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1 2 3

REPORTS

ON THE PROPERTY OF THE

C|auMen §al)i Pining Conipang,

SITUATED ON THE

FAMINE RIVER,

A TRIBUT\RY OF THE CHAUDII:RE RIVER,

CANADA EAST.

CHATJDIERE GOLD MINING COMPANY.

INTRODUCTORY REMARKS.

Although it haa been long known that an extensive tract of
country, watered by the Chaudii^re River and its tributaries, in
Canada East, produced gold in considerable abundance, it haa
acquired much additional importance as a gold bearing region, from
the extraordinary developments made upon it during°the course of
the present year. The amount of the precious metal realized in
that time by the desultory and imperfect system of mining hitherto
practised, make it abundantly evident that the gold region of
Canada will eventually prove as productive as that of Australia or
California.

The tract of land bordering on the Famine River, a large tribu-
tary of the Chaudit^re, has been proved to be rich in gold, and in
addition to the alluvial deposits, nnmerous quartz veins traverse
this property. From the quantity of gold already found in the
streams as well as over the whole of the land, there is little doubt
that these veins are the source of the gold found, and will proy^ to
be very rich when thoroughly developed.

The Chaudiere Gold Mining Company's property consists of five
thousand acres, lying on both sides of the Famine River, and giving
a frontage of five miles in length on both sides, as shewn by the
accompanying map. The lands are held in fee-simple, the original
deeds being patents from the Crown to the present owners.

The accompanying extracts from Sir Wm. Logan's Geolo-^ical
Report for 1863, Dr. C. T. Jackson's Report on the Abercrombio
Mmes, and Count de Rottermund's Report to the St. Lawrence
Mining Company, together with fb^ opiriion° ^.r +1,^ ^, m ._

- • '• - ^ - - -^— »-J^'.'"->ll:» Vi VilV pices, iUUS-

trate the mineral richness of this district, which can only be
adequately developed through the agency of a Joint Stock Com-

pany. The natural features of the country at this particular local-
ity afford facilities for extenaive and profitable operations, which are
not enjoyed at many other points in the gold region. The abun-
dance of water, and numerous fails on the river which traverses the
property, will yield an unlimited water power, which will be avail-
able for crushing and washing the quartz, as well as for extracting
the gold from the alluvial deposits by the HydrauUc process-a new
method of immense importance in gold minino hoth as respecU
economy of labor and increased yield of gold*

The83 considerations offer the strongest inducements for the
Company to enter at once upon the development of this property,
which if carried out upon sound and scientific principles, cannot
fail to secure an ample return upon the capital invested.

Full details of this process are embodied in the accompanying Reports.

EXTRACTS FROM THE

OFFICIAL REPORT OF SIR WM. LOGAN, PROVINCIAL GEOLOGIST.

OS TQK

CIIAUDIERE GOLD FIELDS.

The principal facts known with regard to the geological distribu-
tion of gold in Canada will be found on pages 518-520. Mention
is there made of a ([uartz vein at St. Francis, on the Chaudiere ;
whore small grains of native gold have been found imbedded in
qrartz, together with argentiferous galena, and sulphurets of zinc
aud iron, both containing gold, and with arsenical pyrites. Since
writing the above pages, much larger specimens of gold have
been found in quartz, about one hundrad yards from the locality
just mentioned. It is probable that this and similar quartz veins,
may be wrought with profit ; but the gold hitherto obtained from
this region has been from the superficial deposits of clay, sand
and gravel which abound there, and appear to be derived from the
breaking up of the rocks that contain the gold-bearing veins.
These deposits probably belong in part to the ancient glacial drift
or boulder formation, and in part to newer stratified clays and
gravels, which consist of the materials of this, modified and ar-
ranged by the subsequent action of water. On the Magog River,
about Slierbrooke, particles of gold occur in a hard-bound gravel
156 feet above the level of the St. Francis near by. On the
Famine River, there is met with an extensive deposit of clay,
" Te overlaid ^^ ««"'! nT«d (travel. Alonj; the banks "+' ♦^'•^

rery^

river, a stratum of the oxyds of iron and inanganeae, in sonic parts
six or eight inches thick, is seen near the top of tlie gravel, filling
interstices among pebhles of the rocks of the region. Gold is found
in this overlying gravel as well as in the clay beneath ; both of
which deposits appear to belong to the modified drift. It is met
with in similar conditions throughout the banks of stratified material
on the Metgcrmot, which attain a height of fifty feet above the
bed of the river. Gold also occurs still more abundantly in the
recent alluvions, found in the beds and along the flats of the
streams which traverse this n^LMon, and in time of floods wash down
the clay and sand from their banks, depositing the heavier portions
along their course. In this way the gold is often cauglit hi the
fissures of the clay slates which freciuently form the underlying
rock, and are rich in alluvial gold.

' The auriferous drift of Eastern Canada is spread over a wide
area on the south side of the St. Lawrence, including the hill
country belonging to the Notre Dame range, and extending thence
south and east to the lioundary of the province. These wide limits
are assigned hiasmuch as, although gold has not been everywhere
found in this region, the same mineralogical characters are met
with throughout ; and in its continuation southward, in Plymouth
and elsewhere in Vermont, considerable quantities of gold have
been obtained from the alluvial deposits. In Canada, gold has
been found in the St. Francis Kivcr,from the vicinity of Melbourne
to Sherbrooke, in the townships of Westbury, AVcedon and Duds-
well, and on Lake St. Francis. It has also been found on the
Etchemin and on the Chaudiere,and nenrly all its tributaries, from
the Seigniory of St. Mary to the frontier of the state of Maine ;
including the Bras, the Guillaume, the Riviere des Plantes, the
Famine, the Du Loup and the Metgermet. The country people
from time to time, attempt the washing of the gravel, generally
with the aid of a pan, and are occasionally rewarded by the discovery"
of a nugget of considerable v^lue. In the years 1851 and 1852
an experiment of this kind, on a considerable scale was tried by
the Canada Gold Mining Company, in the last named seigniory, on
the Riviere du Loup, near its junction with the Chaudiere. The

evfiffm ndnntod for the sonaration of the irold from the cravel was
..J ^ — j^. -

similar to that used in Cornwall in washing for alluvial tin, and the

«ater for the purpose «.s obUuncd from a small »t cam adjo mng^
<Jreat difficulties «cre however met with, from ^/-^fi"™' '"PP'?
of water durin.- the summer months. The gravel trora about three^-
[;rofa;:a:re, with an average tlucknesso^^^^^^^^
,lurin. the summer of 18M, and yielded i.lO* pcm.jwe.sht* oi
goldTof which 160 were in the form of fine d«,. mmgled w.th
about a ton of blaek iro,.-»and, the heavy residue of the waahmgs.
There wore several pieces of gold weighing over au ounce. Iht
value of this gold was «1,82«, and the whole «Fn.ht"r« connected
with the working «1,643 ; leaving a proht ol 41b-. In this
account is however h.ehuled «500 lost by a Hood, which swept
away an mifinished dam ; so that the real differenec l>ctwecn the
amount of the wages ami the value of the gold obtamed shou d be
stated at «(i82. The average price of the labor employed was

sixty cents a day. i i „»

In 18f.2, about five-eighths of an acre of grave! were washed at
this ,>laee, and the total amomit of gold obtained was 2,880 penny-
„eiglus, valued at *2,4P(i. Of this, 307 pennyweights were m
the form of tine dust mixed with the iron-san.l. A portion was
also found in nuggets or rounded masses of considerable size. Hme
of these weighed together 468 pennyweights, the largest bemg
about 127, and the smallest about 11 pem.yweights. Portions
both of native platinum and of iridosmine *ere obtamed in the
wasliing, but the quantity of these was too small to ^'^f^^r'.
portance. The wasldng season lasted from the twenty-fourth of
May to the thirtieth of October, and the sum expended for labor
was $1,888, leaving a profit of «608. A part of this expcnd.toe
,vas, however, for the construction of «-ooden eonduetors for bnng-
ing the water a distance of about 900 feet from the small stream.
As this work would be avaUable for several years to come, a proper
allowanee made for it wonld leave a profit in the year s labor of
about $680. It thus appears that from an a^re of the^avel with
an average thickness of two feet, there were taken $4,323 of gold,
while the expenses of labor after deducting, as above al which
was not directly employed in extracting gold were $2,957 leaving
a profit of $1,366. The result of a week's working at this place,
under the inspection of a member of the Gcoloscal Sur«y in 1852,
.,. J . .:„u „f i^a ncntivwciffhts of sold, valued at J!l^4 ,

while the amount paid for wages to the miners during tliat time^
was $60. In a previous trial on the Tvyuflfe des Pins, a small tri-
butary of the Chaudi^re, sixty bushels of the gravel from the bed
of the stream were washed in a day, by means of a rocker, i>r kind
of shaking table, and yielded 440 grains of gold, or about seven
and one third grains to the bushel. The gold of this region is as
usual alloyed with a portion of silver. The fineness of the gold dust
was 871 thousandths. Another sample of gold in thin scales gave
892, and small masses 864 ; while a nugget from Vaudreuil yielded
867 thousandths of gold.

The composition of the heavy black sand which is obtained in
the washing of the gravel, has been noticed on page 520. It is a
mixture of magnetic oxyd and peroxyd of iron with chromic and
tetanic iron ores. Rolled masses of these ores, sometimes several
pounds in weight, are also met with in the gravel. Small crystals
of rutile were obtained in the washings ; and grains of red and
pink sand, chiefly composed of grains of garnets, but including a
few minute crystals having the fonn of zircon. The gold was
not unfrequently incrusted with an earthy coating of black oxyd
of manganese, and some specimens were white on the surface, from
a coating of mercury ; which is, however, at once driven off by
heat, leaving the gold of its natural color. A single well-worn
and rounded mass of native copper, several ounces in weight, was
feund in the gravel in this region ; and in the washings at the
Riviere du Loup were large quantities of leaden shot of various
sizes, probably scattered by sportsmen.

Although the greater part of the gold at the Rivi(^re du Loup
was extracted from the gravel on the alluvial flats by the river side,
a portion was obtained by washing the material taken from the
banks above. As has been before remarked, the distribution of
the gold-bearing drift over the surface of the country took place
before the formation of the present water courses ; and the greater
richness of the gravel from their beds is to be ascribed to the fact
that these rapid streams have subjected the earth to a partial
washing, carrying away the lighter materials, and leaving the gold
with the heavier matters behind. According to Mr. Blake, it is
found in California that the sold in the alluvial deposits, which
have not been subsequently disturbed by the streams, is not uni-

-r

■^

formly distributed, but is accumulated hero and there in quantities
greater than in other places. During the first deposition of the
earth and gravel, the precious metal became accumulated in depres-
■iona of the surface rock constituting what are there called j^oekeU
by the miners.

It would appear from the facts here given, that the quantity of
gold in the valley of the ChaudiiJre is such as would be remunera-
tive to skilled labor, and should encourage the outlay of capital.
There is no reason for supposing that the proportion of the precious
metal to bo found along the St. Francis, the Etchcmin, and their
various tributaries, is less considerable than that of the Chaudi^re.
What is called the hydraulic method of washing such deposits is
adopted on a great scale in California, and to some extent in the
States of Georgia and North Carolina. " In this method, the force
of a jet of water, with great pressure, is made available both for
excavating and waaliing the auriferous eartw. The water, issuing
in a continuous stream, with great force, from a large hose-pipe,
like that of a fire engine is directed against the base of a bank of
earth and gravel, and tears it away. The bank is rapidly under-
mined, the gravel is loosened, violently rolled together and cleansed
from any adhering particles of gold, while the fine sand and clay
are carried off by the water. In this manner hundreds of tons of
earth and gravel may be removed, and all the gold which they con-
tain liberated and secured, with greater ease and expedition than
ten tons could be excavated and washed in the old way. All the
earth and gravel of a deposit is moved, washed and carried off
through long sluices by the water, leaving the gold behind. Square
acres of earth on the hill sides may thus be swept away into the
hollows, without the aid of a pick or shovel in excavations. Water
performs all the labor, moving and washing the earth, in one opera-
tion while in excavating by hand, the two processes are of necessity
entirely distmct. The value of this method and the yield of gold
by it, as compared with the older one, can hardly be estimated,
lie water acts constantly with unifonn effect, and can be brought
to bear upon almost any point, where it would be difficult for men
to work. It is especially effective in a region covered by trees,
where the tangled roots would greatly retard the labor of work-
in such places, the stream of water washes out the earth

men.

ujaimia-

from below, and tree after tree falls before the current, any gold
■which may liave adhered to the roots being washed away. With
a pressure of sixty feet, and a pipe from one and a half to two
inches apq-ture, over a thousand bushels of earth can be washed
out from a bank in a day. Earth which contains only one twenty-
fifth part of a grain of gold, equal to one fifth of a cent hi value to
the bushel, may be profitably washed by this method ; and any
earth or gravel which will pay tlie expense of washing in the old
way gives enormous profits by the new process. To wash success-
fully in this way requires a plentiful supply of water, at an elevation
of from fifty to ninety feet above the bed rock, and a rapid slope or
descent from the base of the bank of earth to be washed, so that
*he waste water will run off through the sluices, bearing with it

wel, sand and the suspended clay.".

The above description has been copied from a report on the
gold mines of Georgia, by Mr. William P. Blake, who had carefully
studied this method of mining hi California, and by whose recom-
mendation it has been introduced into the Southern States. He
tells us that in the 3ase of a deposit in North Carolina, where ten
men were required, for thirty-five days, to dig the earth with pick
and shovel and wash it in sluices, two men, with a single jet of
water, would accomplish the same work in a week. The great
economy of this method is manifest from the fact that many old
deposits in the river beds, the gravel of which had been already
washed by hand have been again washed with profit by the hydrau-'
lie method. The auriferous earth, lying on hills and at some dis-
tance above the level of the water-courses would in the ordinary
methods, be excavated by hand, and brought to the water ; but by
the present system, the water is brought by acpieducts to the gold
deposits, and whole square miles, which were before inaccessible,
have yielded up their precioiis metal. It sometimes happens from
the irregular distribution of the gold in the diluvium in California
that the upper portions of deposit do not contain gold enough to be
waahed by the ordinary methods; and would thus have to be
removed at p. considerable expense, in order to reach the richer
portions below. By the hydraidic method, however, the cost of
cutting away and excavating is so trming, that tliere is scarcely any
bank of earth which will not pay the expense of washuig down, in
order to reach the richer deposits of gold beneath.

The aqueducts or canals for the mining districts of California arc
seldom constructed by the gold workers themselves, but by capit-
aJista who rent the water to the miners. The cost of one of these
canals, carrying the water of a branch of the Yuba River to Nevada
County, was estimated at a million of dollars ; and another one,
thirty miles in length, running to the same district cost 1500,000.
The assessed valued of these various canals in 1857 was stated to
' be over four millions of dollars of which value one-half was in
the single county of Eldorado. The Bear River and Auburn
Canal is sixty miles in length, three feet deep, and four feet wide
at the top, and cost in all $1,600,000 ; notwithstanding which, the
water rents were so great, that it is stated to have paid a yearly
dividend of twenty per cent ; while other similar canals paid from
three to five and six per cent., and even more, monthly. The price
of the water was fixed at so much the inch, for each day of eight
or ten hours. This price was at first about three dollars, but by
competition it has now been greatly reduced.

From these statements it will be seen that the •;ioat riches which
have of late years been drawn from the gold mines of California,
have not been obtained without the expenditure of large amounts of
money and engineering skill. This last is especially" exhibited in
the construction of these great canals, and the application of the
liydraulic method to the washing of auriferous deposits which were
unavailable by the ordinary modes of working, on account of their
distance from water-courses, or by reason of the small quantity of
gold which they contain.

In order to judge of the applicability of this method of washing
to our own auriferous deposits, a simple calculation based upon the
experiments upon the RivicM-e du Loup will be of use. It has been
shown that the washing of the ground over an area of one acre and
with an average depth of two feet, equal to 87,120 cubic feet,
gave in round numbers, about 5,000 pennyweights of gold, or one
and thirty-eight hundredths gi-ains to the cubic foot ; which is equal
to one and three-quarter grains of gold to the bushel. Now,
according to Mr. Blake, earth containing one forty-fourth part of
this amount, or one twenty-fifth of a grain of gold, can be profitably
washed by the hydraulic method, while the labor of two men with a
proper jet of water suffices to wash one thousand bushels in a day ;

which, in a deposit like that of Riviere du Loup, would contain
about twenty-three pennyweights of gold. It is probable, however,
that a certain portion of the finer gold dust, which is collected in the
ordinary process, would be lost in working on the larger scale. It
has already been shown that the gold in Canada is not confined to
the gravel of the river channels, and the alluvial flats, .but is found
on the Metgerraet and St. Francis Rivers, at from fifty to a hundred
and fifty feet above their beds ; and although its proportion were to
be many times less than in the gravel of the Riviere du Loup, these
thick deposits, which extend over great areas, might be profitably
worked by the hydraulic method. The fall in most of the tributa-
ries of the Chaudiere and of the St. Francis throughout the auri-
ferous region is such that it would not be difiicult to secure a supply
of water with a sufficient head, without a very great expenditure in
the construction of canals ; and it may reasonably be expected that
before long the deposits of gold-bearing earth, which are so widely
spread over south-eastern Canada, will be made economically avail-
able.

V;^l

cu.

REPORTS

ON THE

■.h

CHAUDIERE GOLD REGION.

ABSTRACT OF REPORT ON THE GOLD MINES OF
THE ST. LAWRENCE MINING COMPANY.

By Count de Rottermund.

The past year was employed in making choice of the lands
bearing gold and copper, and in purchasing them. This present
year my attention was principally directed towards the examination
of the importance of the mines, and of the localities where we
should commence operations.

Although the gold appears to be spread over an extent of
10,000 square miles, according to certain vague data gathered
from different individuals ; and although the' reports, given in to
Ooverment during a number of years, state that the auriferous
clays and gravel, proceed- from the washings of an unknown vem,
such is not the oarfe ; the gold found in Lower Canada is generally
due to the same material cause as all the other metals and minerals
which are found in veins, both native and mixed or associated with
other metals ; I have not been able to find any character whatever
in them denoting an alluvial nature-
Some places of very small extent contain gold, which is denom-
inated alluvion ; but such is not generally the case, and moreover
such is not the case with regard to the different auriferous properties
held by this company. The gold veins traverse the mountains ; in
Bomo places they are in the rivers and small streams, and the vems

are cut 'by tlsem, which Is the cause why certain portions of the
rivers or streams contain a quantity of gold in their beds, and this
is the caae with regard to a location granted under the name
of Richard Oatey.

The land<? acquired during the past year for this company,
contain —

1. Gold upon the clay, under which is to be found an aluminous
soil filled with white pyrites, quartz and pieces of rock of different
dimensions, with decompositions of granite, and of crystalline slate
full of corindon. Having had an excavation made of four or five
feet in depth, by from five to six feet in length, I found that this
clay contained a large quantity of auriferous sand, corindon, small
jaspers and quartz pebbles.

2. We have gold also in veins of quartz cutting the slate rock.
These veins are of different thicknesses, and are generally porous,
and contain white pyrites, oxide and hydi'oxide of iron, white topazes,
spinel rubies, carbonate of lime, magnesia, chlorite and galena con-
taining silver.

3. I feel also satisfied that we must liave diamonds, for according
to all appearances and the composition of the ground, it is exactly
identical with that wherein the diamonds are found. The search
for diamonds requires much more particular care in washing than
the gold does, on account of the difference .in density.

This is the description of the land belonging to the Company on
the south of the River St. Lawrence, in the Townships of Linidro,
Jersey and Shenley, and in the Seigniories of Aubert Gallion and
Aubin de I'lale,

As to the richness and value of the produce of mining, and
for further information, I will merely state that our specimens
have been examined at the mint of Paris by M. Peligot, chemist,
member of the Institute of France, and president of the commis-
sion des Mommies et Medailles of Paris; his letter of the 1st
February, 1854, slates that the fine gold contains, in 1000 parts,
873 parts of gold and 127 parts of silver, and the large pieces
860 parts of gold and 140 of ailver= It is therefore certain that
the gold from the mines of the St. Lawrence Mining Company is of
the greatest purity and value.

^^1

1 have the honor to present you with an extract from the
" Annales des Mines,''* upon the auriferous formation belonging to
the St. Lawrence Mining Company.

" The gold is found in sand, in clay, in schist, in the decom-
posed granite, in the quartz veins and united with iron pyrites.
The sand is always black, and is full of titaniferous iron, rubies and
quartz. The more there are of white milky quartz pebbles, with
yellowish spots of tubercular fonn, the greater the quantity of gold
is ; the larger these tubercles are, the larger are also the pieces of
gold. The clay which contams gold, is of a bluish grey color,
sometimes it is whitish.

The auriferous schist is sometimes talcose, sometimes argillaceous,
and of a color varying from blue black to ashy grey. The blue
schist contains the purest gold, ^specially when the stratification
is inclined to the south ; in the strata of schist inclined towards the
north the gold disappears, and only shows itself in the copper pyrites,
and in very small quantities. Up to the present time I have not
found any pure gold in the schist where the stratification is inclined
to the north.

The strata of schist are traversed by veins of quartz vai-ying
from an inch and a half to two feet in thickness. The gold
abounds especially in those veins which are large and of a white
opal color, spotted with different shades of a brownish yellow.

The schist; supports large pieces or boulders of syenite, porphyry
and other rocks in a state of decomposition, filled with grains of
gold. The stratification of this schist is followed by veins of very
hard sandy free-stone and by veins of quartz, and in them I have
found the gold mixed with small specks of platina, especially- in
the neighborhood of serpentine stones. I have also observed that
the gold is found in the schist which contains jasper, and a species
of porphyry in a state of decomposition. The auriferous iron pyrites
is found in the blue schist, and in the schist decomposed almost to
a state -^olay.

ITie streams which contain gold are filled with a large quantity
of blocks of free-stone, jasper, quartz, serpentine and porphyry
i»0(»]rg altlioiifh all the raouniains which surround them bear the
continued stratification of schist.

1 also found gold in the valleys, at the bottom and on the banks
of the streams of water, at a distance of more than 200 feet from
their beds, at a few feet in depth ; and also in the mountains, both
at their base and at an elevation of several hundred feet, particu-
larly near those places where the rocks are displaced."

It only remains for me now to give you the plans and means of
working the auriferoas deposits. As I have described the several
different states in which the gold is found, I am also obliged to
employ different systems of working according to the different

localities.

Washing upon the spot is requisite, particularly where the schist
is, the gold being between the lines of lamination ; therefore by
breaking the laminae, the small grains of gold are found sticking to
the aluminous matter produced by the decomposition of the schist.
The larger grains of gold become detached, and fall into the cavi-
ties which are made by a separation of part of the stratification,
and which cause a division in the lower part. As the ground
always naturally contains water which constantly fills up the exca-
vation, the pumps used to remove the water from the spot where
the work is carried on, should also be used for washing; which
will do away with the necessity of scraping and washing CJich sepa-
rate piece of schist and other stone, and will also facilitate the
separation of the different mineral products, which being once
transported to the boxes for concentration, may become mixed up
with the heaps of stone and other substances, as being useless,
and thus be thrown away together ; therefore to avoid loss, this
operation should be gone through. We therefore see that sucking
and forcing pumps, provided with flexible pipes, of a certain
length, are indispensible.

As to the mode of concentration I have ascertained by several
practical experiments that the smallest particle of native gold may
be preserved by the following method :

Throw everything upon a spout where the water rushes with suffi-
cient swiftness to carry off all kinds of rocks and stones of five or
six cubic inches in size ; and all this substance carried away merely
by the swiftness of the water, should fall into a box of at least two
or three feet in height, raised a few inches above the level of the
water, from which box the workman should remove the stones with

j:
::

a rake. The useless sand will be carried off by the water, and the
sand and substances remaining at the bottom of the !k)x, should be
separated from each other with the greatest care, as all the gold
and platinum are at the bottom, and should be separated from the
sand either upon a piece of linen or b^- means of different kinds of
sieves.

As to tlH^ separation of the gold from the pyrites and other sub-
stances which will require melting, I would advise the Company not
to come to any decision for the coming year, but to have such min-
erals stored away.

As to the process of crushing, I would propose that the directors
should make arrangements for machines, in order that they may be
at our disposal when required. We have a very considerable
extent of land where the veins cross the rivers and streams,
where we use nothing bnt the pick axe, levers and blasts, and
where the gold is already laid bare, either by itself or combined
with pyrites. In order to render available the mineral substances
contained in the massive rocks, works on a larger scale would be
requisite.

DE ROTTERMUND,

Qeoloyical Director of the St. Lawrence
Mining Campany.

REPORT OF DR. JACKSON ON THE PROPERTY OP
THE ABERCROxMBIE GOLD MINES.

Boston, 2Wi January, 1863.

Gentlemen : I have recently made an examination of a lot of
specimens of native gold from the Abercrombie Gold Mines in
Canada East, which are now in your office, and would express my
opmion upon them, so far as I can without a geological survey
of the mines themselves.

There are several points upon which I may be able to give a
reliable opinion, merely by a careful inspection and cbpmir'al exa-
mination of the specimens, since I am very familiar with the ^old
deposits m the Southern States, and know well the geological^'and

mineralogical associations of native gold in various parts of the
world.

I have since 1845 known of the ocmrrence of gold nuggets in
the Seigneurie Vaudreuil, having had specimens of them placed in
my hands for a«say during that year, and since. I was aware of
the fact that, at that time, the gold had not been discovered in place,
or in the rocks of Canada, and that it was wholly alluvial gold that
was brought to me. Since then, the gold has been found in situ
—an important point, so far as concerns the business of mining for
that metal.

Although I have seen the written testimony to the fact that the
specimens I saw at your office were taken from veins in the fixed
rocks, I thought it might be desirable to take the testimony of the
rocks themselves on that subject, and therefore have put samples
of them to a chemical examination, bringing them face to face with
rocks that are known to be in place near the premises, namely,
those of the Megantic, Harvey Hill and St. Margaret's copper
mines.

The rocks in which native gold chiefly abounds are known under
the name of talcose slates ; rocks consisting in part of the hydrous
silicate of magnesia, with other silicious minerals. Now on analysis
of the slate attached to one of the quartz vems rich in gold, which
is in the collection at your office, and on similar analysis of the
Megantic copper-bearing slates, I find that they are both talcose
slates, and nearly identical in composition. I say nearly, since
there is a little more magnesia in that associated with the gold,
evidently because it occurs near serpentine rocks ; but both are
clearly talcose slates, identical with those of the best known gold
formations. There is no geological or chemical reason to doubt
that the native gold of the Abercrombie Mines is really in place in
the talcose slate rocks of that region, and the gold occurs in the
quartz veins in the usual manner ; and the heavy nuggets which
have been found in the streams and in the branch washings were
derived from veins in the rocks of the immediate vicinity. The
size and number of nugg«)ts found indicate a productive vein or
veins in the talcose slate rocks.

I noticed the minerals associated with the native gold, and they
are j^lso very valuable witnesses. They aremispickel, or arsenical -

t I

■

sulphurot of iron, often containing crystal and small particles of
gold in them, arsenical iron or areeniuret of iron, alno containing
gold, brown iron pyrites, a frequent companion of gold, and which
undoubtedly contains fine particles of the precious metal, argenti-
ferous galena, which is also probably auriferous, and black zinc-
blende, or sulphuret of zinc and iron, which is an associate with the
native gold of Vermont, as is also the argentiferous and auriferous
galena. These minerals are all found in good company in your
specimens, and testify in their favor.

Now as to the working of these gold mines, I would say that
you must first have the localities thoroughly and carefully explored
by some one who is w(;ll acquainted witii minerals and with gold
deposits, that you may be directed in the best way as to mining for
the gold.

Secondly, you must have proper machinery for the separation of
the gold, and it must be properly and chemically treated in pre-
paring it for amalgamation, for the arsenical ores and the galena
present in the quartz veins with the gold will interfere with the
ordmary California method of separating and obtaining the gold,
and the arsenic and lead will make mischief with tlie mercury used
in amalgamation.

The ore, or auriferous quartz, 5s first to be broken to the size of
filberts, and then must be thorovgldy roasted at a red heat in a
reverberatory furnace, to expel the arsenic in vapor, and to oxi^
dize the load, and remove the sulphur from the pyrites. Then
the whole must be stamped or ground fine, and be ground in quick-
silver until the gold is all taken up. Then the earthy matters,
pulverized rock and oxide of iron are to be washed away from the'
amalgam, and the amalgam is to be squeezed in buckskin, or closely
woven bed ticking, the free mercury being pressed out, and the
amalgam, containing forty per cent, of gold, will be obtained in solid
lumps. These are to be put aaide untU a sufficient quantity is ob-
tained for " retorting," or distilling off the mercury so as to obtain
the gold as a residue. The lumps of amalgam are to be wrapped
up m letter pap^r before they are put into the iron retort, so that

the charred pacer will nrevent tbo nrll.pamn rjf fi,^ .^^^A i^ xi ,. .• ..

• « i ....... ,_!^ -lit Qvra lu tiiu iron.

ihenose of the retort is to be just covered with water, and the

Vercury di. ed off and saved. Then the retort-head is uu-

clampodj and a lump of ffM onvolo[)od in burnt or charred paper
will bo found.

As to the mills, the (JJdlian will be the boat,-~-better than stamp*,
— and AraBtra milln may be also employed in fiikishing up the work ;
both these mills being charged with quicksilver to take up the gold
as fast as it is exposed by crushing and grinding. The " tailings "
may be wa^;hed over again in long rockers by boys, each boy
moving half a dozen rockers. This last work is best done on tribute^
as it incites the boys to activity and diligence.

The methods named by Prof. Philips and Capt. Kent, in a re-
port you handed to me, will not answer any economical end, for an
immense loss, will ensue if such coarse processes as " tin stream-
ing " or washing by " strake and tie " are followed. They were
probably proposed under the impression that no skill in gold-work-
ing existed in Canada, and they supposed the ore would have to be
carried to England for separation of the gold.

The whole work, to be done thoroughly, must bo done at the mines,
and an able and faithful superintendent will be required to oversee
the work, and to sec that the company is not robbed by the work-
men.

From what I have learned concerning the Abercrombic Gold
Mines, I anticipate very valuable results, as the ores are rich, and
the best methods of working are well known in the United States.
Only slight modifications of the usual methods employed in Vir-
ginia, South Carolina, Georgia and California, are required in the
treatment of these gold ores, as I have above suggested.

Respectfully, your obedient servant,

CHARLES T. JACKSON, M. D.,

Geologist and State Astayer*

EXTRACTS FROM THE PRESS.

THE CIIAUBIERE GOLD REGION.

The Chaudiere gold region, little over fifty miles from our oim
city, is beginning to attract the attention of adventurers from all

parte of tlie Province. An Australian miner, writing to tlio Mon-
treal Witnms, Bays that, in hi.s opinion, the location ia a8 rich as
Australia or New Zealand, and far superior to British Columbia.
Another niiuer gives a detailed account of his experience, published
in tlie Montreal Commermal Advertiser^ which is hy far the most
circumstantial statement yet given hy tlie [)ubhc, and by which it
apijeara that even on a claim which has only been wf»rked during
the hist seven weeks, several of the diggers are u>aking*a good
thing of it. Another account says that several parties, working only
a few feet below the surface, arc making from 120 to $25 per day.
Of course there will doubtless be some exaggeration in many of
these rumors. An official report, however has been made to the
Commissioner of Crown Lands, on the subject, and this, we suppose,
will be made public without delay.

GOLD IN LOWER CANADA.

{Fmm the Commercial Advertiitr .)

We have been favored by a friend, a practical gold-miner, who
spent some years in the placers of California engaged in gold-min-
ing, with an account of his exploration of the Chaudi^re gold dis-
trict, during the present summer. Our informant spent two months
in prospecting the country from the junction of the Du Loup and
Chaudidre rivers, where the Montreal Company is now working,
to the Maine and Now Brunswick boundary lines. The season has
been one of the worst ever known for prospecting, the water in the
rivers and brooks being at flood height, and the ground saturated
with moisture by the constant rain. He was therefore prevented
from examining the beds of the streams, and from sinking trial
shafts to the necessary distance to obtain an accurate knowledge
of the nature and extent of the distribution of the precious metal.
But with these unfavorable cucumstanccs his general exploration
was highly successful. He found gold in the banks of every stream
examined, in the ditches by the road-side, in the gravel beds ad-
joining water-courses, on the tops of the hills far removed from
water, and m other localities which cannot have been submerged
for many ages. The general character of tiw gold, of which w«

havo

many apocuinetis now before u8, ifl great purity and exceeding
coarsenc as ; some of it U inuoli wator-worn, and other apecimons
appear to have been only recently dinlodged from the quartz matrix.
Tho country generally exliibits broad exposures of slate, traversed
by numerous (juartz veins, and resembles in every respect the gold
region of California, with the exception of the alwence of volcanic
evidences. Wo have now to announce the discovery of a largo
(juartz vein in the Chaudiiire district carrying an usually large
amount of gold in prills and nuggets, many of them weighing several
ounces ; and the discovery of other loads showing similar indica-
tion of the precious metal, and proving conclusively that these
quartz veins may be worked in Canada, as in Australia and Cali-
fornia, with a prospect of very large returns. One mass of (piartz
taken from like large vein was thickly set Avith nuggets of gold
from an ounce up to six ounces in weight, carrying the gold not in
regular strings, but in isolated lumps throughout its substance ; a
quantity of quartz estimated at five hundred weight having yielded
to the discoverer seven hundred dollars worth of gold by the simple
process of breaking out the larger pieces with a hammer ; and still
containing a large amount of finer gold only to be obtained by
crushing.

Our informant states that he saw nothing equal to this mass in
the most productive quartz leads of California, and if the remainder
of the vein from which it was taken is at all like it, its value is in-
calculable. It was discovered last yeai* by some habitants of the
district, who kept its locality a secret. It was from this vein that
the large nuggets sold in Quebec last November were taken. We
have before us some specimens, showing its exceeding richness.

The ^old in the different streams varies much in char^tc vOi ; m

^■HJ

some it is exceedingly fine, as fine indeed as that of Frase- '
in others, and some of the smallest, it is coarser than that found in
California, the fine gold being apparently the result of the decom-
position of aurlf jrous pyrites, and the product of quartz veins.

Hitherto the atrc^.ms alone have been worked, and the operations
on them wore carid.r<.ed nith so little skill, that our informant is
surprised that imy ^M was obtained; as it was, the whole of the
fino gold wa^ washed away.

Yet, in one instance, 15,000 dwts. were taken from little more
than half-an-acre of a bar ; in another, nine pounds weight were got

from a single hole, an<I more recently 12,000 were ohtained in two
(lays, after damming a considerable stream, nearly all beiuK coarso
gold.

^ Our informant h of opinifm, and aa a thoroughly practical man
his opinion is entitled to the highest considemticm, that the dry
diggings in the Cl.audi(ire dJHtrict will he found more productive
than the streams. He says that on the whi)le the Calitnrnia streams
have not repaid the expense of working them. He believes that
the streams contain no more gold than has been displaced by the
water from the rocks traversing thern ; and that the whole country
in their yichiity would be found as rich, and in many ca.ses much
richer, if mined in the same manner as similar lands are in Califor-
nia and Australia, by sinking shafts through the gravel down to
the rock or clay beds beneath. He says that in no part of Califor-
nia could he obtain the same (piantity (»f gold by the same mt m,h
as he obtatned upon the Chaudii>re and its tnbutary streams ; that
the surface i)rospects, in spite of the unfavorable season, were su-
perior to any he had ever found befoie ; and that witli ordinary
Hkill, by simply panning on the river banks, large wages can bo
made with certainty.

IMPORTANT GOLD DISCOVERIES IN THE COUNTY OF

BEAUCE.

{Morning Chronicle, Quebec.)

Considerable excitement has been caused in the South Shore
parishes by extensive gold discoveries in St. Francois de la Beauce
It appears that along the banks of the Riviere Gilbert, in the
third concession of that parish, the richest deposits h:ive beeen foun<l.
There is doubtless ccmsiderable exaggeration hi many of the ru-
mors which prevail ; but the prospects, nevertheless,, are promisincr
111 the extreme. A corres|X)ndent of Le Canadian, writing on
Saturday last says that within the last six weeks about #12,000 worth
of gold has been taken out. A man named Fereol Poulin, with
three companions, In a single day, realized the amount of fllOO.
Some of the nuggets are said to be worth between 1200 and -f250
There has already been a considerable rush of diggers to thrspot
anxious to secure a share of the " filthy lucre," and at last accounts
T?bout 450 persona were at work.

GOLD-MINING IN CANADA.

{Correxpondence of the N. Y. Times.)

QtiEBEC, 16a September, 1863.
Year by year an attempt is made to bring into notice the gold-
field on the Chaudiere Eiver near Quebec, and year by year, as
the nuggets found increase in size, the attempt more nearly attains
success. At length a sort of gold fever has been induced, and from
300 to 500 men are now at work on the diggings, ^vith the varying
success which appears to attend gold-mining all the world over.
Some men go up and find nothing ; others make their |50 per diem,
—a good deal of the difference depending on the character of the
claims taken up ; mere, perhaps, on the industry and perseverance
of the miners. A fine lot of nuggets, weighing about nine pounds,
were brought down from the diggmgs last week by one person, the
largest weighing just ten ounces, and being valued at 1200. Speci-
mens of quartz, with fine pieces of gold in it, are also shown ; but no
machinery ^for crushing has as yet been sent up to the spots
where the quartz occurs.

The drift gold of the Chaudiere differs in appearance from that of
Australia or California. There is none of what is often called " dust
gold" here, but it is replaced by small pieces resembling shot of
various sizes, pressed and crushed out of shape. The largest
pieces have the same battered appearance, which, it strikes me, is
possibly due to the action of ice. The gold is yellow rather then
red, aiid very pure. I suppose -150,000 worth has has been got
out this season. Within the past fortnight a company have built
sluices and " dais" on the Gilbert river, a tributary of the Chaudiere,
and we may therefore soon look for better results than have hither-
to been obtained without appliances of this kind. Their success will
probably determime whether there is or is not to be another gold excite-
ment on a grand scale. My beUef is that there is plenty of the
precious metal, and in great nuggets too, and that ere long Can-
ada will take a high rank as a gold-producing country.

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