^. . H 
 
 GOLD IN CANADA 
 
 THE 
 
 ^' 
 
 
 MINERAL WEALTH. 
 
 FROM TIIK COLUMNS OF TUB 
 
 QUEBEC "MORNING CHRONICLE" 
 
 FOR FEBRUARY, ISSO. 
 
 QUEBEC : 
 
 rniNTED AT Tim "MonNiKCi chronicle'' ckfice. 
 
 1880. 
 
 f 
 
INTRODUCTION. 
 
 In presenting to the pnblic, in a collective form, the 
 scries of interesting articles on the past and future of the 
 ClIAUDIEltE GOLD FIELDS, uliich recently appeared 
 in the columns of tlio Quebec Moknincj Chronicle, it is 
 contemplated not only to satisfy the demand which has 
 arisen for the republication of the articles in question in 
 handy and convenient shape for purposes of reference, hut 
 to assist as far as possible the patriotic oly'ect of the pro- 
 prietor of that .Tournal in thereby calling attention to an 
 important feature of the mineral wealth of this section of 
 the Canadian Dominion, whose development on a proper 
 scale has unfortimately been too long neglected, though 
 oll'ering numerous attractions to the investment of capital 
 and a most desirable lield for the exertions of enterprise. 
 
 It is believed with much apparent reason upon the faith 
 of the highest professional opinion, as w^cU as of the en- 
 couraging results obtained in the past even under a system 
 of working mainly characterized l)y wastefulness and in- 
 elhciency, that the extensive district known as the gold 
 region of Lower Canada is availably rich in deposits of 
 the precious and other valuaWe metals, wdiich onlyrecjuirc 
 to be wrought with method and economy and wath the 
 assistance of the improved appliances of the age, to return 
 largo and constant profits. It has also been ascertained 
 that the causes wdiich have hithorto impeded or retarded 
 the thorough development of these great natural resources, 
 have in most measure been artilicial and therefore remov- 
 able ; and it is satislactory to know that, in pointing out 
 this important fact, the Moknino Chronicle has taken 
 
II 
 
 the iirst stop towards soeuriiig' the appliciilioji of Iho iioccg. 
 sary romcdios. Already, the rrovinoial Oovernmout aro 
 understood to be seriously moving in the matter, and it is 
 more than probable that the next Session of the Local 
 Legislature will witness the sweeping away of the abuses 
 in the connection, which are so fearlessly exposed in the 
 present pages, and the adoption generally of such much 
 needed measures of reform as are most calculated to 
 stimulate and assist the business of mineral development 
 throughout the Province generally and in the gold-bearing 
 districts in particular. 
 
 To promote this good work and to aid in the dissemina- 
 tion of correct information on a su])ject of so much import- 
 ance to the general interests of the country are among the 
 chief objects of the present repu]>lication, and the public 
 are asked to encourage it accordiiigly. 
 
 =^ # # 
 Quebec, February, 1880. 
 
OUR MINERAL WEALTH. 
 
 THE CHAUDIERE GOLO FIELDS. 
 
 A 11 T I C L E I . 
 
 From all the iulormatiou we have been able t3 glean on 
 the subject, we think we are AA'arranted in assumin;^ that 
 the prospects of gold minini^, as a regular and systematic 
 industry in this Provinco, adding annually to its weaUli 
 and importance and attbrding a means of useful employ- 
 ment to considerable numbers of its popukition, were never 
 better than they are at present. Indeed, there is much 
 reason to conclude that, with proper encouragement and 
 faciUties at so favorable a moment, the working of our gold, 
 like that of our Y)hospliate, deposits, might as a business be 
 powerfully impelled into an altogether new departure, 
 which promises well for the country at large and which 
 therefore calls for more tlian passing notice from iho jour- 
 nalistic pen. That there has been a marked re-awakening 
 of late on the part of both home and foreign capital to the 
 reproductive value of investments in the auriferous lands as 
 well of this Province, as of the sister Provinces of Nova 
 Scotia and Ontario, there can be no manner of doubt. 
 Recent purchases of mining properties on a large scale and 
 at handsome prices in all three Provinces are there to atte&t 
 this noteworthy and gratifying fact ; which is further estab- 
 lished by the actual invsence, in Quebec at this moment, 
 of Mr. Grordon, an eminent jMining lilngineer, who has had 
 vast experience in all parts of 'he world, and who has been 
 specially sent ovit by English capital to examine and report 
 
upon the state of matters on the Chaudicrc. But these by 
 no means stand alone as evidences ofthe reviving interest in 
 our gold mines, which is, no doubt, to be ascribed to their 
 renewed and increasing reproductiveness under the in- 
 fluence of the more intelligent direction and systematic 
 operations of the lew men of enterprise and capital who 
 have, during recent years, persevered in their development 
 in the face of the most disheartening obstacles. They are 
 supported by official reports and the opinions of the well 
 informed, as well as by a multitude of indications, all of 
 which, like coming events casting their shadows before, 
 seem to unmistakeably favor the belief (with the proviso 
 already noted,) that we are on the eve of a more extensive 
 and promising movement, looking towards the develop- 
 ment of oiir gold fields, than any yet attempted either by 
 individual or associated enterprise since their discovery. 
 Undovibtedly, matters, for some time past, have been lead- 
 ing up to this point in an assured, but unostentatious 
 manner in the District of Beauce. For instance, in his last 
 published report, which is that for 1878, Mr. 11. J. J. 
 Buchesnay, the very eflicient and zealous Gold Mining In- 
 spector for the Chaudiere Division, felt himself justilied, 
 according to the then appearance of things, in predicting 
 the near opening of a new era for the gold mines of Beauce, 
 basing his opinion on such facts as the following : — That 
 the success, which was crowning the search for alluvial 
 gold at a depth of nearly 100 feet below the preso.it bed of 
 the River Gilbert, had encouraged a large number of others 
 to resume the exploration of the dill'orent rivers and streams 
 from the old mines on the Gilbert to the River du Loup, 
 on the Kennebec; that nearly everywhere, in 1878, the 
 precious metal had been found at a few feet only beneath 
 the surface of the soil, including a nugget of live ounces in 
 weight in the Huisseau d'Ardoise, in the village of St. 
 George; that new works had been opened on the Des 
 riantes River, from which two men, with the assistance of 
 
'J 
 
 tho nidost appliances, had aloiio taken out ten ounces of 
 o-old in a few days, without counting- what had beensecret- 
 \y ivcovored by prospectors, " These facts," adds the in- 
 spector, " show, it seems to me, that those streams arc far 
 i'roni lackinj^ in gold, and all give reason to hope that tho 
 activity will soon increase, and that, in a short time, tho 
 gold mines of Beauce will witness a multittide of seekers 
 for the precious metal extracting from them profit for them- 
 selves and advantage for the Province." We have also 
 later and equally reliable details from the same quarter, 
 tending to show that the actual workers there arc not alone 
 contemplating or preparing for the carrying on of operations 
 on a more enlarged, thorough and remunerative scale 
 dttring the coming summer, htit that a very material in- 
 crease of their numbers may be looked for, together with 
 the investment of a large amount of capital and the prose- 
 cution of the whole business of gold mining on a wider 
 and more permanent basis. Last season, the search for 
 gold in the division was actively prosecuted, apart from by 
 individuals or those who worked in an underhand way, by 
 no less than fourteen different associations. Of *hes(?) 
 eleven, viz : the Canada Gold Company, the Almonte Com» 
 pany, the Eureka, the North Star, J. Payne & Co., .T. A. 
 Cameron, St. Onge & Co., Bressettc & Co., L. Gendreau & 
 Co., the Victoria, and Lawryson & Co., conducted their 
 operations on the Gilbert, in Rigaud-Vaudreuii ; and three, 
 namely : X. Plante & Freres, H. Protean & Co., and Letoui- 
 neau & Co., worked on the Des Plantes. But, while these 
 regularly established enterprises may be safely counted on 
 for the further prosecution of their undertakings upon a 
 still more active and enlarged scale, other indications are 
 not wanting to justify the belief that next summer is likely 
 to be one of the busiest on record in our gold districts. 
 For instance, we understand that, in addition to the search 
 made last year upon the lluisseau d'Ardoise and I'ozer 
 streams in St. George, shafts are being sunk and extensive 
 
preparations avo being- made at other points in that parish 
 for regular operations next spring. Upon the River du 
 Loup, near its junction ^vith the Chaudiere, in St. George, 
 Mr. A. A. Humphrey erected a dun last year and met with 
 good success, until the I'rosts compelled him to suspend 
 oi)erations. \U\ is, however, preparing to resiime them 
 next season on a much larger scale. At the ]ioint of junc- 
 tion oi" the same rivers, ]Mr. Goldring erected last fall large 
 works oi' which a description has already heen given in 
 the Morning' Chronicle, and a rumour, we are told, is 
 current, in usually well inlbrmed circles, that he has dis- 
 posed of a share in the })rospoctive profits of those works, 
 for S!200,000, to a New York Company represented hy 
 cx-.Tudge Dittenlioelfer. Near these last mentioned works, 
 occurs one of the falls of the Chaudiero, some 50 or GO feet 
 in height, and it is said that the American company pro* 
 poses to construct an immense dam above the cataract, 
 with the aid of which they expect to obtain access to and 
 the necessary hydraulic power to wash the bed itself of the 
 Chaudiero for a considerable distance. Very large purchases 
 of lands or of the right of entry upon hinds in the parish of 
 St. Francis and neighborhood by Mr. Chas. l^yonnais, with 
 the view of vrorking both the alluvial dejiosits and the 
 quartz veins, for the precious metal, are also' reported, as 
 well as an avowed intention on the part of many others to 
 try their fortunes at the mines next seaaon, while in certain 
 parts of Ontario, the excitement on the subject is described 
 as intense. Altogether, the foreshadowing of a busy future 
 in store for the gold fields of the Beauce district and the 
 prospects, which they hold out of profitable employment 
 to much of our idle labor, arc most marked and gratifying. 
 
 Under the circumstances, we think it our duty to 
 ofTer a few observations on a subject which, for many 
 reasons, is invested with great public and private impor- 
 tance. In the first place, we believe wo cannot too strictly 
 
caution our people against the fascination wliich the work- 
 ing of gold mines or rather the independent search for 
 gold exercises upon many imaginations. "We cannot insist 
 too strongly upon their recalling to mind the mcmoral)le 
 advice of the late Sir WilHam Logan, whicii, in the light 
 of experience, is as true and applicable to the case to-day as 
 wlicn it was uttered, — that ''while the nuanlili) of gold in the. 
 Chaicdiere Valley is such as would be remuneralire to skillvd 
 labor and should encourage the a tillaj; of capital, agiiculturi:il.<, 
 artisans and others engaged in the ordinary occupations of the 
 counlrij would onlij lose their labor bt/ turning gold-hunters''' 
 The history of gold-hunting in every country proves that 
 it is only the very few, indeed, who are the lucky ones. 
 Some, no doubt, make fair ilnds and others make fair 
 wages : but the great majority of adventurers are disap- 
 pointed. But, while wo would discourage those who are 
 engaged in useful and proUtablc occupations from follow- 
 ing the ignis fatuHs of the gold seeker, we consider that this 
 Province urgently owes it to itself to stimulate by every 
 means in its power the great national interest involved in 
 the proper development of its mineral wealth, and to ex- 
 tend all the reasonable protection possible to those who have 
 already embarked or propose to embark their means, their 
 time and their energies in a pursuit, whose success so 
 largely depends upon the element of chance. In the whole 
 range of Provincial questions, there is none whicli has 
 been more unaccountalily overlooked and neglected of late 
 years, which has sutlered more from the bungling, the in- 
 dilFerenco or the Fabian policy of both political parties, 
 than this one of mineral development. Whether we 
 consider it in its industrial and economic aspect or regaid 
 it purely from a political standpoint as affecting our status 
 in the Dominion and our means of self-support, wo must 
 allow that it possesses a deep and abiding interest for all 
 parties, which i)laces it in the category of those neutral 
 questions in which they can make common cause to the 
 
6 
 
 greatest advaiiiagc for the public good. Indeed, wo miglit 
 S'O further and assert that the utilization of the valuable 
 mineral gifts, which Nature has lavished upon us, has now 
 more than ever become an object of paramount necessity 
 to the rulers, well-wishers, and people of a Province, whoso 
 resources in other respects no longer seem to suflice to the 
 retention and useful employment of its native population, 
 or to the growing demands of the State without recourso 
 at no distant day to the disagreeable and unpopular exp>^- 
 dient of direct taxation. Such l)L'ing admittedly the cas.>, 
 we take it that the movement wc have just noted will be 
 liailed with much satisfaction at this juncture. At any 
 rate, it is deserving of serious attention as ail'ording a means 
 of bringing our gold lields onca more into prominence and 
 leading to a more exhaustive consideration of the measures 
 requisite to secure their development and working to the 
 best advantage. Of their great value, there can ])e no man- 
 ner of doubt. But, in stating this, we have no desire to 
 foster any illusions on the subject or to encourage hop;\s 
 which the sad experience of the past has only too olten 
 shown to be foredoomed to disappointment. On the con- 
 trary, as already ol)served, we would caution our readers 
 on these heads, believing, as we do, with every competent 
 authority we have been able to consult in the matter, that, 
 save in exceptional and extremely fortunate cases, the 
 business of gold mining in this country will not, as a rule, 
 prove remunerative to other than skilled labor operating 
 on a large scale and with the aid of appliances which are 
 usually beyond the moans of individuals or private adven- 
 turers. The attraction of capital thus ])ecomes, in the 
 main, the great ol)ject to bo aimed at ])y all who desire the 
 development of oui gold lields. But, to ensure success in 
 this direction, it is needless to add that we must otfer an 
 amoiint of security to capital, which will render its invest- 
 ment liable to no other dangers ol' failure than tlio,se which 
 beset the path of any ordinary commercial venture. 
 
It is generally adinittod that, to give a new impulse to 
 the difficult and precarious industry of the gold miner, 
 some important stop requiri>s to be taken which will have 
 for eflect to satisfactorily allay the troubles to ^vhich its 
 prosecution has hitherto been exposed and to permanently 
 settle the vexatious question of the mining rights, more 
 especially in that part of the Bcauce district covered by 
 the DeLery Patent, and known as St. Francois or the 
 Seigniory of Iligaud-Vaudreuil. Without this step, it is 
 believed, with much show of reason, that any attempt to 
 establish it, or to encourage its establishment as a regular 
 and profitable branch of enterprise, must inevitably fail, in 
 a large measure, of success. But what this step should 
 precisely be is not very clear. On this head, according to 
 the interests involved, there is a very considerable disagree- 
 ineiil. On the other hand there is a remarkable consensus 
 of opinion that the redress or removal of existing griev- 
 ances, real or fancied, is an absolute sine qua rioii to the 
 l^oacealile and remiTUerative development of the hidden 
 wcaltli of most of the rea'ion in question, and that it is the 
 duty of the Government to take immediate measures for 
 this purpose. Indeed, where the invasion of acquired or 
 V(\sted rights seems to constitute the principal evil and 
 dilliculty of a situution, ^vhich, under the circumstances, 
 the ordinary machinery of the law appears powerless to 
 alleviate.it is not at all unnatural that the parties interested 
 should look to Governnu'nt to either guarantee th<.>m 
 greater jnotection or to provide some escajie from the in- 
 sulferable annoyances to \vhich ihey are reported to be 
 constantly subjected in their properties or their operations. 
 In some opinions, the strict and authoritative enforcement 
 of the existing laws of the country is all that is required to 
 allbrd sullieient protection to existing rights. But, on the 
 other hand, it must be granted that it is not easy to see the 
 way to a peaceful solution of the difliculty or to the s; tis. 
 factory development of the mining region, even under 
 
8 
 
 those ciicumstaiicos, while the validity of certain titles 
 continues to be a matter of donbt, and ignorance or preju- 
 dice persists in believing itself defrauded, for the benefit of 
 capital, of privileges vv'hich it considers common to all. Of 
 course, in this connection, we refer more particularly to the 
 district covered by and the titles arising out of the DeLery 
 Patent. It is very liir from our idea to uphold the lawless 
 proceedings, which have occurred from time to time in the 
 Deauce district. But we feel thai no consideration of the 
 general question, with a view to its proper appreciation 
 and settlement, could or can be complete Avithout taking 
 into account those proceedings and the feelings which 
 have so repeatedly prompted them to the chronic disturb- 
 ance and grave detriment of the mining interest. In point 
 of fact, it would be idle to suppose that, under our system 
 or with any rea^^onable prospect of definitively settling the 
 question, any Government could afford to ignore them ; 
 and it is this hoi>eless obstacle which has induced and still 
 induces many reflecting minds to look forward to no per- 
 manent relief from the constantly recurring troiibles at the 
 gold mines, at least in the Seigniory of liigaud-Vaudreui'i, 
 without such a thorough revohition as will place matters 
 there on an altogether new basis. Indeed, we understand 
 that a measure of the sort has l)een actually propounded or 
 rather suggested, which siill finds great favor in some 
 circles, though we must confess that it seems, at first sight, 
 of so sweeping and expensive a character that, in the lire- 
 sent financial condition of the Province, we foresee many 
 and grave olistaclos to its success. lIow*ever, as a measure 
 of {^o much importance and evident necessity is neither to 
 be hastily dismissed, nor lightly condemned, because ic 
 simply points the most direct, if the most ladical, way out 
 of the labyrinth of difficullies in which the whole question 
 is involved to the injury as well of vested interests, as of 
 . the development of the mineral wealth of particular parts 
 of the Chaudicre "Valley, we projiosc to do no more for the 
 

 
 present than to briully btato that, lailing- a legal decision 
 settini^ aside tho patent, it is predicated on the supposition 
 that the Government should either l)uy out the patent and 
 the titles under it and throw open the s.M.ijniory to licensed 
 mining, thus dehnitively settling the vexi^d and troublesome 
 question in some sense after tho mode in which the Seig- 
 niorial Tenure was disposed ol". As far hack as the earlv 
 days of the gold mining business in Reauce,. the late Dr. 
 W. J. Anderson, formerly President of Ihe Quebec Literary 
 and Historical Society, than whom no one in his time took 
 a more intelligent interest in the welfare of the Chaudiore 
 mines, appears to have been impressed with a conviction of 
 the urgent necessity of souk; step of this sort. In a hrarliiirc 
 on the subject, which he published in 1872, he made the 
 ibllowing noteworthy statement as the result of his expe- 
 rience and rellections with respect to the situation on the 
 Kiver Gilbert :— 
 
 '■ Knowin^• the v^M-y great jealousy whi(>h exists iiu'very 
 part of tht> British Dominion against privileges l):.'ing con- 
 lined to a few of the rich and powerful to the exclusion of 
 the poor, industrious and enterprising, ou my return from 
 the mines, I published a [laper, in which 1 admitted that, 
 while Government was undoul)tv.dly justilied in making 
 the concessions to 'Mv. DeLcry at the time it did, circum- 
 stances were no'?'," entirely altered, and I thought it would 
 ilnd, on en([uiry, that it miglil be expedient to resume the 
 patent, vith Ihe consent of and bi/ indeiunifi/inij^ the seigne/irx, 
 as there could be no question that the patent was valid. 
 Government left the matter to the action of a Committee 
 of the Legislature, Avhich unfortunately gave satisfaction to 
 no party, as it neither recogni/ed nor repudiated th(> rights 
 of Mr. DeLery, but left th(> conteudinu' i)arties lo light it 
 out, at much cost and trouble, wliile, as a consi-cpience, the, 
 development of this promising Ji"ld has been very much 
 retarded. This is the more to l)e regretted, as the success 
 of the lirst isolated ellbrts, though far "om displayinu" any- 
 thing like scientific skill, was such as to hold oixt a prospect 
 of very gratifying results." 
 
■- ''^I'^'.- 
 With rcsjiect to the thoroughness of the remedy above 
 suggested, there can be no question. With regard to its 
 practicability, we will not undertake just no^Y to oiier any 
 decided opinioii. We rather desire, within the limits of 
 this issue, to call public attention to the circumstances, 
 which seem to justify the prevailing impression that the 
 time has arrived, when something should be done to instil 
 now life into the working of the aurilerous deposits of the 
 Chaudierc Valley. Among such circumstances, we have 
 already noted the manife.st revival of interest in those de- 
 posits, which has been unquestionably aroused by the p<>r- 
 severance and success of those who are actually engaged in 
 developing them, and to whose conlidenco and enterprise 
 we are mainly indebted ibr the fact that gold mining has 
 not become altogether a lost art, without hope of profitable 
 resuscitation, in this rrovince. It remains only to refer to 
 the very signilicanr remarks, which fell from the lips of 
 Mr. Premier Chapleau, at the late banquet given in his 
 honor at Montreal, and which certainly seem to warrant, 
 in a measure, the hope that the important <|uestioJi of 
 the development of our mineral wealth will receive some 
 consideration at the next session of the Provincial Legisla- 
 ture with a view to a beneficial change in the present 
 mode of dealing with so great an interest. 
 
 In the lengthy and eloquent after-dinner spei5ch with 
 which the honorable gentleman regaled his friends and ad- 
 mirers of the sister city on that occasion, he appears to have 
 laid marked stress on the subject generally of our rich and 
 varied mineral resources and the auriferous deposits of the 
 Chandiere country in particular, going even so far as to 
 predict with much semblance of confidence that the com- 
 ing summer would witness an unusually large influx of 
 gold miners to that region, to be followed by the resump- 
 tion there of mining operations on an extensive and profit- 
 able scale. Now, conversant as ^Ir. Chapleau must bo 
 
ii 
 
 wiUi tho om])arra.ssmeiils to gold mining- in particular parts 
 of tho district of Beancc, which are most afFectod by seekers 
 after the i^recious metal, it is obvious that he must ground 
 his anticipations of so desirable a result on something more 
 •suljstantial than a continuance of the slatti quo in that 
 quarter. The fair inference to be drawn from his language 
 — provided always it can bo accepted at its face value — is 
 rather that the Government contemplate doing or submit* 
 ling something, as a distinctive feature of their general 
 policy, which will either contribute towards or have the 
 production of that result for direct effect. If such be the 
 case, we warmly approve of their intentions. Indeed, We 
 haA'o no hesitation in saying that we shall lend our hearty 
 support to any sclieme of an honest and practical character 
 having for its sole object the promotion of the i^ublic good 
 ill tho connection, consistently with a proper regard for the 
 sanctity of private rights and vested interests. At the 
 same time, we think it is much to be regretted that the 
 Premier was not persuaded into being more explicit on the 
 subject. The time and place Were, perhaps, not exactly 
 suited to tedious details ; but glittering generalities and 
 aiitici]iatory sketches of a fancy character, without some- 
 thing more solid to support them, are at best but sorry food 
 as the times go. They, no doubt, serve a capital oratorical 
 purpose, sound well and read well, and are admirably 
 adapted to captivate the popular ear ; but, as a rule, we 
 incline to the public preference for something less vague 
 and more satisfactory. However, if the Government 
 manifest as much ingenuity in dealing with the admittedly 
 dillicult question of the proper means to be adopted for the 
 better development of our gold iields as they have display 
 ed tact in seizing upon it and making it a leading plank in 
 their platfcrm, they will leave the public little to complain 
 of in the matter. We repeat that this question is alike 
 important and urgent, and that far-reaching interests are 
 involved in its early settlement. "Without proper encour- 
 
direment and facilities, at tho rii^'ht moment, the movement 
 already indiciited may either be thwarted altogether or 
 rendered so halt-hearted as to prove only another Hash in 
 the pan. In I'aet, it may bo fairly assumed that action on 
 the subject by the Crovernraent is anticipated and looked 
 fur with anxiety l)oth at home and abroad. Theii, again, 
 there are jniblic and private rights, as well as interests, 
 which imperativ(>ly call for consideration and protection, 
 l)efore they are au'ain exposed io tho unsettling causes from 
 which they have hither! o sulfered, aiul this, perhai>s, on a 
 >nioie dangerous and dillicult scale to copi» with even than 
 in the p:ist. ^Ye ani quite v*'ell aware that, with the 
 prospect of renewed litigation in regard to the DeLi'ry 
 Patent, the question has become more than ever comjdicat- 
 ed. and that, pending the decision of the law courts — shoiild 
 Ihe question l)e au'ain referred to them — the course open to 
 the Clovernm«Mit is not quite clear. Nevertheless, we are 
 free to say that some steps or other should be at (»nce taken 
 to avail ourselves of the excellent chances now ol/ering to 
 establish, on a satisfactory ])asis, an industry winch pro- 
 mises good results for the investment of capital and the 
 employment of la])or, with the assistance of better induce- 
 ments and increased facilities. It is not for us to say abso- 
 lutely just now in what direction those steps should iinally 
 and conclusivel}' tend ; lint, for the moment, we may be 
 permitted to point out al least one evil, which seems to us to 
 call lor immediate action. "We refer to the urgent neces- 
 sity of at once arresting the baneful tralFic in mining lands 
 for speculative purposes. The locking-up of large tracts in 
 the hands of speculators, who have no other object in view 
 than to sell them at fabulous prices and not to work or de- 
 velop them, is one of the worst evils from which the gold 
 mining interest has sutiered, and it cannot therefore be too 
 quickly put a stop to in so far as the still unconceded lands 
 of the Crown in tho district are concerned, as its facilita- 
 tion is not only a fruitful source of injary and delay to the 
 
18 
 
 development of ouv gold fields, but is iiroductive of most 
 uiidef-irable demoralizing eflects upon the character and 
 morals of our people. On the other hand, we think the 
 Government, as well as private proprietors, cannot he too 
 liberal in Iheir arrangements with hotia fide workers, as 
 there is an undoubted tendency towards the active renewal 
 of mining operations in the Chaudicve region which should 
 l)e encouraged and only requires to be facilitated to expand 
 into a useful and prolitable branch of employment for l)oth 
 capital and labor. Indeed, well-informed pm'sons go ewn 
 so far as to estimati^ that, under improved circumstances, 
 with a guarantee of thorough protection to individual as 
 well as associated enterprise, with more liberal induce- 
 ments to capital to operate on a largo scale, antl with 
 n(M'tain wise restrictions against the enriching of speculators 
 at the expense of that most valuable portion of our public 
 domain, the gold fields of the Province, not less than 
 .50,000 men would before long find opportunity for the 
 profitalde utilization of their labor in that section of the 
 country alone. This may, perhaps, look like an extrava- 
 gant estimate ; but, oven granting that it were reduced l>y 
 one-half, it still would offer a more than sufficiently power- 
 ful inducement to the Government to take irp the question 
 and endeavor to deal with it in the broad, i^ublic-minded 
 spirit, which we haA'o endeavored to impress upon them as 
 essential to its satisfactory settlement and generally to the 
 inauguration of a more prosperous era in the history of 
 mining operations in the valley of the Chaudiore. Tn the 
 hope that they intend to do so, wo propose returning to 
 the question in another issue for the purpose of more fully 
 explaining the important character and vahie of our gold 
 fields and the lessons to be do'ived from the attempts made 
 to develop them in the past. 
 
14 
 
 ART I CLE II. 
 
 Ill our last, wc glancod at the present oncourag"iiig pros- 
 pects of the Chaudirnv gold fields, lightly ionching at Hk^ 
 same time upon a lew ol" the more salient causes which are 
 ])elieved to have militated acrai.ist their more thorough 
 development, and dwelling* en pnssunl upon the great 
 urgency of early measures in their interest viewed from 
 the standpoint of their importance and value to the Pro- 
 vince, But, to more fully appreciate this value and impor- 
 tance, it is primarily essential to understand the extent and 
 character of the gold-bearing formation, of which the past 
 and actual workings only from a very inlinitesimal part. 
 \Ve therefore propose, in this issue, to devote our remarks 
 to this necessary view of the subject, and this more parti- 
 (!ularly because it is, in some seii.se, desirable to combat two 
 very common, but mistaken impres.sions on these heads, 
 which unfortunately seem to have too long prevailed to 
 the destruction of much public confidence in all or any 
 efforts to render available the mineral resources of the Chau- 
 diere Vallev. The lirst of these fallacies is that the gold of 
 that region is, in a great measure, if not wholly, conlined 
 to a few rich pockets or deposits on the Gilbert, -where the 
 original discoveries of the precious metal were made ; and 
 the second, that these placers being exhaueted, it will 
 not pay to search for it elsewhere, as the cost would excetnl 
 the production. In other words, the generally accepted 
 notion among the indiirerent or the uninformed since the 
 great rush to the mines in ISGo-l-.j is that there is no more 
 gold to be had on the Chaudiore or that, if there be, it will 
 not pay to look for it. i]oth these disparaging estimates of 
 the capabilities of our gold fields are obviously xii\;ist and 
 seem to have been originally based on nothing more sub- 
 stantial than the hasty and ill-advised reports of unsucces.s" 
 ful adventurers. Indeed, the one is wholly wrong, and 
 
15 
 
 the other only partially right in the sense that digging for 
 gold in the Chandicre Valley or at all points in that valley, 
 can, no more than it actually did in Calilbrnia or Australia, 
 l)e expected to enrich every tyro, -who undertakes the busi- 
 ness and Avliose whole stock-in-trade consists of a pick and 
 shovel. It may be laid down, as a rule, that intelligence in 
 the selection of mining locations, coupled with skill in work- 
 ing and backed by system, economy and a sufficiency 
 of the sint^ws of war to operate on a large scale, can alone 
 command success. Otherwise prosecuted, gold hunting 
 must be ajid is, in the nature of things, subordinated to 
 chance, and it is therefore not surprising that ninety-nine 
 out of every hundred, who try it in this latter way, should 
 egregiously fail and curse their luck and the country into the 
 bargain, instead of their own simplicity and ignorance. It 
 is, no doubt, in a very large degree, to such causes as this 
 that we owe the bad name which the Chandiore has been 
 undeservedly obliged to bear for eome years as a gold-pro- 
 ducing region — a name which has, also, immeasurably 
 helped to retard its developmeni. The more prosperous 
 liiues in Canexla, too, which occurred about that period, by 
 rendering it easier for the majority of our people to better their 
 conditions in the more regular ocf upations of lil'e than by 
 seeking the uncertain in the valleys of Beauce. had unques- 
 tionably their ellect upon the mining interest there. But 
 that that interest has, both directly and indirectly, suffered 
 in reputation ever since more than anything else (the 
 bungling or studied indiflerence of successive Governments, 
 ])erhaps, excepted) from the exaggerations and illusions of 
 interested jiarties on the one hand and the disappointment 
 of adventurers on the other, consequent on false hopes, 
 want of means, lack of perseverance and crude notions of 
 the hardships and difficulties incidental to the life of the 
 gold-miner, to which should be added, perhaps, invidious 
 comparisons with other countries like California and Aus- 
 tralia still more favored under the head of auriferous depo- 
 
1() 
 
 fiitp, scorns lo 1)0 iillogethcr beyond dispute. As we write, 
 wo li;\vo hprore us a lettor from a gontloman of the highest 
 htandiiiu', who was oflicially connected with tlie Boauce 
 Mines at Iho hciu-lit of the period known as the gold fever 
 and for some years afterwards, and who furnishes us with 
 at least one very logical explanation of the loose and unre- 
 liable mnnner in which only too many formed their opinions 
 of the place at that time. To show the little value which 
 should have been placed upon such opinions under the 
 circumstances, we quote from this letter: — 
 
 " The great drawback, it appeared to me, to the develop- 
 ment of the Chaudiere mines, consisted in the fact that 
 they were too vpnr home, and too easilt/ reached. Men came 
 pouring in from all parts of the Dominion at a cost of a few 
 dollars, and I'niding the rirciniistanres of a settled conntri/ so 
 different from the gold Holds of California and Australia, 
 where miners had merely to select a spot and dig at once 
 for gold without having to purchase permission from the 
 Jarmer or owner of th(^ soil, they became either disgusted 
 or disheartened ; and linding that it would only cost a few 
 dollars to take thom back home again, they invariably re- 
 traced their steps and left the mines. If, as in California 
 and Australia, it would have cost them $200 or i$oOO to get 
 home, they would have been obliged, as they did there, to 
 settle down and mine for a living and the mines would thus 
 have become developed. That the Chaiuliire is a rich gold 
 mining cnvntr>/, I can vouch for, by a long and close experi- 
 ence diiring the years from 1865 to 1870, and I have no 
 hesitation in saying that mare gold has been taken out of this 
 district than any person has any conception of."' 
 
 This view of the situation is unmistakeably corroborated 
 l)y the Gold Mining Commissioner, Mr. DeBellefeuille, in 
 his report of November, 1804, in which he referred as fol- 
 lows in regard to it, as well as to the general character of the 
 Chaudiere and its prospects as a gold mining country : — 
 
 '• The great disadvantage for mining purposes, under 
 which the gold regions are situated, compared to those in 
 California and Australia, is the easy access and proximity 
 to cities, and the thick settlements of this i>art of the 
 
17 
 
 country, alfording tliorel)y an easy exit and cheap mode ot 
 livinjT to all miners. Were the minors situated as in the 
 two above named reyions, hundreds oi" miles Irom any settle- 
 ment, and Avith the oi)tiou of working or starvini;, it would 
 have altered the entire aspect of this rec^ion, and untold 
 wealth would have l)een extracted IVoni the mines. Ax it 
 is, our mines can well compare iril/i, if nol surpass, the Ciili- 
 furnian or AuUralian mines. 
 
 " It must also be considered that mere alluvial minin^^ 
 has taken place, and that in a very imperfect manner. 
 (Some one remarked, last year, that he could not but be 
 struck with the unsystematic and unsatisfactory manner of 
 the works goini^ on Jiere. Since then there has been no 
 improvement, and llie consequence must bi? that at least 
 one-third of the gold must be lost. As a proof of \vhat I 
 advance, I shall cito the following case : A man at the 
 Grilbert mines, by merely cashing the refuse-dirt, ha.s 
 realiiJed as much as %\M0 per hour. 
 
 " About live thousand persons vi.sit.Hl the mines during 
 the last season, i. e., from May up to this date ; of those live 
 thousand, I do not believe that more than three hundred 
 men have remained here. On an average, two hundred 
 and fifty men have w^orked Irom the 1st June on the Kiver 
 Gilbert, and about iifty others have prospected on the 
 different other rivers, such as the Famine, Chaudicre, Du 
 Loup, Metgermette, Oliva, Kempt, Taschereau, Monument, 
 &c. Up to this date, 1 compute 110 days' labor on the 
 Gilbert. 
 
 " Allowing, at the very lowest, four dollars \-)ex man per 
 diem, it will at once give us the sum of !;i!llG,OO0. 
 
 "As I remarked above, if the nnliivorable weather the 
 miners experienced in September and October be taken 
 into consideration, also the small .space Irom which that 
 amount was extracted, viz : about three square arpenla, (acres) 
 it cannot but prove the immense v;ealth of this gold-bearing 
 region. The success, with which the few miners still 
 remaining hero meet, is but another proof of the presence 
 of gold in this part of the Province. Only a few days ago 
 one man took out, in one day, nine ounces, and the day 
 l^revious, the same person had found a nugget of live oz. ; 
 that amount was found in a claim, that had been, as they 
 believed, well worked, corroborating thereby what I hereto- 
 iojQ mentioned, how imperfectly the mining was carried on. 
 
 3 
 
18 
 
 "It miTst bo horno in mind that all this miniii;^ has boon 
 alluvial, not a particle havinsi' biniu extracted from the 
 quartz. Some persons may neem astonished that out of live 
 thousand men visiting' the mines, not more than three hun- 
 dred should have remained there. I can only ijivo the i'ol- 
 lowing reasons : — 
 
 "1. A n-reat many came too early in the sprintr, vi:-;: in 
 ilay, the water beinq: then too hii^h to allow mining opera- 
 tions to be carried on with any success ; 
 
 "2. The prices asked by the proprietors prevented many 
 I'rom purchasing lots ; 
 
 "3. The delay ari.«-ing in the issue of the Mining A<;t, 
 and the uncertainty existing as to its contents, prevented 
 many from mining upon (lovernment lands. Tho.se three 
 causes, tof>-ether with the facilities of conveyance at every 
 one's command, contributL'd daily to diminish the number 
 of miners. 
 
 " Gold is to h^ found overywliere I'rom St. Francis to the 
 lines, a distance of 43^ miles; audit', thoroughly '.vorked 
 for, as on the Gilbert river, would be Ibund in as great 
 abundance anywlnnv. Tlie native gold is coarse; one does 
 not meet with that line pulverized gold, as found in Cali- 
 fornia ; if so, it is in very small quantities. 
 
 " On the Hiver Famine, the gold is also coarse ; it is to 
 be found in slate at tlie foot of the Falls. Experienced 
 men and geologists entertain a very high opinion of this 
 river, from the formation of its rocks and the general lay 
 of the land; I shall subsequently give the production of 
 this river. "Works on a large scale are to be prosecuted 
 next year by an American company, whose agent is to 
 rernai]! here during the ensuing winter. As 1 remarked in 
 a previous report, a road from the Juills to Lake Etcherain 
 would be very necessary. 
 
 " On the Du Lonp, in its entire kngih, gold is to bo ibund ; 
 also a great quantity of black sand, which has yielded as 
 much as 22 dwts. per ton of 2,000 lbs. 
 
 " Som'e gold has been found at the mouth of the river, 
 which induces a great many persons to believe the presence 
 of quicksilver from the gold found being coated with a 
 coating of silver, and disappearing at a certain temperature. 
 
 " Prospecting has also been carried on with good results 
 at the Chaudiere Falls, three or four miles distant i'rom the 
 
ID 
 
 forks ol" tho Dii Loup iiiul Chaiidiuro Rivoiv^. Tlio ncjoiit. 
 who wtis soul horo to prospect, iulbrmocl uio that ho v.as pcr- 
 l('(;tly satiyliod with the results ol)taiue." 
 
 "The parties ougiii^ed ou tlio Oliva, ilotg-ormetlo, Mouu- 
 uient, aud ou luauy other rivers, liave every reason to 
 l)e satisfied with this year's prospect iuy. Ou the Uu Loup. 
 as far up as the lines, dillereui partitvs have beeu sinkiuu;' 
 shafts here aiul there, aud otherwise looking' out I'or i>'ood 
 localities, (where liu^y invariably I'ound gold,) to enable 
 them next si)riug' to carry on mining- operations, ou a scale 
 commoujurato with tlie expectations they have Ibrined by 
 this year's prospecting'. Quart/ veins are to be ibund every- 
 where from the village of St. Francis to the boundary line. 
 (toUI has been detected in almost every vein ; there is one 
 particularly in the upper part of the 1st concession, not very 
 far from the Gilbert mine, which produced by assay, viz : 
 i2'2 dollars of silver and 1.5 dollars of gold per ton. This was 
 taken from the surface. — the width of the vein being' six 
 feet, — and stripped to the length of 40 ieet. Another very 
 ]iromising' vein, running- North-East, intercepted by numer- 
 ous small veins running due East and West, exists opposite 
 the church oi tSt. l*rancis on the Eastern side of the village. 
 It is supposed to cross the river and continue on the 
 Western side of the River Chaudiere. 
 
 '• In the vicinity of the Famiuo, quart/ has also been 
 found. The mouth of the Du Loup has also brought out 
 innumerable small veins, running parallel to each other, in 
 which gold has been found. On the Mill-stream and at 
 the Grand Coudce, both tributarii>s of the River du Loup, 
 quart/ has been assayed, and found to contain gold. I 
 forgot to mention that at the Devil's Rapids, a little a])ove 
 St. Francis, numerous lodes, and some of them very large, 
 are supposed also to contain gold ; they here exist on both 
 sides of the Chaudiere. About the Metgerraette, and the 
 Oliva, line quartz is also to be met with. Not very distant 
 from those two rivers, quart/ was found on the Uu Loup, 
 which having been assayed gave eight dwls. to the ton ; this 
 was also taken from the surface. Between the Portage and 
 Kempt streams, tributaries of the Du Loup, two large veins 
 ari observed; they also contain gold. A short distance 
 from the Monument river, a beautiful vein of quartz is to 
 be seen from which g'old has been extracted by merely 
 breaking the surface of the quart/ with a hammer ; the 
 
20 
 
 same resnUs were obtained by Professor Hinds, — I believe 
 it was about the Metgennotto — by merely cni^liing it with 
 a stone. 
 
 " Quartz veins are to be opened and '.v'orked next spring 
 at the village of St. Francis ; the Devil's Ivapids, where 
 a crushing mill is to be erected. On the Oliva or Metger- 
 mctte, there is another mill to be constructed. On the 
 highlands of the Du Loup, and I believe on the Kempt 
 Ktream, veins will be worked, and ihat with i^rolit. From 
 the opinion I havo heard expressed by several i>rofessors of 
 geology, who have visited the mines, and particularly the 
 quartz lodes during this season, I cannot but prognosticate 
 great results to the country by the opening of such lodes, 
 and by the proper development of the mines, which lay 
 buried in this extensive and rich region. There is not the 
 least doubt as to the x^i'osence of gold, and that in very large 
 qirantities. 
 
 " Exclusive cf gold ; rubies, garnets, emeralds, pearl..? 
 and even diamonds have been found. An extensive trade 
 is carried on by the sale of pearls, some of which have com- 
 manded very high prices in the New York and Philadel- 
 l)hia markets. As it is, the results have been great, to this 
 part of the country, by the introduction of an extensive 
 trade, by the dilt'usion of knowledge among the agricultural 
 cla.ss, and the large sums of money that have l)ecn left here. 
 .[Strangers here acquired a knowledge also of the resources, 
 capabilities and wealth of this thickly-populated region 
 which they M'cre far from expecting." 
 
 Any amount of testimony like the foregoing might bo 
 addticed to show how ttnreliable — in fact, how utterly 
 worthless, in the very nature of things — were the accounts, 
 which, for many years past, have insensibly led this Pro- 
 vince and its ptiblic men into placing a low estimate upon 
 the great interests involved in ottr gold lields, and the mass 
 of our population into so far despairing of their future as a 
 source of luitional riches that, in some sense, they have 
 come to be regarded very much as things of the past. 
 Indeed, but for the conlidenc>' of a few intelligent men and 
 the perseverance of enterprise and capital, it is more than 
 pTobablo that their epitaph would havo been writtci long 
 
21 
 
 Cut to return to the principal objects of our present writ- 
 ing. It may be at once stated that, in scientific and com- 
 petent opinion based upon repeated and careful surveys of 
 the ground by the Geological Commission and confirmed 
 by actual demonstration of the fact in greater or h>ss degree 
 by explorers, gold is by no means conlined to the particu- 
 lar localities in the Cliaudiore country, where it has hitherto 
 been found in most abundance or wrought for with the 
 greatest activity, or is it limited to the Chaudiere Valley, 
 in particular, for that matter. As a matter of fact, it may 
 be unhesitatingly asserted that its actual presence has bee:i 
 traced from as far west in the Province as Lake Champlain 
 to as far east as the head waters of the River-du-Loup {en 
 has) and it is said to be highly probable, from the mineralo- 
 gical resemblance of the region beyond, that it may be yet 
 found to extend to the extremity of Gaspe. Koughly 
 speaking, it has been satisfactorily demonstrated that 
 the drift clays and gravels, as well as the quartz veins in the 
 rock formation, of most of the country on the south side of 
 rhe St. Lawrence between the extreme Eastern and AVest- 
 ern points just mentioned, the Notre Dame range of hills to 
 the North and the Provincial or boundary line to the South, 
 are more or less auriferous — the whole constituting an area 
 of about 15,000 square miles, of which some 4,000, com- 
 prising the section drained by the Cliaudiere and St. Francis 
 rivers, are presumably the richest in deposits of the precious 
 metal, or at least thus far have been proven to be so. This, 
 of course, is not to say that it would pay, as a commercial 
 venture, to dig for gold at all or any points within this 
 wide reirion. But neither should it be inferred, becnuse 
 the search for it has hitherto been most actively, continu- 
 ously, and successfully prosecuted at such places as Ditton 
 in the St. Francis division, or the Gilbert, Du Loup, Des 
 Plantes and Famine rivers in the Beauce district, that there 
 are not other lields which, on being properly tested, may 
 be found equally, if not more, productive. Indeed, the 
 
abandonment of the other working's or their .supposed ex- 
 haustion does not appear to be oven proof of the fact that 
 they have been worked out or that they would not have 
 yielded handsome returns under different treatment, as we 
 shall have occasion later on to clearly show. On the other 
 hand, although we have reliable information in our possi>s- 
 sion to the elfect that new discoveries have recently been 
 made on the liiver des Plantes, which is believed will render 
 that stream as productive as thi^ Gil])ert, and that another 
 quartz lode has been struck in the dig'g'ings on the Giliiert, 
 which i)romises to be one of the most prolific in gold yet 
 laid bare in that region, even the fact that no discoveries 
 of any deposits or placers as rich as that of the Gilbert 
 have yet l)een made in the Chaudiiav country furnishes no 
 reasonable arguuKMit aorainst the presumption that they 
 exist and thai g-old is to b.^ found in paying (juantities at 
 other points in the same g\'olog-ieal formatio]i and under 
 similar or other conditions. On this important head, thi' 
 opinions of scientists and practical miners leave little room 
 for dou])t. In 18015, Mr. A. Michel, a distinguished mem- 
 ber of tlie Canadian Geological Survey, and a gentleman of 
 great experience in gold mining, who had previously 
 passed several years in closely examining the gold fields of 
 Lower Canada, reported as follows to the late Sir "William 
 Logan with respect to the deposits in the Chaudii-re 
 Valley :— 
 
 " The rule which appears to govern the distribution of 
 alluvial gold in all other regions where it has been wrought, 
 holds good in Low( " Canada. Hero, as elsewhens the 
 layers of alluvion, which contain the precious metal, are 
 not continuous, l)ut occur in sheets or belts of greater or 
 less extent and of variable thickness. Tlus i)roi)ortioii of 
 gold in these sheets or belts of alluvion is also far from 
 uniform and regular, the richer portions being met witli in 
 patches more or less remote and isolated from each other. 
 * * ■* These general facts are illustrated l)y the rich 
 deposits met with in several places in the Chaudi«re re- 
 
23 
 
 «t;ioii, as ai the Dos riantcs, Gilbert ond Du Loup, and it 
 can hard/?/ be supposed thai, in so vast a re<j;ion, these arc ex- 
 r.e/ition(d casei. From these consideraticns, it seems to rac 
 proper to encourage the search ibralkivial gold in ihehopc 
 oi' discovering' other rich dei)osits." 
 
 Again, the same authority observes: — 
 
 " When \\Q cons'der that the existence oi' alluvial gold 
 lias been demonstrated over a great extent oi" territory in 
 Ijower Canada, and at the same time take into account the 
 deposits, some of considerable richness, which have been 
 met with on the rivers Cluuidien?, Guillaume or Des 
 riantes, Toutfe des Tins or (iilbert, Famine and Du Loup, 
 we may reasonably supposi\ especially when we consider 
 how limited hnve been the researches hitherto made, that 
 there may exist in the alluvial deposits of the Chaudicre 
 , ])a^in other localities as rich in gold as an if net dncovered, and 
 perhaps over extended arens whose regular working may 
 be made prolitable. Tlie question, moreover, arises whether 
 these rich deposits are ronjined to the beds of streams, their 
 shores or flats. It is well known that in the Andes of equa- 
 torial America and in California, alluvial gold has been 
 wrought with success, upon the Hanks of mountains, and 
 on elevated table-lands, while in Australia the precious 
 metal is as abundant in the dry valleys as in those of the 
 jiresent water courses. A vast held ibr exploration in 
 Lower Canada is now open, where up to the present time 
 the search for alluvial gold has only ];e(>n made by the 
 ellbrts of individuals, of small local associations or tjf native 
 companies who have employed but a limited capital. The 
 result has been that these workers have been discouraged 
 by the diliiculties and obstacles which they met with and 
 have only sought for gold in places where it was possible 
 to obtain it with little expense.' 
 
 And, in another place, he remarks : — 
 
 " All the probabilities appear to mo to be in favor of (ho 
 existence and consequently of the ultimate discovery of 
 other de//osi/s as rich as those of the (Iilbert. ^ * ■V' I 
 do not hesitate to say that the various causes which have 
 jtrevented the general exploration of the region by the 
 searchers after alluvial gold are very much to be re- 
 gretied." ... _ . 
 
24 
 
 In I8G5, a Select Committee of the Canadian Legislature 
 was formed to consider ihe best means to develop our gold 
 fields and, among other material points, directed its inquiry 
 to their extent, character, and. resources, taking a large 
 amount of A'aluable evidence on these heads from geolo- 
 gists and mineralogists, civil and mining engineers, prac- 
 tical miners who had worked in the Chaudiere country, 
 California or Australia, managers of mining companies, 
 f>nd others qualified to express opinions on the subject. 
 Briefly summed up, the evidence of those experts went to 
 show that, in their judgment and from the practical results 
 they had either obtained or witnessed, not only in the dis- 
 trict covered by the DeLery Patent, but throughout the 
 whole of the Chaudiere mining country, no more promising 
 auriferous region could possibly be desired ; and subse(|i\eixt 
 events, though they may appear at first sight to have either 
 disproved or detracted from this favorable appreciation, 
 have not in reality done so, as, we think, we shall be able 
 to convince our readers. Some of the old Califovnian : nd 
 Australian miners examined seem to have pointed out 
 striking features of resemblance between the Chaudiere 
 and some of the most famous gold-producing districts in 
 those countries, and several of them remarked on the supe- 
 riority of the water supply in the Chaudiere. Said Mr. 
 Thos. Sinjohn : — 
 
 " The Chaudiere is much more favorable as regards the 
 supply of water than Australia. In many cases in Austra- 
 ]i\, we had to carry our wash dirt ten miles to the water. 
 We used to dig during the dry weather and have to wait 
 until the rainy sea.son to wash. The largest gold ira!> alwatjs 
 found on flie hills. -^ ^ ^ ■* I have reason to believe 
 it (the Chaudiere) is a fair gold-bearing country and would 
 be remunerative if worlced on reasonable terms and under 
 good police regulations.''' 
 
 In considering the resources of oiw gold fields and the 
 question of their future development, it is well to keeji 
 
L>5 
 
 constantly in view this important fact of tlio superiority of 
 our water supply. When wo take into account the vast 
 economical uses to which hydraulic mining" lias he^yn put 
 in California and rolloct that, in the opuiions of such emi- 
 nent men as Sir William Logan and Mr. A. Michel, the 
 auriferous drift in this rrovince covers the hills as well as 
 the valleys, and that the mountain sides may in due course 
 he proven to he as rich in the precious metal as the hedsor 
 hanks of the streams which lave their feet, it will be 
 readily seen that wo are already in possession of one of the 
 t^reatest levers to success in the development of our mineral 
 wealth. On this head, we shall have later on somethinq: 
 further to say ; but, in the meantime, we ask the reader's 
 attention to a few short extracts selected at random from 
 the evidence already referred to in regard to the character 
 of Ihc Chaudii're as a gold region : — 
 
 Herbert "Williams, Mining Engineer, said : — 
 
 "There is evidently largo quantities of gold there, (the 
 Chaudicre,) and by the proper direction of labor, the appli- 
 cation of suitable machinery as well for the economical re- 
 moval of the soil, as for the saving of the line gold, I believe 
 it can be worked to a profit." 
 
 .Toha McCrae deposed : — 
 
 "I have been mining on the Gilbert River all my time, 
 and, as for the results, they were part of the time hopeless, 
 but I could never say but there was a sullicient quantity of 
 gold to be found, if people had a sullicient length of lime 
 to put their claims in order to work to advantage." 
 
 Andrew Dale said : — 
 
 " It is my opinion that the Chaudiere district is equal to 
 and, in some cases, lietter than Pike's Peak, and it is my 
 opinion it might be worked on a larger scale and with 
 good results." 
 
 Speaking of the superficial character of the work done 
 up to that time, Edward Lyon, Mining Engineer, stated : — 
 
 4 
 
2G 
 
 " Work on the gold fields has but commenced, and the 
 results have been most extraordinary as compared with the 
 amount of labor and capital expended." 
 
 John Greacen deposed.: — 
 
 " I think that the gold fields have been worked to a VlM-v 
 limited extent, and that, considering the amount of work 
 done, (i)i(l the vmnner of v) or king, tlui results are such as to 
 satisfy me of the great richness of the country." 
 
 The late Mr. O. A. Ilussell, of this city, gave some evi- 
 dence on the occasion, which is specially worthy of repro- 
 duction as regards the resources of the Chaudioro country, 
 Khowing that the indications outside the section covered by 
 (he DeLery Patent are as favorable as within, and, reason- 
 ing by analogy, that localities once wrought and al)andon- 
 cd as worthless or exhausted, of which there are many in 
 that country, may eventually turn out rich in the precious 
 metal. He said : — 
 
 " I prospected on the ISletgermette. 1 found gold enough 
 1o lead to the belief that a lirst-rato miner w^ould make 
 from iJiS to 810 per day. The result was equally favorable 
 on the Du Loup und Faiuine. =^ ^= # ^ 1 worked on 
 Carson's Flat (California), being about live miles from it, 
 when the mine there was discovered, and I was one of the 
 iirst that went to that hold. * -f^ * 45= Before the dis- 
 covery of the mine, I prospected there and found the result 
 not as favora])Ie as that I met with in prospecting on the 
 Gilbert. Afleruuirds, hinnever, there v)tre great discover ie; 
 in Carson s Flat. * =?^ # ^- / ivoiild think that the 
 (Hilhert should Inrn out as rick as Corson's Flat icith the same 
 amount of labor." 
 
 Mr. S. L. French, of Uoston, said : — 
 
 " Wo went over a distance of some miles in length up 
 the 13u Loiip River and the Metgermette, and when 1 was 
 there I do not recollect in a single instance our " prospect- 
 ing' for gold and not lindiug it as well on the hill lops us in 
 the valleys. In fact one pan of dirt taken from a spot of one 
 htuidred and iifly I'eet above the level of the river produc- 
 ed more pieces of goK^ than any pan-full we took out on 
 
27 
 
 Iho hanks ol' thii river. ■* -* =* ^' In tulkint? with 
 Caliloniiaus who liavo miiuHl eif^ht or ton years, and. on 
 clo.scril)ing' how ihe ('haudior.' mines were niana<..^ed, they 
 liave tohl ns that Hk; (Miniparatively sniall (juantity oi" j^-old 
 taken out is aceounted ior b/j llie slovenly v)atj of mining'^ 
 
 Joseph Itigg", i>'old miner, said: — 
 
 "I am of opinion thai lhen> are rich deposits there, (lii- 
 i;'aud-V;'.udr.'uil,) and, iC iacilities are u,-iven I'ur the proj)er 
 exi)hiraiion (4' the same, there is no doubt that hirye prolits 
 will bo tlio refai^'U."' • 
 
 Michael Cahill, postmaster, Jersey Point, deposed : — 
 
 " I have heen in the district ibr thirteen years, and have 
 seen gold Found, in the Chaiuliere and Du Loup, Met^er- 
 nietic, Travellers' Jtosl, rortat>-e, Kempt, Oliva, Lindsay 
 rSiream and Stallurd Brook The mines can l)e worked, I 
 believe, to make tirem pay, as 1 can say i'rom experience 
 among- the inhabitants ol" Jersi'y. For my own part, I have 
 l)Oug-ht gold i'rom thmn Tor ten years past to the amount of 
 IVoui two hundred to a thousand dollars each year." 
 
 James Bailey, of Quebec, declared : — 
 
 " He had worked on at least 00 or 80 gullies in Australia, 
 which did not turn out half as well as that spot on the 
 Gilbert ; it had paid much bettter on an average than many 
 places he had been at in Australia, Canada was much 
 better olt'in respect oi' water power ; he had mined in two 
 or throe places in Australia at which, if lie had had water 
 power, lie could have made aforlnnc in a few months^ 
 
 , These few excerpts, from a mass of similar testimony 
 favorable to the Chaudiere, suHicc to establish its high 
 character as an auriferous region. But it will, no doubt, ])e 
 said that they do not explain how it is that so favorable a 
 region has not come to be more fully developed. They 
 nevertheless go a great way in doing so. They prove that 
 the business of gold mining as practised in in those compa- 
 ratively primitive days was not prolitable, because it was 
 not systematic and intelligent, and becaviso it was slovenly 
 aud wasteful — in other words that it was, in a great mca- 
 
28 
 
 sure, a hap-huzard scrambling, unsupported by capital, 
 exposed to unsettling causes, not the least of which wore 
 the inexperience and bungling of the authorities, and pur- 
 sued under the dKRculties incidental to a settled country 
 with vested rights, which were not to be encountered or 
 dealt with either in Australia or Calilbrnia. It is, theroforo, 
 not at all surprising that the Chaudiere should have been, 
 m to say, abandoned as a gold field in the popular idea of 
 the term ; nor is it to be wondered at that a reaction against 
 it in public opinion should have followed this circum- 
 stance, which has more or less retarded its development 
 ever since, with the assistance to some extent of tho same 
 vexations as helped to dampen the spirits and lame the 
 energies of its i")ioneers. However, there is some satisfac- 
 tion in feeling that the evil has not been altogether unmix- 
 ed, as it has since afforded to capital, intelligence and per- 
 severance the opportunity of proving that if ever the auri- 
 ferous deposits of this Province are to be properly and 
 profitably developed, it will and can only come to pass 
 through their combined efforts, and this truth cannot bo 
 too strongly impressed upon our Provincial rulers. In no 
 connection, has it been more triumphantly demonstrated 
 than in that of the supposed exhaustion of the rich deposits 
 on the (jrilbert, for instance. "Played out" sums up in 
 expressive, if not exactly high-toned Anglo-Saxon the 
 common impression for a long time past on this head. In- 
 deed, no popular error has gained greater ground than this 
 suppo.?ition, and certainly none has been more signally re- 
 futed by hard, incontrovertible facts, whose teachings, no 
 doubt, apply with equal force to many workings through- 
 out the Chaudiere country, which have been abandoned 
 for the same groundless reason. In reality, the most of 
 these old workings seem to have had no other object in 
 view than to skim the itpper crust. In point of fact, there 
 is good reason to think that they should only be regarded 
 as csplorv^tory, as simply determining the courses of the 
 
20 
 
 ancient auriferous rivoi ^eds, which lie in many spots at 
 great depths beneath the present surface, and upon which 
 rest the true gold-bearing' strata or richest alluvions; the 
 present streams and water-courses having only been formed 
 subsequently to the drift, which now covers the gold region. 
 At the Gilbert, these strata, which have been the chief source 
 of all the gold latterly extracted in such large quantities as 
 to re-awaken puljlic interest in the Chaudiero country, 
 have, we believe, boen only reached at a depth of from 70 
 to 100 feet. It will thus be readily seen how futile is the 
 pretension that the richest deposits of the Chaudiore have 
 l)jen worked out, for, if the theory be good, as it has been 
 proven at the Gilbert, that the true gold-bearing deposits 
 rest upon these ancient river l>eds at long distances below 
 the present surface of the country, there is no room to 
 doubt that it may hold equally good at the Des Plantes, 
 Famine, Du Loup and other tributaries of the Chaudiore, 
 where the surface indications have been shown to be as 
 rich, or nearly so, as upon the Gilbert. This important 
 fact, brought to light as it has been by the perseverance of 
 intelligence and capital, should not be without its moral 
 elFect both upon those hopeful and adventurous spirits, 
 who may fancy that the glittering ore is almost to be 
 clutched for the trouble of stooping for it, and upon the 
 Government as plainly indicating the shape which any 
 enlightened policy should take to really and truly promote 
 the development of our gold fields. 
 
 "We cannot close our presant remarks without some re- 
 ference to the eminent public services which have been 
 rendered in the foregoing connection bv such men as Mr. 
 AV. r. Lockwood, of the Canada Gold Company, and tho 
 Messrs. St. Onge. Indeed, the names of these gentlemen 
 may be said to bo identified with the history of mining 
 enterprise on tho Chaudiore — the one as the representative 
 of Knglish capital and the i)ionccr of intelligent and 
 
80 
 
 systeuuilic luiiiiiig' on a largo scale ; and the other a« the 
 einhodinionts oi' initivc perseverance and progress. It is to 
 their unfihaken eoiilidence in the riches ol' the gold renion 
 and tiieir indornital)le persistency in efforts to develop them 
 that the conntry owes the successful results, which have 
 once mcu'e directed pnl)lie attention to the Beauce district and 
 its wealth ol' llu^ precious metals. Wo must also add a word 
 with respect to the past yield of those gold lields, as au im- 
 portant factor in the question of their value and importance. 
 We notice that a writer in La Mbieriie recently estimated 
 it, from the date of the discovery of the precious metal on 
 the Chaudiere, at an approximate total of 117,000 ounces, 
 of which al)out 70,000 were taken from the Chaudiere and 
 40,000 from the l!la.stern Townshijis. AVe are ignorant of 
 the data upon which this writer bases his calculations, hut 
 we are free to say that, under the circumstances, they must 
 in their very nature 1)0 extremely unreliable. Without 
 pretending for a minute that our gold fields have any 
 claims to the title of au Eldorado, or that, like the Pactolus, 
 the streams of the Chaudiere country run over golden 
 sands, wo firmly believe, with the correspondent already 
 quoted, that more gold has been taken out of them than 
 any person has any conception of. Indeed, it is morally 
 and physically impossible that the true amount, or even 
 anything approaching it, can or will ever be ascertained, 
 when wo reflect upon the uncertainty of the length of limo 
 during which the existence of the precious metal has boon 
 known to the inhabitants of the favored districts, the spas- 
 modic and intermittent manner in which it was wrought 
 for down to 18G4. when legislation first took place on tho 
 subject and Gold Mining Commissioners or Inspectors 
 were named, the extent of tho robberies practised iipon 
 mine-ow^nors and operators by their employees, the inabi- 
 lity of tho Inspectors to enforce or obtain anything like 
 truthful statements of the productiveness of tho various 
 mines, the fjuantitios secured (and tinaccountod for) by 
 
"prospectors" and others in an underhand way, and tho 
 great secrecy and concealment indulged in to evade pay- 
 ment of unpopular royalties and percentages. In point of 
 fact, tho only data at all which can be proceeded upon in 
 the matter are tho admissions here and there l^y miners and 
 others interested and the information so grudgingly yield- 
 ed to the Inspectors since 18G4, and which until quiti^ re- 
 cently can only be accepted as stating half the truth. Th(^ 
 occasional discoveries of exceptionally large ma.sses of tho 
 metal or monster nuggets, some of which have been found 
 of various sizes up to 4 lbs. and over, Troy weight, (the 
 largest — one of oG ounces — found on the Gilbert by Hi. 
 Onge (Sc Co.) were, however, as a rule, sure to come ^o 
 light owing to the larger i^rices frequently obtained for 
 them more as remarkable specimens than on account of tho 
 intrinsic value of the gold they contained. The latter I'act, 
 no doubt, accounts for the largo number of these that have 
 l)ecn heard of from time to time, or are to be found men- 
 tioned in the various official reports and publications on 
 the su1)ject of the Chaudicro mines, their individual values 
 ranging from sums below SlOO to the neighborhood of and 
 even over 81,-00. In 1878, two alone were extracted on 
 the Gilbert, which were respectively worth $800 and 
 $G12. But those maascs of the precious metal have only 
 foimed at all times but tho smallest contribution towards 
 the great total annually extracted, and cannot therefore be 
 considered as bearing more than that proportion to it as a 
 general whole, while it is estimated that 2o per cent., if not 
 more, of loss must be allowed for, owing to imperfect 
 methods of working and the absence of proper appliances 
 to save tho lino gold, not to speak at all of the iramcnso 
 amount lost through the utter inadequacy of the quartz- 
 crushing machinery in use. Accordingly, everything lakon 
 into account, wo are inclined to regard La Minervex esti- 
 mate of the total yield, which, at ii^lT per ounce as obtained 
 for the ore on the ground by the mines, it values at 
 
$1,989,000, as being- fur below iiislcad ol" near or above tlio 
 truth. Granting, however, for the moment, that it is ap- 
 proximatively correct, it is well to look at the significant 
 ligures and speculaiions in which it enables our contempo- 
 rary's contributor to indulge. Advocati'ig, as a matter ol' 
 necessity, the estaldishmcMit o[ a regular Mint in Canada, 
 which would enable, as it did in California and Australia, 
 miners to sell the native gold at its full value, instead of 
 being obliged to dispose; of it on the spot or sand it out of 
 ihc country at a loss ; and assuming — what is the fact — 
 Iho presence in the auriferous deposits of the Chaudic-n; of 
 that rare and extremely valuable metal, platinum, of which 
 he claims that 10 parts are lost for every 100 parts of gold, 
 ho shows satisfactorily enough on the basis of his total of 
 1 17,000 ounces extracted, that the country has suflered a 
 loss equal in actual money to the large sum of '.i!737,100, 
 which might have been obviated with the aid of proper 
 means to save the waste gold, secure the platinum, and 
 enable operators to sell the native gold at its intrinsic value. 
 It may be remarked en passant that the consideration in- 
 volved in the existence of platinum, allied or otherwise, 
 with the gold of the Chaudicre, is a most important one, 
 and should not be lost sight of in view of the great rarity 
 and value of that metal, and the possi'oilities of the electric 
 light. Incidentally also, it will bo noted as curious features 
 of the mincralogical character and wealth of the Chaiidicre 
 country, that not only is the gold of its deposits allied with 
 silver in a greater or less degree, but plentifid indications of 
 the latter metal separately have been found, as well as pearls, 
 rubies and some other precious stones, pearls more especial!}', 
 which have sold at good, and, in some instances, even high 
 prices in the New York market. Another calculation 
 made by the writer in La Mincrvc is worthy of note, cyon 
 if it be of a highly speculative character, and with a brief 
 reference to it, we dismiss our subject for this issue. Re- 
 ferring to the operations conducted by St. Onge & Co. on 
 
33 
 
 tlio CJilborl, which ho claims to hi^ turning out i^okl at tho 
 iivorag'O rati' ol'ci^-ht ouucos por day, ovou without iho uso 
 of quicksilver, and this within tho coniparativoly small 
 si)aco ol'somo throo to lour acres suporlicial — 40 men l)oin|^ 
 employed tunnelling' ai an averaue ol -<iO workinjv Jays in 
 tho year, ho comi)utos that were one mih^ sipiare to Im; 
 worked in tho same etricient and Ihoroiu^h way, and to 
 prove e(|ually rich in i\u\ precious metal, it would turn out 
 aunaaliy close, npoii some •j',',OoO,000 worth, not to speak 
 oi'the vast amount ol" labor to which it would give employ- 
 ment. 
 
 We give our contemporary's caiculations and specula- 
 tions for what they are worth ; but, at tho same time, wo 
 have no hesitation in saying" that, with all their seeming' 
 extravagance, they point a moral for this Province and its 
 Government, the sum and substance of which, in the me- 
 morable words of ono of the leading witnesses before tho 
 Canadian Legislature in ISOj, is that " //tc best loai/ (o di- 
 ve/op /he gold region is to ({[ford ercri/ encouragement to Ihosc 
 who arc spending I heir lime and means in endeavoring lo ojnn 
 it vpr 
 
 ARTICLE III. 
 
 To enumerate all tho drawbacks from which the devel- 
 opment of tho gold mining interest in this Province has 
 more or less sullered in times past, woidd require more 
 than the circumscribed limits of an ordinary newspaper 
 article. Eut, for all practical purposes, they may be 
 divided into two great classes — those of a remediable 
 character which were inherent to tho miners and the 
 system of mining pursued, and those which were peculiar 
 to the circumstances of a settled country or haye sprung 
 
 5 
 
H 
 
 from a train oi" arliliciai circuiustancos arisiiii^ out of the 
 discovery of the precious metal. With the former, \vc have 
 already in some measure dealt. The consideration ol the 
 Li*tcr brings us face to face with the great question, which, 
 rightly or v. rongly, is believed to involve the whole secret 
 of the tardy development of gold-mining as a regular and 
 profitable industry on the Chaudicre. It Avill, no doul)t, 
 bo at once understood that we allude to the DeLery Patent^ 
 which has been the object of so much angry contention 
 and wearisome litigation for so many years to the admitted 
 injury of our gold fields in general. Indeed, this famous 
 Patent has — so to say — been so identified with the history 
 of mining enterprise in Beauce, and has exercised so marked 
 an inlluence upon it, for good or evil, that it cannot be 
 dissociated from the consideration of any scheme which 
 may have for its very necessary object the hotter develop- 
 ment of our mineral resources in that region. 
 
 For one reason or another, but more particularly, we 
 must presume, on account of the greater ascertained rich- 
 ness of its auriferous deposits, most of the ellbrts heretofore 
 put forth in this desirable direction haA'c centred in that 
 section of this region known as the Seigniory of Eigaud- 
 Vaudrouil, which, extending nine miles along the banks of 
 the Chaudiorc and six miles back on each side, is covered 
 by the Patent, and, under the feudal system estal)lislied in 
 Canada by the French Kings, was the property of tho 
 members of the DeLery family. It was within these limits 
 that the precious metal in the Chaudicre country was first 
 discovered ; in and around them the gold hunters have ever 
 since more or less swarmed ; and within them capital and 
 enterprise have chielly expended their energies to establish 
 gold mining on a permanent and prolita))lo basis. Tho 
 territory included in the Patent must therefore be regarded 
 as the nucleus of the gold mining districts, whoso destinies 
 have been in a very large measure swayed beneficially or 
 otherwise by its controlling inlluence and example. 
 
\ 
 
 As the exclusive privileges conferred in perpetuity by 
 the DeLery Patent are not very generally or very clearly 
 understood, it may bo necessary to explain a lew of the 
 antecedent circumstances which led to their being granted 
 as a kind of perennial and never-failing source of prolit to 
 the members of the DeLery family. 
 
 "When gold was first discovered in Beauco seems to bo 
 involved in some doubt. The late Dr. Anderson, in the 
 brochure already alluded to in these columns, gives the 
 following account of its discovery : — 
 
 " The late Mr. Charles DeLery, Seignior of Rigaud* 
 Vaudreuil, gave mo the following account of the discovery 
 of the precious metals. Some time before the conquest, in 
 the time of his great-grandfather, some Indians had 
 occasion to make an encampment in the neighborhood of 
 his mansion, in what is now the Parish of St. Francois, 
 and one morning when the lire was burnt out, on raking 
 up the ashes, they discovered a metal which they brought 
 to Mr. DeLery and which turned out to be silver. Mr. 
 DeLery sent it to France, where it was manufactured into 
 a set of salt spoons, which were, at the time he related the 
 circumstance to me, in his possession. 
 
 '• The next discovery, that of f;ohl^ was made about half 
 a century ago by a wom v)> near the mouth of the Touil'o 
 des Pins or Gilbert river, a tributary of the Chaudiere, but 
 it attracted no attention. But in 18:54, a woman, taknig a 
 horse to water at the same spot, saw something glittering 
 in the water, which proved to be a nugget of considerable 
 value as it weighed ],0()G.G3 grs. No odier discovery was 
 made known till the following year, though it is believed 
 that the brothers Poulin had made a further discovery, 
 which induced Mr. C. DeLery to make a search, which 
 resulted in the party undei his direction iinding, in about 
 two hours, gold to the value of .ClH." 
 
 In 1848, Sir William Logan reported that the first piece! 
 of the metal had been discovered a))out thirteen years 
 pre\ iously by a daughter of one of Mr. DeLcry's censitaires, 
 and that the discovery was lirst communicated to the 
 
30 
 
 public, not by Mr. DeLery, but by Captain F. 11. Baddely, 
 of the lloyal Engineers, through Silliman's Journal in April, 
 1835. 
 
 In 18G3, Mr. F. T. Judah, of the Crown Lands' Depart- 
 iTiont, who had boon sent oiit to Eeauco as a Special 
 Commissioner to ascertain tlie < !h for tlie Government of 
 the then current reports a])Out tht- richness and importance 
 of the Chaudirre Mines, made the foHowin"- return wilh 
 regard to the original discovery : — 
 
 "This last river, iirst called Touli'e des Fins, from the 
 locality where it reachi^s the Chaudiere, has been re-named 
 the Gilbert after the ])erson whose daughter iirst found 
 gold therein some thirty years ago. The old uian, Gilbert, 
 now some sixty or seventy yi'ars of age, still lives near the 
 mouth of the river, and I learned from his own lips a 
 recital of the story. It appears that his daughter, in leading 
 a horse to water one morning, found lying in the stn^un 
 what she supposed to be a yellow pebble of about the size 
 of a pigeon's egg; her father, anxious to learn what it was, 
 gave it to sonu" one coming to Quebec, and the jewellers 
 then^ pronounced it to be gold. Old Gilbert parti'd with 
 it for 8-10, a sum apparently much below its value. 
 J'hicouragcnl by the discovery, he made searches and, on 
 several occasions, fouml more gold, but not to any con- 
 siderable amount." 
 
 As ))earing upon the cjuestion of the justice of the title 
 conveyed by the Fatent, it is well to keep in view that the 
 weight of evidence favors the presumption that the original 
 discovery of the precious metals was not made by the 
 J'atentees. They, however, appear to have proiited by the 
 discovery and by the fact that it had been made within 
 the limits of their seigniory, to advise the Government of 
 it and, as late as 1840, to apply for and o])tain from the 
 Crown, per letters-patent, :.n exclusive mininu' privilege 
 forever, not only over their own unconciMh-d lands, but over 
 those which had long passed out of their possession into 
 the hands of their censiUdrcs, the old settlers of the i)lace ; 
 
3t 
 
 and herein, no doubt, we have tlio whole fans et ori'^o ma'ii 
 ever since. At any rate, whatever may be said for or 
 ag'ainst the Patent, there is no denying that it has been a 
 very valuable piece ol' parchment to its lortunate owiu'rs. 
 It would be idle, perhaps, to try to estimate the amounts 
 which they have received i'rom time to time ibr temporary 
 lt>ases of their rights under it, but it is very certain tliat 
 they foot up a pretty round total and that the goose of Ih,' 
 fable with its golden eggs seems to be altogether ec'.ipsi'd 
 ])y the perpetual source of revenue thus conferred upon 
 this privileged family. For the pul)lie informatio!!, we 
 reproduce the text of the Patent : — 
 
 " Catiicap.t."' 
 
 PROVINCE OF CANADA. 
 
 " Victoria, by the Grace of God, of the United Kingdom 
 of Great Ih'itain and Ireland, Queex, del'ender ol" 
 Ihe Faith." 
 
 "To all to whom these Presents shall come or whom Ihs' 
 same may concern." — Greeting. 
 
 " "Whereas, our loving subjects, Dame Marie .To.sephic 
 I'^raser. of our City of Quelx'c, in our Province of Canad.v, 
 AVidow of the late Honorable Charles Elieniu^ Chaussegros 
 DeLcry, in his lifetime also, of the same place. Esquire, 
 Charles Joseph Chaussegros DeLery, also of the same i^lace. 
 l*]squire, and Alexander liene Chaussegros DeLcry, also of 
 (he same place, Escpure, have humbly represented unto us, 
 l)y fheir i)e(ition, in that ))ehalf, ihatthey are Seigniors and 
 proprietors of tiie Fief and Seigniory of liigaud-Vaudreuil, 
 situate in our district of (Quebec, in our said Proviiu^e, and 
 described as lying and being as I'ollows, that is to say : " An 
 extent of ground three leagues in I'ront, by two leagues in 
 depth, on ])oth sides of the river of the Chaudirre Falls, 
 with the Lakes and Islands in the said river; and thalthi'n^ 
 are supi>osed to exist within the limits of the said Fief and 
 Seigniory, certain ores, ininerals and mines, containing gold 
 and other precious metals, of which supposed mines they 
 have nuule the discovery and are now desirous of digi>ing 
 and working for their own profit, and advantage, sliould 
 they ol)tain our Ivoyal Permission to the edect, and further 
 that in obedience to the conditions of the original deed oi' con- 
 
•f 38 
 
 cession of the said Fief and Sei^^niory of Sienv Piorro Rigaud 
 de Vaudrouil, dated at QueLec, the twenty-third day of 
 September, one thousand seven hundred and thirty-six, 
 and signed Beauharnois and Hocquart, and confirmed at 
 VersaiUcs on the thirtieth day of April tlien following-, by 
 His Most Christian Majesty Lewis the Fifteenth, they did 
 announce and declare to us for the expression of our Koyal 
 Will and Pleasure, the existence of the said mines, ^vitJlin 
 the limits of the said Fief and Seigniory, at several places 
 therein of which they ^vill better inform us after further 
 researches under our said Itoyal Permission, which they 
 huml)ly pray us to grant in conformity with the laws and 
 usages in force and applying in that behalf, so that they 
 may search, dig for, and work the said mines by themselves 
 or by other experienced persons, offer uvj; to paij us the net 
 nne-loitk part of the inhale produce of the said mines, andpray- 
 iri'^- also to be allowed a remission of t^ e said one-tenth part 
 for a limited time, after the melting of the said ores shall be in 
 operation, to compensate them for the first outlay re<inired. 
 Therefore, now know ye, that in consideration of the Pre- 
 mises, "We, of our especial Grace, certain knowledge and 
 mere moticm, have given and granted, and by these presents 
 do give and graut unto the said Dame Marie Joseplite 
 l^'raser, Charles Joseph Chaussegros DeLery, Alexander 
 ]t<'ne Chaussegros DeLery, their lieirs and assigns for (>ver, 
 Our Koyal Permission and authoiity to make such re- 
 searches, in order furtlier to ascertain the position and ex- 
 tent of said miiu\s, and to dig and work the same by them- 
 selves or l)y other exi)erienced persons at any one or more 
 l)laces within tlie limits of the said Fief and S.Mgniory, and 
 for that purpose to erc^ct furnaces, l)uildings, and other 
 apparatus that may l)e reqr.ired to melt and render avaihi- 
 ])le, for proiit and advantage of themselves, and ot their 
 heirs and assigns, all such ores and minerals wJiich they 
 may have found, the whole in as ample manner as may I)l' 
 necessary for the due elfeet of thes;^ presents, and the ^vhole 
 on condition tixat our said grantees, their heirs and assigns for 
 ever shall strictly conform to our laws and usages in force 
 and applying in that Ijehalf, that they shall well and truly 
 repay to other our loving subjects.such damages and coni- 
 pensation as may from time to time occur, in ci)nse(|uence 
 of the ground occupied, the opening of roads, and other 
 like ca\ises, resulting from the operations in working the 
 said mines. 
 
89 
 
 " And also upon condition, that })oforc working- the same 
 they do transmit, and deposit with onr Secretary oi' our 
 said Province a Iruc and correct statement of the nature, 
 situation and extent of the said ores, minerals and mines. 
 And i'urther upon condition of transmitting in eocli and every 
 year, to our Receiver-General I'or our said Province, a true 
 and correct account of the utoss produce, of the same in 
 such I'onn and manner, as we, Our Heirs and Successors 
 may 1)0 hereafter be pleased to direct, and also upon condition 
 of well and truly paying;; and deliverin;^ in each and every 
 year from tlie time of me/ting- the said ores for the first time in 
 V)url!in'j; furnaces, tinlo our Receiver-General or such other 
 person as may have authority frcin us, our heirs and successors, 
 one net tenth pitrt of the whole gross produce of the said ores, 
 minerals and substances, thereunto appertaining- whatever, 
 the said one-tenth part being- melted and prepared in the 
 same manner as the like nuvy be for the behoof of our said 
 grantees, and reUned according to the Laws of France, as 
 confirmed by the Edict of the late, Kis Most Christian 
 Majesty, of the month of June, one thousand six hundred 
 and one. And it is I'urther our Will and pleasure that our 
 said grantees have a remission of the said one-tenth part 
 lor live years from and after the date of these presents. 
 
 "In Testimony AVhereof. AVe have caused these Our 
 Letters to be made Patent, and the Great Seal 
 of Our said Province to be hereunto affixed : 
 AVituoss, Our Itight Trusty and "Well-beloved 
 Cousin, Lieutenant-Goneral the Right Ilonora- 
 l)h> Charles Murray, M-axI Catehcart, of Cathcart, 
 in the. County of Ivenirew, K.C.B., Governor- 
 General of l?ritish Isiorth America, andCai)tain- 
 General in Chief, in and over the Provinces of 
 Canada, Nova Scotia, New Brunswick and the 
 Island of Prince llldward, and Vice-Admiral of 
 th(> sanivN and Comnumder of Our Forces in 
 jbitish North America. At Blontrcal, in our said 
 Province of Canada, the Eighteenth day of Sep- 
 tember, in the year of our Lord, one thousand 
 <Mght hundred and forty-six, and in the Tenth 
 year of our Iveign*. 
 
 " 13y Command. 
 
 " (Signed,) D. DALY, 
 
 Secretary." 
 
40 
 
 It is not our puvposj to discuss the A'alidity or iuvalidity 
 of the svvoopiut^ privileges thus coulerrcd upon the ^Messrs. 
 DeLerv, as tliat quesliou falls rather Avithiu the province 
 of the 11-- lot {han ol" the journalist. 13ut Ave must say that 
 tiiey appear to have been a.varded by the Government ol" 
 the day Avith but slight rei^ard for the feelings of the rcii- 
 silaim of liigaud-Vaudrcuil ; in gross ignorance of their 
 value, and \vith great lack of precautiou against the possi- 
 bility of their over becoming a i)ublic abuse. On the other 
 hand, it is not quite clear what the Patentees have done to 
 deserve them or at least to entitle them to Iheir iKM'petual 
 maintenance. It is true that the late Mr. Chas. DeLery 
 did spend some money in keeping a mining engineer for a 
 shor. time employed in (Exploring the Seigniory for the pre- 
 cious metals and that, on oiu' or two occasions, as required 
 by their charter, the family did transmit to Government 
 statements shewing the nature, situation and extent of the 
 ores, mines and minerals supposed to exist, containing 
 gold and other precious metals, within the limits of the 
 said !:;eig-niory But it does not ap^)ear that they ever 
 worked the mines themselves to any extent. They rather 
 contented themselves with letting others do so under 
 lease — the principal conditions upon which the Patent was 
 issued in their favor remaining all the time luifulhlled. In 
 face of the following correspondence which took place 
 some year's ago on the latter head, the authorities cannot 
 plead ignorance of the non-fullilment of those conditions, 
 and it is therefore somewhat incomprehensible that proper 
 steps have never yet been taken to reinstate the Crown in 
 its rights either by resuming the Patent or by insisting upon 
 the fullLlment of the obvious spirit of its conditions : — 
 
 " Deiwrtment of Crown Lands. 
 Jesuils Eilalcs and CrOirn Domain Branch, 
 
 Quebec, 12th September, 1801. 
 
 Sir, — As you have failed to supply the returns and make 
 the payments required by the Act enclosed in my letter of 
 
41 
 
 the 4th ultimo, for the territory montionod in the Letters. 
 Patent referred io in said h^ter, I am again under the 
 necessity of directing your attention to the matter, in the 
 hope that, by an immediate compliance on your part Avith 
 the requirements of the law, the enforcing of the same by 
 the adoption of proceedings to exact the penalties provided 
 in case of neglect, may be obviated. 
 
 You will receive no further notiricatiou froin the Depart- 
 ment. , 
 I have the honor to bo, 
 &c., (StC , &c , 
 
 (Signed,) A. Campbell, 
 
 Commr. of Cr, Landa. 
 
 Alex. Chaussecikcs DELiiuv, Esq." 
 
 " Quebec, .5th October, ISG I. 
 
 vSiR, — III answer to your letters, asking Mr. DeLcry a 
 statement of the quantity of gold found by him in the 
 tSeigniory liigaiul-Vaudreuil, l)efore the passing of the Act 
 27 and 2i> Vic, chap. 9, in virtue of the o;h-d clause of the 
 said Act, we are autliorized by Mr. D->L6ry to answer that 
 he never either worked himself or caused to be worked 
 any gold mines in the said Seigniory by virtue of the 
 Letters-Patent that he has from the Crown, and that there- 
 fore it is impossible for him to comply with your demand. 
 For some years past Doctor Douglas, of Beau port, has held 
 the right of working the said gold mines, in virtue of a 
 lease granted him by Mr. DeLery. Immediately after the 
 passing of the Act 21 and '2S Vic , chap. 0, Mr. i)eLery, by 
 protest before notaries, notilied Dr. Douglas to conform 
 himself to the section 33 of the said Act, as regards the 
 Government. Mr. DeLery is not aware whether Doctor 
 Douglas did so. 
 
 Mr. DeLery his also directed us to inform you, tliat he 
 did not think himself in all cases obliged to conform to the 
 section 33 of the said Act, in rendering to Government the 
 statements ordered by the said section, since the spirit of 
 the law was to aid the Government in collecting what 
 might be due to it under certain Letters-Patent, and that 
 
 G 
 
49 
 
 Mr. DcLcry, neither by himself nor hy others, has ever 
 ■worked the trold mines in the limits prescribed by the said 
 Letters-Patent in such a manner as to owe the Government 
 my sums whatever. 
 
 "Wc remain, S<c., &c., 
 (Signed,) Tasciikeeau tSc Blanchet, 
 
 Attorneys. 
 
 The Honorable A. Caimpbei>l, 
 
 Commissioner of Crown Lands." 
 
 •'Department of Ceown La.nds, 
 Jesuits' E&lalcs and Croicn Domc.in Branchy 
 
 Quebec, 24lh October, 18Gb 
 
 Sir, — I have the honor to submit the Ibllcwiiig' case for 
 your opinion, viz. : — 
 
 On the 11th September, 18-1G, upon petition of the then 
 Seigneurs of the Seigniory of Ivigaud-Vaudrouil (herewith.) 
 that according to the laws of Franco they were entitled to 
 a preference '.o work certain miiies of gold and other pre- 
 cious metals in the said Seigniory, Letters-Patent (copy also 
 herewith) issued in their i'avor, granting such right to 
 them, their heirs and assigns for ever, subject to certain 
 condiiions, expressed in said Letters-Patent, and among 
 other.v, to the payment of a Eoyalty of 10 per cent, on the 
 whole gross produce of the ores, from the time of melting 
 (smelting) the said ores for the lir.'^t time in working fur- 
 naces. 
 
 I5v the o3rd and olth sections of an Act of the Provincial 
 Parliament, 27 and 28 Vict., cap. 0, intituled : " The Gold 
 Mining Act," perso'is who have mined for gold under Let- 
 ters-Patent are held to furnish accounts and pay over 
 amounts due to the Crown under a penalty. 
 
 Considerable mining operations have taken place in the 
 Seigniory above mentioned since the issue of the Patent, 
 more particularly during last year and the present one, 
 when large sums of money huA'c been taken out in alluvial 
 diggings. 
 
43 
 
 The Departniont having- l);5cn iuformcl that Mr. Alox- 
 andro Chaiissoc>-ros DeLrry is now the sole owner ot' tlie 
 the said Soi<i-niory, on th*^ 21st Aug-ust and 12th September 
 hist, called his atlention by letters to the clause of the act 
 al)ove referred lo, requirinj^ liim to furnish the returns and 
 pay over th(> Royalty to the Crown, in reply to which, Mr. 
 i).^LL'ry ])er attorney slates: — 
 
 1st. That on the IMh September last, he leased his rights 
 under the Patent for 30 years to a Mr. Truenian Coinan. 
 
 2nd. That he has never worked the i>old mines in the 
 said SeigMiiory, by himself or others, and cannot therefore 
 conform to the re(juesi of the CJovernment. That Dr. Don- 
 jg'las, since some years, possessed the right to said mines 
 under a lease from him, Mr. DeLery, (doubtless that to l)e 
 found in liassc 41' /.53 herewith) and that he has notilied 
 Dr. Douglas to conform to the law. 
 
 Further, that in any case ho does not deem himself 
 ol)liged to furnish the returns required l)y the S^Jrd section 
 of the Act, as he has never, by himself or others, Worked 
 th(» said mines under the prescribed terms (/<w//cs prcsrrilcs) 
 of the Patent, so as to have become indebted to the Crown 
 in any sum whatever, referring, no doubt, to the smelting 
 operation alluded to in the Patent. 
 
 Up to last year, exclusively, what little mining was done, 
 appears to have been conducted by Dr. Douglas, but dur- 
 ing the last two seasons, by the proprietors of the soil or 
 parties holding uiulor them, with the exception of some 
 slight operations by other parties holding under a sub- 
 lease from Dr. Douglas. 
 
 The smelting furnaces referred to in the Patent, and then 
 supposed to be the method by which the metal would be 
 extracted, have never been, and probably never will bo 
 used, as the present system in use elsewhere is to crush the 
 quartz and collect the gold by amalgamation with mercury. 
 Moreover, the only mines which have been worked up till 
 now in the Seigniory are alluvial ones. 
 
 If Mr. DeLcri/, or his assi<j^nees, can evade the pni/nient of 
 the Royalty, for both or either of the above reasons, the Crown 
 will find itself deprived of any return whatever from these 
 mines, in every place where other parlies than they viay work, 
 for the existence of the Patent precludes the exaction of license 
 fees under " The Gold Mining; Act,'' and in that case the pro- 
 priety would suggest itselj of (he Government taking- legal steps 
 
44 
 
 to obtain the cancellation of the Patent, cither on the (ground 
 of improvidence, should you be of opinion that Mr. DcLerij 
 had no preferential ri<j;ht in law to obtain it, or for auch other 
 'reasons as you may consider available. 
 
 1 woTikl thercforo thank yoii for your opinion, — firstly, 
 on the lia])ility oi'tho rutontocs iind Assiynoos, — secondly, 
 W'heiher iho Govornmcnt is hold to roco<;nixe tho Inttor, and 
 lliirdly, if the liability of one or the other does not exist 
 under the circumstances and the Crown has no means of 
 enforcinf^ ijs rightful and eqnitahle claim, whether some 
 and what steps ()us,dit to he taken by the Government to 
 obtain a cancellation of the Patent, 
 
 I have the honor to be, 
 Sir, 
 Yonr obedient Servant, 
 
 A. Caaipbet.l, 
 Commissioner of Crown Lands. 
 The ITonorablc 
 
 The Atlorney-General 
 
 for Lower Canada, &c., ^:c, <S:c." 
 
 '' DErAr.TMEKT OF Ckown Lands, 
 Jesuits' Estates and Crown Domain Branch, 
 
 Quebec, 9th November, 18GL 
 
 Sil7, — I would beg- to call your attention to my letter of 
 (ho 24th ultimo, having' reference to the UeLery Patent 
 case. 
 
 • Nearly all the mining' operations of the past and present 
 Reason have been carried on exclusively in the Seigniory of 
 Ivigaud-Vaudreuil, the Crown having only received for 
 licensee fees elsewhere some ^CO, while it is reported that 
 about $50,000 were taken orit in the Seigniory in question 
 last season and at least $100,000 during the present one, 
 the Crown Ivoyalty on which alone, without reference to 
 previous operations, under the Patent, reaches §15,000, of 
 ivhic.h no part tohatevcr has been received. 
 
 As the public revenue sulFers from the Crown being de- 
 prived of these, its just rights, it is most desirable that 
 
45 
 
 sometliiii!:^ should ho done towards securing- these rights, 
 ;is well lor the past as I'or the iiitiire, and I have thcreloro 
 the houor to rec^uest you to bo so g-oodas to give the matter 
 as early an atti'utiou as you couvenieutly can, with a view 
 to suggest some means to arrive at the object sought by the 
 Department, vi/. : the collection ol' all arrears and I'utun^ 
 pnyinonl. ol Ihe lioyalty. 
 
 I have the houor to b^^ 
 !Sir, 
 Your obedient Servant, 
 
 A. Cami'Bki.l, 
 Commissioner of Crown Lands. 
 Th(5 ironorablo 
 
 The Attorney-fJeneral, 
 
 lor Lower Canada, &c., &c , &c." 
 
 The altogether one-sided construction placed by Mr. 
 DeLery upon the contract between himself and the Crown 
 cannot fail to strike the unprofessional mind as somewhat 
 extraordinary. But that there should be no mistake what- 
 ever about the position he assumes in the matter, he had 
 no hesitation in declaring, in his examination before the 
 Committee of 18G5, Ihat the Crown was not to expect any 
 compensating advantages for the privileges it had bestowed 
 upon him, as the following extracts from his evidence will 
 establish : — 
 
 '' I claim as my exclusive property the right of mining 
 for gold and the gold in the iSeigniory of Vaudreuil, and I 
 do not consider myself liable for the royalty of 10 per cent." 
 
 " I am not aware of any royalty having been paid to the 
 Government, nor that an/j is due.'" 
 
 " I am to pay a royalty of 10 per cent., when the high 
 furnaces are employed, and Ihcy have never been employed yetr 
 
 In other words, until it suits Mr. DeLery's good will and 
 pleasure to provide appliances which, in the nature of 
 things, will never be provided, he is to escape from any 
 return to the country for the privileges he enjoys. This is 
 
4G 
 
 (liortainly a ralhcr poculiar state of tiling-.^, and it is not easy 
 to uiulorstand liow it can bo maiutaiiiod oitlier in law or 
 equity or with a pvopov reyard I'or Iho pnldic iutorosts. 
 
 Tiiero sooras to 1)0 no doul>l, howevor, tlial the DeLi'ry 
 Patent has boon in a certain sense benolicial. In eompetiMit 
 opinion il lias l)een tlnwneaiis of attractini^ capital to the 
 development of the g'old-minin!:^ interest, l)y fnrnishini:^ 
 opportunity and inducements to inv(^stnienls l)y ('onii)anies 
 on a large scale, which are believed to be th(^ best calculated 
 to ensiire success in the Chaudicre country. ])Ut if it ever 
 possivssed those advantages, then^. is much reason to l)elievi^ 
 Ouit it luiS served as well as outlived its purpose, and that 
 the great confusion, of which it has, rightly or wrongly, 
 been the cause, will noA'er be completely removed without 
 measures of relief to the long-slanding grievances, real or 
 sentimejilal, which exist between the owners of the soil 
 and the owners or lessees of the patent, and which have so 
 much contributed to the disrepute and the dilatory develop- 
 ment of our gold lields. riaiidy speaking, such exclusive 
 privileges over the properties of others as those conferred 
 by the DeLery Patent are neither suited to the present 
 state of society, nor to the spirit of our free institutions on 
 this Continent. Their place was in the feudal age ; their 
 existence at this stage of the nineteenth centurv is an 
 anomaly and a satire upon our civilization. In tact, they 
 are the relics of an anticpiated system, and with that system, 
 wdien the tSeigniorial Tenure was abolished, they should 
 have gone out forever. Vic. therefore strongly incline to 
 the opinion of the late Ur. Anderson that, however the 
 GJ-overnment may liave been justilied in making the con- 
 cession to Mr. DeLery in li^40, circumstances have new 
 altered to such an extent that that 'concession can be no 
 longer maintained without injury to the public interests. 
 Dr. Anderson claimed that steps for this purpose should be 
 taken wi!k the consent of and by indemnifying' the Seigniors. 
 
-t7 
 
 If compliance with those proliminarios bo an absohito con- 
 dition prcccdont to tho removal of the patent as a present 
 impediment to the development of tho important interests 
 involved in onr gold-lields, then, of course, it will have to 
 bo made. But, without at all wishing- to do or say any- 
 thing- savoring- of injustice to the patentees, wo must 
 frankly avow that wo cannot, for tho life of us, perceive 
 upon what a claim for indemnity on their i^art could bo 
 cfjuital>ly founded. At all events, it is reasonable to pro- 
 sumo that, should the Government contemplate or entertain 
 any arrangement providing for the resumption of tho patent 
 upon such a basis, projior allowance will bo made, in view 
 of the actual condition of tho iinances of the Province, as 
 well for tho nou-fullilment of tho spirit of its conditions, 
 as for tho large sums already received ])y the patentees for 
 leases of their privileges under it, without alequate com- 
 pensation to tho Crowni or the pul)lic. Wo can readily 
 understand that tho lessees of their rights, who have gone 
 to great actual trou])le and expense to develop tho hidden 
 wealth of tho Seigniory would l)e, in such case, fairly and 
 legitimately entitled to a fall, equitaldo, and even liberal 
 consideration of their vested interests and the beneiits they 
 have conferred on the Province. At tho same time, we are 
 free to say that wo are not absolutely wedded to this mode 
 of getting rid of the patent. If tho Government have r.ny 
 other and better proposition to make which will attain the 
 same desirable end, w'hile doing strict Justice to all con- 
 cerned, with a view to the ]niblic good, wo shall l)e only 
 too happy to support it. lUit, in some way or other, the 
 patent should bo got rid oil', as we firmly believe it would 
 be very much to the jniblic interest if it were once for all 
 placed Iiors de combat and tho Seigniory of liigaud-Vau- 
 drouil thrown open to licensed mining, subject like all 
 other sections of tho u-old-bearing reu'iou to arrangements 
 with the owners of tho soil ibr the mining rights and to 
 
. 48 
 
 certain wise and liberal reservations in favor of bona fulc 
 and existing mining enterprises. 
 
 The constantly recurring disputes to \vhicli the DeLery 
 Patent has given rise may render not at all misplaced or 
 uninteresting a brief reference to the principal grounds 
 upon which its validity has been and is still questioned. 
 From the time of the first lease of their rights, which was 
 granted by the DeLerys to Dr. James Douglas and other 
 prominent citizens of Quebec, including Colonel lihodos 
 and the late Mr. Jas. Bell Forsyth, shortly after the issue 
 of the letters-patent, the interests of the owners of the soil 
 or their representatives and those of the owners and lessees 
 of the mining rights under the patent appear to have 
 clashed in a manner which, at all times, has boon unpleasant, 
 and, on some occasions, has actually verged on the riotous. 
 Legal jn-oceedings were repeatedly threatened and, in some 
 instances, wo believe, actually resorted to in the hope of 
 bringing the contention between the conllicling interests 
 to some satisfactory settlement, which would permit of the 
 business of gold mining ])eing carried on under something 
 like more favorable conditions. Failing this much desired 
 result, the question of the validity of the patent was 
 regularly brought before the law courts for their decision 
 in 18G4. A suit was instituted during the coiirse of that 
 year in the Superior Court for the Dislrict of Beauce against 
 the patentees and the then lessee of their privileges, ^Ir. 
 Truman Comen, of Pittslield, U. S. — the plainlilfs being 
 John O'Farroll, Esquire, advocate, and "William Venner, 
 broker, both of this city, and John Simpkins, broker, of 
 New York, who had become the owners by purchase from 
 the original proprietors of certain lots of land on the 
 Gill)ert, in the enjoyment and development of which for 
 gold mining purposes they claimed to have been disturbed 
 by the patentees and their lessee. 
 
49 
 
 The principal g-rounds iTpou which the plainlids pro- 
 ceeded in claiming the cancellation of the patent as illegal 
 were the following: 1st. Eecaiise, in the original grant of 
 the lligaud-Yaudrouil Seigniory from the King of France, 
 no reserve had l)een made of the mines and minerals in 
 i'avor of the French Crown — the o::ly condition imposed 
 upon the grantees being that of notifying Ilis Majesty and 
 his successors of the existence of such mines and minerals, 
 if any. 2nd. Because, by judgment of the Seigniorial 
 Court, all reserves of mines made by the Seigneurs in 
 grants to their censilaires, had been declared illegal, with- 
 out a similar reserve in the original grant, and because, by 
 the same judgment, it had been also decided that the 
 riparian proprietors along tinnavigable rivers were the 
 proprietors of one half of the said unnavigable rivers 
 where they skirted their properties. 3rd. Because, by 
 judgment of J. E. Turcotte, one of the Commissioners under 
 the Seigniorial Act, on the 18th November, 1857, the 
 mining rights in favor of the defendants had not been 
 recognized, -ith. Because the discovery of the existence of 
 gold in the said Seigniory had not been made by the 
 DeLerys, but that said discovery had been made more than 
 forty years before the issue of the letters-patent, oth. 
 Becaixse at least thirteen years before the issue of the 
 letters-patent, one Gilbert had found a piece of gold in the 
 said Seigniory, and this to the knowledge of the DeLerys, 
 and because, notwithstanding this knowledge, they neglect- 
 ed to notify the Government of the fact, in contravention 
 of the clause stipulated in their grant, up to the date of 
 tluir application for the letters-patent in 1840. Gth. Be- 
 cause the lands acquired by the plaintill's had been con- 
 ceded to the vendors of the same or their auleurs more than 
 thirty years before the said acquisition and long before the 
 conquest of Canada. 7th. Because the plaintill's were 
 proprietors and in possession of the lots of land (in question) 
 
 7 
 
r 
 
 
 
 find halfot" Lho vivor Chaudieve lioiiiuling- thorn — tjie said 
 I'ivov boiiig noilhcr iiaviii'ablo nor lloatablo, ni navii^-able, ?n 
 JloUahle. 8th. Becaitso one of the phiintiO'^!, John O'Farroll, 
 lilsquire, had boon the first to notify Hor Majesty of the 
 existence of 2;old uxion the said lots. 9th. Eecaiise the 
 plaintifls had the moans to work the said mines and wore 
 ready to do so. 10th. Bocanso the said letters-patent had 
 ])oen obtained by fraud, surprise, false representations and 
 false reports as to the person Avho discovered the existorice 
 of the said "old mines in the said Seinuiorv, and also as to 
 other important facts. 11th. 13ocaiise the description of 
 the riiihts accorded by the said letters-patent was vagne 
 and uncertain. 12th. Eocauso the formalities required by 
 law to validate letters-patent had not been observed. 13th 
 Because Ilor ]\Iajesty did not possess the rights "vvhich she 
 had granted by the letters-patent and because by the laws 
 of Lower Canada, then and still in force, the rights of Her 
 j\Iajesty to mines only extend to one-tenth of the metals 
 (>xtracted payable to hor in certain cases. 14th. Because 
 ])y the laws of Lower Canada the mines belong to the 
 owners of the soil, and because the patentees, at the time of 
 the issuing of the said letters-patent, were not nnd never 
 had been jiropriotors of the soil of the lots belonging to the 
 plaintills, and because the said letters-patent wore issued 
 without previous notice to the plainiilis' auleiirs. lath, 
 ]3ecauso Her Majesty could not confer upon a third party 
 the right of mining upon the property of any one l)ut upon 
 the refusal of the proprietor of the soil to exercise stu-h 
 right, after previous notice given him by a judgment of the 
 law courts. IGth. Because the said letters-patent were 
 illegally and inconsiderately issued. ITth. Because they 
 Were void by reason of the abolilion of the Seigniorial 
 Tenure in Lower Cuimda, of the two judgments already 
 mentioned, and of the completion of the cadastratit)n of the 
 Rigaud-Vaudrt'uil Seigniory. 
 
61 
 
 By the ooiiclivdoiis ol" llioir ckclaratioa, lln3 pUuiitiUs 
 prayed to be adjudg'cd to be the sole owners oF the mines 
 of precious metals and all other minerals on their lands 
 and one half of the bed of the River Chaudiere fronting- the 
 same, and to have the patent set aside, revoked and can- 
 celled as having been illegally and improvidently issued ; 
 claiming, moreover, judg-ment against the defendants for 
 damages to the amount of $2.50,000 and costs for having 
 unlawfully entered upon their lands and mined for gold 
 therein, thereby preventing' the i)laintiirs from selling- tha 
 said lands at a profit. 
 
 To this action, the defendants, D.^Lr-ry aiul Comin, plead- 
 ed separately, taking, however, substantially the sam3 
 grouiuls of exception, They met it in the Jirst place with 
 objections to the form, of which the principal one was that 
 the sole means of attacking the validity of letters-patent 
 was by way of the writ of ,sfj re facias, hi conformity with 
 the provisions of the existing law ; that, the issue of such 
 v.'rit could only take place Avith the consent of the Crovern- 
 ment ; that no such consent had l)een given and no such 
 writ had been issued; and that, in any case, the Crown as 
 an interested party in the patent, should have l^een made 
 a party to the case in order to enable it to defend its rights. 
 In the second place, they claimed the dismissal of the 
 action because the Seigniorial Act and the judgments xmder 
 it only ail'ected Mr. DeLcry's rights as a Seigneur and not 
 his rights to the minerals, under the jiatent, which were 
 independent of his quality of Seigneur; because the plain- 
 tills had not alleged that they had made [the discovery of 
 the gold before him or that they had notified the Crown 
 of such discovery before the issue of the letters-patent ; 
 l)ecause neither l)y the original grant of the Seigniory nor 
 by the existing laws of Lower Canada had there been any 
 delay fixed for the giving of such notice ; because ho was 
 not obliged by law to esta])]ish the refusal or neglect of 
 
62 
 
 others to work the mines, by a jiulg-ment or formal judicial 
 notice ; because, by their own titles, the plainlifrs did not 
 alleg-e a right to the minerals; because, by the existing 
 laws, as well as by those in force at the time of the issue of 
 the said letters-pateiit, the unconceded mines did not 
 belong- to the owners of the soil ; becaiTse the Crown and 
 not the plaintiffs or others could invoke the non-accomplish- 
 ment of the conditions of the patent ; and finally, among 
 other things, because, according to French law, the mines 
 in France always belonged to the Sovereign and still 
 belonged to him in 1703, the opening of such mines could 
 not be made without his authority, the permission or pri- 
 vilege of working them was always given to the person 
 offering the best guarantees of success for the undertaking ; 
 and the owner of the soil had no other indemnity to claim 
 from those who opened such mines on his property than 
 one for the damages resulting from his deprival of the 
 surface. 
 
 It will be s.^en tha;; the issue joined between the parties 
 was perfectly clear and unmistakeable. On the one hand, 
 an assertion ; on the other, a point blank denial of its sound- 
 }iess both in law and fact. AVe think it well that a note 
 should be made of this circumstance, as it is very certain, 
 it the question gets into the law courts again, that very 
 much the same relative positions will be taken up by the 
 litigants and then, in all prol)abilily, we may look for its 
 solution about the period of the Greek Kalends. In the 
 meantime, while the gentlemen of the long robe are settling 
 the business to their own satisfaction, the Province may 
 and will, in all probability, have to deplore the loss of 
 another favorable opportunity of helping to develop one 
 of its most promising sources of national wealth.* 
 
 ♦ .'^incp lluN was writU'ii. wc ndtuo that tlic .\ttornr_v-Qcn(^riil <if tlio I'rdviiu'o luis 
 pninltMl liis Jiiil lor tlio ic-iio ol'a writ uC mu-c /(n /im t<i liriiit; tho (|iie.ttiiin c.f tho 
 viilidity of the I'atcnt l>il'iiro the ('imit8. It rciiiniti." to lie .'^opii wlit'tlicr lhi.< iictum 
 )vill prcchulc tlm Govciaincut fruin luking any itlier steji;' iu tljc coiineotiuii, 
 
r. 
 
 3 
 
 It is neither our purpose nor our inclination to follow 
 the interesting- litigation between the contending interests 
 through its many perplexing phases, including appeals 
 and journeyings innumerable to and fro between Beauce 
 and Quebec. Suffice it to say that, after many variations 
 and vicissitudes, not the least of which, we think, \vas the 
 loss or mutilation of the voluminous record of the case in 
 the lire at the Quebec Court House, it was iinally settled out 
 of Court between the parties and further proceedings stay- 
 ed by them in a way, which, ^ve must presume, was to 
 their mutual satisfaction, though certainly little to that of 
 the public, as it took the groat question at issue, namely, 
 the validity of the patent, out of the hands of the law courts 
 and has left it, to the public injury, undecided from that 
 day to this. 
 
 In view of the prevailing impression that it is now the 
 duty of the Government to take some action in the matter, 
 which will either ellectually dispose of the patent or more 
 thoroughly protect those who claim to have certain rights 
 under it, special note shoiild be made of the very apposite 
 words used by the late Dr. Anderson in speaking of his 
 visit to the mines in 1803. " The men," said he, " appear- 
 ed well content with their fortune, and I have no doiibt 
 that they had good reason to bo so, as a very large quantity 
 of gold found its way to Quebec, and I am convinced if 
 Government had at this time made an arrangement with Mr. 
 DeLcry and opened up the field to healthy competition on 
 terms similar to those adopted by the Nova Scotia Government, 
 that such action woutd have been attended with the like satis, 
 factory results. Their not having done so led to numerous 
 vexatious law-suits, in which all parties gained a loss and 
 all mining operations were for a time put a stop to." But 
 the most unmistakeable condemnation of the patent and of 
 its injurious effects upon gold-mining as an industry in 
 this Province, is supplied by the report of the Select Com- 
 mittee of the Legislature in 1805, which exhaustively con- 
 sidered the subject iu all its bearings. Says this report ;-~ 
 
54 
 
 " Diilicuhies have luisrn in oiilbrciiii'' llio conditions of 
 the ratont, and whatever effect it may have had heretofore, 
 its existence at the present time is highlfj detrimental to the 
 pro^j^ress ofviinifiii' in that sccliun. These diificnlties must 
 increase as the mining- works increase, and cannot fail to 
 prove injurious to the public interest. 1 arious opinions 
 are entertained as to the validity of the Patent, and as to 
 whether its terms can be enibrc-'d. # * ^ =^ This 
 being a legal question, your ';ommittee can do no more 
 than present the facts and their injurious effect upon the 
 piTl)lic interests, accompanied with a recommendation that 
 stejis he at once taken to effect an equitable sclllcmcnt loith the 
 /larties, and remove the dil/icultijforecer." 
 
 To the great political metamorphosis of Confederation 
 through which the country passed about this time, as well 
 as to the already declining interest in the gold mines, 
 thanks, in part, to a continuance of the drawbacks already 
 noted, we must probably set down the fact that this im- 
 portant recommendation was utterly overlooked. Eut the 
 excuse of more pressing interests no longer exists ; while, 
 on the other hand, it seems needless to add that the occa- 
 sion for the renewal of the vexations and impediments to 
 the more thorough development of our gold liolds, which 
 appears to bo imminent, cannot at all be contemplated with 
 satisfaction. "We therefore call public attention once more 
 to the question of the DeLery Patent in connection with 
 the g(meral (piostion of tlie development of our mineral 
 wealth. 
 
 — ^;«io« — 
 
 , A U T I C L E l\ . 
 
 We think it has boon satisfactorily shown, in the course 
 of our previous articles on the subject, that the gold-lields 
 of the Chaudierc have not yet been tested so fully or fairly 
 that there is room to alter the favorable opinion formed of 
 
thorn at tlio outset. The atlompts made until more lately 
 to develop them have been mainly charaeterized by inox- 
 ptnience, wayte and mismanagement. In point ol' fact, thi'v 
 have only been very indiilerently "scratched over " as yet> 
 and therefore, all considered, gold mining with xis must ])e 
 rcg'arded as still in its intancy. But, lu any case, com- 
 parisons to their disadvantage drawn IVom the rapidly 
 developed and wonderfully large itroducis of the Califor- 
 nian or Australian mines, which, no doubt, had theellect in 
 (heir day of al)sorbing public attention to the neglect of the 
 abundant wealth of th(> same kind lying nearer home, are 
 obviously unfair on account of the great dillerence necs- 
 sarily existing between the circumstances of new regions 
 initramelled by the forms or encuml)rances of civilization 
 and these of an old esiaV.ished farming country, wh(>re 
 permission to dig for the precious metal had llrst to be pur- 
 chasetl or ol)tained from the owners of the soil or the 
 claimanls of the mining rights. 
 
 In the case of tho territory covered l>y the DeLcry patent, 
 we have seen that the situation has been further compli- 
 cated by the chronic dispute between the proprietors of the 
 land and the patentees or their representatives, as well as 
 by the fact that the miner — if he be not already an owner 
 of the soil himself — is ol>liged to come to terms with both 
 those clashing interests, except where they happen to go 
 hand in hand, before he can expect to undertake the 
 development of his claim in peace and sectirity, under 
 license from the Government. Of course, the same dilhcul- 
 ties do not present themselves. — or at least not to the same 
 disturbing extent — outside the limits of this territory ; but 
 this important fact does not appear to have been as widely 
 known as it ought to have been, for the advantage of our 
 gold llelds generally — the one being confounded with the 
 other in many minds and the whole made to do duly for 
 the part as sull'ering from an incura])le incu})us. It is, 
 
OU 
 
 Ihcteforo, not at all to be wondoretl at that both inclividnal 
 enterprise and capital — the latter especially — should have 
 been deterred oi' late years from embarking to any very 
 wide-spread extent in the working oi' the rich mineral 
 resources of the Chandicre ; for, as was very pertinently 
 remarked by the Select Committee of the Legislature in 
 180"), speaking of the investment of capital in our gold 
 fields, *' money will never be o])tained upon real property 
 without a complete absolute title, in every respect iiorfect.'" 
 
 Another class of evils, from which the gold mining in- 
 terest has suffered in no small degree and from which it is 
 urgently necessary to deliver it as far as possil^le, is made 
 up of those arising from the traflic in niniiig lands i'or 
 speculative inirposes. So impressed was the Committee of 
 1805 with the damnge which this traffic had done to the 
 development of our gold fields that it included, in its report, a 
 special recommendation with regard to the necessity of 
 adopting some effective means of preventing any party or 
 parties from obtaining largo tracts of land which they could 
 hold in a waste and univiprnved condition, and thus do injur// 
 to the public interest. This recommendation, however, 
 appears to have either come too late to prevent the evils 
 aimed at or to have been fco indill'erently acted upon that 
 but little real good was deriA'cd from it; Jbr, in 1800, we 
 find that Mr. A. jMichel, of the Geological Surve)', reported 
 " that the researches, rewarded in many localities by un- 
 looked for success, had iilaced the Chaudicre region among 
 those in which the systematic working of the alluvial 
 deposits and the gold-bearing quartz veins (when separated 
 from false hopes and extravagances) miglil become a regular 
 industry, having its chances of success and failure. The 
 acquisition by American companies of a great part of the 
 auriferous lands along the borders of tlie rivers Chaudiere, 
 Famine, l)u Loup and other tributiries, as well as the sale 
 made by the Messrs. DeLery to another company of the 
 
o7 
 
 mining- rights in the st>ig'niory oi'liigaud-Vanclreuil, niiglit 
 liavo been expected to have given an impulse during the 
 (then) past year to the \\orking for gold in that district, or, 
 if not, at least to proper operations directed by skillul 
 miners ; but such had not been the case, none of the com* 
 panics since their organization having undertaken any 
 important workings, nor even any serious explorations ol' 
 their properties, while at the same time the country people 
 had abandoned their search for alluvial gold and the 
 iullux of strangers (who came there for the same purpose 
 in great numbers in 18G4) entirely ceased in 1805."' 
 "If I am to believe reports," adds ]\lr. Michel, "this dis- 
 couragement may be in part attributed to the inactiviiy of 
 these companies^ At the same time, it must be confessed 
 lliat it is not easy to see how these evils could have been 
 prevented under the circumstances of the land tenure in 
 much of the gold-bearing region which was most affected 
 at that time by miners. A brief explanation on this head 
 may not be undesirable. In 18G4, when the gold lields were 
 lirst erected into the two mining divisions of the Chaudiere 
 and St. Francis, the lands contained in them were either 
 seigniorial, still belonged to the Govornmont, or had long 
 previously been alienated from the Crown domain by sale 
 or as free grants to actual settlers, who had, of course, a 
 perfect right to dispose of their properties as they pleased. 
 In point of fact, therefore, the Government could exercise 
 no direct or salutary control over the land trafhc except in 
 so far as the unconceded portion of the Crown domain was 
 likely to be thereby aifected. By a very unwise distinction, 
 however, they had made as to jirice between mining and 
 agricultural lands, they appear to have indirectly connived 
 — at least so far as the gold region was concerned — at the 
 lUcilitation of the very evils which they-were so desirous of 
 preventing. By Order-in-Council, itwas decided thence- 
 forward to omit from all Crown Lands' patents the plauso 
 
 8 
 
AS 
 
 pioviously iiicludod (horciii, rosoivinii- to tlio Cnnvn all 
 ]nincs of the precious metals and io sell such lands for mining 
 puipos(>s al the rate of $1 per acre cash, while for botia fide 
 agricultural and settlement o}>jecic5, they could still ho 
 acquired at the ordinary rale, suhject, however, to increase 
 to $2 and later on to iii;l per acre in the event ol Ihoiv 
 subsequently comin;^ to be worked as auriferous. It does not 
 ref|uire much rellection to perceive how this policy played 
 into the hands of wealthy speculators. Previously, they 
 could only jnirchase a lot here and there from private 
 owners willing- to dispose of the s(>il or their mining- rights 
 upon it, or they could only acquire the land directly from 
 the Department to a limited extent by complying- with the 
 settlement conditions. Under this policy, however, they 
 could at once proceed and they accordingly did proceed, 
 with the abundant means at their command, to lock up and 
 keep in a waste and unimproved condition, in expectation 
 of hig-h prices, larg-c and valuable portions of the public 
 domain, which they will neither \\o\k thcTuselves, nor 
 allow others to work except upon conditions which no in- 
 dustry like gold-mining- could safely undertake or reasona' 
 bly be expected to satisfy with a due reg-ard for its own 
 profits and permanency. Eut the injurious effects of this 
 policy do not seem to have stopped hen\ for, by enhancing 
 the price of the public lands to the practical miner, they 
 placed it in many instances beyond his power to undertake 
 their development. Indeed, on this head, the Committee 
 of 1865 appears to have laid very particular stres.s, properly 
 holding that, for : ly years then yet to come, the Govern- 
 ment land policy » ould greatly effect (as it will still) the 
 progress of the Chaudiere and St. Francis divisions and 
 that, according as that policy was liberal or illiberal, well 
 considered or ill-considered, so would its inlluence be 
 beneficial or otherwise. In its report, the Committee 
 pointed out that nothing could be more ill-judged or preju- 
 dicial to the best interests of the country than the practice 
 
of makini? a distinction l)ot\voon miiiiii"' and aoTicultnval 
 lands, remarking that while the purchaser of the hitter, by 
 a careful examination of Uie surface, could almost infallibly 
 satisfy himself that he' was getting the full value of his 
 money and that every day's labor expended on the soil 
 would yield a certain return, on the other hand, the miner 
 had to run the risk of havin;^ his purchase turn out unpro- 
 fitable, after havinij made a large outlay .o simply ascertain 
 this unsatisfactory result. And the Committee very perti- 
 nently added : — 
 
 " The business of mining is proverl)ially precarious. In 
 a great many instances the ovAiier of a raining lot, after he 
 has paid for his land and expended many times its cost 
 upon it, finds that he has made a bad investment, and is 
 the owner of a worthless piece of property ; should it 
 happen that ho makes a fortunate selection and becomes 
 the owner of a valuable mine, he is enabled to iind prolit- 
 able work on his single lot for more productive labor than 
 could be afforded upon lifty agricultural lots. At the same 
 time the employment for labor so afforded induces immi- 
 gration, creates an increased demand for imports, as well 
 as ibr home productions, and in every way much greater 
 service is done to the country than could be effected by 
 means of an agricultural lot. It might be considered from 
 this point of view, that, if any distinction is made, it should 
 he in favor of the miner.'' 
 
 It M'ould therefore seem eminently desirable that some 
 important changes should be made in the Government land 
 regulations, at least in so far as they affect the gold mining 
 divisions, both for the purpose of promoting the general 
 development of the mining interest and of preventing 
 speculation at its expense. But the great difhculty always 
 has been and still is — how best to attain these two impor-" 
 tant objects, without the results in the one case impairing 
 the effects in the other. Indeed, short of an arbitrary pro- 
 vision, limiting the extent of mining lands to be held in 
 one set of hands and requiring it to be worked within a 
 
00 
 
 t'oilaiii ck'lay uiulev pain of forfoituvo or traui'or lo bonajide 
 ontcrpvisc, it is not quite clear how the root oi' the specu- 
 hition evil is to he g-ot at, with any prospects of suecoss. 
 On the other Land, it is a question whethev such restrictions 
 would not be more prejudicial than otherwise to the 
 interests of a region, whose proper development is believed 
 in acreal measure to depend upon undertakings operating 
 on such a largo scale and with such reserves of land to 
 draw upon for future operations that they might reasonal)ly 
 expect to make their investm nts both pK)litable and per- 
 manent. If the Province had only bona fide miners or 
 intending miners to deal with, it would be all plain-sailing 
 enough, and no policy too liberal could be framed in their 
 interests. But unfortunately such has not been always the 
 case in the past ; nor is it likely to be so in the present. 
 
 Altogether, therefore, this feature of the general question 
 may ])e regarded as the most intricate and difficult which 
 the Government arc called upon to solve in the interest of 
 mineral development in the Chaudicre country, and the 
 pul:)lic will consequently look with some anxiety for the 
 mode in which they propose to do so. At the same time, 
 it is some satisiaction to know that the whole problem is in 
 excellent hands when committed to those of the gentleman 
 who actually presides over the administration and destinies 
 of the Crown Lands' Department. However politicians 
 may dilfer, they must agree in recognizing, in the legal 
 acumen, general al)ility and extremely pains-taking char- 
 acter of lion. Mr. Flynn, that combination of desirable 
 qualiti3s, rarely met with in a Commissioner, which offer 
 the best guarantees of a reasonable share of success in the 
 matter. It would be, perhaps, too much to expect absolute 
 perfection in a connection, which has already taxed to but 
 poor account the ingenuity of some very able and con- 
 scientious men. Nevertheless, we are free to say that, if 
 the Government err at all nt this juncture, it should rather 
 
Gi 
 
 ilo so oil tho side of liberality to the milling- interest tliaii 
 oil any other, in view of the vast future heuelits \vhieh the 
 healthy development of that important iutorest under 
 iiivorahle conditions may be conlideiitly expected to confer 
 upon tho Province as a Avhole. Indeed, if it were at all 
 possible, in view of those benefits, to give to the develop- 
 ment of our mineral wealth that almost absolute lil)erty, 
 which it enjoys among our neiyh])ors of the United States, 
 and that wise enconrag-ement and protection which seem 
 essential to it as a young industry, we think the Govern- 
 ment would only act in the public interests, in extending 
 to it the uiuiuestionable advantages of such measures. 
 
 It may be interesting to mention that an elaborate sclieme 
 for this purpose has already been propounded in the 
 columns of our Montreal contemporary, La Mitierve, of 
 which the following are the leading features : — 
 
 "1. Repeal of all existing mining law^s ; L*. Creation of a 
 Ministry or Department of Mines ; 3. Classification (as in 
 the "United States) of all the soil of the Province into two 
 categories — mining lands and agricultural lauds; 4. Abo- 
 lition of all taxes, Pederal, Local or Municipal, for a period 
 of 25 years, upon all mines of gold, silver, cinnabar or 
 quicksilver, precious stones, platiiuim and other precious 
 metals; as well as upon all mills, ike, exclusively treating 
 these metals, or these metals allied with copper, &c. ; ."). 
 Abolition of the percentage or per ca/nla tax on all Iiands 
 employed in the mines for the same period or forever ; (i. 
 Full and entire freedom to seek, find and work all mines ; 
 7. The right to every British subject to seek, find and work 
 all mines of gold, silver, platinum, cinna])ar or precious 
 stones wherever he may discover them ; 8. Obligation to 
 fyle with the Commissioner of Mines an affidavit showing 
 that the work required by law has been performed ; '.♦. 
 Payment of $10 to the Commissioner, for the Government, 
 for a certificate establishing the performance of such work 
 until proof of the contrary ; 10. Performance of at least 
 sixty days' work yearly on each claim; 11. Every mine 
 unworked during a period of 12 months to be considered 
 as an undiscovered mine and every one to have the right to 
 
('.2 
 
 Wu-istcril anew and doY(>lop it ashisproporly i)y complyin,^ 
 \vith the provisions of the law ; 12. These roguktions to 
 apply also to aU veins, lodes, &c., containinu; the precious 
 metals ; 13. The extent of each claim to be 5U0 feet square 
 or 250,000 feet superficial, hounded on all sides by perpen- 
 dicular lines, and the same for veins, &c. ; 14. As soon as 
 the Slim of $oOU in work shall have been expended on a 
 claim, the miner to have a right to and be required to 
 procure a patent, for which purpose he should have his 
 claim surveyed under the direction of the Commissioner of 
 IMines and pay at the rate of $8 per acre for his claim besides 
 the costs of survey ; 15. Each claim to be numbered and 
 named, certain alternate numbers being reserved by the 
 Government for the l)enelit of a School of Mines to provide 
 for the much needed diifusion of information on mining and 
 metallurgy throughout the I'rovince or for other purposes. 
 The same regulations to a]iply to mineral veins as to the 
 deposits or alluvions; 10. Tunnel claims to cover half a 
 mile square; all tunnels to lie driven in a straight line — 
 the proprietor having the right to all veins on one side of 
 the tunnel and the (iovernment to those on the other for 
 the benellt of the School of Mines ; 17. The Government 
 or its representatives lo havc^ the risht, without cost, to use 
 the tuiinel lor the working of its half of the veins intersected ; 
 18. The patent for a inoiety of the half-mile square, to be 
 granted, upon the boring of the livst thousand feet, at the 
 rate of $5 per acre ; 10. Collection of $5 for the location 
 certificate, and of $10 annually for enregislraliou of the 
 work ]>erlbrmed during that period on each claim, such 
 sums being considered amply sulhcient to cover the expen- 
 ses of the Department of ]\Iines, and because the revenue 
 derival)le therefrom, and levied in this way would be in no 
 sense onerous to the miner; while, on tho other hand, the 
 reserved claims would so increase in value before five years 
 that they would be worth more thaii the whole at present 
 and the Government l^e thus emibled to sell them at a large 
 profit l)oth to the Province and the cause of mineral 
 development generally." 
 
 There can be no doubt that this scheme possesses many 
 allractions and advantages and, if it could be realized in 
 its entirety, might })e productive of most beneficial results 
 not only for the gold-minijig interest, but for all the other 
 
63 
 
 allied miuenil inlorosts throimhout the Proviuce, whether 
 considered in themselves or in their important beariu«Ts 
 upon the ngrieulture, trade and general industry ol' the 
 conntry. But, as we have no other evidence that it fore- 
 shadows the intentions of the Government, than the fact 
 that it has been lirst given publicity in the special organ 
 ol' the Provincial Premier, r.nd then only over a private 
 signature, we must conlino ourselves for the present to thi^ 
 above expression of opinion as to its nierit.s. 
 
 In the meantime, we must say that it is the duty of the 
 hour to rid, as far as possible and as far as the finances of the 
 Province will permit, the gold mining industry of the greater 
 vexations and incumbrances to which it has hitherto been 
 exposed, commencing at the bottom with the land question 
 and the question of the mining rights. These vital i^oints 
 once settled, it will prol)ably be easy enough to arrange 
 the subsequent details. Nevertheless, while on the subject 
 of those vexations, wo think it proper to call the very 
 special attention of the Commissioner of Crown Lands to 
 the necessity, in view of future pos^ibiliiies, of a solution 
 of the long-disputed question of tho riglits of the Crown 
 and the riparian proprietors respectively to the river beds 
 and Hats in the gold region, and of an authoritative definition 
 of the dill'erence biaween the streams that are to be con- 
 sidered navigable et /lof/db'e and those that are not. In the 
 \vliolc history of gold-mining on the Chaudii-re, no questions 
 more than the.se, perhaps, have given rise to more un- 
 pleasantness betwven the owners of the soil and tho miners. 
 Indeed, tho l)ungling and ill-advised action of the authori- 
 ties on these heads on several occasions appear to have 
 excited such a ferment and brought matters generally to 
 such an ugly pass between the two interests thai they 
 almost culminated in actual bloodshed ; and we need hardly 
 say that it is far from desirable to revive tho occasion for 
 such dangerous diilerences and eveutualities. Incidentally, 
 
04 
 
 ill tho iutorosls of the public revenue and as ngainst the keo[i- 
 ing' ])y speculators of many valuable mineral lots in a waste 
 and unimproved coudition, we may also mention that it 
 might bo well to look into tlio claims of the Crown upon 
 all portions of the public domain alieiuited before 1864 and 
 patented with reserves of the mines of the precious metals 
 in its favor ; while, as a measure of encouragement to tho 
 search for and discovery of new deposits or veins contain- 
 ing the precious metals, we would suggest the consideration 
 of more liberal provisions to "prospectors " and the adop- 
 tion of some arrangement by which a certain preference 
 should be secured to discoverers, due regard always had 
 for private rights and vested interests of a bona fide 
 chanicter. 
 
 As llie weight of evidence seems to be in favor of the 
 ]>rosecution of mining l)y strong companies rather than by 
 individual ellbrt as the best calculated to be successful in 
 tlie Chaudiere country, it cannot be said that any very great 
 changes in tho existing mining regiilations are urgently 
 demanded. They are in all probability fairly liberal enough 
 as things go ; except perhaps in the matter of tho extent 
 of claims, and the absence of any provision for a regidar 
 Assayer at the mines, as in California and Australia, and as 
 often recommended here, to test the value of the auriferous 
 qvuu'i/, in view of the fact that the (juariz veins throughout 
 tlie rock formation have been ascertained to be more or less 
 rich in the precious metal and that while the alluvial dig- 
 gings may be exhausted alter some years, the quartz veins 
 and other lodes may be worked for a long time and become 
 more valuable as they are more developed. Nevertheless, 
 when it is considered that it is important to encourage tho 
 development of our gold holds in every way possible and 
 that the great aim of the Government should be to render 
 it as free and as little onerous as possible to individual as 
 well as associated enterprise, it cannot be said cither that 
 
05 
 
 the existing- regulations aro unsiiscoptihle of iinprovomcnt, 
 On the contrary, for instance, though wo have hoard mino- 
 ownors profoss their willingness to pay even a larger sum 
 or tax to the Government if they could only get once for all 
 rid of the claims iinder the DeLery Patent, it is very gen- 
 erally believed that the present monthly license of 8t 
 imposed by the regulations on every miner or employee of 
 ;i mine might bo reduci>d with the greatest advantage, in 
 the first place, to the gold mining industry, as itiscalciilat- 
 ocl that this fee amounts in the year to a duty or tax upon 
 it of nearly, if not fully, 10 per cent, which is more than it 
 can well bear — and thrive ; and, in the second place to the 
 Government, who would derive a larger revenue from the 
 increased development of the gold iields, M'hile generally 
 promoting thereby the interests of the Province. There is 
 reason to think that, under the circumstances, an annual 
 instead of a monthly license fee of $5 would be sullicient 
 for all revenue pur]-»oses, though it appears that some mine- 
 owners consider any block sum for the year objcetionable, 
 as very naturally they can never say during how much or 
 how little of the tweh e months they may be able to carry 
 on active operations, or how long or short any particular 
 workman may be in their employ. This objection, how- 
 over, might possibly ha got over by making the license 
 transferable, with prop 'r precautions. But at any rale, a 
 block sum of s,j would, by all accounts, be more easily 
 collected, especially by rendering it payable under a heavy 
 penalty, as it should be, ])y the mine owners insttal of by 
 their workmen. As matters now stuul, it occasionally 
 huppens that the workman, trusting to his employer to take 
 out his monthly license, has his suit for wages dismissed 
 hy the Gold Mining Inspector (who, under the Gl Victoria, 
 ch. 21, section 2, is invested with very great judicial power.s 
 ol a civil and criminal character as regards mining matters) 
 because, his licnse not having been taken out, he is no 
 
6G 
 
 longer a miner in the eyes of the law, and therefore do.\s 
 not come within the Inspector's jurisdiction. This is cer- 
 tainly a hardship, which should he remedied as soon as 
 possible. 
 
 Another very necessary reform would appear to be the 
 abolition of the system of monthly returns of the quantities 
 of gold extracted required from mine-owners, which are 
 worse than useless l)eeause they are seldom relia])le either 
 from a statistical point of view or as a basis for the calcu- 
 lation of percentages. But, since the commutation of the 
 Crown royalties for license fees, it is even a question whether 
 the Government have a right (o exact tluMu. At any rate, 
 it is very clear that tlie Crown has no longer any direct 
 interest in them. They are, therefore, as needlessly ajul 
 oli'ensively incpiisitorial as if the Government were to 
 require licensed hotel-keepers or the meudiers of any other 
 cral't or calling to send in monthly statements of their 
 receipts and profits. Moreover, it has been shewn that the 
 system is in a large degree impracticable, and, as what is 
 impracticable is usually inexpedient, it Avould be just as well 
 if this system wore abolished forthwith, leaving the private 
 parties interested to find means of arranging their percen- 
 tages l)etween themselves, without vicarious and unpopular 
 intervention on the part of the Government. For statisti- 
 cal purposes, we l)eli(>ve a readier and more reli'iljle way 
 can be found of ascertaining the annual amount of the 
 precious metals produced by the mines, by making it to the 
 interest of the miners to declare it instead of renderinu- 
 them suspicious and secretive on tlie subject, as unc^vu^stion- 
 ably they have all alony- been under the present system, to 
 the manifest injury of (he re[)ut!»tion of our gold lields. 
 
 It would seem that there is also urgeni necessity to make 
 the actual law stricter with reu'ard to the sale, near the 
 mines, of intoxicating liquors, which have already been the 
 
sourco of so Jipacli clistiirl)ance and difiioulty among thd 
 minors. Under the present regulations, such sale is pro- 
 hibited within a radius of twelve miles around the mines, 
 without o])taining upon certain formalities a monthly 
 jic'iibir from the Inspector for the purpos'3. But it appears 
 that, notwithstanding its comprehensive character, this 
 prohibition is easily eluded since the amendment to the 
 License Law, which permits the granting generally of 
 licenses for liquor stores ])y the District Revenue Inspectors ; 
 so that it will be readily luulerstood that once a store of 
 this kind is legally established in a mining district, and 
 beyond the salutary coiitrol of the Mining Inspector, it is 
 easy for the miners to slake their thirst at the foimtain head 
 or, if they comply with the law against the piirchase of less 
 than throe gallons at a time, the nnml)er intoxicated is only 
 g-rearer or the "spree" longer and, of course, the disturbance 
 also. The mining regulations should therefore be strictly 
 carried out and no license granted for the sale of strong 
 drmk unless by the Inspector, "vvho, according to the Act, 
 can maintain or revoke it as to him seems best, according 
 to the use or alnise made of the j)rivilege. In the same 
 connection, too, we may remark that it might be well if the 
 Inspector had also the powers required, incase of necessity, 
 to clear the mining districts of all professional card-sharper^, 
 monte men and other chevaliers d'indii&trie, who fre(jUently 
 Hock to gold diggings as the best harvest fields for their 
 nefarious trades and who have so often proved the cui'se of 
 the unwary miner in California and Australia. 
 
 In line, as the harmonious and edicient w^orking of any 
 system of machinery thai may l)e devised for the develop- 
 ment and regulation of the gold-mining interest in this 
 Province must, in a large measure, depend upon the zeal 
 and elliciency of the representative of the trovernment on 
 the ground, it is of the utmost importance to all concerned 
 that the very necessary, yet extremely arduous, as well as 
 
G8 
 
 delicate ofTico of Gold-Minin2^ Inspector or Commi.ssioner 
 should be well filled and sudicieutly well paid to secure 
 and reiain the best material ofleriufj. In its present in- 
 cumbent the Province has, by all accounts, all that can l)o 
 desiri'd. Youni^, active, and thoroiighly acquainted Iroin 
 his boyhood with the whole Chaudirro country, enjoying 
 in a hijvh degree both through family associations and upon 
 his own personal merits, the confidence and respect of its 
 inhabitants, as well as of i\m mining interest since his 
 appointment to the position, he ai)pears to be exactly the 
 riu'ht man in the right i^lace. A barrister by profession 
 and of good standing at the Bar, Mr. Uuchesiuiv alsobrinirs 
 to the discharge of the important magisterial functions df 
 his dual oiiice of Crown representative at the mines and 
 arbiter between the niiners in their difiiculties, the ines- 
 tinialde advantages of a well-trained and well-stored legal 
 mind, coupled with obliging numners and that habit of 
 command, which is so essential to authority. Yet, we 
 regret to understand, that this well qualified gentleman, 
 since the abolition of the oflice of District Magistrate, re- 
 ceives for all remuiierution for his services but the ])altry 
 sum of $400 per annum, out of ^Yhicll he has to jiay all his 
 olHce and Court contingencies, as well as travelling ex- 
 penses, which would not appear to be trilling. Some idea 
 can be formed of the public value and importance of these 
 services, as well as of their arduous and absorbing charac- 
 ter, when we state that Mr. Duchcsnay attends regularly 
 nt St. Francis from two to live times a month, and as often 
 more as he may be required, to hear and adjudicate upon 
 mining difliculties and disputes between the miners, while 
 he has frequently to go oven upon the mining grounds 
 himself to settle troubles about claim boundaries and 
 water-courses, thus in many instances bringing them to an 
 amicable termination, and thereby obviating to the miners 
 and to their great satisfaction the costs and annoyances of 
 litigation. Notwithstiinding this, however, we believe that 
 
09 
 
 within about a year, not less than 140 cas:s wore takou 
 before his Inspector's Court, many of them involvinc;' dif- 
 ficult questions ol" divisions ofprolits l)et\veeu partners, as 
 well as of property and of damages. Moreover, it is u\>ll 
 that it should l)o understood that the Inspector has criminal 
 as well as civil jurisdiction, and that the cases wliieii, from 
 time to time, come before him may bo, and often are, e<pi;il 
 in importance, as far as the amounts, the conse(piences, or 
 the legal points involved are concerned, to many which 
 are considered the special property of the higher Courts of 
 the Province. It will thus be seen that it is al)solntely ik'- 
 cossary that the Inspector should be at the same linu> a 
 hnvyer of some standing and practice ; and that it is coiise- 
 quently but short-sighted policy to place him on a level a3 
 to salary with the pettiest olhcer in 'he public service. 
 Zeal and elhcieucy, and not half-heartednoss and inability, 
 are what are reijuired for the position, and they should be 
 paid for at their proper value. It should be remem])ered) 
 too, that Mr. Duehesnay's predecessors, Messrs. DeBelle- 
 feuille and Pope, were respectively paid at the rate of 
 §2,000 a year, with allowances, and that, in Mr. Pope's 
 time, the Inspector had in addition an excellent sergeant 
 and twelve mounted police constables to execute his ordeVs 
 and assist him generally in tlie discharge of his duties. On 
 the other hand, the present Inspector is altogether unaided, 
 no allowance been made him even for a single constalile, 
 while his duties have increased and promise to increase 
 I'urther still, should the gold-mining industry in the Chau- 
 dicre division, next season, make the important new depar- 
 ture expected from it, under the healthy and invigorating 
 inlluence of a more enlightened and beneficial policy. The 
 duty of the Crovernment on this head, therefore, is so plain 
 that it is unnecessary to enlarge further upon it in these 
 columns ; though it may not be amiss to add, in connection 
 with the general question of the administration of justice 
 and the maintenance of order at the mines, that the Gov- 
 
10 
 
 erniiiGiit may rnul it lo bo also their duty to take authority 
 from tho Legislature for the reorg-anization of the mounted 
 police, in case of necessity fur Iheir si>rvices and in view of 
 the posyi))ilities already referred to. It is believed that one. 
 policeman to every hundred miners would be ample for all 
 purposes, and that, in the event of a large inllux ot miners 
 to the district, the Government would more than recoup 
 themselves for their outlay in establishing and maintaining 
 the force, as it is ealcirlated that, without the latter's assist- 
 ance, fully one-half the mining popidation at the various 
 workings, widely separated as tliey often are, would escape 
 the payment of the license fees, tluis entailing a considerable 
 annual loss upon the Province, which, if prevented, would 
 not only sudice to pay iln^ police, but leave a goodly margin 
 of profit for the puldic treasury. Moreover, the moral effect 
 of authority, supported by organized foi'ce, if necessary, 
 should not 1)0 overlooked, as a deterrent to disorder and 
 crime, which is perhaps more important I han the mere money 
 considerations involved; wliile, on the other hand, the 
 peaceable miner, who regularly pavs his license, has an 
 undoubted riglit to look to Governmeiit for the fiilief^t pro- 
 tection. 
 
 But whatever may be done towards amer.ding, improv- 
 ing or consolidating the existing mining laws and regula- 
 tions, — and it cannot be denied that they could be pas.sed 
 through all these processes wilii much advantage — it is 
 important that, if at all possible, this should be done once 
 I'or all, as frequent changes in the law have led to great 
 confusion in the past and militated in no small degree 
 against mineral development in the Chaudiere region. 
 
71 
 
 ARTICLE V . 
 
 hi bringing to a close, in the prcsont article, our review 
 of the sitiTation and jn-o.spect.s of the gold mining industry 
 ill this Proviuoe, we cannot omit au allusion to the trite 
 ivmarks made not long since to the writer by an American 
 visitor to this city. Said this gentleman, in speaking oi" 
 tlie mineral riches of the Chaudiere Valley and the 
 iistonishing indiflerence heretofore manifested by Canadians 
 to their development. •' "Why, sir, it is perfectly inconceiva- 
 hle how blind your people are to their own interests. You 
 are half asleep all the time, I believe. If we had such a 
 vast store of treasure as you have there, we would have 
 turned the whole country inside out to get at it long before 
 this. Look at what we have done in California and 
 Nevada, and just wait a little and you will see what we 
 are going to do under your own noses in jiaine."' 
 
 There is certainly more truth than poetry in these some- 
 what uncomplimentary strictures upon our business char- 
 acter as a people, and our American friend only i)idulged 
 ill a bit of very legitimate pride in his fellow countrymen 
 when he drew a contrast in their favor at our expense. 
 And sure enough— as if to conlirm and give greater point 
 and force to his remarks — we have since had and published 
 the following important item of news in the ordinary course 
 of our American despatches: — 
 
 New York, February 4 — The Times' Eangor special 
 reports Maine is in a fever of excitement over the develop- 
 ments of rich copper and silver mining properties. Large 
 proiits have been realized already ; it is estimated two to 
 three millions have been invested in lands in the mineral 
 districts since mid-summer by citizens. Lands worth $10 
 an acre less than two years ago have been sold for one and 
 two thousand an acie. A mining exchange has been 
 established at Banaor," 
 
70 
 
 This is llie V, tiy our i;o-alicad neighbors do business, and 
 this is the way in \vhich, individually and as a nation, they 
 have reaped such large prolits from the natural resources 
 of tlieir groat country, develo])ing them with a boldness, 
 which does not stop to take timorous account of ol)stacles, 
 and with a rapidity, which is not only wonderful, but has 
 giv(Mi to the world equally wonderful resiilts and made the 
 United Stati's, ^vhat they are to-day, the home of one of the 
 most numerous and prosperous peoples on the face of the 
 hal)ital)le globe. The word " impossible " has been vir- 
 tually written out of their dictionary ; no pent-up Utica 
 restricts their power.-', aiul considerations of cost or dilTiculty 
 are among the least of their calculations in striking out 
 into those paths of enterprise, which conduce to the solid 
 wealth and well-being of a nation. 
 
 There is, perhaps, no department in which they have 
 excelled so muck to their individual and national advantage 
 as in that of mining and the development generally of their 
 mineral resoiirces, and the results have been in keeping 
 with the vigor of their adventurous spirit, their inventive 
 genius, their versatility, and their determination. In fact, 
 there has been nothing more remarkable in the history of 
 human progress in modern times than the wondrous rapidity 
 with which they have opened up their immense AVestcrn 
 territory since the discovery of gold on the racific coast in 
 '48. Since that memorable and exciting period, the extra- 
 ordinary u'rowth of this immense torritorv has been 
 characteriiied by a continiious succession of surprises. 
 Thriving cities and towns have sprung up as if by magic 
 where, but a few years since, the wild Indian roamed in the 
 undisturbed freedom of his war paint and savagery; and 
 immense fortunes have been made, outrivalling in their 
 almost fabulous magnitude the long-hoarded wealth of the 
 richeat families of the Old World. Across the burnina,' 
 plains of Utah, through the dark canous and dangeroua 
 
< o 
 
 passes ol' the eternal liockios, io the leemiii!:^ soil of Cali- 
 I'ornici beyond, iiiarkin^- his path at frequent intervals \vilh 
 jastin::^ evidenees of his adveiiturovis and civilizinq' mission) 
 or leaving his bones to bleach by the \vaysido as records of 
 his melancholy fate, the miner was thepionoer of the settler 
 and the trader until — so to say — with their united aids tho 
 desert has been made to bloom like tho rose and its lonjy 
 coiu^ealed riches to contributo to man's multifarious uses 
 and benefit. And nov\^that the feverish excitement of those 
 early days has in a measure sobered down, wo can perceive 
 the indelible cllects which these enterprising spirits have 
 liad upon the national prosperity of the United States, 
 From a hap-ha/iard scrambling of uninitiated adventurers 
 scrapi)ig here and there among tho rock?, mining for the 
 precious metals among our neighbors has grown into a well- 
 organized and wonderful system, employing millions of 
 capital and tens of thousands of stout hearts and strong 
 hands, and bringing into action an amount of inventive 
 QftMiius and energy which, for over thirty years, has made 
 California tlie great gold-fountain of the Pacific coast, and, 
 within a later period, has attacked tho rich deposits of 
 .silver and other economic miucrals locked up in the reces- 
 ses of the great backbone of the continent, to the immense 
 benefit of settlement and agricultural interests and of every 
 branch of trade and industry. 
 
 It is a curious coincidence, too — and one well worthy o) 
 note by those who are in tho habit of decrying our gold 
 lields as exhausted, "played out'' and all that sort of thing — 
 that the reputation even of California as a gold-bearing 
 country has iii its day been attacked, and has suffered 
 more or less in very much the same way as that of the 
 Chaudicre. A very interesting paper, published in Harper's 
 Magazine for 18G0, relates the experiences of a miner of '40 
 on the occasion of a return visit to the mining regions of 
 the Pacific slope during that year. To i.\ few extracts from 
 
 10 
 
this paper, \vhich havo a oertain application to tho case of 
 our own gold iields and are also extremely suggestive of 
 what is needed I'or their systematie, thorough and profit- 
 able development, we ask the reader's particular alteu- 
 tion : — 
 
 "Of the thousands who note tlio semi-monthly arrivah' 
 of treasiire, and who, from hahit, have at last come to con- 
 sider California as a sort of gold-producing Croton, whenco 
 the supply is expected as u matter of course, comi')aratively 
 lew are acquainted with the methods by which thei-e. 
 riches are dTa\vn from th(! bowels oftheearlh. I have 
 even found men who supposed ihat iluj primitive rocker 
 or cradle of 184U is still in use in 18GU. 
 
 " The old localities such as the beds of well-known rivers 
 and the adjacent 'bars' being ]iartially exhausted, it has 
 been believed that mining could not now be followed so 
 successfully as formerly, and that only gleanings remained 
 ioi- the future adventurer. l!ut for ten years the great 
 gold fountain of the I'aciiic has never failed ; and instead 
 of a d(>creased supply, each year's returns have shown 
 that, v}ilk I lie iiii/irovri)ie)//:< in iiiachincii/ and conlriraiircs fur 
 siwin<r the golil, the yield is steadily augmenting, and this 
 without a material increase in the numljcr of workmen 
 engaged. 
 
 ''As the rivers and creeks were gradually worked over, 
 there remained to the miner only those localities, which, 
 thouiih gold-bearing, had not become such depositories of 
 the precious metal as tlie vicinily of rivers, wliich ha<l 
 gradually collected the s'old in their beds, as they passed 
 through the country. It was at first believed that the only 
 availal)le places for gold-washing were the river beds, bars, 
 lldts. and canons, which ^vere so geiun-ally attacked in 184'J 
 and J8o0. As these were exhausted, the hue and cry was 
 raised abroad, that the mines were 'worked out.' California 
 was then, as since, pronoiuiced 'played out.' '8h«i had 
 gone uj),' it was said, 'like a rocket, and come down like a 
 stick.' The bublde had burst — it had long been anticipated 
 — and sagacious newspaper editors nnnembert'd tliat they 
 had often warned their readers, and predicted all this long 
 before. True, the monthly millions continued to pour into 
 New York as be fore, aiul this staggered the doubts of 
 
7;3 
 
 sorri,; ; but Ihcii it was said, Uiis was only thn iiatural 
 (lraininc;s ol" tlu^ in'oat amounts still Iloatino; about tho 
 country ; aud Calilornia, alter ,<«-iving a now impulse to Iho 
 world's coMinievci'* and prospority, was about to be laid 
 (|uii'tly on the shelf as a iisi)d-up concern. 
 
 '• It was now that intelli^vnt miniM's bei^'an to perceive 
 that their operations luusl b;^ oxtended to the districts 
 which had thus i'ar been iieu'lected I'or the more irnniediat(> 
 Vi'sults to be obtained i'roui the rivers. -^ =)5= "* * * 
 
 '• rassini"- Ihroiin-li Tuolumne County, is a ivmarkal)le 
 |)lati>au, about 1/2(J0 feet above the level ol" the surroundinir 
 country, which, from its peculiar i'orni, has received the 
 name of Table I\lountain. A few years since, a miner, 
 while pi'ospi'ctiu'j: liere, was led to believe that it bad 
 lUU'iently been the coiu'se of a river — a conclusion which 
 has since jjrovcd correct by the alluvial deposits and fossils 
 found there by the miner.s. Here, had accumulated, in dis- 
 tant ai'N's, vast amounts of li'old which, however, could only 
 he reached by shalts or tunnels. One of these had been 
 commenced by the discoverer, and AVas nbandoncd ; but 
 others carried it throuu'h a distance of 1,500 feet and struck 
 the interior bed or basin of an ancient river, in which have 
 been found deiiosits of j^'old of fabulous richness. ^ ^ ^ 
 
 " It has been found that the principal deposits of gold are 
 on the j^reat rocky ridge styled 'the bed-rock' and ex* 
 tending throughout the mining region, sometimes outcrop- 
 l)ing at the surface and at others sinking to a depth of 
 ahiwe a hundred feel. "Where the bed-rock is not at too 
 u'reat a dej^th, the miners, instead of sinking a shaft to 
 reach tln^ deposits of gold, turn a stream of water upon the 
 bank which is to bo removed, and ground-sluicing is thus, 
 to a certain extent, used as a substitute for shovelling to 
 remove heavy layers of earth from places where gold is 
 supposed to be deposited. 
 
 " The gold region of California embraces a country equal 
 ill area to the whole of New lilngland, and, throughout this 
 space, there is no part which does not contain gold ; but in 
 most places the amount ts so small that, at the present rates of 
 living, it will not pay for the working except by some im- 
 proved process by which a greater amount of earth could 
 be washed than by the cradle. =*==** To shovel a 
 mass of several million tons of earth into a sluice for wash- 
 
7G 
 
 iiig would prove a profitless Job. It is now that tlio art of 
 hydraulic mining is called into play, hy whicli the labor of 
 many men is cheaply performed and hills torn down to 
 their base by execnting- in miniature a process which has 
 been peribrmed since the creation by the mountain streams. 
 The operation is simply throwing an immense stream ol' 
 water with a hose and pipe precisely as a lire engine plays 
 upon a burning building, and lew who have iiot witnessed 
 it can imagine! the ell'ect. Se^'cral ol' these streams directed 
 upon a hill side bring down mori^ earth than a hundred 
 men with shovels and picks coidd throw.'' 
 
 The paper in (question goes on to show that, ])y th(> 
 hydraiilic method, earths and gravel'^ in the gold region, 
 not yieldiim' more than five cent.s' vrorth ol" the precious 
 metal to the cuIkc yard, can Ix' easily worked to a con- 
 siderable profit, while the miner has also in the same 
 manner l)een enabled to reach some of the most famous 
 jilacers, which, owing to their great elevation al)0ve the 
 adjacent waver courses, would have been olherwi.se un- 
 available. The writer also details at some length a variety 
 of other i ihods emi)loyed for the collection of gold, such 
 as the di\ erting of rivers and streams from their natural 
 channels so as to leave the latter dry for mining operations, 
 which arc carried on by large companies, who have among 
 them carpenteivs, surveyors, engineers and stout hands ; 
 the quartz-crushing interest, m which millions of capital 
 are invested; and, lastly, the many "tailing" processes, by 
 which the earth already repeatedly washed, the black 
 metallic sand and the refuse of the crushing mills are again 
 Hoverally subjected to examination for the precious metal. 
 and often with a success which shows that even the most 
 improved and careful appliances ior saving the gold are 
 still comparative failures. Indeed, experience has proved 
 in California th.it it pays richly to go over again the ground 
 already worked, and, if such be the case, we can readily 
 l)elieve the statement that it would pay immensely on the 
 Chaiuliere, seeing it is calculated that fully 2j per cent of 
 
« i 
 
 the prficioiis metal has boon lost, owing' lo ill;.' slovdnly 
 uiodo of mining there in the past. 
 
 The writer in Harpers conelaJi's as Tollows : — 
 
 " When it is considered that, in CaUfornia, there are at 
 least one hundred million superlicial aeres ot g-oUl-beariiii;- 
 ti'rritory, from one to two hundreil feet deep, most of whicii 
 may be profitably submitted to the hydraulic process, lh(> 
 folly of predicting- the failure of the mines will be apparent. 
 Vast as have been the sums alr(>ady extraeted from Ihe^ 
 soil, the mines are said to have been but ' scratched over ' 
 as yet, and, with all the quick-succeeding impruveiucnts, 
 i^old mining is yet in its inf'anci/. 
 
 '• Keader, uhen net you notice in your morning papev. 
 among other 'distinguished arrivals' from Califoriiia, tlie 
 little item of $1,500,000 in gold dust, think not of the 
 youngest sister of the Ilepublic as a creature of prematura 
 and imhealthy growth, l)ut as a child l)looming in her 
 freshest charms and smiling in the conlidence of a glorious 
 future. And, above all, when some pompous wise-acre 
 t.'Us von that California is played out, ask him if he ever 
 heard of ' hydraulic mining.' ' 
 
 And, now. in our own immediate neighborhood, the State 
 of Maine, adjoining the Chaudiere country and forming 
 part, no doul)t, of the same grand system of mineral lodes 
 carrying gold and silver, together with lead, copper and 
 other metals, w^e are prol)a])ly on the eve of witnessing a 
 repetition of the same remarkalde process of development, 
 which has all along been characteristic of the American 
 idea of the best mode of dealing with these great national 
 interests. The recent discoveries made in the Pine Tree 
 State, the strong mineralogical points of reaemldance l)e- 
 tweeu the greater part of that interesting section of the 
 American Ivcpublic and our own gold-])earing region, and 
 the promptitude with which its hardy and enterprising 
 p 'ople are already proceeding to avail themselves of the 
 new adjimcts to their luml)ering resources thus opportune- 
 ly brought to light, are full of siguilicauco for the rulers 
 
78 
 
 uiul people of this Provinco, more particularly in view of 
 the following, Avhich we oxlract from a rocont issue of th;.' 
 l>oston Post : — 
 
 '•Prof. Stewart of Viri^'inia (^ity Ims for three months 
 been niakinii- a careful examination of the mines of Maine. 
 At a recent lecture in Portland he said:— T/j6' mines of 
 Maine, like tho$e of every other place, have, upon the sin-fare, 
 deposits of metals v'hir.h, as ve p'o deeper, disappear and. i^iee 
 wa// to dejmsits of silver. The mines of Maine are much richer 
 than those of Nevada. The Sullivan and Blue Hill miufs 
 jnomise to be amowj; the richest in the eoiintrii. Aroviui 
 Frenchman s llip and alomj: the vallei/ of the Penobscot 1 
 believe from invesli'sations I have viade thai there are mines of 
 surpassinic richne^is. Of course 1 don't mean to sap that ever// 
 mine is a bonanza ; far from it. In Hancock county there 
 are rich veins of coppi-r, and hi> ]n'edi<'ts that next year the 
 price of copper on Lake Superior will l>e changed." 
 
 It is hiulily imporlaut to nolo the opinion of ]'rufoss:)r 
 Stewart as t(» the ])ro)»al)Ie changes in the character of the 
 mineral deposits in accordanci; with their development, as 
 indications of l)oth silver and coppn* are also jihrntifully 
 scatterml throughout our own gold-h,'aring region right up 
 to the line dividing us from ]Maiiu\ lulluonced, too, as 
 will ]);• the process _f mineral development there hy tli!' 
 circumstances of a comparaively old aiul settled Ci)untry, 
 with a multitude of long established private rin'hts to b;' 
 resp;^M'ted, it ■will be interesting, as well as instructive, to 
 closely watch its i>rogress as directly b/aringupon our own 
 interests of a simihir nature. Of certain things, however, 
 we may rest assured in advance. In Maine, there will b;> 
 no musty parchments in favor of privileged families, and 
 no relic of an obsolete system I o be rv'ligiously mainlain(>d 
 for their exclusive lienelit. In Maine, the State trovern- 
 meut will in all probability adopt at once a businessdike 
 policy aiul carry it out in a businessdike manner. In lino, 
 the people of Maine will not "give up the ship' — to use a 
 homely phrase — until thi'y have thoroughly established to 
 
70 
 
 their own satisfaction the truth or the fiilhicv of thetheorv, 
 to which the recent discoveries in their midst have given 
 rise. And should these discoveries develop in accordance 
 with that theory, wo leave our readers to judge of the 
 wonderful effect they must have upon every branch of 
 commerce and industry, as well as upon the general pro- 
 gress of the Mow England States. Lideed, under such 
 circumstances, it is among the probabilities that we may 
 witness a considerable reflux of the great wave which has 
 been ceaselessly washing Westwards with the tide of im- 
 migration for the past thirty or forty years, carrying with it 
 much of the vigor, the bono and the sinew so essential to 
 the success of works of development in every country. 
 
 And, under such circumstauc.^v'^, what should be the 
 duty of the Province of (Quebec ? Is it to sit down with 
 folded arms and look on supinely, while our neighbors, 
 through their intelligence,their enterprise, and their activity, 
 are reaping so rich a harvest from resources which are only 
 of to-day as compared with these that hav(> been lying at 
 our O'iVU doors unheeded and undeveloped — to our sshame 
 he it said — for ni^irly half a century, though fully as rich 
 and as available (if not ten times more so) as many that 
 have already l)een made to contribute to the wealth and 
 prosperity of the I'nited States ' Should we go on spend- 
 ing our means and our energies in artificial, but fruitless 
 ollbrts to attract immigration and induce repatriation, while 
 we are in possession of snch a powerful natural nuignet 
 as our gold Jlelds and our mineral resources generally, 
 when they arc once started on the high road to proper 
 development f Should we not rathv. seek to place this 
 magnet in such a position that it will have full i)lay for its 
 un(piestionablo powers of attraction? ]5eneath tlie soil 
 and in the rocks of the Chaudiero Valley alone, untold 
 mineral wealth lies hidden which only awaits, under 
 happier conditions, a touch from the magic wand of capital 
 
80 
 
 a:ul enterprise lo Ijecome sul^ject to the economic uses ol 
 life and to furnish permanent occupation and solid comfort 
 to thousands of our people, \Yho are now obliged to leave 
 ns, because we cannot provide them with profitable 
 employment. The inducements, too, which our gold fields 
 offer to the investment of mining capital are of a superior 
 order, and, under a proper system of working characterized 
 f-y method, skill and economy, and with the assistance of 
 such labor-saving appliances as the hydraulic process and 
 jiroper quartx-crushing machinery whieh capital alone can 
 command, it seems unquestionable that they can be made 
 to return large, sure and constant prolits. The latterly 
 ascertained richness of their deepest alluvions, the moral 
 certainty that this favornble characteristic is not peculiar 
 to any particular or limited spot, but extends to innumer- 
 able others throughout an immense area, and the certain 
 gold-bearing character of the many quartz veins, which 
 outcrop at various points and arc traceable through leagues 
 of country, constitute their primary attractions in the eyes 
 of the miner. But these are by no means the only ailvan- 
 tages which our gold fields possess and can oiler to both 
 the miner and the capitalist. Their auriferous deposits arc 
 "available"' in the fullest sense of the mining term and an 
 alundant water supply affords every opportunity to work 
 them with ease iind profit by means of any of the extensive 
 processes, which have been found to pay so well in other 
 ujining regions. It has been shown that, uiuler a proper 
 system, operations for their development can be carried 
 on equally well in winter as in summer, while their 
 situation in the . .art of a well timbered country and 
 in the neigh])orhood of many old aii'rieultural settlements 
 inhabited by a primitiv(>, law-a])iding and orderly people, 
 renders the supply of labor and of iiml)er for mining pur- 
 poses both constant and cheap. Their proximity to the 
 great ectres of population and the easy access to them 
 provided by excellent waggon roads, (which nevertheless 
 
81 
 
 can be extended most beneficially both by the Government 
 and the municipalities in the general interests of settlement 
 and mining in the district) as well as by rail from this city 
 and Levis, with the almost certain prospect at no distant 
 date of the laiter's extension through the heart of the gold 
 region, on the one side towards the State of Maine and on 
 the other towards Sher])rooke and Montreal, are also im- 
 portant considerations in connection with the rapid and 
 cheap transport of provisions and material, which the 
 miner and the capitalist should not overlook in weighing 
 the surpassing inducements oUered by the Chaudioro 
 Valley as an advantageous held for the exercise of their 
 energies and investments. Indeed, there appears to be 
 much gratifying reason to think that both those great 
 interests have of late been taking very special note of these 
 inducements, and it is even said that the immense quan- 
 tities of land recently bonded or purchased in Beauce by 
 Mr. Chas. Lyonhais, the well-known Mining Engineer, of 
 this ci^y, have been so acquired by him for the purposes of 
 extensive operations looking to the development of their 
 undou])ted auriferous wealth, on ])ehalf of a powerful syn- 
 dicate in New York, having at its head no less noted a 
 pcrsoiuxge in the great circles of American financt? and 
 enterprise than Cyrus W. Field, of Atlantic Cable celebrity. 
 
 All considen^d therefore, the moment seems extremely 
 opportune and propitious for the adoption of a new and 
 more enlightened policy generally with respect to our gold 
 lields, and, as already remarked, we arc glad to hear that 
 the Government of the Province have the important, but 
 sadly neglected subject at present under their serious con- 
 sideration. As already observed, too, we shall lend our 
 hearty support to any comprehensive, well-advised and 
 liberal, yet cautious scheme they may jiropose, with a single 
 eye to the public good, which promises to have for practical 
 elibct the sweeping away as far as possible of every obstacle, 
 
 11 
 
82 
 
 real or fancied, to the development of the g-old reg-ion, with a 
 due regard and proper compensation to private rights and 
 A'ested interests, the throwing- open of the district under 
 adequate protection to licensed enterprise and the leaitimato 
 investment of capital, and the encouragement generally of 
 the gold-mining and other allied mineral industries hy 
 means of such wise regulations, facilities and privileges as 
 may enable the Province to take immediate advantage of the 
 present revival of interest in this important feature of our 
 natural resources, lirmly l)elieving that the results to h." 
 thereby obtained will more than repay the rrovince in ; 
 short time and in a multiplicity of ways for any outlav it 
 may now make to hasten them. In these results the com- 
 munities of Beauco and of Queliec and Levis are specially 
 interested, but as a whole the industries, the trade and the 
 population of the ProviDce, as well as the publie revenue, 
 must be largely l)eneUtted by any measure that will 
 encourage homo and foreign capital to undertake, on a larger, 
 more profitable and more permanent scale, the development 
 of the long unheeded wealth of our gold lields. 
 
 a 
 
APPENDIX. 
 
 Ill ISGl, the <4-ol(.l-l)earing' region of Lower Canada (the 
 prosiMit i'roviiict^ of Quebec) was erected into two mining- 
 divisions — tiiat ol' tlie Chandiere, comprising the Eastern 
 section, or the Counties of Beauce, Dorchester, Montmaguy, 
 licllechasse, &e., and that of iSt. Francis, comprising- the 
 Western section, nnd including the various counties ex- 
 tending from the Western boundary of the District of Beauce 
 to Lake Champhiin, better known as the Eastern Townships. 
 
 The parish of St. Francis (Ivigaud-Vandreuil), and the 
 more widely known gold-bearing streams, such as the 
 (filbert, Du Loup, Des Plantes, Famine, Etchemin, Stafford, 
 .Monument, <S:c., are situated in the Chaudiere Division, of 
 which the actual f nspector is Mr. H. J. .1. Duchesnay, whose 
 head-quarters and Tost Olhce address are "Ste. Marie, 
 Beauce." 
 
 At present, and for some time past, there has been no 
 Iiispeci'"- for the St. Francis Division. 
 
 The laws, which actually refer to gold mining, aie the 
 original Gold Mining Act of 18G4, (27 and 2S Vict., ch. 9,) 
 mid the amendments to the same sanctioned in 18G5, (2\) 
 Vict., ch. 9,) 18G8, (81 Vict., ch. 21,) 1870, (33 Vicl., ch. 29,) 
 1870, (34 Vict., ch. 14,) and during the last Session of the 
 Provincial Legislature. 
 
 It may be interesting to note that, in the Chaudiere 
 division, the richest deposits yet discovered or worked, 
 occur on the streams falling in on the Eastern baidc of th(^ 
 Chaudiere, tliough excellent indications have l)een found 
 oil the Western l)ank. It is understood that Mr. E. J. 
 Dowley and Col. I^cwis will conduct their operations on 
 the latter side of the main river next season. 
 
 Attention is particularly asked to the following authentic 
 
 extracts : — 
 
84 
 
 CANADA GEOLOGICAL REPOrvTS, 1853-0. 
 
 r. 370-1. 
 
 ANALY.<IS, 15Y ASSAY, BY DR. T. StERRY IIuNT. 
 
 A VEIN, which occurs at tho Titipids of the Chaudicro, in 
 the Parish ot St. Francis (Boauco), contains, in a 2,'anguo of 
 quart/, gakMia, bh'ndo. arsenical sulphuret of iron, often 
 well crystallized, besides cubic and magnetic iron pyrites, 
 and native iivhl in minute i:;7'ains. A portion of 'galena from 
 the assorted and washed ore, still containing a mixture of 
 blende and pyrites, gave l)y assay G'.'.O ]>. c. of lead, and 32 
 OUNCES OF SILVER to the tun (2,240 iHiunds) of ore. 
 Another sample of the galena, niore cnrefull/j dressed, 
 gave at the rate of 37 oitnres of silver. Tlie })ulton ot 
 silver, obtained by cupellation from this lead, contained a 
 small but a/>/)reriable quantitf/. of gold. The assay of a 
 second portion of the sample of ore which gave (59.0 per 
 cent, of lead, afforded by cupeHation a (juantity of silver 
 equal to not less than 25G ounces of silver to the ton. Thi.s 
 amount of silver was probably due to the presence of a fra'^- 
 inent of some silver ore, perhaps sidphuret in tho mixture 
 of crushed and dressed galena. These assays were each 
 made upon 500 grains. 1000 grains of the pyrites from 
 this vein, mixed with a little ])lende, galena and arsenical 
 ore, W'ere roasted, and, then being mingled with litharge, 
 1)orax and salt of tartar, were fused wnth tho addition 
 of fragments of iron, and a button of lead obtained, which 
 left by cupellation a globule of 0.15 grains of an alloy of 
 gold and silver. 700 grains of the imjmre blende were 
 then roasted and treated in a similar manner, and gave 
 by cupellation 0.19 grains of a pale yellow alloy; tho 
 buttons, thus obtained, contained a large proportion of gold, 
 ESPECIALLY that ffom the BLENDE, which retained its form 
 and assumed a deep yelloio color, when, after having been 
 beaten out, it was boiled with nitric acid and which dis- 
 solved a portion of silver. 
 
 GEOLOGY OF CANADA, 18G3. 
 r. 517. 
 
 " It is well known that tho native sulphuret of lead is 
 almost never free from silver, which is sometimes present 
 
• 85 
 
 in so largo a quantity as to constitute a silver ore. A vein, 
 which occurs at the rapids of the Chaudiure in St. Fraiu-is, 
 Beauce, contains in a g-ang'ue of (juartz, argentiferous ga- 
 lena, blende, mispickei, besides cubic and magnetic py- 
 rites, \vith minute grains of native gold. A portion of 
 galena, from the as.sorted and washed ore, whi(di still re- 
 tained an admixture of blende and pyrites, gave by assay 
 G9. per cent, of lead, and 32 ounces of silver to the Ion of 
 2,"24U ])Ounds of ore. The assay of a second portion of the 
 same dressed sample gave, however, not less than i'/ui 
 ounces of silver to the ton. This result was probably (hi.' 
 to the presence of a fragment of native silver, or rich >ilvrr 
 ore among the dres.sed galena; inasmuch as a third assay 
 of another portion of the ore, more carefully dro.sed than 
 the lirst, gave 37 ounces of silver to the ton. The silver, 
 from the cupcllalion of the reduced lead, contained a little 
 gold, and both silver and gold were obtaint'd from the 
 hlende aiul pyrites of the same vein. 1000 grains of the 
 pyrites, still mingled with a small portion of other ores, 
 were roasted, and then fused with litharge, borax, salt of 
 tartar and metallic iron. The resulting button of lead 
 tiave by cupellation 0.1.5 grains of an alloy of gold and 
 silver. ' 700 grains of the blende, treated in the same 
 manner, gave 0.11) grains of a similar alloy of a pale yellow 
 color. 'l\m two precious metals seem thus to Ije generally 
 disseminated thronuhout the ores of this vein. 
 
 GEOLOGY OF CANADA, 18G3. 
 P. 738-0. 
 
 " The lend ofes, which are assncialed, in the form of inter- 
 stratilied mas.ses, with the ores of cop/ier of the Quebec 
 group, as seen from the assays of the galena from Upton 
 and Acton, cnnlain but two or three ounces of silver to iho 
 ton ; a quantity which is not worth the cost of extracting. 
 It is otherwise, however, loifh the. f^alena irhich occurs in. 
 (/uartz veins cutting the upper slates of this region. 'I hat 
 found vnth auriferous pyrites in Vaudreuil, on the Ch audi ere, 
 gare 37 ounc of silver to the ton of lead.'" 
 
 "It is well known that, loitk the present im/iroced 
 processes, so small a quantity as four ounces of silver M.\Y BE 
 ruoFiTAULY extracted from a ton of lead.''' 
 
8G 
 
 GEOLOGY OF CANADA, ISCi 
 r. 739. 
 
 Tho principal facts known "vvilli ro2,'ar(l to tho gvological 
 distribution ol' ;>olcl in Canada, Avill bo i'ound on pagos 
 r)l8-20. ;M('ni ion is there made of a qiiart/ vein at fSl. 
 Francis, on the Chnndicre, Avhore small f>rains of native 
 j^'old liave been found iml)edded in quartz, together witli 
 arg'entiferous g'alena, and siilphurets of zinc and '.ron, Ixtt'a 
 containini^' i^-old, and witli arsenical pyrites. Since wrilin'^' 
 the above pag'es, much larger specimens of gold have been 
 found in quartz about 100 yards from the locality above 
 mentioned. It is probable that this aiul similar quartz 
 veins may be wrouglit with prolit. 
 
 GKOUXUCAL REPORTS OF CANADA, 18iJ>:'. 
 
 P. 54-0. 
 
 lieport of A. Michel to Sir AV. K. Logan. 1st February, 
 l!S(!G. " Alluvial gold has Ixhmi iirolitably sought for in the 
 Cliaudicre river itself, at its junction with several rapid 
 tributary streams, liut it is at the place called the Devil's 
 Ivapids, where the Chaudiere mak»'s a sharp turn, and runs 
 \V. S. AV., that gold has been most abundantly found in 
 the cavities, lissures and cracks of the clay-slates, which 
 often form the bed, both of this river and its tributaries. 
 and are here seen running in the direction just mentioned, 
 forming parallel ridges v^'hieh are luu'overed at low water; 
 at which times, the country peo])le are enabled to bn^dc 
 up and search these slaty rocks to the depth of several 
 feet. The lissures of these rocks are tilled with a clayey 
 gravel, in which gold is met with : and I have seen the 
 metal, to the value of several dollars, extracted from be- 
 tween the layers of the slate. In one of these bands of 
 slate, which the country people call veins, the gold is 
 tarnished by a black earthy oxide of manganese. This 
 deposit of alluvial gold occupies about a mile of the river- 
 bed, and is sititated below tho gold-bearing cjuartz-vein, 
 which you have dt\scribed in your report for 1853-.')';, page 
 370, and which is known in this locality as the O'Farn'll 
 vein ; it has now been broken down to the level of the 
 slates. I was assured that the alluvial gold was found in 
 greater abundance and in larger pieces in its vicinity. 
 
87 
 
 III 18G'), Mr. tS. .T. Dawson was oxamiiiod l)eforn Iho 
 S'loct Committoo of the Lfi^islatuiv, and mado the lollow- 
 iiig' among- othor statements : — 
 
 " Durinc? the summer and fall of 18(13, and since that 
 period, I travelled a u'reat deal throitgh the Chaudi("'re Gold 
 Minincj Division. From the openin<>' of the navii^-ation in 
 the s])riiii>' of ISUi, until its close, and even up to the present 
 lime, I have constantly had parties expiorinj^, surveying and 
 •• i)rospt'ctin<i' " in dill'erent parts of the country, and, in two 
 instances I made the experiment of sluicing in situations 
 far ])eyond \vhere it had ever been attempted before, that 
 is, much further to the south. 
 
 " That gold was to be found in small quantities over a 
 wide area, was a fact ^vhich hiid become gciUM-ally known, 
 from tht> reports of the (reological ^Survey, and it Avas also 
 known that works of some magnitude had at one jieriod 
 born carried on, Avith varying success, l)ut on the Avholc 
 prolitably, on the Kivers ]Ju Loup and Famine. 
 
 '■ It was not, however, rintil the summer of IRG^, that the 
 proofs of the remarkable richness of the alluvial deposits in 
 some localities and the auriferous character of the quartz 
 l^enerally, throirghout the entire region, l)ecame so convinc- 
 ing as to render legislatiou necessary, and this led, in the 
 lirst instance, to the regulations oflast April, already referred 
 to, and ultimately to the passing of the Act of last Session. 
 Previous to that period, settlement had advanced but slowly, 
 more especially in the townships near the Province line. 
 The lands in some of these townships had been surveyed, 
 and in the market, for upwards of thirty years, and yet they 
 were neither sold nor settled; many lots indeed which had 
 been granted to pensioners and others for military services, 
 had been abandoned, and in some instances I have found 
 it diiiicult, and in others impossible to trace the owners 
 although I had instituted inquiries Avith the view of pur- 
 chasing their lands. Kecently, the unconceded lands have 
 been rapidly taken up, and the discovery of gold will not 
 have been without its advantage, if it shoiild have no other 
 effect than that of drawing settlement to the townships 
 which have so long lain waste and unproductive on the 
 frontiers of the Province. 
 
88 
 
 " The streams havo, except r;t long intervals, an exceeding. 
 ]y rapid course, and although they do not exactly mn upon 
 sands of gold, I believe there is not a riviilet or brook in the 
 whole region \vhere particles of gold may not easily bo 
 lound. 
 
 " From the nature of the rock, yielding easily as it does to 
 the continuoiis action of water, there are but few perpen- 
 dicular falls. The descent is, nevertheless, A'ery considerable, 
 and the ph ;es are rare where suHicient iall mjght not bo 
 obtained for hydraulic mining, or any other purpose for 
 which water power may bo required. 
 
 " The country has been (wplored, and in many places 
 closely examined, by scientilic won and I'xperienced miners, 
 liich deposits of alluvial gold have been found in various 
 ])laces, more especially on the Gilbert, Famine, l)i\ Loup and 
 Metgermette, on all of which rivers it was dug out in pay- 
 ing quantities during the past summer. On the Portage, 
 the Traveller's Ilest, the Oliva, and upper Du Loup, 
 " prospecting" was carried on in a systematic manner, and 
 at a very considerable outlay and, as regards the mere 
 discovery of gold and the high probability that further 
 exploration would develop it in paying quantities, with 
 unvarying success. 
 
 "I may further mention that A-ery line "prospects" of 
 alluvial gold were fouml on the Samson and Nibuellis, two 
 streams which enter the Chaudiere from the south, below 
 lake Megantic. Un these streams, however, prospecting 
 was only carried on to an extent sullicient to shew the 
 existence of gold in some abundance, and its very general 
 dillusion. Alluvial gold was also found on the stream 
 which Hows from Woburn to Lake Megantic, and I was 
 shown some line nuggets, said to have been obtained on 
 that stream. 
 
 " I was also shewn rough gold found on the upper tribu- 
 triries of the Famine, in the Township of Ware, and in the 
 Townships of Buckland and Standon, I am credibly 
 informed that very fair prospects were obtained. 
 
 "When, in connection with the discovery of alluvial gold 
 over ^uch an extensive tract of country, it is considered that 
 
89 
 
 liin ([iiarlz throug-liout U.u> sanio. royioii has h.'on fouiut to 
 ho generally aiivifcvous, it Avill hj admiUcd that tlu^ 
 operations ol' tht> past suiiiiiKn* have bi't'ii altiMidod wit'.i 
 results such as will at loast l)viii!:>' the country into noti'M', 
 uiul lead to operations on a more extonsivi' scale." 
 
 Prolessor "Wurtz, of the United Stales Assay OlUee, S-'W- 
 York, has iuvestiprated the subject with some care and tl:(} 
 onclusions at which he has arrival, mor.» espt'cially with 
 vi'irard to the (piart/ lodes of the Chaudicre district, are 
 well worthy of not ice. 
 
 Art^'nirii,' that th(» alluvial i^'old of the district is derived 
 fioiii the lodes of (juart;': which traverse the country itself, 
 rrofossor "VVurtz maintains — 
 
 "^ Thai no vwrc reason eai^/s in the (■•me of /his iivfd Jicftl 
 " {/he Ch(tndiirf') for rcv^ardi i'^ /he (/iiai\'z (odex as ut)wor/hi/ 
 '' of e.r/j/ora/ion and Jcaviiiv:; them ii/i/oitrhcd, as has htre/ofoif 
 " t)e.c)t done, than existed for the same procedure in California, 
 •• Ans/ralia, or Cotorado, in each of which the xaiiie course ol' 
 " incredalitfj had swa/j before actual mining dcvetopiiien/s in 
 " /he (juar/z confounded the unbelievers."' 
 
 "Silver is always Ibuud associated with the gold to the 
 extent of from 10 to 15 per cent. Argentiferous galena is 
 met with in the quart/ lodes, and some specimens ofquartz 
 have, on assay, yielded as much as !is80 and even $2.30 of 
 silver to the ton. It is also found in the black sand as will 
 appear on reference to my answer to query 8. 
 
 "Copper is very generally distributed in the form of copper 
 pyrites and, in the upi)er i^art of the gold mining* division, 
 it is found more abundant in the quartzites than in the gold 
 bearing quartz lodes. A promising' vein of copper ore was 
 opened last summer at Ste. Marie ; and, at St. Claire, on the 
 Etchemin, to judge from the specimens I have seen, some 
 of which I now produce, I am fully conlident that it might 
 be obtained in paying quantities. Copper ore is said to be 
 abundant in other parts of the division, but of this I cannot 
 speak from personal observation. 
 
 12 
 
00 
 
 '•Ju rt'iiurd to dcvelopiiit,'' llio resources ol' th.> i^'old rci^ion, 
 it can h^sl l)(!cll''cli'd l»y yi\iii,t;- every rcasonal)!*- ciicourayc- 
 Jiieiil to thoso who invest their ciipital in opeiiiiij:^ it up. 
 II (hero liiis l)eeii anyllunL!,- to conii)laiii ol" liiilierlo, it has 
 been an excess olleaislalioii and an ovcr-acli\o ond ever 
 varying nianag-emen i. 
 
 " A litth) aid in '{\h\ way of oj)eniiiu!' roads, v.'ouhl tend 
 S'rmdly to the (h-ve]opnienl ol' the country, and tlie money 
 arisini-' I'roni the sale oi hinds in (lie division shoukl, I (liinh, 
 l)e hud out in this way, lor it coidd not ])e inoro prohlahly 
 invested as it woukl (hus In; the means oi" drawing' se(tlo- 
 nront to the mining' region. 
 
 " The Clovernment. f-o Far, has not contrihtited anythin-'' 
 to the devehipnientof (he mines, and, seizing (hat the reVenu"; 
 i'rom tlie sah' of Lands luis boon consideral)le, 1 thiniv some 
 sHght aid inigld: very reaso!i;d)ly l)e lookinl ibr. Tlic ^vork 
 as I have already stated, which I consider the most iui- 
 ])ortant is a road I'rom .]i>rsey Point along tho banks of the 
 Chaudiere to Lake IMegantic, and I trust tho Committee 
 will uoL i'ail to urgv its iinportanco upon the Legislature." 
 
 Col. Rankiji, ]*.LP., testilied as follows, with regard to (he 
 Do Lery Patent, and .generally as to the best means o!' de- 
 velox^ing our gold-iields : — 
 
 The patent is most decidedly injnrious, if it is good for 
 anything; and it is very injurious to the farmer. There 
 must be between two thousand and three thousand inhabi- 
 tants in the seigniory of Vaudreuil, about six liundnMl 
 families. About two-thirds of (he land is conceded aiul is 
 the property of the farmers. Mr. DeLery retains upwards 
 of tW'Onty-two thousand acres, which cannot bj disturbed. 
 
 Do you think tho existence of that patent adects tho 
 price of lands at the present time ? 
 
 Most unquestionably. It would not aflbct the price of 
 my land, as I would take no less for it by reason of tho 
 existence of the patent than otherwise ; it does, though, as 
 regards other parties. A friend of mine tried to sell a piece 
 
01 
 
 of land, v*'i-y rav<)r;ii)ly siiuiilcd, \vhiK> in X,.\v York; tho 
 . wncr could have t«oL soO.OdO in o-old Inr it, hul, lor the ox- 
 istenco of tin; putiMit, whicdid'.'lcrrcd pariios IVom hiiyiim-al 
 all. I could piurhMsc laud IVoui /mhifaiifs lor muc'i l.'ss tlian 
 if J did they di<l not believe the ])at('iii operative. It would 
 work injuriously us respects the development ol" th.' resour- 
 ces ol' the coruitry, and prevent its settlement or develop- 
 ment ; and ^vould cause land to he sold at a jjreat 
 (lisadvanta;>-e. No i>ra('tical mint*;- avIio studied the Ihino' 
 would take those lands ami hind liimseU" to perlbrm the 
 conditions ofthe ]>atenl, wliieli exacted from the miner ii^n 
 per cent., not ol' the utoss ]v;oiits of the mine, but of all he 
 took out of the e-round ; and must leave liim without enoug-h 
 to keep himself in food. No practical miner would oyw 
 undertake to pay this amount. The dilliculty would be 
 ,i;'reater if the holder of the lands was to be subjected to the 
 enforcement of the conditions. 
 
 Canyon give ns any inrormatiou as to tlie working of the 
 Act of 1HG4, or as to how it can be amended to make it 
 beneficial ? 
 
 My impression when the Act v.^as passed was, that we 
 should have some law by which min(M-'s rights could be 
 pre,sorved, and iho.se of private individuals protected. So 
 far from its being- wise to impose charges on men going out 
 to develop such a country, it Avould have been much better 
 if the G-overnment had abstained from rerjuiring payment 
 of any license at all, and had olFered to pay a price or'bonus 
 to the party who lirst discovered a nu';;"jet of some certain 
 weight, I think the Government .siiould rejoice at any 
 cause tei:>''.ing to make people Jlock to an undeveloped 
 country ; and that it should, instead of discouraging-, induce 
 people to go to such a wilderness and develop it 'at their 
 own expense. So far as the law was concerned, if it was 
 necessary to have law, I sec no great objection to it, except 
 that the present Act made the claims ridicuously small, and 
 made the licenses renewable too often. They sliould be 
 o'iven for a whole year. Th(Mi what harm could there be 
 in giving- 500 feet of a claim instead of 25 feet. 
 
 By Mr. Taschereau : — 
 
 Public opinion is that Mr. DeLC-ry has a g'ood rj^-ht to the 
 gold under his patent ? 
 
02 
 
 Yes; but the olii.ss of pooplo. ninoni>- \\'hom Ihal. opinion 
 provails cannot icivd and do r.ot jiuly-o ibr thomsoives-'. 
 
 AVhoii is the ton per cent, due to the Government? 
 
 It is duo after Mr. DeL.'ry ".smells." That condition 
 also siitislie.s me tho patent is good tor nothing-. ]t ^vas 
 unconstitutional ever to make such a grant, and it ^vas 
 su))jecting jiarties to conditions that could not Ix- put into 
 lbrce._ By it the liolders of the ])atent Jiad the privilege of 
 working ibr gold without paying anything to the Crown, 
 until they smched according to Ihc ]>racii,se in IGOl. In 
 my opinion, IT IS A !!:>() LI IT!': LY A FUATID.