 feet to the next level, and all the way in good but mixed ore, with 14 to 16 feet of concentrating ore at the foot or tunnel level. At 150 feet in this east level a cross-cut showed up a width of over 25 feet of mixed ore with several feet of solid galena, but at the face, or 225 feet, the shi^te was then narrowed to 3 feet. A large amount of sloping has been done for 70 or 80 feet below level No. 3, where the body of clean ore had been 8 to 10 feet thick, but a large amount of ore was still showing in all the limits af these stopes. Tunnel No. 5 was in 200 feet in the slates, with 600 feet remaining to reach the vein 210 feet on the dip below level No. 4. The ground was all ready for the building and air- compressor plant, i. e., 4-drill Rand and an 80-horse-power boiler, and rapid progress would be made with the machine drills in the extended exploration of this claim, along this level. On the "Silver King" to the east, near the vein exposure in the creek, a tunnel had been driven in 80 feet, but although there was considerable ore for some of the distance, the ground was much broken up. To the west, on the "Silversmith," ore was exposed in some .shallow cuts, but this claim has in realitj oeen but very little prospected. Timber and Water are abundant for mining purposes — the timber being of large size, and immediately at the mine, where the stopes are timbered up with heavy stulls and lagging. Transportation. — A steep waggon road from Sandon climbs up past the mill to tunnel Nos. 3, 4 and 5, but all ore is sent down to the mill by the 3-rail gravity tramway, about 1,600 feet long, covered where necessary by snow-sheds, the concentrating ore being automati- cally dumped into the mill bins, the sacked first-class ore being loaded into ore waggons or sleighs, and drawn, also the concentrates, \ mile to the railroad at Sandon, at a cost of 80 cents per ton. Number of men employed 83, of which 55 were in the mine, and 10 at the mill. ■\ 51 ad ft large se-g rained, or 10% of rtz ganguo E the silver pt separate vn the hill, more than t along the n it several then stopes stope up to ting a leader mineralized, [ire, entered ast, had led mark in the , but paying, 1 worked up \0 feet along ist and most 3 done until were erected Lt a distance to the west ut up along lasterly from all the way b1 level. At :ed ore with ed to 3 feet, ire the body |ng in all the ich the vein ling and air- iss would be level. |nel had been !, the ground lome shallow Lrge size, and [lagging. Ill to tunnel mway, about ag automati- waggons or cost of 80 > at the mill. TllK CONCRNTRATOR. This n ill, designed and constructed by Mr. T. L. Mitchell, Sandon, who built the Wash- ington Mine Concentrator, and is now completing the mill for the Noble Five Mining Co., is situated at the foot of the tramway, and is 46 by 102 feet, with four floors. Bins. — There are two liiO tons capacity each, one for the coarse ore from the mine, the other for crushed ore below the crusher for supply. Power. — (a.) A Pelton wheel, a 3-foot steel disk, with a 1^-in. nozzle, supplies, when the water is sufficient, ample power, and is situated on the upper floor, so that the water from it, after going through a 12-niesh screen, may be used for waahing in the operation of the mill. (6.) When water is scarce, an auxiliary steam engine will be used, or a 40 h. p. engine, with a 50 h. p. boiler. Water. — (a.) A flume 3,000 feet long in two brandies, brings from Sandon and another small stream, water that flows down through 1,200 feet of spiral rivetted steel pipe, the lower 250 feet 7 in. in diameter, with a total head of 471 feet at the wheel. (6.) Another flume from Cody Creek, 9,650 teet long, 2x2 feet, on a 0.2% grade, costing $7,400, now supplies water for washing purposes in the mine, but has no head for power. Machinery was made by E. P. Allis & Co,, Milwaukee, much after Mr. Mitchell's designs, and comprises : — (a.) A Blake crusher. Reliance pattern, 9 by 15 inches : (6.) Four sets of rolls. Reliance pattern, 14 by 26 inches: (c.) Six Hartz jigs, i. e., 2 double 2-compartment, and 1 double 3-compartment jigs : {d.) Six 2-compartment CoUum jigs: (e.) Elevutors, trommels, classifiers and settling tanks, etc.: (/) Two double-decked round slime tables, 18 feet diameter. Method op Concentration. — The ore from the crusher is automatically fed by a cam- feeder to 2 sets of coarse rolls, whence the material is elevated by elevator No. 1, into one revolving screen with 3 sizes of screens, from which («) the refusal of the screens passes to 2 coarse Hartz jigs ; (6) the material from the 16 m.m. (.64 in.) screen, to 2 coarse Hartz jigs ; (c) the material from the 7 m.m. (.28 in ) screen, to 2 coarse Hartz jigs ; (rf) the material from the 3 m.m. (.12 in.) screen, passes to 2 three-compartment hydraulic classifiers, which give 3 separations, each of which goes to two of the double-compartment Collum jigs, while the over- flow passes on to the V-shaped settling tanks, or species of spitz-kasten, from which each of the four sizes of fine stuff goes to its own slime table. The pitch of each slime table is different, so as to conform to the size of the fine sand fed to it, and by using two water sprays, 3 separations are here made, the heads, middlings and tails, of which the middlings pass back by elevator No. 2, to the hydraulic classifiers. The middlings from four coarse jigs pass to the coarse set of middlings rolls, and thence back to elevator No. 1, the 7 m.m. middlings to middlings rolls, and thence to elevator No. 2, while the fine middlings from six Collum jigs, go to fine middlings rolls, which discharge into elevator No. 2. The automatic discharge material from six coarse jigs, and the sieve work from the six Collum jigs, and the heads from the tables, pass by the concentrate sluices to the concentrator bins below, whence they are shoveled into sacks of 155 tts. to 160 each, while the over-flow, carrying much fine material, goes into the settling Uxnka in the slime house. Capacity of Mill is up to 150 tons of ore per 24 hours, the ratio of the concentration varying, of course, with the grade of the ore sent down from the mine. The mill has worked excellently from the start and is giving groat satisfaction The protluct is very clean galena, with seldom over 6 %, and never up to 10 %, of zinc, but there is a considerable loss of silver, some of which is carried away in the blende, while the greatest source of loss is believed to be in the grey copper, much of which escapes in the finest slimes. Cost was, for buildings, $12,700; for machinery, not including engine and boiler, $17,000. Other claims. — To the east considerable work by tunneling has been done on the Eureka claim, which lies up on the steep mountain side along which this vein, by the angle of its dip, would be expected to run. Between 60 and 70 tons of ore have been shipped during 1894-5-6. The Babbit Paw, lying to the south and west, is bein/; searching for its extension westward of the vein. prospected by a company who are 52 Hutu. This group of claims, the Rath, Ifojte, Wyomint/, and the linfh Frnctioii, all surveyed for Crown grants, are located on the same mountain side, one-half mile from the SSlocan Star and one and one-quarter miles by road from Sandon, and was owned by the locators, F. P. O'Neil, D. C. Clark, J. Y. Kesler, F. E. Starkey, D. E. McVcy, and W. H. McVey until last Octol)er, when two-thirds interest in this property was sold for $166,000 to Mr. H. M. Foster, England, Messrs. D. E. and VV. H. McVey retaining their one-third interest. After many hardships and disappointments, hut persistent prospecting, the Ruth vein was accidentally disclosed by a small piece or two of irun-stained rock sticking in the roots of a wind-fallen tree that had stood nearly on the top of the ledge, and even then considerable work had to be done before the ore shute was struck from which has since come the mine's pnMluction. Under the direction of the foreman, D. S. McDougal, this property has been prospectetl in a systematic manner, and all the work has been done with care arul thorough- ness, which has greatly enhanced its market value, ivs is evidenced by the recent transfer at such good terms. The vein dipping N. W. 60^-90° strikes aci-oss the slates N. E. by S, W., and carries in the gangue of spathic iron and some quartz very cojvrsely crysbiUine galena, that runs from 100 to 120 ounces in silver per ton and 54 to 76 % lead, while within surface influences the sulphides have been changed to the " carbonates," that run from 30 to 65 ounces of silver per ton, of both of which clivsses of ore 1,500 tons have been sent to the smelters. The width varies, but in one drift the shute was seen to be at one part 9 feet wide, but as far as the vein was opened up, or 800 feet, it was very persistent and regular in its course, the fault dislocations being small. The ore is always banded parallel, of course, with the walls, and in the upper workings bands of galena have bands of the oxidized ore on either side, or there were in the other parts alternate bands of spathic iron, galena, and blende. The Mine. — Tunnel No. 1 follows the vein or vein crevice ftir 350 feet, but the ore shute is not reached by it, it not being far enough into the mountain to be under the ore mined in the tunnels above. Tunnel No. 2 was 740 feet long (Aug 16th), but for 90 feet but little ore was found, or 11 tons, but beyond this the vein, tliough small, is more defined, until 1.50 feet in, where a stope 160 feet long begins, and runs up 40 feet, with an average width of 3-3^ feet, with ore still in the roof. An upraise of 85 feet connects with tunnel No. 3. Farther in was another stope 55 feet long and up 30 feet, showing at the top 4^ feet of banded ore or galena, spathic iron, and "carbonates." Still another stopo 160 feet long, 3^-4 feet wide, was up about 40 feet with ore in the roof, while beyond this in the tunnel level there was a width of 8 feet of first-class ore for a length of 25 feet, and at 630 feet an 80 foot upraise, also in ore. In the breast of the tunnel the vein was passing through a porphyry dyke, but only as a narrow seam of ore. Tunnel No. 3 was 330 feet long with orr^ all this distance, but not so wide as below, although at the face were 3 feet of galena and decomposed ore or "carbonates." As the ground was soft all the tunnels were timbered up in an excellent manner and every part of the mine was in the best of order, and there is much good timber on the property. A waggon road 6,600 feet long had just been completed at a cost of $1,575, thus giving easy facilities for the shipment of ore to the railways. Number of men employed 25. WONUEKFUL. The Wonderful, 34.50 acres. Crown Grant, and the Lookout, and Cohimbun mineral loca- tions, situated on the mountain slope about one mile west of the Ruth and Slocan Star, and south of the bianch of Carpenter Creek, is owned by the Wonderful (Jroup Mining Co., of Spokane, Pres., W. W. D. Turner; Sec, H. G. Bell, Spokane. Capital stock $1,000,000 in $1 shares. Superintendent, E. J. Field, Sandon. The mining operations conducted during the last season on the Wonderful, were rather unique. The property had been under bond to Jno. A. Finch, who had done over 2,000 feet of underground work, mostly along the supposed course of a vein, but with not very successful results, only two carloads of ore being shipped from these workings in 1895. Ore was found Bcatteretl through the wash and the much shattered slates near the surface, so the company decided to prospect the claim by bringing water from one of the small streams in a small flume and then letting it cut its way down through the wash to bed-rock as it rushed down the mountain side to Miller Creek. Water was turned on June 18th, and it was found that *Av 53 Rurv(«yed for can Htar and F. P. O'Neil, last Octolier, ter, England, le Ruth vein the roots of consulerahlo ^ the mine's rty hiv8 l)een nd thorough- it transfer at d carries in at runs from iHuences the of silver per The width as far a.s the rsp, the fault walls, and in iide, or there , but the ore inder the ore as found, or t in, where a eet, with ore was another l(;na, spathic p about 40 8 feet of In the of )re. narrow seam e as below, As the very part of A waggon facilities for linoral loca- ■n Star, and ning Co., of ,000,000 in wi're rather 2,000 feet successful was found le company in a small ishe<] down found that pieci's of galena ore were Iwing left in the liottom of the cut, and this prospecting then developed into hydraulic mining, the water being allowed to run for several hours, when there would be a " clean up " of tons of high grade ore, with the result that over $25,000 were thus won. As the work proceeded it was seen that the mineral-bearing wash or debris was not more than 100 to 120 feet wide, while the real " pay dirt " had a much less width than this, and as seen in the cut that as the channel cut down it left on either side country rock apparently in place. In vhe pay dirt there was not only the solid ore but much decomposed mineral, all of which of course was swept away, only the boulders of galena, with all the surface decomposed, remaining; one of solid galena weighing over 13 cwt. While some believed that the ore had lieen brought down from a vein higher up on the mountain side, the fact ihat this ore was found only in a narrow channel, and that immediately above the slope of the mountain ran back with a gentle rise, led to the belief that the washing was b<>ing done vory close to the vein, if not immediately above it, and this conclusion then arrived at has apparently lieen con- firmed in that this washing is now reported by the manager to have disclosed the solid vein in place, with a strike S. W. and N. E., and regular underground mining has been begun. A good wide track or trail, 7,500 feet long, was built from th(i mine to Sandon, and the ove is packed out to the railroad, the ore assaying from 113 to 133 ounces of silver per ton, and 70-76 % load, and Mr. Field has succeeded not only, as he claims, in uncovering the vein by this method of prospecting, but has recovered 400 tons of first class ore from the debris. ■' ' ' ARgO. North of the townsite of Sandon are three claims, the Argo, Belt, and St. Charles, owned by \Vm. Snowdon, Jno. A. Whittier, and Alex. McDonald, and inmiediately above the K. M3 to 1212.40 net per ton. No tests have been nmde, as known, to dftermiiio whether this gold occurs in the sulphides or dessiniinated in a free stale iit the ({uartz. Nuni- bHr of men engaged 12. Other Claims. — On the mountain slope west of Carpenter Creek, the Idler is being worked by the Idler Mining Company, who have a vein of silver galena ore. Alamo. The Alamo Mining Company, capital stock $500,000, General Manager J. D, Farrel, Spokane, Superintendent P. J. Hickey, own the Alamo, Ivy Leaf, 7'win Lakua, 76.6 acres. Crown-granted, and the Clarence, Hampton, Victory, Morning and the Continental claims situated in the Alamo Basin, 3^ miles up Howson Creek, which enters Carpenter Creek near where the concentrator is erected, along the track of the C.P.R., one mile bfelow Three Forks. The Mike. — In this vein has been found one of the largest and most productive ore shutps ynt mined in the Slocan, an ore shute that extends into and is being worked on the Idaho claim. This vein strike, east and west (mag.) dip south 70° to 80°, crosses a deep spur from the main ridge, and thus offers the beat of facilities for the driving of tunnels along it at different levels. Along this line of fiasuring in the slates is much brecciated country rock, quartz, lime spar, spathic iron and ore, of which 8 to 9 feet of solid galena, interspersed with grey copper, have been stoped out, also carbonate ores, wliile nmch mixed or mill ore has been senk down to the concentrator. In some of the levels there has Iwen encountered a cross-fault of considerable throw beyond which the ore shute has since been pick(!d up. Tunnel No. 4, the lowest, extends west for 300 feet along the vein which here carries little ore, and the fault being met, the drift was run north-west 130 feet, then south-east 34 feet, striking again, appar- ently, the ledge. In tunnel No. 3, in 340 feet, and No. 2, a large amount of ore has been stoped out up to the Idaho side-line, the ore shute being 4 to 6 feet wide, the ore breaking to two smooth walls between which is both solid ore and ore mixed with shattered slates and quartz. Tunnel No. 1, 240 feet below the summit of the spur, was in several hundred feet, and the stopes from the lower levels continue on up for 30 to 40 feet above this level, when it pinches above where has been found the greatest width of ore in the mine. There is ample room for other tunnels below No. 4, and such will yet be driven in to exploit a large area of the vein. Ore is being found on other claims on this group, and men were at work prospecting and developing these other leads. Transportation. — (a) From Tunnel No. 3 a 3-rail tramway, 340 feet long, ends in the ore-bins at (6) a very good waggon road, 3 miles long, dropping down 1,700 feet to the ore- bins at the head of (e) the exceptionally long 3-rail gravity tramway, 7,100 feet long, which is in two sections, 3,400 feet and 3,700 feet long respectively, and dropping 1,675 feet, delivers the ore into the bins at the mill at the C. P. 11. track. The waggon road also runs down to the mill. The Concentrator. — From the supply bins of 1,500 tons capacity, the ore is trammed into the mill, which is built large enough to permit, if needed, the doubling of the present plant of machinery. On the upper floor, after passing over a grizzly, the ore is fed to a Comet breaker, whence it passes to 16 by 30 inch rolls, and thence by elevator to 3 5-foot trommels, deliver- ing 4 sizes to the jigs on the next floor, of which there are (1)1 coarse two-compartment Hartz jigs, (2) 2 three-compartment Hartz jigs, and (3) 2 four-compartment Hartz jigs. The mid- dlings pass to a 5-foot Huntingdon mill, and for classifying the fine stuff, Lake Superior classi- fiers are in use, the tailings going into V-shaped settlers, that feed to 4 double-decked 18-foot round tables. The power is got from a Pelton wheel generating 80 h. p., with water under a 224 foot head in a 12 inch penstock, from a flume that runs about 2 miles to the heatl gates on the south fork of Carpenter Creek, the water of Howson Creek being also utilised. The sacked concentrates are then loaded directly upon the railroad cars. This mill was built by Frascr and Chalmers, Chioago, and its daily capacity i- 50 tons. It is owned by the Slocan Milling Company, and is under the managemonc of Mr. Farrel. Idaho-Cumberland. The Cumberland Mining Co., capital stock $500,000 in JjlO shares, also under the man- agement of Mr. Farrel and Superintendent Hickey, owns the Cnmhcrlnnil, Crown Grant, 32.74 acres, High Ore, Daisy, Eastern, Thistle, and the Idaho Mining Co., the Idaho and St. John, Crown-granted, 101.53 acres. fe V v.._ V. he lead from 1 9 to )wn, to dftormiiH) the (|uartz. Nuiii- (er is being worked iger J. D. Parrel, Lakes, 76.6 acres, Continental claims periter Creek near lelow Three Forks. ost productive ore ing worked on the rosses a deep spur tunnels along it at sited country rock, interspersed with r mill ore has been ntered a cross-fault p. Tunnel No. 4, e ore, and the fault •iking again, appar- ore has been stoped e breaking to two slates and quartz, dred feet, and the b1, when it pinches is ample room for 3 area of the vein, k prospecting and long, ends in the )0 feet to the ore- 7,100 feet long, opping 1,675 feet, ^on road also runs are is trammed into e present plant of o a Comet breaker, trommels, deliver- mpartment Hartz z jiijs. The mid- ,ke Superior olassi- )le-decked 18-foot th water under a the head gates on lised. The sacked pacity i ■ 50 tons. )f Mr. f arrel. under the man- rown Grant, 32.74 .ho and St. John, 58 On the Idaho ground, the extension of the Alamo > ry stet^p, rocky face, scored yearly by snow-slides, and running nearly parallel with the dykes, are several small veins of the same kind of ore as found in the others. On one of the.se veins, traceable to the summit, a tunnel was being driven, and for its length, or 20 feet, there were four feet of mixed ore, calcite, coarse galena, blende, and grey cojjpcr, of which six or seven tons were on the dump. Above the tunnel on the surface this vein siiowed 8 feet of mixed ore, with small, nearly parallel, veins, evidently stringers fron> the main lead. About one hundred feet S. W. of this vein is another that showed in one placid four feet of mixed ore, and was running 60° E. by S. 60" W. On the south slope two tunnels have been run in to tap these veins, one for 50 f(!et, 150 feet below tln^ summit, wher(^ in a cut were 6-7 tavi of concentrating ore, ond the other 400 feet below the summit, for 245 feet, in which for the last 40 feet some ore had been followed. the soutli fork »»f ce a trail via the nted 86.1 acres, I W. H. Brandon, as yet not much lena a few inches the south slope of ing up as a rib of rt tunnels, in the of mixed milling orth apd south, liundred feet and orth slope of the jvall, £ I' the vein ore was sticking iber on this ridge, nines to the west 1 thence to Silver- in, Crown-granted : ore-bins at the head of an aerial rope-tramway, 6,100 feet )ng, vertical di'op 2,100 feet, now being built to tln' concentrator at Cody. On the Deadman and Wild (loose claims are several large dykes ami tongues of porphyry," and the Deadman vein is about 400 feet east of the Noble Five vein and iirallel to it. No work is being done in any of the three tunnels; in two of whicii that were iitered but little ore had hwn left in sight, but several faults were in evidence. Ore has been lipped for three years from this vein, or 26 car-loads in all, of ore that assayed 63 ounces in Iver per ton and 15/ lead for the "carbonates," and up to 255 ozs. of silver per ton and 69% lad for the solid galena ore. There is little or no timber on the property of this Company, and in fact upon any of lest! properties high up on the mountain, fire l\aving destroyed the most of it, but lower down a the slopes the supply is good. I 68 i I i ,1 ! Concentrator. — Following up his success with the Slocan Star mill, Mr. T. L Mitchell has just completed a uiill on Cody Creek, at the Town of Cody, which is arranged practically after the same scheme as that followed out in the Slocan Star. A flume brings water from Cody Creek and in the conveyance of ore from the mine automatical devices have been introduced throughout. At the main working tunnel of the mine bins of 600 tons capacity automatically discharge into the buckets of the Finlayson double rope tramway, and at the lower terminal the ore drops into the bins of 260 tons capacity and thonce automatically to the 9 by 15 inch rock-crusher and thence into the mill. The capacity of the tramway will be 20 tons an hour. The machinery for the mill has been purchased from the E. P. Allis Company, of Milwaukee, Wis., and the tirst-class ore and concentrates will be loaded into the cars of the K. and S. R. R. which has a branch line running to Cody. Last Chance. ^ This property, the Last Chance, 600 by 1,050 feet, Crown-granted, the Starlight, Starlight Fraction, Blizzard and Little Widoiv, Crown Grants applied for, lying iunnediately west of the Noble Five group, is owned by the Last Chance Mining and Milling Co., Spokane. Capital stock, 500,000 shares at $1 each. There are two small parallel veins 'unning N.E. by S.W., one standing vertical, the other dipping S.E. 50°, and two tunnels 100 feet apait in elevation. The upper tunnel is 240 feet long with cross-cuts and drifts on smaller veins that lead off from the main one, while the lower, a cross-cut tunnel, intercepts the inclined vein at 180 feet, along which drifting has been done for 140 feet, with an upraise to the upper workings. This tunnel was being continued to strike the other vein but had not done so at 100 feet, but it was in the works between these two tunnel levels that the character of the ore and the vein was best seen, as from an incline started down on the vein near the mouth of the upper tunnel, and when about midway between the levels extended as a drift, very high-grade ore had been mined where the vein, varying in siz'3 from a few inches to 3 feet of solid, rich silver-bearing galena was found to have, where ga].?na was not solid, a quartz gangue with galena, forming good concentrating ore. Within surface influences the veins have; suffered the usual alteration, and rich "carbonate" ore has also been stoped out. While so far most of the work has been directed toward the development of this mine a quantity of excellent ore has been sent down by rawhiding to Sandon and thence shipped to the smelters, as in 1895 about 9 car-loads of ore assaying 166 to 191 ozs. in silver per ton and 71 to 78% lead, and in 1896 IT car loads averaging 182 ozs. in silver per ton and 62% lead, were sold. This property is another example of many which have paid for themselves from the beginning, and during this 1 ist yefir a dividend of $'20,000 has been declared, after providing for the new mine buildiiigs, more exi'iusivo underground work and the purchase of other claims. There is but little timber on 4iese claims. Foreman J. Regan. Number of men engaged 10. Other Claims. — Below this claim is the American Ho^, now being worked by Thomas McGuigan, with a yield to date of 5 or 6 cars of good silver-lead ore, and the Ajnx, under the control of Matthews and iJiaden, who also have the Riibj/ Silver at the northern end of the Noble Five string of claims, botli of wiiicli mines have shipped high grade ore. Upon the summit, at an elevation of 76-7,800 feet. Dr. Hendryx, of Nelson, was driving a cross-cut tunnel on the d'atena, to cut a vein of silver-lead ore that shows up well on the precipitous bluflF to the north, and is tliought to be the northern extension of the R. E. Lee vein. It has a strike N. E. by S. W. across the slates and limestones, and also across a prophyry dyke, and a dip of 60° to the S. E. Reoo Group. Immediately to the east of the Noljle Five claims on the same south slope of the mountain, lie the lioucau, Ti;xtis, CH/ton and Xcw Don-cr, 150.65 acres, Crown Grants applied for, and the mineral location, the Ephraim, the projierty of tlie Reco Mining and Milling Co., Ltd., Sandon, B. C. Capital stock, $1,000,000 in $1 shares; treasury stock 100,000 shares. Pres. and Gen. Manager, Jno. M. Harris,; Sec. F. T. Kelly, Sandon, B.C. Two distinct silver-lead veins strike N. P]. by S. W,, dip 60° to 75° S. E., are being worked on this ground, i.i'., (1) Big vein and (2) the Small or Goodenough vein, and in all probability veins lying in contiguous claims will be discijvered, on prospecting, to extend into this territory. This mine affords another cxamiile of the opening up and development, and the purchase of other claims, without any capital save that got in mining, from the beginning of work, of rich 59 T. L Mitchell iged practically ngs water from ■ices have been )0 tons capacity vay, and at the matically to the uway will be 20 AlHs Company, ) the cars of the , the Starlight, ing immediately ng Co., Spokane. jrtical, the other nnel is 240 feet 1 one, while the drifting has been eing continued to [s between these from an incline , midway between vein, varying in 1 to have, where ing ore. Within trbonate" ore has [lent of this mine thence shipped to ilver per ton and ,n and 62% lead, themselves from d, after providing mrchase of other Number of men arked by Thomas Ajnx, under the them end of the ore. Upon the iving a cross-cut !i tlie precipitous Lee vein. It has ■ophyry dyke, and B of the mountain, plied for, and the Co., Lttl., Samlon, Pres. and Gen. are being worked in all probability into this territory, the purchase of g of work, of rich ore. On the Big vein have been run three tunnels, from which has been taken most of the ore extracted from this lead, save that from one small stope that yielded over $16,000 ; and in tunnels Nos. 1 and 3, the former 650 feet long, and the other 900 feet long, connected by a raise 1 25 feet long in the vein j the veins consist mostly of decomposed vein matter, in places !i few inches wide, in others several feet. Work on this vein so far has been confined to purely development during the past year, but in 1895, 4 carloads of galena, the ore yielded on an average 179.8 ozs. silver per ton, and 71% lead (smelter returns). While the carbonate ore or 9 carloads yielded from 89.3 to 161.6 ozs. silver per ton, and 23.2 to*37.1% lead. From the Small or Goodenough vein, lying several hundred feet to the east, has come the richest silver-bearing galena yet found in Kootenay, the silver evidently occurring as argentite, although much ruby silver is found in some of the solid galena. The mining operations are being carried on in co-operation with the Goodenough mine, and three tunnels, Nos. 2, 4 and 0, have been driven to and then extended both ways along the vein in each of these properties ; the vein being from 2 or 3 inches wide up to 20 inches of solid ore, with in places only a narrow streak of iron-stained matter. The ore so lies that generally the ground can be mined out along it, leaving the ore to be afterwards broken down clean. The ground is faulted in one place with a lateral throw of the vein for 10 feet, and where the vein passes through the j)rophyry dykes the ore shute is found, generally, to be about the most productive part of the vein. From these tunnels several hundred feet of drifting have been driven, the vein being lint always productive, but in the miners' term " in and out," and these levels will be continued much farther before reaching thn limits of the clr.ini. (^See Goodenough mine below). This ore, while mined from a small vein, is very profitable, and at the time of visit, in August, several tons of rich ore were piled at each tunnel mouth, and the following data from smelter returns will give some idea of the value : — The galena ore has run from 225 to 730 ounces of silver per ton, and 67% lead ; one lot of 21 tons assaying 730 ounces of silver per ton, and 67% lead ; and two shipments in 1896, or 45 tons, yielded net (or 95% of assay) 24,820 ounces of silver, and 27 tons of lead, or $340 per ton, after deducting all charges. The carbonate ore from this vt in, for 20 carloads, has yielded from 230 to 337.8 ounces of silver per ton, and 19 to 28% lead. This company now propose to build an aerial tramway down to Cody Creek, and there erect a concentrator. Foreman, Alex. McPhee. Number of men, 15 (in Aug.) GOODEVOUGII. The Goodenoiu/h, title. Crown grant, 8.3 acres, and the location the Grey Copfwr, 600 by 1,284 feet, lying south of the Ruecau, are owned by J no. A. Whittier, Jno Thompson, and ■I no. Martin, Sandon, and six men were at work on the "small vein," as descrilied in the Hoco above. In the workings, tunnel No. G, or the lowest, was a cross-cut for 275 feet, and near the point of intersection with the vein an upraise had been made ;:or 169 feet to tunnel level No. 4 along the Ruecau-Goodenough line, following for neai'ly all that distance several inches of the very high grade ore. In the N.E. the drift ran off into the Reco ground, while to the S.W. the Goodenough di'ift, in 170 feet, with 500 feet of the vein on this level available before leaving the side line, had good ore, for 110 feet both above and below the level, with a narrow streak of carbonates to the face, an improvement in the ore shute being expected when the vein passed through the dyke 30 feet ahead. In the tunnel levels Nos. 2 and 4, the relation of tlio vein to the surface was such that but a comparative short distance along the vein could be worked on this ground, and all was stoped out, but in the Reco these two levels were being extended to the X.E. There is a fair amount of good timber. As in the other mines, greatest activity is during the winter season, when the cost of shipping ore to Sandon, by rawhiding, is $3 per ton, insteiul of i^7 by packing on mules in the summer. The grade of the ore, of course, is similar to tliat sent from the Reco, the smelter returns for carload lots giving from 277 to 507 ounces of silver per ton, and 48 to 67 lead for galena ore, and 168.5 to 322 ^ nces of silver per ton, and 2 to 34% lead for carbonate ores, while one lot of 6i tons as; . ,1 f)8 ounces silve per ton and 64.1% lead. Other claims.— To the east of these claims lies the lifue Bird, on wmch some work was being done on a tunnel. Three, if not four, veins have been discovered, and 10 to 12 carloads of ore, averaging 134 ounces of silver per ton, and 75 % lead, have been sent to the smelters. South of the Goodonougl property lies the Chambers group, /. e., the ChnmbevK, Eu. ... ?, Jai/ lliiiild, and ]Vf'llini/foti, 60O by 1,500 feet claims; one of the oldest locations in the camp on which exploratory >/ork has been done, but the depth of wash here, at the base of the moun- 60 i! ! • 1 i l!i; ain, makes such operations more difficult than higlier up, where the surface is pretty well scoured off the leads, and any float can generally be snon traced to its source. One carltxtd of ore was shipped during 1896. Much good country in this vicinity yet remains to be explored, and by all interests group will com cres, title. Crown estern end of the Forks, and throe roail. ocators believing •orth, put in their ately this ground fi.r over aOO feet, ., having a quartz 'eet. Substantial ilready built, and ext(;n(led into the Iso been run in on will be conducteil imber suitable for sported that over the earboiuites 61 assaying 80 to 100 oza. silver per ton, and 3.5 to 40 % lead, and the galena ore 175 ounces of silver ami 70 % lead, or an average net value on all ore sold of over $100 per ton. Mr. Scott McDonald, formerly in charge of the Skyline, is superintendent of the work now being vigor- ously carried on. At time of visit 28 men were engaged on the different claims. Washinoton. On the northern slope of this mountain the Wanhinyton was located on the vein that sliowed in the face of the cliil", and over 1,400 tons of ore were shipped in the early years of 1892-3-4, but work ceased until the end of 1895, when the concentrator was built, permitting tiie shipment of much mill ore on hand in the mine and on the dump. This claim. Crown- granted, 14.70 acres, together with four mineral locations, is the property of J. L. Montgomery, of New York ; J. L. lletallack et a!, Kaslo. The porphyry dyke in places lies next to the ore, but so far has not been found to cut across the vein, which, with a strike N. E. by S. W., and a dip to the S. E. from 60° to 85", is :\ to 12 feet wide, with an average witltli of 5 to G feet of galena in the gangue of spathic iron and quartz with xinc blende, much of which is .sorted out. Bodies of clean, .solid galena are also mined, but there is very little carlwnates or decomposed ore. In the upper tunnel. No. 1, 77 feet long, there was considerable mill ore, but most of the ore came irom tunnel No. 2, 200 feet below and 275 feet long, over which was a large slope 150 feet long and 30 feet high, with a good quantity of concentrating ore in sight, which on being broken was sent down to tunnel No. 3, 300 feet long, in which the ore-shute is much smaller and completely cut oti'at the face by a fault not yet exploi-ed. From the mouth of this tunnel-level the ore passes down through a shute 180 feet long, to a 3-rail gravity tramway, 1,450 feet long, which leads to the shute down to the strong log ore-bins of the concentrator, where an excellent waggon road — one of the best seen in West Kootenay — three miles long, runs to McGuigan's siding on the K. & S. R. R. CoNCKNTUATOK. — This mill was the tirst built in the Slocan, by Mr. T. L. Mitchell, who used machinery mostly nuule in Canada. It has a daily capacity, when water is sufficient, of fiO tons of ore, and the ore, after passing through a 4 by 10 inch lilake crusher into the supply bin, is automatically fed to the coarse rolls, and thence elevated t() the revolving screen which makes tiiree sizes. («) The smallest screened material is further sized to 3 sizes by an hydraulic flassifier, each of which passes to one of the 3 fine Hartz jigs, while the overflow of the cla.ssi- fier runs into a V-shaped settling tank, and the settlings of which are drawn off into a double round slime-table, the middlings from which pass to elevator No. 1, into the trommel, and then to classifier again ; (/>) Of the 2nd and 3rd sizes of the revolving screen, and the refu,sal or the prwluct passing out at the lower end of the screen, each passes to one of the 3 coarse Hartz jigs, the middlings fi-om which go to coarse middlings rolls, and then back by elevator No. 1. The middlings from the fine jigs pass to fine set of rolls, and also to elevator No. 1. The clean concentrates pass into concentrator bins, which drain into settling tanks to save the slimes, and all shipping material is sent down the hill in sacks. Ore. — The crude ore or unconcentrated galena assays from 108 to 13C ozs. of silver per ton, and 66% lead, and during the past year, the concentrates, of which 50 to 60 carloads have been shipped, yielded 95 ozs. silver per ton, and 60% lead. As the water supply for the mill is for some months precarious, or only available for half of the year, and for tiie last sea.son oven less than that, it has not been feasible to pursue mining operations to that extent other- wise possible, hut the development work will be done in the meantime, as there is a good site for another tunnel on the lead below the present No. 3. Bkst. The lit'st, 600 by 1,500 feet, title Crown Orai , and the Ctnc/iei; alt. 5,800 feet, lie in the I'cst basin on the north slope of the mountain range, on which are the Reco, Noble Five and other mines already described, and are owi.ed by A. VV. McCune, Geo. W. Hughes, P. Larsen ;md Scott McDonald. The Washington Mine Road has been extended to the mine, which is thus 4 miles from Mc(iuigan's Siding. The ridge separating this basin from the Dardanelles basin is formed by a fine grained granitic Imss, on which are the alxive claims and part of the Rand)ler group, and on the Best claim this mass is seamed with a .series of (juartz veins from a few inches to 6 feet wide, running N. W. and S. E. (mag.) and dipping north-easterly 30"-45°. The ore consists of (juartz and rich silver-bearing tetrahedrite and jamesonite, with, in isolattnl places, galena and a little blende and iron and copper-pyrites. These veins are irregular in size, inasmuch as they will I 62 have a width of 2 or 3 feet, then pinch out or break into several small stringers. An incline shaft had lieen sunk 75 feet on one of the voins, and in this and a 25-foot drift, ore was continuous with a maximum width of 3 feet, and 120 feet down the hill in a tunnel 312 feot long ; at 100 feet a vein of 6-8 inches of good ore was being followed to the S. E. for 65 feet (Sept. 6th), and at 215 feet a raise to connect with the incline was up 55 feet, at the foot of which was a vein 18 inches wide, of galena, grey copper and blende. The value of the ore shipped was not learned, but other shipments this winter are expected, when the mine will have been put in the best shape for good work. Foreman, F. Banaman, with 9 men. Rambler CtKoup. Higher up in the Best biusin and south of the Best claim, lie the Rambler group, i. e., the Rambler, Curibon, Antelope, Tiyar aw\ Jient /''mc^iow. Crown Grants applied for, the property of tlie Rand)lei and Caribou Consolidated (5. and S. Mining Co. Capital stock |l,000,000. Pres. J. B. McArtiiur, Rossland ; See. A. L. McClaine, Kaslo ; Superintendent, Richard Shea. Although the ground embraced within the limits of this property has hardly yet begun to be prospected, two different series of veins have been discovered and are being worked. The veins first found »vfere two quartz veins in the same granite as the Best, with the same character of ore, but when building a trail a narrow streak, a ringer-width of red and brown iron oxides, betrayed the existence of a typical silver-galena vein, running through the Slocan slates series and porphyry, close to the contact with the granitic area, and since following this streak, three feet of solid high grade ore have been found in one of the tvnnels. Galena ore in good quantity has been found in other veins on which a little work had jv st been done, and every indication pointed to the high value of this property. (A.) Veins in the Gkanite. — About half way up the slope of the ridge of the granite, two strong quartz veins 200 feet apart, traceable to the summit 4 to 500 feet above, had been entered by two tunnels, and the strike of each was about N. "10" E., by S. 20° W., nearly at right angle.s to Best veins, a short distance away. In one tunnel 20 feet long the vein, dipping easterly 70°, consisted of a very white crystalline (juartz, with druses, 3 to 20 inches wide, with parts of the vein strongly impregnated with grey copper and jaraesonite, and in the other tunnel, 75 feet long, the vein, dipping easterly 40° to 50°, was continuous, with a width of 2 to 20 inches of very tine looking tetrahedrite or grey copper ore from a small slope in which, it was stated, 18 tons shipped to the Pilf)t Bay smelter had assayed 499 ounces of silver per ton, $7.50 in gold, and 2% copper. No work was being done on these veins at time of visit, but large and commodious cabins, ore-houses, etc., were being (srected, there being a good supply of large timber in the basin. Mining was being carried on in the L).) Silver Lead veins.- —The vein material mentioned above had been traced on the surfaje for over 400 feet by cuts, and tunnel No. 1, after being run as a cross-cut for 78 feet through porphyry and slate, had been drifted for 30 feet (Sept. 6th) along a vein of solid galena ore, in places a few inches wide, ir (>thers 12 to 24 inchj3s, and at one point in the drift there were two bands of galena along wb ^ made the walls of the drift, with crushed country rock between. Along the planes of bedding and fracture in the rock, there were iron pyrites and galena, and the country rock was impregnated with pyrites. In tunnel No. 2, 170 feet long and 50 feet above and 115 feet beyond the face of No. 1 drift, the vein varies from 3 and 4 inches to 2 and 3 feet in witlth, but at the face the ore was scatttu-ed through the country rock. On the ridge a small tunnel exposed 2 feet of solid ore, of which 15 tons had been piled outside, and this vein appeared to be traceable for several hundred feet to some stopes made by leiusers in 1893 on the AnteKipe ground on the slope of the ridge overlooking the Dardanelles basin. Although these stopes were badly caved in, the vein was seen to be lying very flat, with 2 to 3 feet of mixed ore, and in one place 2 feet of solid gtilena ore, and during the present winter this vein will be properly prospected and put in shape for mining. The galena ore shipped, as per smelter returns, has yielded from 79.6 to 273.3 ounces of silver per ton, and 31 to 64% lead, one lot of 27 tons netting $185. 12 per ton, while the carbonate ores, running 22 J'/ lead, assayed 166 to 178.5 ounces per ton of silver. Ore ship- ments will be sustained, and it was proposed to extend the Washington waggon road via the Best up to the mine, to greatly facilitate the export of the mine output, and it is now reported that this has been done. Other clai.ms. On the Citi/ of Spokane Foss and McDonald were exploring for the extension to the south-west of the main lead vein. X, 63 8. An incline was continuous nt long ; at. 100 (Sept. 6th), and ih was ft vein 18 vaa not learned, lUt in the best group, i. e., the , tlio property of .ck #1,000,000. t, Richard Shea, lly yet begun to g worked. The B same character own iron oxides, can slates series .his streak, three in good quantity every indication e of the granite, above, had been 0° W., nearly at let long the vein, (9, 3 to 20 inches imesonite, and in ntinuous, with a om a small slope 499 ounces of ese veins at time ted, there being le n traced on the ss-cut for 78 feet a vein of solid joint in the drift crushed country there were iron unnel No. 2, 170 vein varies from red through the iiich 15 tons had ?.d feet to some idge overlooking II was seen to be galena ore, and ;hape for mining. ) 273.3 ounces of er ton, while the lilver. Ore ship- 2on road via the is now reported xploring for the Surprise anu Antoine. w In the next basin, or the Surprise basin, mining operations are active, but lack of time forbade a visit to the well known mines, tlus Surprise and the Antoine, that lie to the north of the Noble Five group, but down on the north slope of the ridge. The Swprise, title, Crown grant, 15.7 acres, manager, Alex. Smith, Kaslo, has made regular shipments of high grade ore during the years of 1894-5-6, and is now being actively worked. The Antoine, Manager, J. C. Ryan, Kaslo, is also shipping, ten car-loads of ore being sent to the smelters during the past year. Ruby Silvkr. The Jiuhy Silver, owned by Matthews and Braden, Kaslo, is being developed, and during the last season the mine shipped two car-loads of higii grade silver ore, one lot of IH tons assaying 198.2 ounces of silver per ton, and 46% lead, and another, 13J, tons, 256.4 ounces per ton of silver, and 66% lead. This claim, lying just north of the Noble Five claims, is Crown- granted, and contains 17.34 acres. Dardanelles. This important group of claims lies in the Dardanelles basin, between the Best and Jackson basins, but as all work was suspended in September, this mine was not visited. Recently the newly organised Dardantlles Mining and Milling Co., Ltd., of Kaslo, B. C, Sec. A. L. McClaine, Kaslo, capital stock $1,000,000 in jjl shares, has acquired the following claims, embracing 175 acres, the Dardanelles, Dardanelles No. 2, Diamond Cross, and Okunayan ; and mining opera- tions on a sufficient and systematic scale are to be now inaugurated. On the vein on the Dardanelles, cutting across the Slocan slates and the porphyry dykes, a shaft has been sunk 220 feet and 1,300 feet of drifts and raises run, and from these workings over 250 tons of high grade ore were shipped that averaged 265 ounces of silver per ton and 26% lead, while several hundred tons of second class ore, said to assay over 75 ounces of silver and 16% lead, were piled on the dump, 76 tons of whicii were shipped to the Pilot Bay smelter, giving the above returns. From a copy of the smelter returns the ore is seen to have run from 145.8 to 470.2 ounces of silver per ton, and from 15 to 56% lead ; one shipment of 10 tons giving this highest return, while 115 tons yielded 300 ounces of silver per ton. The ore carries a few units excess of zinc above the 10% smelter limit. Other veins have been slightly prospected upon the Okanagan and Diamond Cross, but these will now be properly opened up. In the 220 foot shaft the small plant of a 7 H.P. boiler and a No 6 Knowles pump, was quite inadeijuate to handle the water, and a plant of rncjuisite capacity will be now put in, and this vein will be extensively exploited. There is a good supply of timber for mine purposes ; and for transportation at present a trail 1 J miles leads out to the Washington waggon road and thence to McGuigan's Siding. Wm. S. Tretheway, M. E., will be superintendent for the company, and the above information has been taken from his report to the company and from a copy of the smelter returns. Northern Belle. The Northern lielle., Ihihlin Qiiee)i, h'ootenaij Star and Ophir, surveyed for Crown Grant, ocated in Jackson Basin 5 miles south of Whitewater station on the Kaslo and Slocan R.R. iind 4 or 5 miles by trail via Reco Mine trail, north-east of Sandon, have been bonded by R. Jackson to (Jeo. Alexander et nl. Nine men were at work upon this property under R. J. McPhee, and a waggon road about 5 miles long, with all grades under 10%, was to be constructed from the railroad to the mine. There are many features of interest in this vein which, iioeompanied by a greenish coloured eruptive rock and cutting across the very carboniferous siuiles and slates and limestones, is much disturbed by faults of a small aiih.unt of dislocation. ( )iie peculiarity is that throughout all the workings where the vein has been explored, along the very smooth foot-wall lies a band of a few inches to 3 feet of solid zinc blende and above tlii.s, in a quartz and spathic iron gangue, is the galena varying in texture from the tine steel j,'alena to the very coarsely crystalline. Up to 18 inches of solid ore have been mined, while in places in the mine there is a width of several feet of mixed milling ore. Prior to the giving of the present bond all the ore in sight had been extracted to cover the heavy legal expenses forced upon the owner by a former leaser, and ore was being found during the present develop- \ • I (I ! I I ii ii: Ii i 64 ment, but at time of visit tho niino was just being put in proper shape for exploration. In the uppermost tunnel, No. 1, 50 feet King, worl< had begun on a big out-crop of dec'0Ui})O8eng the well-defined smooth foot-wail or fissuie plane, there is usually a band of spathic iron, sometimes five feet thick, and upon this will be found a varying thickness of galena and then carbonates or oxidised ore, the ore being i)ften .s<^i>t,tered irregularly through the broken mass of shale for a width of 20 feet. On the surface the vein has now been disclosed for 800 feet, and from strippings several carloads of good ore have been shipped from the crushed mass of shale and iron oxides and yellow carbonates, copper stained by the decomposed tetrahedrite. In the mine the uppermost tunnel, No. 00, had been driven in 30 feet along the much decomposed vein, and ore was being piled up at the mouth. Tunnel No. 1, 2(50 feet below No. 00, had been driven west along the vein for 130 feet, but with little ore. In tunnel No. 2, 400 feet long, 75 feet below No. 1, '-,V 65 ►ration. In the icoui{)ose(l vein- leen the source ; blind of blende ing in, but little ! at the tunnel Ird) ;ir) feet and ^o. 2, hiul been vhicli had been present niana};e- iint of water for e surface on the li eruptive rock, ng thickness, for wall were 6 to ore and a con- may be erei^ted md the present iw i-t)ad ore can ember 5 or 6 car- d. I this basin, but ugh grade silver- isin, L. Peterson of this ore found ng owned by J. n Belle very rich by Capt. R. On the Crown he Basin and of ,ced by different I done. ore having been )on thf! owners ; for, are located >s west of Kaslo, . Pierce, Kaslo; and west (mag.) a cost of 82,800, timber, and also llent manner, as the country rock ure, so that very liile the timbers the well-defined netinies tive feet carbonates or ass of shale for a trippings several iron oxides and le the uppermost nd ore was being n west along the set below No. 1, with 45° dip, 3 or 4 carloads of ore were extracted from a small stope near the entry and beyond this the vein was almost barren for 340 feet, when the ore shute widened from 6 inches to 6 feet of solid ore, and in the face, Iwside the carlH)nate ore, were 6 to 12 inches of solid steel galena. Tunnel No. 3, 96 feet on the dip Ijelow No. 2, had been extended 425 feet, with 4 to 10 inches of continuous ore for 200 feet, when in a cross-cut, running both ways, was a mass of barren crushed shale about 20 feet wide, with a band of steel galena along either boundary of this zone. At the face of the ore shute wus small, but the solid mass of spathic ii-on was 3 to 5 feet wide. Near the mouth of this tunnel .?1 ,000 worth of ore was taken from a narrow streak of carbonate ore in driving 40 feet, and a winze had been sunk 15 feet to a short tunnel following good ore, and then 70 feet farther, with 2 to 4 feet of very high grade ore for 40 feet, of galena, varying from very fine to the coarsely crystivlline and carbonate ores. In tunnel No. 4, 104 feet on the dip below No. 3, the heading was in 175 feet, and in the face was a solid band of spathic iron 2 feet wide on the regular dip of the vein, with a finely crushed mass of black slate and shale on either side. In a stope 40 feet long, and up one set above the drift, there were 6 to 12 inches of the steel galena, and then coarse broken galena, as if shattered by movement since deposition. From this description it will l)e seen that work has been confined almost entirely to devel- opment, and that but little stoping hsis been done between levels. (Jood and commodious ore sheds were being built at the lower tunnel, and other mine buildings, cabin, etc., were close by. Ork.-— Six lots of ore sent from this vein was the first sent out of the Slocan, via Kaslo, and in the early days it cost $100 per ton before any returns were received. Much of the ore shipped is of the " carbonate " class, and the silver value ranging from 72 to 298.5 ozs. per ton, the lead from 1 1 to 30%, while the galena ore yielding 35 to 65% lead, assays in silver from 75 to 362.6 ounces per ton, or an average on the whole out-put of the mine for 1896 of 114 ozs. per ton, and 30% lead. This ore carries from 16 to 17% zinc, and the smelter charges vary from $9 to ?13 per ton — $9 if the lead is l)elow 20% ; the cost of the freight lieing $1 per ton to the railroad, and $11 to the smelter. No. of men, 28. Other Claims. — Work was being done on the Elkhorn, the eastern extension of the Whitewater, and on the Chnrhaton further up the mountain, Mr. J. Mitchell was driving a tunnel to reach a vein from which he had 'already taken some ore. Seven men are now work- ing on the Corenn, the western extension of the Charleston; seven men are opening up this vein and getting some ore, and seven men are working on the Loup, Star, the property of the Hansard Mining Co. These three claims were staked out by Mr. Wm. Mathewson, the locator of the Wellington. To the enst of the Wellington seven men are employed on the Sunset, on what is believed to be the extension of the Wellington ledge, which is thought to extend into the claim east of the Sunset, the Colorado, where again seven men are mining. On the Eldon and Acton claims, 3,000 feet west of the Lone Star, the Eldon Gold and Silver Mining Co., of Spokane, Wash., have at work ten men. WEI,LIN(iTON. On the same mountain slope, one and a half miles west of the Whitewater, lie the We/Hiigton, Crown Grant, 50.5 acres, Ivanfioe, Ottawa, Afelis, BJencher, GootUuck and Rolderwood, the jiroperty of the Kootenay and Columbia Prospecting and Mining Company, of Ottawa, Ont. Capital stock, $40,000. Superintendent, John McConnell, Kaslo. On the Wellington are two veins in the Slocan slates, one f ' "ng N. 50° E. and dipping 60° southerly, and the other dipping north, described by Mr. J ;Jonnell, of the Geological Survey, as a " wide crushed zone, traversing the slates in an east and west direction. The crushed slates hold stringers and pockets of cjuartz, spathic iron and calcspar." A cross-cut tunnel 170 feet long taps the vein at 40 feet in depth, and an 800-foot cross-cut tunnel inter- sects the south-dipping vein at 550 feet at the 200-foot level, along which so far the vein (lipping north has not been found, although it is now being followed down towards this level. The works are all connected on the south vein from the 200-foot level, up in the 140-ft. drift the north vein is intersected. At present ore is Innng mined from both veins, but the highest grade ore comes from the vein dipping north. The mine is about 2 miles from the siding on the K. k S. R. R., and ore is packelow No. 4, appears to be following another lead altogether, from the position and strike, or north and south, dip E. 45°-50°, and for 110 feet along a smooth wall with several inches of decomposed matter or iron oxides; but there were no signs of any ore having been taken from this working. Other Claims. - North-west about one mile is the California, owned by J. MacDonald, J. Marino, B. C. VanHouten el al, to which mine a road had been built from New Denver, as a car-load of galena ore was ready on the dump for shipment. The Reed and Robertson Group. High up on this range, 6 miles by road and trail from Silverton, is a very strong vein that runs up the south slope, crosses the ridge and then passes down the north slope as far, it is believed, as the Carnation cliiim, and along its strike eight or ten claims have been staked. Heed and Tenderfoot. — These two claims, surveyed for Crown Grants, extend up the slope and across the ridge, and had been secured by Mr. C. W. Callahan, M.E., for his clients, who was prospecting the vein by surface cuts. The vein runs about north and south (mag.) and dips from 45° E. to nearly horizontal. At the southern bf)undary of the Reed a tunnel had been driven in 110 feet, disclosing considerable milling galena ore, and on the surface the ledge was very wide with also a goofl deal of mill ore occurring in wide bands of very coarsely crystallized calcite, 10 to 12 feet wide, while next to the calcite bands are several inches of solid galena. Higher up the slope the calcite bands continue, forming a prominent land mark from their whiteness, and in several outs narrow bands of solid very large cubed galena lie next to these bands that at a point 300 feet above the tunmsl come together in a solid mass of lime 10 to 14 feet wide, with several feet of concentrating ore, and few inches of solid lead ore. At the small cuts, about 30 tons of splendid ore were piled up, but more work is required to demonstrate the value and conditions of this very striking lead. There is no timber on these claims to amount to anything, and to get this ore in quantity down to Four-Mile Creek, a long aerial rope tramway, on a very steep pitch, will have to be built down a ridge safe from snow- slides. The Jenny Lind, lying south of the Reed, has about 800 feet of the vein crossing one corner, and is owned by Paul and Chas. Anderson, Silverton. The vein presents very much the same characteristics of a large amount of calcite and brecciated slate and lime with 68 irreguliir miuwps of concentrating ore and HtringerH of Holid givlima. A tunnel had lieen driven 150 feet in a direction diagonally across the le,'ue is quartz, the enclosing walla are a dark coloured micaceous granite, that shades into the typical syenitic granite of this area, and the ore is fine and coarse grained galena, with a large amount of zinc blende, which, it was stated by the management, carried the best and very high silver values, and is found generally along the foot wall, with bands of galena and quartz. In July last, a shipment to the smelter of 40 tons of ore yielded 172.7 ounces of silver per ton, and lf<% lead, and during December in three shipments, oi- 120J tons, the silver values ran frun; 153.7 to 179.5 ounces per ton, and the lead from 17.5 t<} 30%, and now 2 or 3 carloads of ore are being shipped every week. Three tunnels were being driven in on the vein, with the fourtli just being started, and in the lowest or No. 1, 120 feet long, the vein of solid blende and galena varied from 2 and 3 inches, to 8 and 10 inches in width, and as in the ot'icr workings, the tunnel was being driven along the ore, leaving it standing to bo broken down clean. Tunnel No. 2, 170 feet vertically above No. 1, was in 400 feet, with continuous ore for 300 feet, where an upraise 100 feet to surface, followed ore over 8 inches thick for 80 feet, Ijut at 330 feet a fault had been encountered, beyond which the vein had not been pickeil up, but cros^-cuts were being driven with the probability of finding it in the south-west. In this tunnel the ore was 8 to 18 inches wide, with very little ganguo matter, and overhand stop(?s were being started. lu tunnel No. 3, 25 feet above No. 2 and 310 long, for 260 feet the vein carrii^d continuously 6 to 12 inches of ore, with more or less quartz, with one small fault to the S. E., but for the last 20 feet the vein was pinched. In the opening cut for tunnel No. 4, 90 feet above No. 3, were 6 to 14 inches of solid ore, and thus, by these workings, for about 1,000 feet along the strike, had been exposed an almost continuous shute of ore for tliis distance. Bunk-houses, cabins and ore-sheds had been built, and the ore will be .shipped by the load to the lake, and thenco by steamer to the C. P. R. R. Number of men employed, 20. Other Claims. — The Iron Horse and United Empire are located on the N. E. extension of the vein, and still further N. E., but on the north slope of the creek, this vein is said to have been found on the Alexandria. On another claim on the north slope, the Ore(/on City, owned by Jno. Thompson, L. Parkin.son i< nl, in a 50-foot tunnel, it was reported that 7 to 8 inches of galena ore had been struck, and tliat ore was found on the Westmowtt, owned by F. Griffiths, N. West, et al, who were running a cross-cut tunnel. Nekpawa. About one-half mile west of the Enterprise, and on the same slope, lie the Neepawa, Argenta, Bossimain and Baker Fraction, owned by E. Shannon and A. McOillvary, and since bonded to H. Bell-Irving, of Vancouver, of the Alliance Prospecting Syndicate, for $30,000. The vein running N. 20° E. by S. 20° W., and dipping easterly 60°, bad been prospected by open cuts and a tunnel, and in one cut thcne were 10-16 inches of solid fine-grained galena and zinc blende, with 3 to 4 feet of concentrating ore, and since then ore has been found in a lower tunnel, and a trial shipment has been made to Tacoina. A cabin was being built, and only a few hundred yards of road will be necessary to connect with the Enterprise waggon road. Dalhousie Group. These claims, still further west, were not seen, but the Silver-Joe, Dalhousie, Glad Tidingst Sayf/er and laccamock, are owned liy Jno. Angrignon, Jos. Pilon, M. McLean, et al, who had driven a tunnel 1 10 feet on the vein, with 2^ feet of concentrating galena ore reported, and with 4 men were driving a cross-cut tunnel to the ledge, which runs N. E. by S. W., and stands nearly vertical. The Bondholder Group. The Bondholder, Pine Loij, Lone Star and I^ose Bud are located on a vein supposed to be the same as the Enterprise, high up in the basin near the ridge south of Ten-Mile Creek and are bonded to the Bondholder Mining Co. of Vancoiver. Capital stock ^1,000,000; Gen. Manager, R. C. Campbell-Jolinson, M.E. This vein, running N.E. by S.W. (mag.) and with a dip of 50° to 60° S.E. in the granite, had been traced by cuts and out-croppings for 4,000 feet through nearly the entire length of the claims, and at the time of visit, in September, comnioilious cabins for the men, stables, Ac, were being erected, and development had just begun, but little could l>e then seen of the vein, as the work had hardly progressed far enough to expose other than the surface inilueuced part, 71 ins N. 55° alls are a i area, and ch, it was I generally le smelter Bcember in [• ton, and reek. ted, and in HI 2 and 3 sing driven , vertically DO feet to had been ing driven 18 inches tunnel No. 12 inches feet the •e 6 to 14 e, had been d ore-sheds steamer to , extension is said to e(/on City, riiat 7 to 8 'ned by F. Neepawa, and since $30,000. spected by ralena and in a lower icessary to d Tidingsi who hod 1, and with tnds nearly losed to be Creek and 000; Gen. le granite, length of tables, Ac, f the vein, inced part, where it was in places 12 to 16 inches wide of blended quartz, iron oxides and galena, ancl in others more solid galena with some blende. On the Pine Log a short cross-cut tunnel, then in 25 feet, was nearing the vein, down which an incline was to be sunk, and to the S.W. over a thousand feet distant, and near the ridge, an open cut showed an 8-inch vein, while to the N.E. on the Bondholder, where the vein can be easily seen for several hundred feet cutting across the face of the steep bluff, tunnel No. 2 was in Just 12 feet and showing mixed ore in the face. Excellent facilities are here for the extensive development of this vein, and when the extraction of the ore begins a trail for rawhiding will have been built down to the road along Ten-Mile Creek, 2,600 feet below the mine, and a waggon road may be built. This property can be also reached by trail from Slocan City, via Springer Creek. Foreman B. C. Bradshaw was in charge of 15 men. Kalispell. The Kalispell, Crown-granted, 37.1 acres, is located on Ten Mile-Creek one mile from the lake, in a small area of stratified roi-ks, i.e., altered slate quartzites &c., and is owned by Wm. Lardner, Deadwood, South Dakota. In a 75-foot tunnel on the south bank of the Creek is een evidence of a shear zone and later faulting, and along this is quartz, crushed country rocks, galena and silver minerals, such as ruby silver. Some stoping has been done along this lead that has a strike of N.