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 REPORT 
 
 ON TIIK 
 
 GOLD PROPERTY 
 
 oy Tin; 
 
 ^m ^m'k mu\ ;^m^^ $mVm 
 
 '^^ CV-' 
 
 G^" D MINING COMPANY, 
 
 ■■"t AN INTJIODITTIOX ON TUB 
 
 CENERVL STKITCTITRE AXD GEOLOGY OF THE 
 
 NOVA SCOTIA GOLD FIELDS. 
 
 Br 
 
 B. SILLIMAN, Jk., M. A., M. D.. 
 
 PnOFESSOn of CRNKUAI. and APPLIKn IHKMISTRV, IN VALB COI.I.KMK, *C., .•<'. 
 
 i 
 
 NEW-YORK: 
 
 «t:oH(JK K. NhiSUirr a CO., PRINTEKs! and srATlUNKKS, 
 
 COK. PEARL AND MNK STRRRT3. 
 
 1864. 
 
To Bknjamin C. Brzitv, Esq. 
 
 President of (he New York and Nova Scotia Gold Minin<x Company. 
 
 Dear Sir : 
 
 Having at your request visited and examined the property of your Company 
 at Tangier Harbor, in Nova Scotia, and since my return having worked up my 
 notes and the chemical analyses, I am now prepared to submit for your consider- 
 ation the following report, to which I have prefixed a general account of tlie 
 Nova Scotia Gold Region. Supposing that the information contained in this In- 
 troduction, not being generally accessible, may be of interest to those who give 
 attention to this new field of enterprise, 
 
 I remain, with respect, 
 
 Your obedient servant, 
 
 B. SHXTMAN, Jr. 
 New Haven, Februarij 1st, 1864. 
 
 S 
 
m 
 
I 
 
 INTRODUCTION. 
 
 REMARKS ON THE GOLD RKGIOX OF NOVA Sf'OTIA 
 (jiKOGHAl'lIICAL KXTKXT AND POSITION. 
 
 ITS 
 
 'I'hk entire Atlantic coast of Nova Scotifv, from Cape Sable on 
 the west, to Capo Canscau on the east, a distance of about two 
 hundred und fifty miles, is bordered by a fringe of hard slaty rock:., 
 sometimes micaceous schists — v ,; usually argillaceous — and oc- 
 casionally granitic. These roiks, .hen stratiiied, are always found 
 standing at a higVi angle, sometimes almost vertical, with a course 
 in the main east and west. Th' ^ seldon. rise to any great elevation ; 
 the promontory of Aspatogoen, about 500 feet high, being th^ 
 highest land on the Atlantic coast of the Province. The er*.' .muI 
 aspect of the shore is low, rocky and desolate, strewn often w ith hu<^e 
 boidders of granite or quartzite ; and, when not bleak and rocky, 
 is (!overed with forests of spruce and white birch. 
 
 This zone of metarnorphic rocks varies in width, from six or 
 eight miles at its ervStern extremity, to forty or fifty miles at its 
 widest points, preserving in its northern boundary only a rude 
 j^arallelism with its southern margin. 
 
 This district comprises about 0,000 square miles of surface, and 
 may, geologically speaking, be called the Gold R(?gion of Xova 
 Scotia. Not that gold is to be found in all parts of it, but it is 
 not unreasonable to search for the precious metal anywhere within 
 this region where the occurr./xe of quartz veins — the almost sole 
 matrix of the gold — is shown by boulders on the surface. 
 
 It is true that gold has been found outside of the limits here 
 assigned — as at the head of St. Mary's Bay, in Digby Count^^ 
 and on Breton Island, in Inverness County — and it is by no 
 means improbable that these discoveries may extend to the newer 
 metamorphic rocks in other parts of the Province ; the analogy of 
 other gold regions leading decidedly to that belief. 
 
6 
 
 A large part of the district named, is little better than an unexr 
 plored wilderness ; and the fact that the discoveries which have 
 been made, are, in a majority of cases, on l>e sea shore, where 
 the coup'^rj is open, and the search is easy, by no means dimin- 
 ishes the probabilities that continued search, in the less frequented 
 portions of the region, will not be rewarded with new discoveries 
 as important- as any which are now known. Such, indeed, was 
 the discovery of the Oldham District, made by two hunters, who 
 had heard of the association of quartz with gold, and remembered 
 in their hunting excursions to have seen a large boulder of this 
 mineral in a denselv wooded tract, now the centre of one of the 
 most valuable gold districts in the Province. 
 
 I 
 
 GEOLOGICAL AND PHYSICAL CHARACTP]R OF THE GOLD 
 
 REGION. 
 
 There is no positive evidence of the geological age of the auri- 
 ferous rocks of the Atlantic border. No trace of a fossil has yet 
 been found in any of the slates, or associated rocks. Opinion 
 seems to favor the belief that they belong to the Silurian age, but 
 as yet no place has been found where the rocks next higher in the 
 geological column, may be seen resting upon these. Dr. Daw- 
 son, in his " Acadian Geology" (page 3-17), evidently favors the be- 
 lief that they are probably metamorphic Silurian rocks. 
 
 That the rocks arc highly altered (metamorphosed) is very evi- 
 dent to the most careless .ob.server, as well as that they have been 
 greatly changed from their original position of horizontal ity, as 
 sedimentary rocks by upheavals, which have tilted them up to 
 positions almost vertical. The same causes have also resulted in 
 the segregation or infiltration of the sheets or layers of white and 
 mottled quartz, which are now the gold lodes, and charged the 
 slates with arsenical and cubical pyrites in all the mineralized 
 baiids. 
 
 The most striking physical feature of this whole region, to the 
 
 eye of a geologist, next perhaps to the uptilted state of the slaty 
 rocks, is the universal evidence of a high degree of glacial action, 
 which has so worn down and polished the rocks, that their edj^es 
 
,11 an unex: 
 svliich have 
 lore, wliere 
 3ans dimin- 
 frequcnted 
 discoveries 
 ndeed, was 
 inters, wlio 
 smembered 
 der of this 
 ' one of the 
 
 HE GOLD 
 
 )f the auri- 
 3sil has yet 
 I. Opinion 
 an age, but 
 igher in the 
 
 Dr. Daw- 
 vors the be- 
 ?. 
 
 is very evi- 
 havc been 
 ontality, as 
 hem up to 
 resulted in 
 
 wliite and 
 liarged the 
 nineralized 
 
 "ion, to the 
 )f tlie slaty 
 ,cial action, 
 their edofes 
 
 everywhere resemble the leaves of a book, which hps been cut 
 with a dull knife in the binder's press, in a direction at right 
 angles to that of the leaves. 
 
 Over very considerable areas tlie glacial scouring has been so 
 thorough, that nothing whatever is left on the rocks but the 
 grooves and striiu, which accompany their polish. In other 
 cases, the glacial drift is seen composed of angular, rarely round- 
 ed, fragments of quartzite and clay rlate, embedded in a tough 
 clay, resting on the surface of the polished rocks. This detrital 
 matter is auriferous, but the large amount of coarse, angular frag- 
 ments of rocks would render it very difficult to wash, even when 
 it occurs in situations where water could be conveniently obtained 
 for sluicing. The gold which it contains is coarse and angular, 
 often still attached to the quartz, and showing but little evidence 
 of long transportation. The " Boulder Lot" at Sherbrooke, hat- 
 yielded a considerable amonnt of gold from this glacial drift, and 
 is rewarding its owners handsomely. Probably too little attention 
 has been given in the Province to this source of gold. The (juartz 
 veins alone having been the chief object of attention. 
 
 Everyv/here over this whole district, the eye of the observer is 
 constantly arrested by the long lines of granitic and quartzitic 
 boulders which have been left in trains by the ancient glaciers 
 upon the surface of the polished rocks. These at times recall 
 strongly the moranies of the Swiss glaciers, and rival them in the 
 magnitude of the travelled blocks. Some of the most striking 
 cases of this sort which I saw, were in the vicinity of Musquodo- 
 bit Harbor, also on the flanks of the Musquodobit Mountains, and 
 on the elevated plateau between Jeddore Bay and Ship Harbor, 
 known as the Barrens. Here the boulders of white quartz are also 
 very abundant. Some very conspicuous blocks of a like char- 
 acter occur also on the hills north of Oldham, in the vicinity of 
 Gay's Hiver. 
 
 The general couivse of the stiikc of tiic rocks is cast and west. 
 Between Hammond I'laiiis and Tangier. Jor a (listancc of nearly 
 loo miles, this cast an.d west c(,>urse is so marked tluit it ma\' be 
 considei'ed universal. This course is not usually over o*^ or 6° 
 
 I 
 
away from the Magnetic Aferidian. and is usually south by that 
 ((uantity. But to the east and west of the points named, the 
 strata bend round to the sea, so that the whole system assumes 
 very much the form of a long bow, whose arc or string is the 
 coast line, the strata at each end losing themselves in the ocean. 
 
 Conse([uently, %r a great part of the whole coast, the glacial 
 scratches, or course of the glacial drift, has been almost at right 
 angles to the strike of the rocks. A most conspicuous exam))le 
 of this may be seen at the Round Tower, near Halifax, where a 
 large surflice of the harder slates is completely denuded, and 
 shows splendidly the v;hole phenomena of glacial action. These 
 facts bear in a most important manner, it will be seen, upon the 
 occurrence of the gold. They account, in fact, for 
 
 THE GENERAL ABSENCE OP ALLUVIAL GOLD. 
 
 If we consider for a moment the physical and geological fea- 
 tures just described, it at once becomes evident that the great 
 mass of loose materials which came from the scouring off of the 
 country by glacial action, has gone into the Atlantic Ocean, where 
 the gold is safely deposited. Sable Island, which, by ^[cKinley s 
 map, is distant about 100 miles from the shore— is a rfand spit, 30 
 miles long by about half a mile wide, shaped like a bow, and 
 consists entirely of an accumulation of loose white sands. Mr. 
 Campbell, the Provincial Geologist, informs me that he washed 
 gold from these sands in 1857, and that it was in very small, 
 highly polished scales, like the fine gold of California ;\hat it 
 came with the sands which it accompanied from the scouring off 
 of Nova Scotia, no geologist can doubt for a moment. It follows 
 from this view of the case, that the occurrence of extensive '' dig- 
 gings" in Nova Scotia, is a thing not to be expected. No long 
 Sacramento Valley has retained here the spoils of the glacial epoch ; 
 and this fact appears to have been practically recognized from the 
 outset, as compamtivcly few efforts have been made to obtain gold 
 from any source but from the (piart/ veins. 
 
 The .success following the washing of the sands near Lunen- 
 burg was, liowcvcr, encouraging, and there arc doubtless places of 
 
 rock. 
 
9 
 
 til by that 
 [imed, the 
 n assumes 
 ing is the 
 le ocean. 
 :he glacial 
 It at right 
 s exanijile 
 , where a 
 ided, and 
 n. These 
 upon the 
 
 )gical fea- 
 the great 
 )ff of the 
 lan, where 
 cKinley's 
 d spit, 30 
 bow, and 
 lids. Mr. 
 e washed 
 2rv small, 
 i; that it 
 During oft' 
 It follows 
 five '* dig- 
 No long 
 lal epoch ; 
 from the 
 )tain gold 
 
 ir Lunen- 
 plaoes of 
 
 considerable extent in the numerous harbors and bays of the 
 coast, where auriferous sands exist in remunerative abundance. 
 The bottoms of some lakes, which can be drained, will probably 
 famish considerable de])osits of alluvial gold ; and the same is 
 true, no doubt, of certain river estuaries and masch lands which 
 have hitlierto attracted too little attention ; such, probably, are the 
 flats l)ordering on Chedabucto Bay. 
 
 CHARACTERISTIC ROCKS OF THE GOLD REGION. 
 
 QuARTZiTE. — The most noticeable rock in the gold regions of 
 Nova Scotia, is a dark gray, almost black, rock, which is called by 
 the miners " Whin," or " Whinn," a Scotch term for an igneous 
 
 ^ rock, resembling trap or diorite. Tlie ro(;k to which this name is 
 applied, in Nova Scotia, is in reality a granular quartz rock, pro- 
 perly called (juartzite. It is a very hard, compact rock, consisting 
 of grains of rpiart/ or sand, consolidated into au extremely firm 
 mass. Its lines of bedding are quite distinct, and it has three 
 very well defined planes of cleavage, (one of which is the bedding,) 
 by which it breaks out into very regular rhombic-shaped masses, 
 so regular often as to simulate artificial surfaces. It Is usually 
 dark gray, often almost black in color, but on exposure weathers 
 very nearly white, so that on the surface it presents often an al- 
 most glaring appearance in the sunshine. It shows frequently 
 abundant stains of iron from the decomposition of arsenical pyrites 
 (mispickel), and yellow iron pyrites, with which it is always highly 
 charged in the metalliferous districts. Tlie fresh cleavage surfaces 
 of the rock often glisten as if with scales of mica, but in reality 
 with the brilliant cleavage planes of pyrites. 
 
 This rock attains an enormous thickness, and is undoubtedly 
 the fundamental or basement rock of the region. Mr. Campbell, 
 ill his Ecport on the Gold-Fields, made by authority of the Pro- 
 vincial Legislature, estimates it as over a mile in thickness, and he 
 infonns me that in the section of the railroad at Shubenacadie, he 
 
 -il ^^^ measured it of that tliickness. It frequently forms one wall 
 
 ^ of the gold-bearing veins. 
 
 This rock, according to the section which Mr. Campbell has 
 
 I 
 
10 
 
 prepared, comes to the surface sIk times between the Atlantic 
 coast and the northern boundary of the gold district — sa}^ thirty or 
 forty miles. As in each case, the associated rocks accompany it, 
 and with them the auriferous quartz, it is plain that if this stnic- 
 ture is clearly established, as that of the district, there must be not 
 less than twelve parallel zones at average distances, of not more 
 than three miles from each other, in which the explorer may rea- 
 sonably look for the occurrence of gold-bearing quartz. My ow^n 
 explorations were not sufficiently extended to enable me to satisfy 
 myself of the accuracy of their generaUzation, which, if true, is of 
 the highest economic importance. 
 
 Slates. — Of the accompanying slates in which the gold-bearing 
 quartz appears, and of the quartz itself, I shall speak in sufficient 
 detail unuer other heads. Nor is it needful to dwell, in this con- 
 nection, on the granites of the Musquodobit range or of the eastern 
 district. 
 
 The middle districts are remarkable for the absence of mica- 
 ceous schists and of magnesian rocks — not an example of talcose 
 slate occurs, so far as 1 have observed, between Hammond Plains 
 and the Tangier liiver, but to the *^ast of that point magnesian 
 rocks make their appearance, and at Wine Harbor the gold occurs 
 in a green magnesian rock, closely resembling serpentine or indur- 
 ated talc. 
 
 Chloitic rocks appear in the Tangier district, but they are rare 
 compared with the argillites, which form, next to the quartzite, 
 the predominant feature in the geology of the middle districts. 
 
 MINING AND DRAINAGE OF MINES. 
 
 One peculiar physical feature of this region, which strikes the 
 observer at once, and also connected with its geological structure, 
 is the remarkable number of small lakes. They seem to be as 
 numerous as the little islands which dot the shores, or the 
 countless harbors which everywhere indent them (Mi the Atlantic 
 border. It appears that these lakes exist in conseipience, primarily, 
 of ihc extreme compactness aiul tightness of the rock strata, 
 which, although turned up on edge, are so tight bound as to shut 
 
le Atlantic 
 \y thirty or 
 ;ompany it, 
 P this strn.c- 
 nust be not 
 f not more 
 er may rea- 
 . My own 
 e to satisfy 
 l" true, is of 
 
 old-bearing 
 n sufficient 
 in this con- 
 the eastern 
 
 e of mica- 
 of talcose 
 ond Plains 
 magnesian 
 ^old occurs 
 e or indur- 
 
 3y are rare 
 ; quartzite, 
 
 listricts. 
 
 strikes the 
 1 structure, 
 n to be as 
 es, or the 
 le Atlantic 
 , primarily, 
 jck strata, 
 as to shut 
 
 I 
 
 11 
 
 out almost completely the percolation of surface water. This fact 
 has an unexpected relation to mining — in the remarkable absence 
 of water, which is a consequence of it. In no place which I 
 visited had the water proved, thus (a\\ a matter of sufficient mo- 
 ment in the mines to require other aid in its removal than a few 
 buckets daily. In one case, in Waverly, the levels are extended 
 at the depth of 110 feet below the wat^r in Lake Thomas, which is 
 distant but a few paces, and still the water accumulating in these 
 mines was only one bucketful in twenty-four hours. 
 
 I conversed with Capt. Opie, an intelligent Oornish-man, in 
 charge of the rhines and mills of the English Company, and he 
 assured me that nowhere in the Province was there a wet mine, or 
 likely to be. There is a large clement of compensation in this 
 fact for the hardness of the rocks, and the consequent cost of 
 mining ; and the same quality has compensation also in the dimin- 
 ished cost of timbering underground. Almost all the levels I have 
 seen being strong enough to stand without timber. 
 
 The drainage of some of the lakes, which are favorably situated 
 for sluicing, will also, beyond doubt, furnish an available source of 
 alluvial gold, as already proved, at least, in one case. 
 
 ON THE GOLO-BEARIXG QUARTZ. 
 
 There are two classes of quartz veins in Nova Scotia. 
 
 (1.) Those wdiich cut across or intersect the stratified rocks at 
 various angles. 
 
 (2.) Those which occur parallel to the rocks, or are, in geological 
 phrase, conformable to the strata. 
 
 The first are usually more or less irregular in their course, and 
 are seldom or never auriferous, or if so, only to a very lim'ted de- 
 gree. Such veins are known in Nova Scotia by the local name 
 of "Bull Veins." They consist, as flir as I have seen them, of 
 compact white quartz, sometimes ferruginous, but not metallif- 
 erous, and what a Cornish minor would call '' unkindly for ore." 
 A well-known example is the "cross vein" in the Tangier Sett. 
 
 The second class of quartz veins, is the one whi(!h turnishes a 
 matrix for the gold. They are always ])arallel to the associated 
 
 I 
 
12 
 
 slaty roclis, and partake of the foldings and irregularities to which 
 these are subject. They are of all dimensions as respects thick- 
 ness, from a mere line or fraction of an inch, np to eight or nine 
 ieet or more The largest whicli I have myself measured being at 
 Hammond J'hiins, where the Mitchell Lode measures over 8 feet, 
 and the middle lode G^ feet. 
 
 As a rule, the quartz veins in Nova Scotia are not large, beingr 
 more usually from 4 to 8 inclies, and the largest veins in thickness 
 are not usually the richest in gold. 
 
 Tiiere are two very distinct classes of quartz veins among the 
 auriferous lodes. 'J'he lirst are of crystalline quartz, often quite 
 white, sometimes mottled, having the gold usually in coarse 
 visible particles, and showing a decided tendency to crystalliza- 
 tion, both in the quartz itself, and in the associated minerals. 
 Such are the "Negro Lode" at Tangier, :N[ontague Lode, Tay- 
 lor's South Lode, at Waverly, and some of the lodes at Ham- 
 mond Plains. 
 
 The second class I should designate as veins of a slaty structure, 
 the quartz being lamellar or fissile in planes parallel to the bed- 
 ding, the faces of the lamellar being striated like the surface of 
 the slates, the color being usually dark, sometimes blue, or bkck- 
 ish, sometimes ferruginous, and of an oily lustre. The gold is 
 usually disseminated moi-e finely in these veins, or lies in plates 
 on their borders, and sometimes is quite invisible. Of this class are 
 the "Leary Lode," " Field Lode," " Lake Lode" and "Copper's Lake 
 Lode" at Tangier, the " Blue Lode" at Oldham, the smaller veins at 
 Wine Harbor, and many others. It is impossible to say to wliitih 
 class the preference should be given, although undoubtedly the first 
 is the one which conforms most closely to the character of mineral 
 veins in general ; but, on the other hand, some of the most pro- 
 ductive veins in the Province belong to the latter class. An re- 
 gards the wall rocks, between which the quartz lodes are confined, 
 in a majority of the cases which I have myself seen, the upper, 
 or hanging wall, is quartzite, and the lower, or foot-wall, is blue 
 slate ; sometimes both walls are slate, but I do not find in my notes 
 an example in which both walls were quartzite. 
 
13 
 
 ies towliich 
 pects thiclc- 
 ght or nine 
 •ed being at 
 over 8 feet, 
 
 large, being 
 n thickness 
 
 among the 
 often quite 
 in coarse 
 crystalliza- 
 i minerals. 
 Liode, Tay- 
 s at Hani- 
 
 y structure, 
 
 ihe bed- 
 
 ! surface of 
 3, or bkick- 
 Mie gokl is 
 iS in plates 
 lis class are 
 )per's Lake 
 ler veins at 
 y to which 
 11}' the first 
 of mineral 
 most pro- 
 s. Ah re- 
 3 confined, 
 the upper, 
 ill, is blue 
 
 1 my notes 
 
 The associated sulpluirets, as a rule, show a tendency, in some 
 cases, peihapsin a majority of instances, to segregate on the lower, 
 or foot-wall sic^e of the vein. In other cases they seem to be 
 pretty evenly disseminated through the body of the ([uartz. But 
 
 ! the gold is almost invariably associated witli thesulphurets, where 
 it is visible, and most frequently of all with the mispickel, or ar- 
 senical pyrites, although I often saw it with zinc blende, and more 
 rarely with galena. 
 
 The '' mispickel," or arsenical pyrites, is frequently found, in 
 
 ' considerable masses, on the foot wall, occurring as bunches, often- 
 times of many pounds weight, embedded in blue slate, and, as far 
 
 P: as I have observed, always auriferous. This is especially the case 
 in the Montague vein at Lake Loon, in the Leary and Negro Lodes 
 at Tangier, and at the " White Head" at Oldham. Sufficient at- 
 tention has not been paid to this feature of the Nova Scotia veins, 
 and there is good reason to believe that, in many cases, the miners 
 have failed to take down the foot-wall slate, when it was pyritous, 
 not being aware of its value, since, by the process of crushing and 
 amalgamating alone, but a small portion of the gold contained in 
 the matrix can be saved. It demands an entirely different treat- 
 ment, which will be mentioned in its proper place. At Monta- 
 gue, indeed, it is evident to the mostuninstructed person, that the 
 
 • mispickel is auriferous, as hardly a lump of it can be broken with- 
 
 y out exposing scales of the precious metal, and the detached bits 
 of the pyrites are notunfrequently held together by gokl thread, 
 or little veins, which are occasionally strong enough to require to 
 be cut aptH't by a chisel. 
 
 As regards the extent of the quartz lodes, and their depth, as well 
 as the uniformity of diffusion of the gold in them, it may be said 
 that the smaller veins are rarely, if ever, continuous for any great 
 distance, or more than a few hundred feet. Probabi|y they never 
 run over the intervening valleys, to re-apppar on the opposite hill- 
 side. But, on the other hand, they are not unfrequently suc- 
 ceeded by another series, or perhaps the same vein is now shut 
 off, the slate walls dividing it entirely, and then, after an interval, 
 opening again with its former appearance and thickness. The 
 
14 
 
 larger veins are, as a '-ule, continuous for much longer distance.: — 
 not always without foults, as at " Monfgue," where there is an 
 otFset of 50 feet or nioi-c, (this is common also to all the smaller 
 veins of the sett,) but the vein, as a whole, has been opened more 
 tlian half a mile — and the more powerful veins at Hammond Plain 
 extend probably over a mile, and those at Tangier about 1,500 
 feet. 
 
 In depth, there is no doubt, they also extend as far as it is pro- 
 bable they will ever be explored. As regards improvement, in 
 depth, it may be said there are numerous examples of several 
 small parallel veins, separated at surface by thin partings of slate, 
 which, at a moderate depth, have been found united into one 
 powerAd lode. No doubt, the same fluctuations will be found in 
 depth, which are noticed in width, along the surface line, and the 
 same changes in productiveness. There is a tendency, in particular 
 veins, to the accumulation of gold along certain lines of structure 
 in the vein, where the yield is much above the average ; and then 
 the adjacent parts are comparatively poor. It has been observed 
 that wherever a remarkable nugget was found in a vein, the adjacent 
 portions were well nigh sterile, at a shori distance from the rich 
 deposit. A remarkable example of this occurred in the Barrel 
 Quartz of Laidlaw's Hill, two years ago, where a mass of the quartz 
 vein, of perhaps two cubic feet capacity, yielded, as I was 
 informed by an eye-witness, $4,500 in gold, and the price of 
 the stock went up, in a few hours, from $,' to $40 ; but the 
 adjacent portions of the quartz, for a considerable distance, 
 proved to be quite barren. Other things being equal, those are 
 undoubtedly the mo.st desirable jodes, in which there is a moderate 
 amount of gold, evenly diffused in a po-.-erful body of quartz, 
 which can be taken out at a small cost of mining, and supplied 
 in large and steady quantities to the stamps. 
 
 In illustration of this point, I will here quote a passage from a 
 paper, on Gold Mining, by John Arthur Phillips, Esq., of London, 
 well known, on both sides of the water, for his skill as a minmg 
 engineer. This paper was read, May 16, 1860, before the Society 
 of Arts, in London. Mr. P. says, (p. 424, vol. 10, of the Societijs 
 
15 
 
 r distance.; — 
 3 there is an 
 11 the smaller 
 opened more 
 nmoiul Plain 
 
 • about 1,500 
 
 • as it is pro- 
 fovement, in 
 3s of several 
 ngs of slate, 
 ed into one 
 be found in 
 line, and the 
 in particular 
 of structure 
 
 e ; and then 
 en observed 
 the adjacent 
 om the rich 
 n the Barrel 
 )f the quartz 
 , as I was 
 ;he price of 
 tO; but the 
 le distance, 
 l1, those are 
 i a moderate 
 '■ of quartz, 
 nd supplied 
 
 lage from a 
 I of London, 
 IS a mirnng 
 the Society 
 the /Society^ s 
 
 t Journal) : " As an instance of the small yield of gold, whicl), even 
 %. . . . . . ' ■ 
 
 I in Australia, is at the present time remunerative. 1 ({uote the 
 
 J following results of the Colonial and Port Philip Company. It 
 
 Irnust, however, be observed that, to obtain a satisfactory prolit 
 
 ifrora ores of this class, it is necessary not only that large quanti- 
 
 vtios should be treated, but also that the greatest economy should 
 
 Ibe observed in every department of the manipulation. 
 
 %. ''The (piantity of quartz crushed by this Company, between 
 
 ■^October 1st, 1860, and September 30, 1861, was 32,258 tons, from 
 
 which the produce was 24,336 oz. 6 dwts., being an average of 
 
 515-2 dwts. per ton. The quantity crushed during the preceding 
 
 ^ year was 21,698 tons, and the produce 17,466 oz., being r. average 
 
 of 16 dwts. per ton, showing an increase in crushing 10,J'>3 tons, 
 
 and on the yield of gold of 6,870 oz. over the same period of thu 
 
 ' pevious year. 
 
 '; "It will be perceived that the yield of gold, per ton, had ex- 
 perienced a variation of 22 grs., equal to 5| per cent. 
 
 "The total expenditure, per ton, lias been 12 shillings; in the 
 •preceding year it was 16 shillings. 
 
 ;! " The profit on the quartz crushing, for the year ending Septem- 
 Iber 30th, was £22,958 16s. 5d." 
 
 :, It appears from the report of Messrs. Garnett & Wakelle, of 
 ;/San Francisco, (June 15, 1863,) on the Mariposa E.state that the 
 Princeton Mine, (the best mine on that vast estate.) during three 
 years last past furnished 62,000 tons of quartz, yielding $1,250,000, 
 or about $20 per ton. While in the present year 160 stamps, (in 
 4 mills,) in 540 days' aggregate work, crushed 24,013 tons of quartz, 
 yielding $385,000, or almost exactly $16 per ton. The best mill 
 average 27 working days to the month; liVo ton of ore daily, 
 equal to 744 per stamp. 
 
 The prese)it averages from the principal mines on this estate are 
 stated as follows: Princeton ores nearly thirty dollars per ton, 
 Green Gulch, (^14, and Mount Ophir, $16 per ton. 
 
 IS THK GOLD (JOXFINKD TO THE QUARTZ? 
 
 While, beyond doubt, the quartz veins are the chi<;f gold-l)ear- 
 ing rocks, it yet remains to be proved that they are the only one.s. 
 
 I 
 
16 
 
 It is commo.> to see the gold in the bbie slate adjacent the quartz, 
 and 1 have seen a ;^()ne ot ([iiart/ite, in the Montague District, 
 mixed with shite, which showed "sights" of gokl intlie quart/ite, 
 and gave over an ounce to the ton, on some tons which were tried 
 as a sample. A taU;ose shite at Wino Harbor, wliich I liave seen, 
 is beautifully phited with gold; and McDonald Sutherland, of 
 Oldham, informed me that he had crushed a slate from that region 
 which yielded him over an ounce to the ton. Caution is certainly 
 required to ascertain the truth in this matter, but from analogies of 
 other gold districts, we ore authorized in expecting that the asso- 
 ciated rocks will sometimes be auriferous. 
 
 RB.VIARKABLK INSTAXCKS OP PROOUCTIVENKSS IN THE 
 
 NOV^A SCUTIA VKINS. 
 
 While the prudent adventurer will regard with superior interest 
 the reliable average yield of auriferous veins, as the only safe basis 
 of expectation, it is always pleasant to see the prizes which a lot- 
 tery oilers — not forgetting the blaidcs, I took pains to collect such 
 authentic examples as fell in my way while in Nova Scotia, the 
 official character which is given by law to the mining records 
 rendering it easy to do so. 
 
 Two poor men at Isaac's Harbor, almost without capital, com- 
 menced work on a quartz lode of six inches, which, at a depth of 
 thirty feet, became two feet, and in four hundred and two days 
 work, they obtained two hundred and forty-six ounces of gold, 
 and had each a profit of over $2,000 for their labor. This was 
 Claim No. 12 on the lode, and No. 13, the next one adjoining, is 
 turning out even better; the month of November giving eight 
 and a half ounces of gold per ton for all the quartz raised. 
 
 The " Triad Co.," i'or July, from twenty-two tons, obtained one 
 hundred and forty-five ounces, or over six and a half ounces to 
 the ton ; and the same company in August obtained, from twenty- 
 six tons nine hundred pounds, eighty-three ounces of gold ; for 
 October, from tliirty-iive tons, one hundred and forty ounces. 
 
 The TTattie Lode, at Wine Harbor, has vielded sixtv ounces to 
 the ton, and sixty.six ounces from one and a quarter tons of 
 quartz. 
 
 i Or, in : 
 about 1 
 tons yi 
 
 (ounces 
 At\^ 
 
r 
 
 quartz, 
 District, 
 lart/ite, 
 sre tried 
 ro seen, 
 kind, of 
 it region 
 crtuinly 
 logies of 
 he asso- 
 
 ^ THE 
 
 ' interest 
 life basis 
 oh a lot- 
 lect suck 
 ;otia, the 
 records 
 
 tal, corn- 
 el epth of 
 :vvo days 
 of gold, 
 This was 
 )ining, is 
 ng eight 
 [. 
 
 ined one 
 )unces to 
 1 twenty- 
 ^old ; for 
 ices. 
 
 )unces to 
 ■ tons of 
 
 
 ' 
 
 Butler & Co., at Wine Harbor, for September, Irom 29 tons took 
 6<) ounces, and for October, from ;-}0 tons 800 lbs. took 9.') ounces. 
 
 At Jiake Loon, (the Montague propeHy,) Uobinson & Co. took a 
 nugget of gold, found in the misinckel, which weighed 22 ounces, 
 and the stuiV from the vein has yielded from four in six ounces to 
 the ton. 
 
 A lot of 2.500 lbs. of selected quart;^, from the South Taylor 
 Lode, in '\Vaverly, crushed by Ilulf, yielded 22 oz. of gold, while a 
 lot of the same lode, unselectcd, yiehled 2'} oz. to the ton. 
 
 At Oldham is a small vein, of about an inch or two in thick- 
 ness, which is owned by four workmen, who have taken 60 o/.. to 
 the ton of quartz from it. 
 
 Mr. Frankfort Davis, owner of a crushing mill at Ohlham, gave 
 me the following statement from his ollicial returns on the quartz 
 from various lode.i in Oldham : 
 
 4 tons yielded K; oz. 5 dwt. 
 
 1 " " UO '• ;{ •• 
 
 6 " " 21 " IT " 
 
 2 " " 5 '• 12 " 
 
 14 " « «,-,'• 6 " 
 
 U " " 65 " 10 " 
 
 13 " " 59 " 10 " 
 
 2 " " 9" 12 " 
 
 1 " " 3 " 8 '• 
 
 12^" " 78" — " 
 
 2 " " .S;{ '• .5 " 
 
 17i " " .57 '• — " 
 
 Or, in round numbers, an average of iive ounces to the ton, on 
 about 100 tons of quartz crushed. While, on the other hand, 442 
 tons yielded an aggregate of only 821 ounces, or not quite two 
 ounces to the ton. 
 
 At Wine ILirbor, a group of veins on the middle lode has yield- 
 ed, to the present depth of 40 feet, over five ounces of gold to the 
 ton of quartz. 
 
 Mr. OConner, one of the four owners of a claim on the Mon- 
 tague vein, informed me that a lot of the quartz from that vein, 
 3 
 
ft"'' 
 
 18 
 
 estimated as 800 lbs., yifUlo.l. on dry crusliing in a hand-mortar 
 21 .i ounces of gold, leaving i^till all tbe small gold in the ta"" - 
 which would probably swell llic wliole yield to 24 ounces for SOO 
 lbs., or 00 ounces to tli.' ton of 2.000 lbs. 
 
 These exan.i.les might be multiplied — as every district has its 
 remarkable stories-but I have confined myself to a portion of the 
 examples which came to my own knowl'Hlgo. 
 
 THE GOLD f'OMMlSSlON-TKM'llE OF GOLD LANDS. 
 
 By the law of the Provincial LegislMurc, the conditions of 
 mining arc substantially as follows : The fee of the mineral lands 
 is in the Crown, and all mines arc worked on a royalty, amounting, 
 in the case of gold, to three per centum of the gross returns. A 
 district having been determined to contain gold, it is declared by 
 the Go.d Commissioner to be a Gold District within assigned limits. 
 It is then surveyed, and laid olV into - areas," which, as the law 
 now stands, are three- fourths of an acre each, or 150 feet on the 
 supposed course of a vein, and ioO feet in the oLlier directicn. 
 Any i!.«iivi(lual who has discovered a new locality of gold, be- 
 comes, in virtue of the right of <liscovery. entitled to one "free 
 claim" or "area," which he is at liberty to select where he pleases. 
 If the owner of the land, on notice being given, declines or ne- 
 glects to exercise his prior right of occupancy, (he paying the 
 same royalty, however. l>ut a less sum down.) then the Gold Com- 
 missioner may sell to the first applicant as many "claims" or 
 - areas" as aiv called for. the applicant paying down, for each 
 "area," the s ,m >f t(>n dollars, which is an advance on royalty. 
 The purchaser then becomes obligated to work the "areas'" he has 
 purchased, to the extent of one hundred days in each year, for 
 tacli " claim" or " area ;" but he may elect on which of any num- 
 ber of contiguous claims on a given vein he will work, and may 
 expend all the labor required for the whole upon that one, as in 
 sinking a shaft, &c. He is also required to make to the Gold 
 Commissioner a (quarterly return of the amount of labor expend- 
 ed, and the quantity of gold obtained— neglecting to do which, he 
 forfeits his claim, and the Gold Commissioner then has the right 
 
10 
 
 to sell it to anotlun- purchaser. All owners of quart;: mills are 
 also rerniirod to render olliciiil returns uncU-r oath, in a Ibrni pro- 
 seribetl l»v law, of all <imuii/. frushcil, .stating Irom what mine, 
 and Cor whose aceouut. ;in<; the i[iumtiry obtained. This is de- 
 signed as a cheek on tlic miner, as the two statetnc-nts must, if cor- 
 rect, balance each other. The chicl'dold Commissioner resides in 
 Ilalitax, i)iit has his Deputies in .aeh gold district, whoso duty it 
 is to see that the provisions of the law are carried out. and returns 
 duly made each month. aecomj)anied by u report on the condition 
 of the industry in the district represented. From these returns 
 the Gold Commissioner prepares acpiarterly Exhibit, which he is- 
 sues in a " Koyai Ga/i.tte,'' an exami)Ie of which will be found in 
 the Appendix, marked "A." The Gold Conmii-^sioner also makes 
 an Annual lleport to the Provincial Secretary, giving an account 
 of the mining operations in the several gold districts ot the Pro- 
 vince during the previou". >ear. Tliis Keport for the year 1862 is 
 a valuable documer.. in which the then Chief Commissioner, 
 Samuel Creelman, Esq., gives a large, interesting and important 
 amount of information. 
 
 The Provincial law respecting the gold-field.s, wrs plainly con- 
 ceived, in its first draft, in the natural idea, that there was to be a 
 repetiti..n in Nova Scotia of the experiences of California and 
 Australia, and that thousands of adventurers would flock to the 
 -diggings," with the expectati )n of washing gold from auriferous 
 sands. How completely different from this the actual experience 
 in Nova Scotia has been, has already bcjn explained. I have 
 given good physical and geological reasons why it should be so. 
 It is plain that gold-mining in Nova Scotia, ac in California, can, 
 as a rule, be carried on only Ijy well-organized companies with 
 sufficient capital to make systemafie and long-sus'.ained exp'ora- 
 tions. Er bis purpose the small - areas" (20 by 50 feet) at first laid 
 off, were ^ und totally inadequate, and those now made of three 
 quarters of an acre are much too small, takf i singly. 
 
 It is only where many such "areas' are taken consecutively, 
 that a sufticient stretch on a vein is obtained to auth.orizc regular 
 mining. 
 
20 
 
 Such, it will be seen, luis been the course adopted by all com- 
 panies from the United States. The law has lately received im- 
 portant modifications, ^vitlI a view to compel negligent occupants 
 of adjoining claims to bear their part of the burthen ot keeping 
 the vein free of water, on pain of forfeiture for neglect, after twenty 
 days' notice. Suitable provisions are also needed to authorize the 
 extension of levels, through the claims of intervening proprietors 
 in depth, on eriuitable terms ; and here, no doubt, the principle ot 
 the common law, by which an owner has right of access to his 
 land over the land of another, will api^'y. 
 
 METHODS OF DRESSlMi AND AMAL(!AMATIN(i GOLD ORES 
 
 IN NOVA SCOTIA. 
 
 The quartz is generally reduced by stamping mills—sometimes 
 by Chilian mills-and is first cracked by a machine, which resem- 
 bles Blake's Stone Breaker, preparatory to stamping. The use of 
 lire to calcine the quartz is frequent, although not universal, and 
 opinion is divided upon the desirableness of this treatment, not 
 that there is any doubt of the saving of labor and time in crushing, 
 but whether the additional cost is not more than a balance for its 
 advantages. The best stamps arc those which have an iron rod, 
 and revolve with the 1 liter, falling from ."iO to 120 Vows per min- 
 ute, in batteries of four ..r six. The English mills, erected under 
 the direction of Messrs. Phillips and Darlington, are excellent ex- 
 amples of the best kind of non-revolving stami)s. They strike in 
 iron mortars, with movable linirgs and soles. The shoes, which 
 wear longest and most evenly, arc cast from the well-known 
 Fnuiklinite iron, a variety remarkable for hardness and great 
 strength combined. The screens vary in lineness from 40 to 80 
 holes°to the linear inch. Where the use of mercury in the battery 
 is adopted, the mortar bed is heated by steam or hot water. 
 
 The ..1.1 Chilian mill, an edge wheel, is still in use ; and it is said 
 tlKit, upon the barrel .piart/. of Laidlaw Hill it has made better re- 
 turns than the stamps, which may be very true without commend- 
 
 
 iug eilhor system very lugiii} 
 
 MS it IS cei 
 
 tainlv true that very few 
 
 of the mills have done as well as they should <lo in saA i 
 
 lur <r 
 
 old. 
 
21 
 
 r all com- 
 eived im- 
 Dccu pants 
 f keeping 
 ,er twenty 
 horize the 
 )roprietors 
 L-inciple of 
 ess to bis 
 
 3LI) ORES 
 
 -sometimes 
 lich resem- 
 Tho use of 
 versa!, and 
 itment, not 
 n crushing, 
 ance for its 
 in iron rod, 
 rvs per min- 
 50 ted under 
 jccellent ex- 
 ey strike in 
 hoes, which 
 well-known 
 3 and great 
 )ni 40 to 80 
 I the battery 
 vater. 
 
 I lid it is said 
 de better re- 
 it commend- 
 iiat very few 
 tving gold. 
 
 The usual amalgamation process in the Nova Scotia ^Mills, is by 
 amalgamated plates of copper, by boxes of mercury set before 
 the stamps, by riflles, shaking tables and blankets; and a few use 
 the round iron pan, with mercury, somewhat similar to the Cali- 
 fornia j)lan. but mannged very dilVerently. Such is essentially 
 the case in the English mills, and in these alone and the New 
 York and Nova Scotia Go's, mill did I observe a Ilundt's huddle 
 at the end of the system to concentrate and save the jnrites. 
 
 Experience has shown in California that the old system of amal- 
 gamation by riflles, and the system of Goj)per plates covered with 
 mercu.y, is very imperfect and unsatisfactory, and in its best state, 
 with amalgamation in l)attery, can save not over 6"> to 75 per 
 centum of the gold which the lire assay shows to bo present. 
 Hence the almost universal adoption, in California and Nevada, 
 of the system of concentration bv the iron \yM\ in mercury, which 
 is only a very highly improved and methodized arrastra mill. 
 The one most usually adopted is •' Wheeler's pan " and agitator, 
 or "Hepburn and Peterson's pan," which is a somewhat more <;om- 
 plicated system than Wheeler's. These pans when properly man- 
 aged save, it is said, on the authority of " Kustel,"' a mining en- 
 gineer and metallurgist of great experience, not less than 95 per 
 cent, of all the gold shown to be present by the fire assay. 
 
 KoTK.— Seo his " Processes of Silver and Gold Extraction." fcraii Francisco, 
 Cal.,1863. Svo. 
 
 COMPARATIVE ADVANTAGES OF GOLD MIXING IN NOVA 
 SCOTIA AND ELSEWHERE. 
 
 In the same pnper already (juoted. Prof. Phillips speaks as fol- 
 lows of the o-old bearing veins of Nova Scotia: 
 
 "The thickness of its auriferous veins is perhaps le.ss than 
 those of California and some other e(.uniries, but they are, 
 generally speaking, richer, in visible gold, than the average 
 of those I have seen in any other })art of the world. It must 
 also be taken into consideration, that Nova Scotia possesses many 
 ^]^c.i,)ed advantnnes over both California and Australia. Euch of 
 these countries is situated at a great distance trom Eui-ope, and 
 
22 
 
 can onlv be rcacl.ecl after ,. Ions and expensive passage, and, as a 
 „.t«,al eonsequenee, .ages were, for a l<,ng '™;-«-^'"°[^ 
 high, and provisions proportionately dear. , N-a ^™""' '^" " 
 e,;.t;ary, is .-ithin an easy distanee both from =""1- ;" 
 Unite.1 States ,f An.eriea. and possesses a eons.derable setU d 
 population, ofintelligent, industrions and sober people, emtne y 
 adapted, after a little experienee, to beeo.ne steady and efhetent 
 mine,-s The whole of the gold-bearing portion of the 1 rov.nee, 
 „,,„ hes within a eonvenient distance fron> the coast, winch 
 abounds with magniflcent harbors, affording ample seennty to 
 shipoins-, whilst wood, in large quantities, is to be everywhere 
 proe'urcd for all descriptions of tnining ttses, and an abundant 
 supply of water is generally to be met with for the purposes of 
 washing and amalgamation. 
 
 ^^From these circumstances, it is impossible that wages can ever 
 reach the extravagant rates that mainly led to the failure of nearly 
 all the aold mining enterprises of 1852, since whicl. period many 
 of the mines have been advantageously worked, which were then 
 abandoned on account of the enormous expenditure necessary to 
 
 carrv on the operations." _ 
 
 This emphatic testimony from so competent a witness as Prof. 
 Phillips, who is familiar with t^-.e gold fields of the world, as few 
 others have had an opportunity of becoming, leaves nothing more 
 
 to be desired on this head. 
 
 It will be useful to compare the average product of a man s 
 labor in the Nova Scotia dold Mines with the similar product 
 elsewhere The Gold Commissioners' returns enable us to do this 
 wah an approach to accuracy. From this source I have prepai^d 
 the following abstract of the labor and products fjr six months, 
 ending December 31. 1803 : 
 
 In July 'm men earned ^^^ ^^ '^'^'- 
 
 " Aupust, 1,1.% ,^ 
 
 ,, , , --A I. ii .1.5 4i 
 
 " October, <l-> 
 
 ''December, 747 " " ^J^^ 
 
 Average per man v^f -* 
 
23 
 
 and, as a 
 ceecliiigly 
 ;ia, on the 
 e and the 
 3le settled 
 eminently 
 id effieient 
 
 Province, 
 ast, which 
 security to 
 everywhere 
 
 abundant 
 purposes of 
 
 Assuming 27 days' labor in a month, the daily produce of the 
 labor of one man is $1.31, not deducting the cost of crushing. 
 The produce of one man's labor in Victona, in 1860, where 
 18,'?96 men produced a gold value of $1,813,989, was 31 cents per 
 day, not deducting the cost of crushing. 
 
 It is to be remembered, that systematic mining by well- 
 organized companies is quite in its infancy in Nova Scotia, such 
 organizations being all quite recent, and none of them as yet 
 making returns. Tlic returns published are almost entirely from 
 individual efibrts on a small scale. 
 
 ;es can ever 
 re of nearly 
 eriod many 
 1 were then 
 lecessary to 
 
 CSS as Prof 
 orJd, as few 
 othing more 
 
 : of a man's 
 ilar product 
 us to do this 
 ave prepared 
 six months, 
 
 Bfi each. 
 30 " 
 42 " 
 U " 
 8() '• 
 20 " 
 
 I 
 
 46 
 
THE GOLD DISTRICT AT TANGIER. 
 
 As tlic Tangier district waP the gold Held earliest brought to 
 public notice in the Province of Nova Scotia, so does it still re- 
 main one <;(■ the most interesting in the promise ot good results 
 to svsten.ati<-, and economical mining. The crowd of adven- 
 tures Nvhc. peopled the hills of Tangier in ISCA and 18G2, on 
 the course of the -old South Leads." has indeed disappeared, and 
 the evidence of their unsystematic and ill-applied Ir.bor, novv 
 scar, the hills with numerous gravedike pits, tilled with water, and 
 perilous from imperfect covering. If many, in their aun sacra 
 f.n^r., found here ,)nlv a place to bury their hopes, others, more 
 'fortunate, were rewarded with splendid wages for the.r personal 
 labor. The ill-considered system of alh^tting claims, at first 
 adoined bv the Colonial Government, in a manner conipelled the 
 early adventures to abandon their labors, as soon as the surface 
 water accumulated in the open pits or shallow levels, beyond the 
 control of a single bucket or other primitive contnvance. Kven 
 the most fortunate adventarers were soon drowned out by the ac- 
 cumulate waters from adjacent claims, abandoned by less suc- 
 cessful nei; abors. Nearly all of these early efforts at individua- 
 mining are now abandoned, and the claims have since been con- 
 solidated in large companies. 
 
 The valne of the Tangier District, in the opinion of Mr. John 
 Arthur Pnillips, of London, is thus expressed in his Report to the 
 Nova Scotia Land and Gold Crushing and Amalgamating Com- 
 panv, in London, 1862 : 
 
 ' iniis is, at present, one of the most important mining localities 
 in the Colonv, The workings, which I inspected here, are on a 
 hill, a short distance from the Harbor of Tangier, extending over 
 an area of about three-quarters of a mile in length, by about two 
 hundred vards in width. There are at least live distinct lodes at 
 work within this band o meralized ground, varying in thickness 
 from live to tifteen inches. The quartz, extracted irom many of 
 these claims, presents large quantities of visible gold, and some 
 tons weight have been crushed and amalgamated by means of two 
 
 i 
 
 lro!>i 
 often 
 Ibrnii 
 ei'inu: 
 I met a 
 ^late 
 lissiL 
 color 
 
25 
 
 )iight to 
 still re- 
 el results 
 ;■ udven- 
 18G'2, on 
 .red, and 
 )or, now 
 ater, and 
 iiri Mcra 
 ers, more- 
 personal 
 , at first 
 )elled the 
 e surface 
 yond the 
 e. Even 
 )y the ac- 
 less suc- 
 ndividua- 
 been con- 
 Mr. John 
 :»ort to the 
 ting Com- 
 
 >■ localities 
 , are on a 
 iding over 
 about two 
 ct lodes at 
 11 thickness 
 n manv of 
 and some 
 jaiiS of two 
 
 Chilian mills, which have been erected on the spot, and have 
 yielded from three to nine ounces of gold to the ton. There can 
 be no doubt that the gold deposits of Tangier will prove largely 
 and p^rr: ! -.ently valuable, provided a sufficiently ku'ge area can be 
 secui .1 io >nable a company to work the mines in a scientific and 
 systematic manner." 
 
 SITUATION AND NUMBER OF VEINS IN THE TANGIER SETT. 
 
 The auriferous veins at Tangier occupy a neck of land f;.iciiig 
 the sea, in Tangier Harbor, and reaching from near the bridge, 
 over the Tangier Eiver, east, as fai as the middle of Rush Lake. 
 The distance, on the north line, is over half a mile, and including 
 the eastern openings, on the land of the English Company, on 
 Strawd)erry Hill, must be about a mile. Within this ;irea, there are 
 at present explored, not less than thirty veins of gold-bearing 
 (u.uu'tz, large and .small, varying from two feet to one inch, and 
 continued search is constantly adding to the number. Many of 
 the smaller veins, which are grouped together at the surface, will 
 doubtless unite in no great depth, offering important advantages 
 for mining. At present, attention has been bestowed chiefly on 
 those veins which have shown a good thickness at surface, and 
 liave proved themselves most productive in gold. 
 
 OEOLOCICAL AND MIXERALOGICAL CHARACTER OP THE 
 
 VEINS AT TANGIER. 
 
 The rocks, ? t Tangier, strike almost due east and west, not 
 varying, by the compass, over 5^ or 6'-' S. of E. They stand at a 
 high angle, dipping uniformly soutli. from 10^ to SC departure 
 I'loni the verticle. These rocks comprise, 1st. the ([uurtzite be<ls. 
 often highly charged with arsenical p.yrites, breaking in rhombic 
 Ininns. and of an almost basaltic blackness of color, though w(\ath- 
 ei'in'-- nearlv white. 2nd. The hard blue slat.'s, sometimes also 
 m.'talliferous, especially near the quartz veins. SometUiies tins 
 «late is highly metamorphosed and contorted: again, (luitc soft. 
 ris.sile, and regularly divided by joints, into rhombic Ibnns. Its 
 color is generally dark blue, stained at 
 
 surlace ov 
 
 I'on rust. 
 
•26 
 
 in t,„. „„.U>llire.-ous z,,uc.. /^"'"f ;f J' 'yelrmicace'ous 
 
 '•"■'T' '"' o nn L^or gavncts, aUUoagU garnets occur •.. 
 bat I sa«- no ton, main c ^i g . ^^^^ ^,^^^.^_ .,^ 
 
 „j, ,„„ the 1 -. ™1"=^' ' , ,^,,, ,,,, ,,e of t.o descnr- 
 iron, or magnetic iioa. .. I , ,. „f n.^ ,ocks, and 
 
 tions; those .bid. occur paraUc. to ^^'^^ intersecting 
 ,,,,U are ti,c i^''^^"'f ''''''' I^^^Im. Tl,e latter 
 
 ^rv::cge.o..^j--^^^ 
 
 more rarely caibonate oi i , ^,,,,.v,Hr iron, iron sinter, 
 
 ,i,„e and iron, green carbonate ot -^;^^^'^^ ' , ,„„„,„, i„ 
 
 ,0 bo sal,,l,u ■ ^^^^^.^^^^^ ^,,, ,,, ,.,e„,.al 
 
 gold seems to '-^ "'"=' ,,,^„,c often enclosing or 
 
 m-ritc< "r mispickol, anil tnc ii"c ,..o„i^ted 
 
 '^ ■ . ,l„.'c minerals. More rarely tl.e gold .» a^=ooia ea 
 
 penctraung tbc,c mu e ^^_^ ^^ ^^^.^ ^_^_.^^ ^,.^^,„g 
 
 .,ithgalena n.os o be econe ^ ,^. .,^^,,, ,,,„ „,i,piekel 
 
 „„a the "■•' l'> ^:;^;^^.^„,.^, ,,„, ,i„,„,d be reserved for separate 
 oecur ni sunicicnt abiimlan-i. y ^^^ 
 
 treat.nem. .be amalganratn.g proee. ot n . ^ ^^. 
 
 , • , -I'lic largest masses of areei. cal p\ uu.» aic ' 
 coutam. ilic la.„c.^ erystalized and of con- 
 
 U„e slate, fornung i;-; -'^^ ^^^^^^ ^,,,, ;,,,, ;, „s„ally tbe 
 :*"■",: ^ -So,,;, often in little nuggets and pipettes in tbe 
 '*'^"^'";,i,,; sometimes, but rarely, beautifully crjs ab 
 l"'T ; ; :.■ a strong tendency to erystalli.afon, of - 
 
 "'T ; lusut a d bi.d, colo.: It also occurs in scales and plates 
 splend.d luetic an.U. ^^ ^^^^ ^^.^^^ ^„j_ 
 
 iu tbe adjacent slate, ne,.i tue nnc o 
 
colored 
 nicaceous 
 s besides 
 nr rarely, 
 
 occur in 
 
 sliore, as 
 d cliromic 
 ro deserip- 
 
 rocks, and 
 itersecting 
 
 The latter 
 isignificant 
 
 eins. 
 
 are yellow 
 blende, and 
 arbonate of 
 , iron sinter, 
 
 I souglit in 
 :il^ believed j 
 vrites. Tlie 
 Aie arsenical 
 enclosing or 
 is associated 
 
 sort, proving 
 he mispiekel 
 hese minerals 
 ;il for separate 
 the gold they 
 } found in the 
 d and of con- 
 is usually the 
 pipettes in the 
 ifully erystal- 
 dlization, of a 
 ales and ))lates 
 10 quartz, and, 
 
 as already mentioned, implanted in masses of arsenical pyrites, 
 zinc blende, and more rarely with yellow iron pyrites and galena. 
 
 Its disposition to occur at or near the line of contact between 
 different minerals, or wherever there is a shut or change in the 
 vein, is very manifest. It also occurs, of course, in particles too 
 small to be seen in the solid quatz, as is constantly shown by the 
 results of dressing. The quartz veins often preserve a strikmg 
 similarity to the harder slaty bands as if they were metamorphic 
 of the slates. Generally they are compact and le-s cellular tnan 
 the gold quartz of the Appalachians, often oily looking, blue a.id 
 <n-ay in color, thoudi frequently quite white in some parts of the 
 vein. The walls arc polished in contact with the slates,^ and 
 rarelv separated from them by any lining of -fluccan" or 
 decomposed rock. Sometimes near the surface the decomposition 
 of the pyrites on one wall has left an open space, partly filled by 
 iron rust from the pyrites, and in such cases this material is apt to 
 be rich in gold, though in an invisible form. 
 
 There is\he same structure also in the Tangier veins, noticed 
 elsewhere in the Province, as respects the occurrence m them ot 
 swells and rolls, alternating with plain spaces ; where these rolls 
 occur the quartz is usually more auriferous, and the spaces between 
 them are proportionately poorer in gold. . 
 
 These rolls preserve an essential parallelism with each other, 
 and have a dip obliquely to the west or east according to the 
 pitch of the associated rocks, and parallel to what has oeen called 
 the '-rain" of these rocks, that is to say, parallel ^ylth the 
 airecti^n of the axis of elevation. As the shafts and drifts cut 
 these swells at an oblique angle, it happens, that the progress of 
 exploration carries the work alternately through pieces of ground 
 where the veins swell or contract, and where there are correspond- 
 ino. differences in the gold product. At times the contraction of the 
 vdn .huts it off Ibr a short distance, producing tlie impression 
 I tbat it is about to come to an end, when, fi-om a narrow 
 \ thread, it enlarges again gradually or rapidly t. .ts all size. 
 i Tlio^n rolls or swells in the quartz appear t<. me to have had hen 
 
 I oihdn in the upneaval which has given the easterly ana westerly 
 
 Hi 
 
 n 
 
28 
 
 pitch to the iixis of elevation oi" the rocks, on the line of strike, 
 the corrugations, or rolls occurring as a consequence of this 
 mechanical disturbance. 
 
 The distribution of the gold in the (juartz is sometimes such as 
 to excite surpi-ise at its abundance. :N[r. Campbell, who was em- 
 ployed by the Provincial Legislatui'e to prepare the geological 
 section, and notice of the Nova Scotia gold lields, addressed to the 
 Hon. Jos. Howe, Provincial Secretary, [dated Halifax, 25th of 
 July, 186;}— legislative document, p. 12, 4to,] informs me that 
 v\'hile he was, in 18G1, engaged on this survey, he saw, at the Lake 
 Company's Lead, on the borders of Copper s Lake (now on lands of 
 the New York and Nova Scotia Gold Company), a mass of (piart/ 
 of about a cubic foot in volume, which was entirely plated over 
 with gold, on the plane of contact, on the south or foot wall of the 
 vein." During the working on the '"South Leads" in 181)1-62, nu- 
 merous very showy specimens of gold were taken out, particularly 
 from the Negro Lead, worth in gold value from $100 to $325. 
 During the past summer three men, who were repairing the road in 
 Tangier, near Archibald's, in digging earth from the road-side to^ 
 mend the way, took out in three days coarse gold to the value of 
 $950, from a spot not o\er three or four yards square. Tliis 
 gold was in the form of nuggets and coarse grains, not at all worn. 
 One nuu-"-ct weighed sixteen ounces, others eight, six, three and 
 two ounces, and smaller. This spot was no more promising lor 
 such a discovery, than any other one in the region, and although 
 the surface is covered with large masses of qnartz, and it is plain 
 from which dii-ection they must have come, no efficient search has 
 been made for the vein wdiich yielded this gold, which had ob- 
 viously not been moved far from its original source. 
 
 I have already, under a former head, given the reasons which, 
 in my view^ account sufliciently for the general absence of allu- 
 vial gold in the Nova Scotia gold region, and discoveries like this 
 only confirm the views before expres-sed. 
 
3f strike, 
 of this 
 
 8 such as 
 was em- 
 jeologicul 
 ;cd to the 
 , 25tU of 
 me that 
 the Lake 
 u lands of 
 of ([uartz 
 ated ovci' 
 ^all of the 
 Jl-62, nu- 
 j'ticularly 
 to $325. 
 he road in 
 lad-sidc to 
 3 value of 
 ire. This 
 t all worn, 
 three and 
 mising for 
 L although 
 it is ])lain 
 search has 
 .1 luid ob- 
 
 jns which, 
 30 of allu- 
 3S like this 
 
 REPORT 
 
 ON THE 
 
 §m Hoirk and fova f cotia 
 (lOLD COMPANY'S PEOPEETY. 
 
 SITUATION AND HXTKXT OF 'II IK PUOl'KRTY. 
 
 The estate of the New York and Nova Srotia Oold Alining 
 Company is situated in the Tangier (lold District, ahoiU GO miles 
 east of Halifax, at the head of Tangier Ilarhoi'. It (•(ini])iises 
 about 7''3 aci'cs of land, in an yrea measuring nearly hall' a mile 
 from east to west, and about half that distance from north to south. 
 Its form and boundaries will be understood from an inspection of 
 the accompanying map. It adjoins the estate of the Atlantic 
 Mining Company on the west, and the two foi'm together the most 
 important part of the Tangier Gold District already described. 
 
 F ';ing the harbor on the south, it is aeccssil)le foi- vessels of 
 sufficient draft for transportation of coal, lumber and heavy 
 machinerv, wdiile bv land it is connected by the mail route with 
 Halifax. 
 
 Rush Lake forms its south-eastern boundary, and oilers a con- 
 venient receptacle for the waste of the dressing works, situated on 
 its margin. The dry bed of Coppers Lake forms its south-western 
 boundary, being connected by a canal and small siwam with Kush 
 Lake, which is somewhat lower, and into which shicing can be 
 carried, if it is decided to wash the detritus on the bottom of 
 Copper's Lake in that manner. 
 
 The buildings on this estate are nunier(;us, and the property is in 
 the midst of the most considerable settlement on this part of tlie 
 coas<:, an industrious and thriving village, having sprung up with 
 the development of the Company's mines, and those of the neigh- 
 boring Companies. 
 
80 
 
 ClAUACri-.U ANl. DKVEI.Ol-.MENT OP TlIK PROPF.BTY. 
 
 TLis i. un.loul.t.aiv, .t the present time, tl,e best develope,! 
 „olu property in tlie Province of Xova Scotiu. It «a. to tins spot 
 OntL great erowl oi' gol.l hunters ra.shed in 18G1-02 ; van y 
 ,„,,i,„, I., onriel, themselves by unorganized and nnsystematc. 
 Llll Wlule a lew were lortunate, the chief benefit of then- ,11- 
 direeted labor xvas the di.seovcry and exposure of a large number 
 of gold-bearing veins, now consolidated in the organ,«,t,on of ns 
 Comnanv. Since its organization it has been the pobey ol tin. 
 Con, anv to push its explorations upon the ntost prom.smg veins 
 and especially upon two of them-known as the Leary Lode and 
 the Xe-'roLode, bv sinking shafts, driving levels a.id raising ore, 
 ,„ ns to plaee themselves in a position to keep up a regular system 
 of crushing and amalgamating. To this end they have built a 
 substantial crushing mill ^vith twenty-four head of stamps, apow- 
 erful steanr endne and boilers, two Chilian mills, and round bud- 
 dies to concentrate and save the gold-bearing pyrites-which have 
 generally been rejected. An a.lit level has been driven from near 
 The level of Bush Lake, which will out all the lodes ,n the sett 
 ^vhen exten,led, but at present has reached only to its ii.tersee. 
 tion with the Xegro Lode. By this adit the ore stuft will be de- 
 livered by trams, already constructed, to the kilns and ernshmg 
 unll Tn short, the whole property has been laid out with evident 
 cn«-ineeri.,g skill, and with a view to ceonomy of abor, doing 
 ei-c^lit to the well-known abilities of Capt. M. U hield, who was 
 the engineer. A large amount of g-ound is open, and the .stopes 
 are in progress from the adit to surfivce. The number o lodes al- 
 ready opened on the property is eleven, to which may be added 
 twenty-one smaller ones, cut in the exploration ol ^^opper s Lake, 
 •md the probable extension of some of the vems of the Atlantic 
 Company into this property. All these items will be considered in 
 detai in their proper place, being alluded to m tins counec tioii 
 merely to justify the statement belo . made of the f.^ward stat 
 of exploration and development of Jiis property. Ot its gold 
 product, suffice it to say, that it will compare favorably with that 
 in any district in Nova Scotia. 
 
31 
 
 iTY. 
 
 this spot 
 ; vainly 
 stematic 
 tlieir ill- 
 ; iuimb(M' 
 )ii of this 
 y of this 
 ug veins, 
 ^oclc and 
 ising ore, 
 xr system 
 c ))uilt 
 ^s, a pow- 
 »und bud- 
 hicli have 
 from near 
 1 the sett 
 ; intersec- 
 vill be de- 
 crushing 
 th evident 
 bor, doing 
 , who was 
 the stopes 
 )f lodes al- 
 he added 
 per's Lake, 
 le Atlantic 
 nsidered in 
 connection 
 rward state 
 )f its gold 
 y willi that 
 
 ; 
 
 DKSCllIPTlOX OF TlIK (J()U)-HEAllIN(J l-ODEi^. 
 
 The general geological structure of this district has already 
 been sullieieutly considered ; wo will now eimincrate and, as far 
 as necessaiy, describe the gold-bearing veins at present known to 
 exist upon the Company's property. 
 
 Commencing at the north, we find Urs a group of seven veins, 
 on which, at present, but little exploration is being nuide, but 
 which demand specific notice. We will name them in the order 
 of their position : 
 
 1. The Four Korth Lorks. — T\ic?o veins vary from 2 to 12 
 inches in thickness. They have been traced in all about 1,200 
 feet in length. Tt is interesting to remember that it was one of 
 this group Which, in the month of October, 1860, furnished the 
 earliest knowledge of the existence of gold in this part of Nova 
 Scotia. Peter Jvlason, a fisherman, and a resident land owner near 
 the head of the Tangier Harbor, was passing through the woods, 
 about half a mile from his residence, upon his own land, when he 
 stooped down to drink at a small stream which passes over the 
 North Lodes. He observed, while in that position, a shining yellow 
 sul)stance in a piece of white (juatz which abounds thereabouts. 
 Securing the specimen he satisfied himself that he too hod dis- 
 covered^gol^^- which had no^long before been detcctod on the head- 
 waters of the Tangier lliN er. 
 
 The advanced state of the season prevented much exploratii^n 
 that fall, an<l, in the Spring, the Go nnent took possession of 
 the district through their agent, and laid it off in small lots upon 
 tiie supposed course of the veins. 
 
 The deepest shaft which has been sunk upon the Xoith Lodes 
 is 41) feet. The vein was found at that depth very nearly i)er- 
 pendicular. The gold in this gr(.)up of lodes is associated largely 
 with metallic sulphurets and arsenical pyrites. It is finely divulcd, 
 but with an occasional occurrence of coarse gold. 
 
 No data remain from v hich to determine the gold value of 
 this quartz to the ton. The gold was extracted by breaking up 
 the quartz with hammers and by rudely constructed ariastras 
 
 ^4 
 
82 
 
 methods by which, without doubt, much of tae goUl was lost, 
 and neiirlv all that as.soeiated with the sulphurcts and arscuiurets. 
 
 The excessively bad system of small areas of 120 by ')() feet led to 
 the excavation of so many shallow surface pits, that the accumu- 
 lating surface water socm drove out the adventurers, who abandoned 
 their chiiins, and the ground has remained since quite neglected. 
 Tiic mincralogical character of the North Lodes is such as to refer 
 Ihem U) the group of crystalline veins. Tlio .juart/ is crystalline 
 and hitfhly mineralised, the abundance of sulphurets being a 
 striking peculiarity. 'J'he color of the rpiartz is bluish and without 
 a:i oily lustre or slaty structure. I am informed that copper ore 
 and antimony glance have been found in this gioup (.f veins, but 
 have not seen specimens of those minerals from it. 
 
 When the leisure of the Superintendent permits, I should 
 advise the exploration of this ground, as it is not unlikely to 
 vield favorable results. 
 
 2. T/ic Middle XocZc— This vein hay- not been worked, al- 
 tliough it was among the earliest discovered. It is associated with 
 what is locally called a '" Bull Load," or cross course, two to three 
 feet thick, intersecting the plane of statitication, and therefore a 
 true vein. Lodes of this description in Nova Scotia are usually 
 barren of gold. Hence a prejudic irose against this middle 
 lode, which shows but little sul[thurets, and the quartz of which 
 is of a comi)act, somewdiat oilv character. It deserves, a trial, 
 how^ever, as soon as other and more important explorations per- 
 mit. 
 
 ?>. The Tiro SmOi Zo(/es\— These were so luimed because the,> 
 were found about the time when the north lodes were being opened) 
 and it was supposed that they wore the southernmost of all the 
 veins in the Tangier District. They arc situated about 50 feet 
 south of the group of nortli lodes, and ai > separated from each 
 other at surface by ai>out 1.') I'eet of interposed rock ; but at a 
 depth of 81 feet from surface tiiey are only 4 feet apart, owing to 
 the fact that the underlie of the larger vein is more rapid than 
 that of its neighbor; and it is plain they must intersect or unite 
 
88 
 
 was lost, 
 •scnliirets. 
 feet led to 
 J acoumu- 
 .batulonecl 
 neglected, 
 as to refer 
 }rystidline 
 i being a 
 id without 
 loppcr ore 
 veins, but 
 
 I should 
 iilikely to 
 
 orked, al- 
 iated with 
 ,^0 to three 
 here fore a 
 iro usually 
 is middle 
 ; of whi(?h 
 es, a trial, 
 ations per- 
 
 ?ause the;^ 
 ng opened) 
 of all the 
 >ut 50 feet 
 from each 
 but at a 
 ;, owing; to 
 ■apid than 
 ;t or unite 
 
 in one iargcr vein at a depth of 110 feet, if the same uniform 
 dip is maintained. The larger of this pair is from 4 to G inches 
 thick ; the smaller, or '• little south lode," is from 2 to 3 inches only 
 'riicy have been traced upwards of 150O feet in Icngtii. Numer- 
 ous shafts have been sunk on them by the early explorers, and to 
 this day several of these have continued to be worked upon 
 adjacent properties They vary in <lcpth from 60 to 100 feet, 
 but, owing to the want of organized and systematic labor, many of 
 them have been abandoned. 
 
 I learn from the local Gold Connnissioner that the yieldof g Id 
 from these lodes was, in niost instances, highly remunerative— 
 Irom half an ounce to six oufiecs, to the ton of quartz. The 
 average was estimated at three ounces to the ton, and in some of 
 the shafts there was a marked improvement in depth, owing, no 
 doubt, to the mode of distribution already described in the Intro- 
 duction. 
 
 The mineralogical character of the quartz in these leads is quite 
 favorable ; coarse gold is visible in it, especially near the slate wall, 
 and the associated minerals are such as accompany the most pro- 
 ductive lodes. The south wall is a soft pyritous slate, fissile, and 
 easily removed— conditions higV.ly favorable to mining. The north 
 or hanrdng wall is (luartzitc with some pyrites. The iron pyrites 
 in l)otlx the 'Into and quartz is abundant, and is accompanied m 
 the quartz with arsenical pyrites and metallic copper. These veins 
 belong to the group of crystalline lodes. 
 
 At present nothing is being done on these lodes upon the pro- 
 perty of the New York and Nova Scotia Company, l)utit is highly 
 desirable to make a thorough exploration of them on this property 
 us soon as practicable. It will be seen, by reference to the returns 
 from White k Esty's Mill, quoted in the introduction, that the 
 yield from the south leads was over 4^ ounces of gold to the ton, 
 A result so highly eucouraging as to leave no room to doubt 
 th'3 propriety of resuming explorations upon them. 
 
 4. Thr^. JOmi Lode.—TWxs is a strong quartz vein, froru one to 
 two feet ill thickness, highly pyritous, and referable to the 
 ^ - 5 
 
 3l 
 
 fl 
 
 II 
 
3^ 
 
 class of slaty veins, with oily quartz, l^ut little has been done 
 in its exploration-being nearly vertical, it was believed by those 
 working the south lodes, (distant fifty-four feet <.n the surface, 
 that they, with a more rapid dip, w. uld intersect it at a deptli ot 
 about 150 feet-a poi'.it which yet remains to be proved. It has 
 yielded, at surface, small (luantities of gold. 
 
 The foregoing veins, it will be seen by the map, occupy the . 
 north-eastcni portion of the property of the Company, and have re- 
 ceived almost no attention since they came under the present or- 
 ganization. They mav be regarded as a kind of reserve fund for 
 future use, when the time arrives, whieh will permit the proper 
 research to be made on them. 
 
 We come now to consider the two most important lodes on the 
 propertv-certainly those on whieh the greatest amount of labor 
 has been expended— and which are of more immediate interest as 
 giving present returns. 
 
 5. The Negro Lode.—ThQ " Nigger Lead," as it is familiarly 
 called, (because it was discovered by two of the innocent causes of 
 the present war,) is a large vein of crystalline quartz, about one hun- 
 dred feet south of the last-named. Its size is from 10 inches to 
 2 feet, and it has been opened over a distance of 2,500 feet. \^ 
 the Dana Lode on the Atlantic pro" -ty is the same vein, as there 
 is good reason to believe, then it .j known to extend over half a 
 m\\e. It dips GO degrees to the south, resting on a dark blue soft 
 slate for its under wall. The hanging wall is a heavy bedded 
 quartzite, filled with mispickel and yellow iron ]>yrites. 
 
 This vein is, in many respects, the most remarkable one in this 
 district. It is highly crystalline, being the type of the lirst class of 
 auriferous veins, and carries with it a large number of well crys- 
 tallized minerals. It has always yielded the showiest specimens of 
 crystallized gold which have been obtained, some of which have 
 had a gold value of $100 and upwards. Its associated minerals are 
 calc-spar— rarely found elsewhere in these veins. Carbonate of 
 iron, yellow and white iron pyrites, sometimes very beautifully 
 crystallized, mispickel and yellow copper ; it has, in fact, more the 
 
»een done 
 I by th(jse 
 
 I surface,) 
 I (.k'ptli ot 
 I. It hiis 
 
 •ccup3^ the 
 d have re- 
 present or- 
 'e fund foi" 
 the proper 
 
 ides on the 
 
 it of labor 
 
 interest as 
 
 famiharly 
 it causes of 
 ut oneliun- 
 inches to 
 
 00 feet, re 
 
 ■in, as there 
 over half a 
 rk blue soft 
 Lvy bedded 
 ). 
 
 i one in this 
 first class of 
 f well erys- 
 pccimens of 
 which have 
 minerals are 
 Carbonate of 
 beautifully 
 ct, more the 
 
 35 
 
 aspect of a metalliferous vein than any other 1 examined in this 
 district. 
 
 The gold it contains appears to be generally coarse — or visible 
 gold, which, it would seem, has been separated at the expense of 
 the mass of the quartz, since the returns from stamping are not as 
 large as the showy character of the specimens would lead us to 
 
 expect. 
 
 A reference to the accompanying plan will show that six shafts 
 have been svmk on the course of this lode, to various depths, from 
 25 to (>0 feet. From three of those— the Main shaft, Smith's shaft, 
 and Barnes's shaft— drifts have been commenced, and are being ex- 
 tern led east and Avest, to open the mines for stoping. The west 
 shaft, at the time of my visit, was not yet quite down to the ten 
 fathom level. The location of some of these shafts illustrates 
 the evil consequences of the bad system of small allotments, lead- 
 ing to a great waste of capital and labor by compelling adjacent 
 owners to sink on their own land, in place of adopting a system of 
 consolidation, with a view to extended and deep explorations. 
 This remark applies with even more force to the Leary vein in 
 which shafts were, by this system, crowded together in the most 
 absurd manner. 
 
 But little stoping lias yet been done in the Negro vein, the ten 
 fath(mi level not being yet driven through. In the whim shaft T 
 witnessed the eonnnencement of stoping (overhand) early in De- 
 cember, and measured a piece of ground 12 by 8 feet, which four 
 men had broken down in three and a half days' time, at a total 
 cost of $1-2.60. The ground broken was four feet wide, of which 
 the vein measured not quite one loot; at twelve cubic feet to the 
 ton, the amount of pi'oduct was not far Irom 8 tons— call it (j 
 tons, and the ore would cost $2 per ton for mining. It could be 
 rontracted for at that price beyond doubt. This level, on the 6th 
 (,f December, was driven <J:3>, feet east and 90 feet west. At the 
 west end the lode was split by a mass of slate, and at th.e east end 
 it was evidently pinched by one of those rolls ..r folds already de- 
 scribed. The evidence of this folded structure was i-lainly visibl<> 
 in the lode at other points. I advised the mining captain to send 
 
36 
 
 up the adjacent .late vvlnrever it Nvas seen to carry arsenical or 
 other pvrites, or to be eut by thread veins of quartz; since then it 
 is ahnost certain to (.arry coarse gold at the lines of contact, or 
 
 fine gold in the pyrites. ,„ . .1 
 
 When the 10-fathom level is extended from "Barnes to the 
 " Wesf sliaft, the ground opened by it for stoping will be about 
 1 000 feet Ion-, and will average ^0 feet high. This wdl yield by 
 mcasure-cairing the average size of the lode, with the accom- 
 panvino- thin shale, one foot-3,500 tons of ore stuff, or about one 
 year's s°upply for a mill averaging 10 tons daily. Assuming the 
 cost of mining and crushing as $4 the ton, which is probably 
 about the fact, all contingencies considered, on a vein of tlus size, 
 it will be seen that if the^gold yield is only one ounce, or $20 per 
 ton, the returns will be satisfactory. 
 
 As however, it is always a time-consuming operation to sink 
 shafts and drive drifts, it is equally evident that the active prose- 
 cution of these preparatory labors is essential to continued suc- 
 cess that the new ground may be well in hand before the old is 
 completely exhausted. The sinking of new shafts at proper dis- 
 stances upon the supposed western extension of the vein is also 
 called for to open up the ground in that direction. The whim 
 shaft shouM tlierefore be sunk without delay to the BO-fathom 
 level and downward. 
 
 6. The Lrar>i Xo(A^ -- This beautiful vein is situated nearly 
 4(0 fret south' of the " Negro," and appears to be not entirely 
 parallel with it or with the Lake Lode which is next south of it, as 
 niay be seen by glancing at the map. It h;)< been very much cut 
 open l)v the surface pits of early explorers. On the east it is lost 
 in linsii Lake, at least it has not been discovered in tliat direction, 
 nor lias it been identified beyond the margin of Copper's Lake on 
 the west. Although it is believed by some that it has at this point 
 suffered a heave to the north, in which case the openings on the 
 margin of the lake, known as the "Lake Company's Shaft," may 
 be irpoii the Lcury. This cannot, however, be assumed, although 
 the mineralogical character of the (luartz in tliQ two is not very un- 
 
37 
 
 ;enical or 
 ce then it 
 ontat't, or 
 
 s' " to the 
 bo about 
 ,1 yield by 
 :ie aceom- 
 about one 
 miing the 
 ! probably 
 f til is size, 
 or $20 per 
 
 on to sink 
 ;live prose- 
 tinued suc- 
 3 the old is 
 proper dis- 
 vein is also 
 The whim 
 • BO-fathom 
 
 a ted nearly 
 lot entirely 
 nth of it, as 
 y ninoh cut 
 last it is lost 
 at direction, 
 er's Lake on 
 at this point 
 nings on the 
 Shaft," may 
 ed, although 
 not very un- 
 
 like. Both veins belong to the 2d class or group of oily quartz, 
 with a more or less slaty structure, and mottled with dark bl le 
 or gray patches, with a white semi-transparent paste. 
 
 The Company now own the entire length of this lode, from the 
 mi(hlle of Rush Lake westward, as far as it is at present known 
 to extend, (perhaps 1,500 feet,) having consolidated the numerous 
 small claims into which it was t Hrst broken up. One ill elfect of 
 this former divided ownership, before alluded to, maybe seen in the 
 numerous shafts crowded within a small space, there being no less 
 than three shafts in the space of 100 feet, and six in a space of 
 -iOO feet. This is, however, a thing of the past; and as this Com- 
 pany has not been put to the expense of their construction, they 
 have derived some profit from the needless labors of their pre- 
 decessors. 
 
 This vein is characterized by its mottled aspect, due to a mix- 
 ture of dark blue and gray (luartz, with a semi-tmnsparent colorless 
 quartz. A laminated or slaty structure is also visible in it, the 
 surfaces of lamination being often striated, and not unfrcquently 
 coated with a film or plating oi iron pyrites and scales of gold. 
 On calcining, the blue and gray quartz becomes milk white, and 
 patches of skate imbedded in the vein become very conspicuous. 
 
 The gold appears in crystalline particles, set like gems in the 
 white (piartz, in threads and veins penetrating the quartz, an-l 
 bindin..- it together and in thin scales, between the sheets or folds 
 of the'slate and (quartz, and occasionally in the blue slate itseli. 
 Besides the visible Q-old, it is well known that both the quartz and 
 the in-rites contain invisible gold. Associated with the gold arc 
 ,n,<piekel, zinc blende, yehow pyrites and galena. The gold is 
 often embeddcl in one or more of these minerals, a.ul there is 
 oood reason to believe tliat they are never entirely iVee of gold, 
 even where no particles of the precious metal are visible. 
 
 The foot-wall or north side of this lode is a soft, fme-grained 
 li..ile dark blue slate, easily mined and earrying in it frc<iuently 
 .onstderable masses of arsc-nical pyrites or mispickel, although it 
 i^ not as a ..-eneral rule, so highly eharged with dissemmated pyrites 
 as the foot-wall of these veins often is. I have advised that, so tar as 
 
88 
 
 it is seen to carry mispiekel or to be penetrated with thread-veins 
 of ( [uartz. it be removed and reserved for dressing for gold. Masses 
 of spathic iron and dolomite not unfrequently occur in this slate 
 surrounding the lumps or bunches of mispichel ; native copper and 
 yellow copper also occur in the vein. 
 
 The hanging-wall is rpiarlzite, charged with sulphurets and mis- 
 piekel. 
 
 The gold product of this vein has varied from $25 to $80 or 
 more per ton. One lot of 30 tons yielded .$26 ; 39 tons in several 
 lots gave $2.5 ; another lot of 6 tons gave $84 to the ton, and a lot 
 of WS tons, crushed in the Chilian mills, when 1 was at the mine, 
 yielded 2 o/. o dwt. to the ton. Two ounces of gold to the ton of 
 ip.iartz I consider a fiiir statement of the vein. 
 
 An assay at the U. S. Assay Oflice, by Mr. Kent, gave the fol- 
 lowing interestino- results, shov/ing the distribution of the gold in 
 the several members of the vein. 
 
 1 Mixed ure coutaiiiiiig' visible gold (in the ton of 2,000 lbs.) .$1892.17 
 
 2 Pyritous ore containing no visible gold " " 9;{.05 
 ;? Black ore containing no visible " " '' 15.57 
 
 4 Brown ore (ferruginous) 
 
 5 White ore " 
 (I Mixed ore, finest portion sifted 
 
 
 ii 
 i< 
 
 n.G3 
 
 (12.03 
 
 Ivxcluding 1 as no guide. (3 as comprising the (Others, and Ko. 4 
 as forming no important part of the contents of the vein, the 
 uverage is $40, or almost exactly two ounces to the ton, the 
 same as deduced from actual trial on the large scale. — (See 
 Appendix B.) 
 
 The gold of this vein assayed at the \J. S. Assay OQice, yielded 
 $19.97 the ounce. 
 
 Of the value of the pyrites I shall speak further on. 
 
 The ground open upon /he Leary Vein is all above the 30-fathom 
 level, the ore still standing there in December, being about fiOd tons. 
 Tills estimate i no hides all the unbroken ground from the west 
 shaft, the eastern limits of tlie present workings, and above the 
 10-fathom level, and assumes an average of inches for the 
 
39 
 
 id-veins 
 
 Masses 
 
 bis slate 
 
 ipcr and 
 
 md mis- 
 
 :> $80 or 
 L several 
 ,nd a lot 
 le mine, 
 ic ton of 
 
 I the fol- 
 (>old in 
 
 92.17 
 1);{.05 
 15.57 
 7.75 
 11.G3 
 02.03 
 
 lid Ko. 4 
 /em, the 
 ton, the 
 ). — (See 
 
 , yielded 
 
 0-fathom 
 P)()0 ions, 
 the west 
 l)ove the 
 s for the 
 
 vein. This was being taken down by contract, and about 100 
 tons were at surflice at that time, 
 
 T'lie shaft Nos. 1 and 3 were sinking liy contract to ■ ipen the 
 20-fathom level. These works of exploration cannot be pushed 
 forward too rapidly, as it is evident that all the new ground will 
 be wanted as fast as it can be made ready. ^Vo sink these shafts, 
 at least two months will be required before they can reach the 20- 
 fathom level, and to drive the levels to a point, where stojjes can 
 be advantageously commenced, will jn'obably require as much 
 more time. A section of this vein, 60 by 100 feet, will contain, as- 
 suming 8 inches as the widtliof the vein raised, aboiit 4,000 tons of 
 ore.* As the Company expect to crush 2() tons of stuff daily, and 
 Lave the power to crusli 40, it is easy to see how long such a sec- 
 tion w^ould last. It is to be presumed, however, that th(>y will 
 raise at least half the stuff required by the stamps from the Negro 
 Lode. 
 
 7. 'T/ie Lahe Lode. — About twenty feet south of the Leary is a 
 lode of the same general appearance and thickness as the last 
 named. 'J'he quartz is laminated and its surface striated, its color 
 mottled, and lustre oily. Of its value nothing is known at present. 
 No deep shafts have been sunk upon it, 
 
 8. About twenty-live feet south of the last named is a large 
 untried vein, measuring from two to three feet in thickness, and 
 resembling, it is said, the " barrel cpartz"' of Waverly. This also is 
 quite unexplored. 
 
 9. The Ferguson Lode, of the Atlantic Company, is believed to 
 intersect the property of this Company not hir south of the last, 
 named vein. But this supposition remains to be established. If 
 it should prove true, as from its strength is <iuite probable, it will 
 be a valuable addition to the Company's property. 
 
 10. Coppers Lahe Co. Lo'k.—Ou the boixlor of Copper's Lake a 
 shaft, foi-rv-two feet deep, was sunk u|u>n a vein n(>arly a foo-l 
 
 » in tin.-? estimute ! call (!«' vein H inchos, because hoiuo "i' i!io foot-wall is broken 
 with it. 
 
40 
 
 thick, of blue and white iiuartz, very pyritous, and carrying about 
 $21 of gold tothc ton of quartz. The pyrites have been estimated, 
 fro.n a ti'ial bv Mr. Wm. Barnes, Mining Sui)t. of the Atlantic 
 Companv, as ni.ic i.er cent, of the mass of the vem. The mean of 
 two assays of the pyrites, made, under my directions, in the Shef- 
 lield L.iboratorv, gave a value in gold of $187.04 to the ton, or 
 $16.S;:; to the ton of ore, giving a value of $37.83 per ton to the 
 quartz, aids, then, is one of y«>ur most valuable lodes, and de- 
 mands immediate attention. As yet tiiis Company has done 
 nothing vith it. It has a soft black slate as its foot-wall on the 
 north side, and (piartzite for its hanging wall. 
 
 1 1 . Other T aiisSoi included in the foregoing enumeration are 
 several veins, occupying the ground between the Xegro and the 
 Leary, the position of some of which is indicated on the map, 
 but of which nothing is known at present. 
 
 12. Tlte Copper's LaU Alluvkd Gold.— "We drainage of Copper's 
 Lake was expected, by the adventurers who undertook it, to ex- 
 pose to view an exciting accumulation of nuggets. Disappointed 
 in this, and llnding only a mass of vegetable matter and mud, 
 covering a stratum of glacial drift and tough clay, after some 
 unsuccessful search for the expected wealtli, the Company aban- 
 doned their enterprise, and one-half of Copper's Lake now forms 
 part of the ].roperty of this Company, its total area was only 
 fourteen acres. That its bottom contains gold is certain ; but to 
 what extent remains to be proved. On sinking pits anywhere on 
 its surface to the under-clay, and wasldng the dirt, gold is found 
 in small unrounded nuggets, just such as are seen in the quartz, 
 quite rough and free from any signs of mechanical action. Ac- 
 companying it is the hlaeh sand, so characteristic of gold-washings. 
 The magnet piclcs up more than half of the sand accompanying 
 the gold, and the remainder (after the magnetic sand is removed) 
 consists of ilraenite or titanic iron, epidote, garnets, &c,^ As the 
 waters of Tangier Eiver arc at a sufficient elevation, within a mile 
 of this lake, t"^^ flow to the spot by a (hime, it is probable that 
 the joint owners of this lake-bottom may Jind it advantageous 
 
g about 
 i mated, 
 ?Ltl antic 
 neari of 
 lie Shef- 
 toii, or 
 n to tlie 
 and de- 
 ls done 
 .1 on the 
 
 ition are 
 and the 
 he map, 
 
 Cop])cr's 
 t, to ex- 
 ppoiiited 
 id mud, 
 ter some 
 ny aban- 
 )\\' forms 
 was only 
 1 ; but to 
 where on 
 is found 
 e quartz, 
 on. Ac- 
 A'ashings. 
 npanying 
 removed) 
 As the 
 lin a mile 
 table that 
 antageous 
 
 -41 
 
 to adopt the Californian method of sluicing this spot, running the 
 waste into Rusli Lake, if, as is prol>al)le, the fall is sulficient to 
 give a proper slope to the sluice. As the course of the glacial 
 cui-rent has been such as to deposit a part of its burthen in the bed 
 of this lake, and several auriferous veins are known to exist to 
 the north of it, there is certainly good reason to suppose that al- 
 luvial gokl may be found there in remunerative quantity. The 
 o-eneral absence of this source of gold in Nova Scotia, and its 
 reason, has already been considered in a former part of this report. 
 The remarkable discovery of nuggets, by the roadside, in lliis 
 neighborhood, last summer, already described, should be a warn- 
 inu- not to overlook this oourceof gold, mined to hand by nature's 
 forces during the glacial period, whose traces are so evidently now 
 on the surface of all the rock.^: of this region. 
 
 The Adit— An adit has been driven from a point indicated 
 on the map, near the Leary Lode, to intersect the Negro, near the 
 wbim shaft. This important piece of work was, on the 1st of 
 December, within 29 feet of the Negro Lode, making it about 280 
 feet in length, It is proposed to put a tram-way in this adit, and 
 deliver the stuff at the kilns and stamping mill without animal 
 power. The or(> from the Leary Load will take the same course. 
 By extending this adit about 200 feet further north, it will inter- 
 sect the group of veins before mentioned, and at the same time 
 explore a bolt of unknown ground. But, perhaps, tlie most im- 
 portant service this adit can perform will be the drainage of the 
 mines. Tt has been already remarked that the strata of this region 
 arc so close that, when the surface water is disposed of, .there 
 proves to be so little water in depth, it is doubtful if there will be 
 nee.l of pumping machinery for its removal. The adit provides 
 ■L drain for the surface water, all of which,'by simple contrivances, 
 well known to miners, can be discharged from this pv.t, thus re- 
 lievinc- the lower levels completely of this j^reat source of annoy- 
 
 ance. 
 
 6 
 
42 
 
 SUMMARY OF UKDERG ROUND EXPLORAl'ION. 
 
 T fnul from my notes that, on the first of Decembdr, the follow- 
 ing work had been done, umlergroimd, in developing the property 
 of this Company, chiefly upon the Negro and Leary Lodes : 
 
 Aggregate depth of shuft3, sunk on the Negro Lode, 292 ft. 15 in. 
 ,i '. " » " Lcary Lode, l'J9 ft. 3 in. 
 
 " length of levels driven " Negro Lode, 37;") ft. 4 in. 
 a a " '' " Lcary Lode, not mcasu'd. 
 
 T-ei)gth of adit '-^'^^ ft- 
 
 Shafts 1 and 'i, (Munn and Whim.) on the Leary, are to be sunk 
 immediately to tlie twenty-fathom level, and united by driving at 
 that depth, it appears, from this statement, that the quantity of 
 ground open for stoping in the Negro Vein was, on the 1st of 
 December, much greater than that in the Leary Lode : much more 
 o'l'ound having been removed from the Leary o.bove the ten-fathom 
 level than from the Negro, as may be seen by a glance at the 
 
 plan. 
 
 To this summary should be added numerous surface pits, mostly 
 the work of the early adventurers, by means of which much kuow- 
 ledrre has been obtained of the position and character of the several 
 veins. 
 
 SURFACE IMPROVEMENTS. 
 
 1. Tram Boads. — A well-considered system of tram-roads has 
 been constructed to communicate from the adit and the shafts, on 
 the Leary A^ein, with the kilns for calcining the ore. By this 
 means much manual labor and animal power is saved, and the 
 expense of handling the stuff" reduced to a minimum. TJie wis- 
 dom of sucli dispositions is evident when we remember how large 
 an item labor is in the cost of mining and dressing ores. The 
 o-rade of the tram-road is such as to deliver the ore at the head of 
 the kilns which are thus filled by gravity. 
 
 2. The Kilnfi. — There are Wo kilns constructed of (piartzite, 
 and calculated to hold 25 or 80 tons each. It requires three days 
 to fill, fire and discharge a kiln of 25 tons capacity. If, therefore, 
 
48 
 
 follow- 
 roperty 
 
 )e 
 
 sunk 
 
 .ving at 
 mtity of 
 e 1st of 
 ch more 
 :-fatliom 
 } at the 
 
 ;, mostl}'' 
 :li kuow- 
 3 several 
 
 3ads has 
 hafts, on 
 By this 
 , and the 
 ^rJie wis- 
 10 w large 
 es. The 
 3 head of 
 
 (|uartzite, 
 lirec days 
 therefore, 
 
 
 20 tons of stuft' per day is to be stamped and dressed, four kilns 
 of 30 tons each will be required to maintain a constant operation. 
 Ft remains, however, to be determined by experiment whether it 
 is best to calcine all the ore taken to the crushers. Undoubtedly 
 the hard white (piartz destitute of pyrites and of visible gold, 
 should be calcined; and so far as tlie facility of crushing is con- 
 cerned, there can be no question l)ut tliat it is greatly promoted by 
 calcination. But the expense of fuel aii<l of labor, in the process, 
 can hardly be less than ifil per *^oii. where the price of wood is $4: the 
 cord. It is also the opinion of experienced persons, that the saving 
 of time, and of wear and tear in crushing, is not sufficient to pay 
 the additional cost, unless when arrastras or Chilian ]\[ills are 
 used in place of stam[)s. The calcination is rarely, if ever, carried 
 to a suflicient extent to expel the sulphur from the sul])hurets, 
 unless on the outside of the lumps. But usage is divided on this 
 subject in well-ordered mills, and probably experience must decide 
 in your case how far it is to your advantage to push the process. 
 If kilns arc used, It is plain they should be laid up in Hre-mortar, 
 and not witli lime, as is the usual way in the Xova Scotian Gold 
 Fields. 
 
 Tlie process of calcining will be found much more effectual in 
 disintegrating the quartz, if the ore can be quenched with water as 
 soon as the fuel is exhausted. Experiment has shown that quartz, 
 so treated, becomes exiremcly friable ; and the stamps w^ould, un- 
 doubtedly, pass nearly, or (juite double the (piantity of quartz 
 which had been quenched as of the uncalcined ore. It might seem, 
 from this statement, that there could be no question of the pro- 
 priety of adopting a system capable of such results. Every practi- 
 cal ore-dresser knows, however, that there are many other import- 
 ant matters, needful for successful amalgamation, besides rapid 
 crushing. 
 
 It will be observed that a very important part of the gold value 
 of the Tangier ores \& connected vrith the pyrites, and the concentra- 
 tion and saving of this portion of the ore is rendered more difficult 
 by calcination, while the apparatus used for the purpose of concen- 
 tration, must bear a just proportion to the amount of stuff worked, 
 
 I 
 
44 
 
 find the latter cannot be increased beyond a certain point without 
 disturbinf^' the proper working of the apparatus, 
 
 D,rssinrj-Wvds ami Ma ch in enj.— The steam crusliing and amal- 
 gamating mill of the Company, is a substantial frame building, 
 40 by 50 feet, of two stories, with a boiler house annexed. 
 
 The Slecni. Enrj!,te is the best one I saw in the Nova Scotia 
 Gold Region. It is estimated at fiftydiorsc power, has a cylinder 
 of fourteen inches diameter and three feet stroke, with a tly wheel 
 of iifteen iect diameter. It is supplied with steam from two 
 cylinder boilcis, forty-two inches diameter, and twenty-eight feet 
 long. Two small donkey engines and pumps suMply water, for 
 the boilers and dressing machinery, from a well, communicating 
 with Rush Lake, which is immediately adjoining. This portion 
 of the machinery was supplied by C, IT. Richards, of lirooklyn. 
 N, Y,, and does much credit to the builders, 
 
 Tlic Stamps are arranged in four l)atteries of six each— tv:enty- 
 four heads— with wooden lifters, raised by cams, making three 
 blows to each revolution of the cam shaft, which is designed for 
 twenty revolutions per minute, giviug sixty blows each minute of 
 a hammer weighing in all 800 lbs. The mill has power for forty 
 head of sumps. As originally built, the stamps had wooden 
 boxes. These have been, in part, changed for cast-iron boxes 
 with four-inch buttoms and six-inch arms, calculated to crush in 
 six inches of w\ater, using mercury in the boxes. I'he system 
 adopted also includes — 
 
 Tivo CItllkm Mills, or edge-stones, running on cast-iron tracks 
 or pans, G| feet in diameter, weighing 31 cwt. The stones are of 
 granite, 4' 2" diameter by 18' face, and weighing about two 
 tons each. They make ten revolutions each per minute, at an 
 estimated cost of four-horse powder. These mills are fed directl) 
 from the stamps, or they may be run separately, as when I saw 
 them, being then fed by hand. They discharge upon 
 
 .Riffle Talks, covered with amalgamated copper plates, designed 
 to retain the fine gold which escapes from the mills. The sluice 
 
45 
 
 boxes, from the stamps to tlio mills, arc also lined with amalgam- 
 ated copper. Beyond the i-illle-boards the tailings [)a!=!S by laun- 
 ders to 
 
 Jiound BuO.dks in an adjacent building. 24 by 45 feet, at a lower 
 level. The form of this appara^;.^ here adopted is that devised by 
 iriuult. and introduced lirst in Knglaud and this country by 
 Messrs. Phillips and Darlington, the Wfll-known mining and con- 
 sidting engineers, of Londoi:. A descri])tion of this huddle may 
 be found in the 2liiiiii'j and Smeltiiif/ Jfirjccuic, N'ol. 1. The 
 object of this apparatus is to concentrate the pyrites by washing- 
 it free of the lighter waste with which it is associated. A (Mrcular, 
 funnel-shaped floor, eiglitoen iect in diameter, is prepared with a 
 fall to the centre of abo it 5'', (.).l, inches in 8 feet.) Tlie ore-stuff 
 is distributed upon the outer edge by four arms, having sj)outs at 
 their extremities for the discharge of the stream of ore and water, 
 wliich enters at the center in a circular launder surromuling the 
 shaft, and of which the four arms arc but extensions; canvas 
 wipers are hung from the arms to aid in the even distribution of 
 the stuif; and when the due pro])ortions of water. ore-stulY and 
 velocity of rotation are observed, it is said this apparatus elVects a 
 sufficiently close separation of the heavy sulphurets from the quariz 
 waste. The valuable portion, of course, remains near the head or 
 outer 3dge of the buddle. while the waste is distributed lower 
 down the slope, and the excess of water escapes at the o})en center. 
 The Engli.sh Company at Strawberry Hill in 'J^angicr, hav(? erected 
 one of these buddies, and there I saw the result of an experiment 
 of two or three days' running of the apparatus, which could hardly 
 be esteemed a fair trial, as the mill had but just commenced ojiera- 
 tions. Such as it was, however, the result tlisappointed me. The 
 concentration was very imperfect, and the separation of the pyrites 
 quite unsatisfactory. I see, hoTvever, no reason why the a])paratu9 
 should not do as good work as can be obtainc'l in ore-dressing on 
 this system, which, however, I do not think well ada}>ted to this 
 purpose. 
 
 The house has capacity for two such buddies ; one only has. 
 
46 
 
 liovvevor, as yet, been constructed. The waste, after passino- tlic 
 biukllo, is (lis(;har;/C(l into Rusli Lake. 
 
 1\ik..'U as a whole, the crusliin^r and amalgamating mill of the 
 Company is a well-considered establishment, capable now of doing 
 good work, and easily modified to meet the results of a more mature 
 experience, without interruption of regular work. 
 
 ON THK TRKATMKN'I' OF TIIK ORKS. 
 
 It is obvious, from what has been said, that the treatment of 
 gold-bearing cpiartz carrying pyrites, in such a manner as to ob- 
 tain from it the largest possible amount of the gold it contains, 
 is by no means an easy problem. The gold in fpiartz is often so 
 very fine as to bo wdiolly invisible, even under a powerful micro- 
 scope; in fact it is chemicalhj Jhe, and may be compared to the 
 condition in which this metal is precipitated from its solution by 
 sulphate of iron. In this condition it will float upon water, and 
 even when much coarser than this, as any one may satisfy himself 
 by the simple experiment of stirring a leaf of gold-beater's gold n\ 
 a glass of water. To bring gold in this state into contact with 
 quicksilver, without loss of gold, requires peculiar and very nice 
 mechanical arrangements. Then the coarse gold is sometimes 
 •' rusty," as the miners express it, that is, covered exteriorly l»y a 
 film of oxide of iron, or of some other substance which cuts off 
 contact with the mercurj^, and so the gold escapes, not being amal- 
 gamated. 
 
 The gold wdiich is associated in'th pjrites is obtained by the 
 usual mechanical means, only very imperfectly; great loss of 
 mercury follows the attempt at amalgamation, wdien the metal is 
 associated with arsenical pyrites, and it is yet an unsettled problem 
 how iKst to save all the gold in this association. 
 
 In Califcn-nia, according to the statement of Kustel, the loss of 
 gold by the amalgamation in battery with a copper-plated plat- 
 form, with ores containing heavy gold, is from ;i5 to 40 per 
 centum of the quantity rhown to exist by the tire assay ; but 
 light gold gives a less favorable result. -A great many fine parti- 
 cles of amalgam adhere together, including also manganese scum. 
 
47 
 
 i'm^ the 
 I of the 
 
 )rii<)iiig 
 
 ! mature 
 
 mciit ol' 
 s to ob- 
 ^ontain^, 
 often Fo 
 1 micro- 
 i to the 
 Lition by 
 iter, .11 ul 
 ' liimself 
 5 gold in 
 [let "W'.tli 
 erv nice 
 metimea 
 rly by a 
 cuts oil' 
 ng; amal- 
 
 by tlie 
 
 t loss of 
 
 metal is 
 
 problem 
 
 ic loss of 
 ited plat- 
 ) 40 per 
 ;ay ; but 
 iiiu parti- 
 jse scum, 
 
 if present, and form small. s|iongy, blackish lumps, which are 
 so light as to float, and on account of being coated with for- 
 eign matters, will not unite with the accumulated amalgam. Of 
 this amalgam but very little can be saved ; it ilouts over blankets, 
 copper }ilates or rii)ples.""" 
 
 Of amalgamation on coj)per-])lated platforms, troughs and other 
 CO] )pcr contrivances, this author remarks they arc '' very imperfect, 
 and mostly abandoned," in California and Nevada. 
 
 Certainly the experience of California may be regarded as a 
 safe guide in gold dre?:nng. ^JMici'c every other contrivance for 
 amalgamation has giv-i way to the "iron pans," which is a 
 highly improved arnisU;, amalgamation, and at i.resent the most 
 l)erfect gold amalgamation known. Ilie two conditions are fric- 
 tion and contact M'ith ([uicksilver, at a high tem])erature. These 
 are met in a highly satisfactory manner by '• Wheeler's pans," the 
 gold b(>ing extracted by them as close as ninety-five per cent, of the 
 fii-e assay. The loss of gold in the pans does not resul from de- 
 fecti^'e amalgamation, Init from improper discharge. This is not 
 the place to describe, in detail, the constru('tion of this apparatus. 
 My duty is dischaiged by indicating the best metliods to bo 
 adopted for saving the gold in j-our veins. That none of the 
 methods now in use in Nova Scotia a})proach the perfection at- 
 banable, is clear to anv one at all acquainted with ore dressin"- 
 Kvery process which I witnessed there was faulty in this particu- 
 Uir, especially that it provided no mear? for the ccmlinued and in- 
 irintate contact of the rjold ivith quiclvsilver ; too much water, and too 
 large an amount of quicksilver were also employed for successful 
 and economical amalgamation. The " i-on pan" process, as stated 
 is only a highly improved arrastra amalgamation. The })roper 
 use of the •' arrastra" (and of the Chilian mill also) requires use 
 of onl_y a limited quantity of watci-, not more than is needed 
 to convert the . e into a paste, or thick mud, and the quicksilver 
 
 ^ " Nevada and California Processes of Sih-or and (Jold Extraction," kc, by 
 (ii-iDo KrsTEL, Mining-Engineer and Metallurgist. Illustrated by accurate en- 
 gravings. San Francisco : F. I). Carlton, 1863, 8vo, pp. 327. 
 
48 
 
 is added, after tlie ore has been brought to this condition, by strain- 
 ino- through a dry cloth over the paste, one or two ounces of quick- 
 silver for a charge of six and eight hundred pounds of ore. If 
 free gold is found after tlie amalgamation has been some time in 
 process, a little more mercury is added. After four or five hours 
 the pulp i?^ diluted with water, and discharged. This process is 
 ]-epeated until one hundred, or -ne hundred and fifty tons nre 
 worked through, the (piicksilvei- ilways being added in proportion 
 to the gold in the ore from one to one and a half ounces to each 
 oui^ce of gold in the quartz. It is essential that the amalgam be 
 dry, or else a loss of quicksilver, and an imperfect amalgamation, 
 follows. How unlike this is to the practice in Nova Scotia, any 
 one will see who has witnessed the usual process there. 
 
 From what has been said, it will appear that unless ores are 
 very i)yritous, and especially unless the quantity of arsenical 
 pyrites is very great, the California metliod will obviate the use 
 of any process of concentration by buddies or otherwise, and the 
 "tnilings" may be safely neglected. Such, 1 understand, is the latest 
 C ifornia experience in quartz mining. The gold in the pyrites 
 is mechanically but very minutely divided, and, unless it is 
 brought into forcible contact with the mercury hy friction, will not 
 amalgamate. 
 
 Even those ores which contain gold in sucli a condition that it 
 cannot be liberated by gihiding, can be treated in the pans after 
 
 roasting. 
 
 The process of separation of gold by chlorine, known as 
 '• Plattner's Process," is also very successful upon these sulphurets, 
 and arseniurets which require to be roasted before treatment. It 
 is a process wliich requires moderate chemical skill, Init gives re- 
 sults even closer than those obtained by the pan process, especially 
 if all coarse gold is lirst removed by mechanical means. 
 
 None of a our ores appear to me to rc([uire this treatment, and 
 it is therefore needless to give its details. 
 
 VALUE OF THE PYRITES IN THE TANGIER ORES. 
 
 The average quantity of pyrites in yoar ores is, to a good de- 
 gree, a matter' of eon jecturc, but it lias been variously estimated 
 
49 
 
 from 8 to 12 per cent. The following assays will show the im- 
 portance of paying attention to its economical working. 
 
 No. 1. Assay of a sample of pyrites worked from tailings at the 
 mill of this Company, made at the U. S. Assay Office, Sept. 23. 
 1868, as reported by Dr. John Torrey, the Chief Assayer. See 
 Appendix C. 
 
 Gold per ton (of 2,000 lbs.) $122 13 
 
 Silver " " \ ' ' o ^,7 
 
 8124 80 
 No. 2. Pyrites from Lake Company's Lead, crushed at Wliiie 
 k Esty's Mill on the Tangier River, Nov., 1863. These assays 
 were made Jan. U, 13.')4, by 0. D. .Allen, Chief Assistan in the 
 Sheffield Laboratoiy of Yale College. 
 Mean of two assays trave 
 
 Gold per ton of (2,000 lbs.) $IS1 04 
 
 The silver in this assay was not estimated. 
 No. 3. Assay of pyrites from tailings of the -'Leary Lode." 
 This assay was made Dec. 31, 1863, by Edward N. Kent, Chemist 
 and Melter in the II. S. Assay Office in New York, and gave 
 
 Gold per ton of (2,0G0 ib.s.) $03 05 
 
 The mean of the three assaj^s gives a value of 
 
 (Joia per ton of (2,000 lbs.) $134 09 
 
 Assuming an average of 8 per cent, as the amount of the jn'- 
 rites in the ore. then the gold value in the pyrites will reacli 
 $15 20 per ton of ore. That much the greater part of this value 
 has been hitherto completely lost there can be no doubt. Tlie 
 importance of saving so considerable an item is self-evident. 
 
 ASSAY OF TBE TANGIER GOLD. 
 
 As compared with the Calii'ornia gold, the gold of Nova Scotia 
 is veiy rich, being, indeed, unsurpassed, in fineness, by the i^'old 
 of any region. 
 
 The earliest analysis of the Trangier gold, which 1 have seen was 
 that made by Mr. 0. C. Marsh of the Sheffield Laboratory at 
 Yale College, in October, 1861, and published in SilUmansJournnl, 
 [2] xxxii, 399. It is as follows : 
 
50 
 
 Specific Gravity 18^^ 
 
 CJoia 98.13 
 
 Silver 1-'^ 
 
 Cor;)ei- .^^ 
 
 Irra ^_^ 
 
 99.94 
 :Mr. Marsli says the gold lie assayed was "from a quartz vein," 
 
 bat does not spceify whicli; but as, at the time of his visit, m 
 
 1861, explorations were active in the group of north and south 
 
 lodes, it was probably from one of those. 
 
 The United States Assay Office has lately made an assay of the 
 
 gold from the '' Lcary Lode," with the following results : 
 
 Before meltiii,^, 55.47 ounces ; after melting, 5,298 ounces ; fineness, vVF.f,, ; 
 vulue of tl.e gold, $1,057 96 , for parting coinage and fine bars, $5 29 ; net 
 value 81,052 G7. 
 
 The declared value of this gold is $19.97 per ounce, troy. 
 
 An assay of the gold from the Field Lode, on the Atlantic 
 Company's land, lately made here, gives, as the mean of two 
 
 assays — 
 
 Uold '^7.25 
 
 Silver 2.75 
 
 Equal 10 972 .V thousandth hue, and, by the California tables, 
 worth S-20.10 per ounce, not estimating the silver. 
 
 GOLD IN DEPTH. 
 
 There has been a notion long entertained, and having its origin 
 in .so high an authority as Humboldt, that gold was always con- 
 fined to"^ comparatively shallow depths : that quartz veins were 
 richest at surface, and would be found comparatively barren in 
 depth. Experience, in both California and Australia, and so far 
 as it has gone in Nova Scotia, also, has set aside this hypothesis as 
 untenable. T have, in the introduction, given the reasons which 
 lead me to the opinion that just the same variations in depth will 
 be found which have l)een observed in length on the veins and 
 from the same causes. T^iere certainly exists no reason to fear 
 exhaustion in any depth to which tlie mines are likely to be ex- 
 plored. 
 
51 
 
 •t/ vein, 
 ; visit, ill 
 lid south 
 
 ;ay of tlie 
 
 i>oaa ■"jf' • 
 imsB, 1 (jiiil » 
 
 t?5 2!) ; net 
 
 oy. 
 
 Atlantic 
 n of two 
 
 lia tables, 
 
 ; Its origin 
 ways con- 
 ic'ms were 
 
 barren in 
 and so far 
 potliesis as 
 sons wliich 
 
 depth will 
 3 veins and 
 ison to fear 
 V to be cx- 
 
 FUTURE DEVELOPMENTS OP THE PROPERTY. 
 
 The success of the most valuable mining property may be 
 blasted by the adoption of a mistaken principle of management. 
 The desire for early returns to stockholders often leads to a short- 
 sighted system of hand-to-mouth administration, the result of 
 which is uniformly fatal. The mine is robbed to secure a specious 
 show of dividends, and then follows an unproductive period, in 
 which the manager finds an empty trcasuiy and no power of new 
 calls on the owners, or a reluctant response, ending soon in the 
 abandonment of the enterprise. Such is sure to be the case 
 wlienever works of exploration arc suspended. The process of 
 extraction is easy and rapid. The remorseless jaws of the crusher 
 devour daily, it may be ten, twenty, fifty tons of ore ; and, mucii 
 sooner than he expects, the manager finds himself without stoping 
 ground, and nothing before him but dreary months of sinking 
 shafts and driving levels, in which. Init a limited force can be 
 employed. The organization of the mine is demoralized ; the 
 expenses of administration and of the plant continues undiminish- 
 ed ; the mill rests idle lor want of ore, while the labor of 
 exploration is being prosecuted. Every one who has had any 
 familiarity with the history of mining, in America especially, 
 will admit the truth of this picture. The cure is simple and un- 
 filing. The work of exploration must never sloj). and rn'jsi he 
 ahcaijs well in advance of the ivork of extraction. 
 
 Another important consideration besides those alreadv named 
 urges the adoption of this policy. It is unreasonable to expect 
 tliat any of the veins on your property, will prove equally re- 
 munerative in all parts. There will be some places too poor to 
 pay for working, or the veins may be pinched olf to a narrow 
 thread, enlarging again to perhaps more than average size at no 
 great distance. These inequalities are of little importance, and 
 by no means causes of discouragem.ent, if they are known to 
 exist in advance. But, suppose the policy of temporizing to pre- 
 vail, and such a condition as the last named to occur, discourage- 
 ment would be unavoidable. Moreover, supposing the worst 
 case possible, namely, the actual loss of the vein in depth, either 
 
 I 
 
52 
 
 by a fault or heave, or by actual dwindling to notliing— if the 
 explorations are well in advance of extraction, the manager sees 
 at once the danger before him, and, with prudent energy, com- 
 mences timelv researches on another vein, or in a new part of the 
 old one, and thus disaster is averted. 
 
 In view of these considerations, I trust, I may be pardoned if I 
 seem to assume the direction of the policy of your Company. 
 The principles laid down are of universal application, and if they 
 do not seem to apply to a given case, it must be either that the 
 enterprise alladed to is not worth prosecution, or that those who 
 have it in charge are incompetent to the task in hand. 
 
 CONCLUSIONS, 
 
 The facts and arguments presented in the foregoing Keport ap- 
 pear to warrant the following conclusions : 
 
 1st. You have at Tangier a valuable gold property, well de- 
 veloped, as compared with other properties in Nova Scotia, and 
 capable, with good management, of returning satisfactory divid- 
 ends to vour stockholders. , 
 
 2d. Of alunit HO gold-bearing veins known to exist on your 
 property, you at present work only two. Prudence would dictate 
 that you should soon explore some of the others, of which the 
 most promising perhaps are the Lake Company's Lode, and the 
 group of veins north of the Negro, which can be cut in depth by 
 extending the adit until it intersects them. 
 
 3d. The main shafts on the Negro and Leary should be sunk 
 uninterruptedly, and of a size adequate to work the mine in depth, 
 providing lad<Ier-ways ami space for pumps if they are hereafter 
 required. The levels at the 20-30 &c. fathoms depth to be driven 
 both ways as fast as they are reached. 
 
 4th. Your dressing works arc capable of disposing of all the 
 ore yoLi arc likely to be able to supply, having a capacity for 40 
 tons daily, and power enough to drive them. The system of 
 amalgamation is perhaps as good as any nov/ in action in the 
 
^^^ 
 
 if tbe 
 
 53 
 
 Province, but fulls far short of saving all tbe gold, especially in 
 the pyrites. It is, however, capable of making immediate re- 
 turns, and no interruption need be experienced in its modifica- 
 tion: The tailings should be so disposed of, that if desirable, 
 they can be worked over again liereaftcr. 
 
 5th, The introduction of the Californian system of amalgama- 
 tion l)y the use of Wheeler's or Hepburn's iron pans, heated by 
 steam, is earnestly recommended as likely to add largely to the 
 gold product of the mine, 
 
 Gth, Your position on the water is highly favorable for cheap 
 freights — coals from Sidney or Pictou being accessible at all 
 seasons. 
 
 Tth. The labor market in Nova Scotia is far more favorable 
 than that of California or Australia, and constitutes an element of 
 great importance in calculations of pi'ofits. 
 
 8th. The average productiveness of the quartz veins in Nova 
 Scotia, is believed to be quite as good as that of the quartz mines 
 of California and Australia, while the experience which was so 
 dearly purchased in those countries, is now available, without 
 cost, for your advantage. It is well known that most of the 
 veins which were worked there with loss by the early ad- 
 venturers, how return satisfactory profits to the present holders 
 with a good svstem o bor and machinerv. 
 
 9th. Alluvial deposits are as yet almost unknown in Nova 
 
 Scotia, nor can they be expected to occur, as a general rule, for 
 
 reasons stated. But you possess in Copper's Lake a place where 
 
 alluvial gold occurs, and with the water power at hand to test it. 
 
 All which is respectfully submitted by 
 
 Your obedient servant, 
 
 B. SILLDFAN, Jk., 
 
 Prof, of Chemistry, d-c, 
 Yale College. 
 
 New Haven, Ct., January 20, 1864. 
 
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66 
 
 APPENDIX B. 
 
 Xew York, January '2.i, It S4. 
 Ne,. York and Xova Scotia Gold Mixing Company. 
 Gentlemen : 
 
 Agreeable to your request, the samples of gold „, fr„„, Tangier, Xova 
 
 t;: : z::z^;zr''' '""-"' '*^' """ ^»"™' '» ™""^" «°^-' p- 
 
 1 . ^lixed ore containing visible gold ii,igQ2 l" 
 
 2. Pyritic " " no " " ' " " T - 
 
 3. Black '• <'...< 
 
 . T> << 15 51 
 
 4. Brown " " i> 4. 
 
 5. White '• " a <. ' "^ 
 
 ,.,,., „ U 63 
 
 0. Mixed " finest portion silted (j2 03 
 
 Yours respectfully, 
 
 EDWARD N. KENT. 
 
 Chemist, 
 
 APPENDIX C. 
 
 United Status Assay Office } 
 NewYork, .V-23, 18C3.' \ 
 New Yokk and N«A'a Scotia Gold Company. 
 Gentlemen : 
 
 Your sample of ore, left several days ago, yields gold and silver at tl.e follow- 
 
 Gold per ton (2000 lbs. I «i oo i o 
 
 Silver " " $122 l.S 
 
 2 67 
 
 !^124 80 
 Respectfully, &e.. 
 
 JOHN TORRY, 
 
 Assaycr. 
 
 /