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 CEOLOCICAL SIJRVr.Y OF €ANAD,A 
 
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 COUNTY Ol-' HASTINGS 
 
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GEOLOGICAL SURVEY OF CANADA 
 
 Sm W. E, LOGAIf, P.RS., Dirkctok 
 
 RETORTS 
 
 OF 
 
 r>R. T. STERRY HUNT and jMR. A. MICHEL 
 
 ON THE 
 
 GOLD REGION 
 
 OF THK 
 
 COUiNTY OF HASTINGS 
 
 TRANSMITTED BY DR. HUNT 
 
 TO THE 
 
 HON. COMMISSIONER OF CROWN LANDS 
 
 January 29, 1867 
 
 MONTTIEAL 
 
 ISi 
 
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 MOXTKEAL 
 
 M l.o.VM%fO()!lK A CO., i'KlNTi:U,s (.UKAT ST. JAMES STREET 
 
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 J-i'T 
 
 8^5'/ 3 
 
P E P R T 
 
 ON THB 
 
 GOLD REGION OF HASTINGS 
 
 BY 
 
 DR. T. STERllY HUNT, F. R. S., 
 
 ADDRESSED TO THE 
 
 HON. COMMISSIONER OF CROWN LANDS. 
 
 MoNXHEAL, January 29, 18G7. 
 
 To the lion. Alex, Campbell, 
 
 Coimnisisioner of Cro\A'n r^auds. 
 Sir, 
 
 In the absence (if Sir William Logr.ii, I have the honor, in cMniformvty 
 with the request conveyed in your letter to him, dated January 14, to 
 transmit to you a translation of Mr. MicheFs report on the discovery of 
 gold in the county ol Hastu'gs. 
 
 The rocks of that region liave already been descrilied to some extent in 
 the Geology of Canada, and again ni Mr. Macfarlane's Report on that 
 county, published in the Geological Report for lH()5-(56, pages 91 — 96. 
 Farther exj»lorations with regard to the geological atructiire of this vegion 
 havo been made by Mr. Vennor, under the direction of Sir William Logan, 
 during the past summer. A senes of gnr's^oid rocks, often holding opidote 
 and chlorite, associated with diorites, fine grained mica-slates, tjuartzites, 
 conglomerates, dolomites, anvl limstones, is here met with, extending over 
 a large part of the North Riding of Hastings. 
 
 The limestones are sometimes coarsely crystalline, but more genei-ally 
 fine graineil, d;irk grey in color, and from an admixture of mica, pass into 
 calcareous schists. This series of rocks, many thousand feet in thickness, 
 appears to be conformable with the adjacent coarsely crystalline giH<i5isic 
 strata, which form «a continuous part of the great Laurentian area of 
 Canada and northern New York. These rocks of Hastings thus nppear 
 to be a portion of the true Laurentian series, in proof of which they are, 
 in the township of Lake, apparently overlaid unconf(irmab!y by rocks 
 bearing the mineraliigical characters of the anortliosites of the Labrador 
 or Upper Laurentian series. To these faiits is moreover to be added the 
 
cvidonce of <>r^aiiic remains. Tho E<m>on Comuh'me^ wliich characterizes 
 the u])perino»t or Gronville biUid of tlu' Laurentiaii limostones. o)i the 
 Ottawa, has been detected in tho grey fine grained liincstonos of Hasting.s; 
 in a frairmentary condition in Madoc, and more recently in a large and 
 well-defined shape, on the weathered surface of a sinnlar limestone in 
 Tudor ; in both caHcs however filled, not with serpentine, but with carbonate 
 of lime. 
 
 Although these rocks have been traced over a considerable area, ifc 
 is not yet certain wliethe)- their distribution is duo to a synclinal or an 
 anticlinal form. In tho latter case they would be an older series than the 
 other Laurentian rocks of the region, and probably than any others as yet 
 examined in Canada. If however, as st^ems uiore probable, they occupy a 
 synclinal, they will represent an npper meinber of tho true or Lower 
 Laurentian, and it will then remain to be decided -whether these Hastings 
 limestones belong to a liigher position of the system than any yet examined 
 in the Ottawa district, or whether they aj-e the eipiivaUnits of tho ( irenville 
 l»and, of -which they contain the peculiar fossil. In this case, their pecu- 
 liarities, both in texture and mineral cliaracters, must be regardeil as due 
 to original local differences. In the Hastings series, in addition to tho lead 
 and iron common to other parts of the Lanrentian system, the dolomites 
 are often highly ferruginous, and copper is fre(|uently met with in small 
 quantities, together with arsenic, antimony and bismuth. . 
 
 The mineralogy of the Laurentian rocks is avS yet but imperfectly studied, 
 since this system is scarcely known except in Canada, New York, and parts 
 of Scandinavia. In the last Rep(>rt will be found a^ comparative; study of 
 the mineralogy of these rocks on the two continents. It is there shewn 
 that in Norway, Sweden, and Finland, besides the ores of iron, copper, 
 lead, and cobalt, tin, silver, mercury and gold, — the latter two however, in 
 but small quantitios, occxir among the minerals of the Lanrentian system. 
 (Report ft)r 1865-66, p. 196). 
 
 Since those pages of the Geological Report were written, gold has been 
 met with among the rocks of Hastings, under conditions of wliicli some 
 accoiuit will be foimd in the subjoined report. It may be added tliat tho 
 locality of copper ore mentioned by Mr. Macfarlanc (Report 1865~66, p. 
 106) is on the same lot as the Richardson mine, where two or three 
 explorations had been made for copper, previous to the ono in which the 
 gold was accidentally discovered. Tho greenish epidotic gneiss, with red 
 feldspathie and grey (luartzoso layers, is in souie parts chloritic, and encloses 
 also a beil of imperfect steatite. Besides the veins of quartz holding 
 cpidote, chlorite and specular iron, one was observed containing yellow and 
 puri)le copper ores in a gangue of (piartz and ferr\iginous bitter-spar. Tliis 
 latter mineral, hi some specimens obtainc;d from an excavation on that lot 
 
5 
 
 in 18H4, is seen to be, in parte, decomposed, leaving only a light reddish 
 pulverulent oxyd of iron, like that vlii. h \> tlcsoribed in the Report for 
 1865-6t), page 85, as derived trom the decay of a similar spar in veins in 
 the Eastern Townships. Tiu' reddish earthy matter, des<;ribed by Mr. 
 Michel as ])artly tilling the guid-bearing erevice at the Kichards-jn mine, 
 has evidently a similar origin, ft is th.>re however associated with a blaek 
 carbonaceous matter, which is des( nl-ca. as encrusting tlu; walls of the 
 fissure. This occurs, in tJie specimen- befniv uic m <in,i'i iVa-ni.'nts with a 
 conchoid;d fracture, and a somewhat resinous lu.stre, and is soft and readily 
 crusliMl '.,-v,cen the fiugrrs. \Vh<;u c.N);':.-^cd to heat in a tube, it gives out 
 some water, but no bituminous nudtvv ; in the oi)eti air, at a red lieat it 
 takes fire, and bnrns leadily witliout fhnnr, leavuig a sonie\v]iat id)undant 
 ash, whitish and sometimes re.idish, consisting of eail»<:male of lime, with 
 sonic, silicious and ferruginous matter, including a .jUiuitity of gold. This 
 metal is visible in the form of gi-ains and scales ui the re-'cnt Tract 'iiv: of 
 the black substance, which, althougl: coal-like in its aspe,;t, resembles more 
 the carbonaceous matter which h.'us beoi describ-'d in the <je..logy of 
 Canada, as filling veins or fi>su'T',- in the r.'ds -f the Quebec group, and 
 is 'loulitlcss <1. 'lived from the transfonnatiou of uitinuen. 
 
 'J'his substance as 1 have shewn, is in some cases, so far altered by 
 oxydation, as to have a composition like that of anthracite, and is then 
 scarcely distingai.sha'ili> fron; the Jladoc mineral. Tne examination of 
 various siHn.in.cn ^ Iron) the Ma'ioc mine, shews the native gold in three 
 different associations; fu-st in the Mack curl.onaccous matter .econd in 
 the reddish ochery o.vyd of iron, Avhich is found in the same crevices with 
 the latter ; and third m {dates in the midst of crystalline ferriferous 1)itter~ 
 spar. The farther examination of veins m their ui-'lecompo.M'd state, 
 carrying this carbonace<,»us m.uter, will perhaps throw a clearer ligbr. on its 
 rehitioMs. Mean>\hilc it would seem, from the stu^'y of the specimens, that 
 thi., I'liiek niatter, ]>rol;)a!»ly.in the form of bitumen, had first been introduced 
 into the fissures, which were subse<juently filled with the ferrughious bitter- 
 spar, whose deposition was contemporaneous with that of the gold. I'he 
 yirecious metal is therefore fouTid, nor, only in tlie mid^t of llje Iiitter-sj.ar, 
 Imt uit-seniinatv'd tlo-ough the carbonaceous aaitter >\hK:li has resulk-d from 
 the subse(pient chanj^e of the bitumen, as w(dl tis through the decom])osed 
 spar. This association of the metal, although singular, is thus at the same 
 time, (M.'rfectly hiteiligiblo. 
 
 {'■ai-bonacteous matters not nnfrequently occur in mineral veins, in other 
 
 . re<nons. and are met with in several localities in the Lanrentian rocks of 
 
 Scandinavia, where, according to Daubrde, in the silver mine (;f Kongsberg, 
 
 a matter allied to anthra<'ite, and similar to that of iMadoc, oecvu-s m mam- 
 
 miliary masses ijnb(xlded in llie calc-spar of the veinstone, ami sometimes 
 
6 
 
 penetrated by native silver. (Ann. dm Mines [4] iv. p. 260.) In other 
 veins in that region tlie presence of bitumen is indicated, and in the beds 
 of magnetic iron ore found in gneiss at Dannemora, small masses of a 
 matter closely resembling bituminous coal in composition, an«l penetrated 
 by rpiartz veins, occur in the midst of ihe ore. According to Daubrde, 
 both grapliito and anthra(;ite, where they occur in the ancient rocks of 
 Scandinavia, are lompanied by bitumen. No such associations have 
 hitherto been obser>ed with the graphite of our Laiu-entian series. 
 
 As to the presence of gold in these ancient rocks, it was for a long time 
 the opinion of most geologists that gold w;is confined to the rocks of the 
 Lower Silurian p(n-iod, and when it was sliewn by the Geological Survey, 
 a few years since, that the Upper Silurian strata of eastern Canada were 
 auriferous, this conclusion was received by the geological world with a 
 surprise, which was farther increased when Prof. Whitney pointe<l out that 
 the gold of California occurs in rocks still more recent. In Scandinavia, 
 however, as above noted, small portions of gold have been found in 
 several localities in rocks, probably of Laurentian age, though hi 1849, 
 according to DiiroclK^r, none of them were worked. It is worthy of notice 
 in this cotmection, that Dr. A. A. Hayes, of Boston, in 1804, detected in 
 a pyritiferous quarz from the twenty-third lot of the sixth concession of 
 Belmont, a small amount of gold, equal to about ten grains' weight to the 
 ton of rock. More recently Dr. Girdwood of this city, in examining a 
 portion from a bed of impure plumbago, from the twenty-first lot of the 
 sixth concession of North Elmslcy, found in two samples, small rpiantities 
 of silver, with traces of gold. The rocks of this locality are lithologically 
 unlike those of the Hastings series, and have the general character of 
 those of the great Laurentian area, to wliich they belong ; so that gold may 
 eventually be found widely distributed through the rocks of this system. 
 Since the report of Mr.' Michel was handed in, I am hiformed that the 
 Richardson mine has been re-opened, and has yielded specimens of great 
 richness, some of which I have seen. The gold in them is disseminated in 
 the same ferruginous bitt(T-spar already mentioned. The conviction 
 expressed by Mr. Michel, at the close of liis report is thus fully justified. 
 
 With regard to the existence of bismuth hi thi& region, alluded to above, 
 1 have received from a reliable source, a small specimen, said to have been 
 founl in Tudor, which contains bismutli-oohre, or earthy carbonate of 
 bismuth, associated with quartz. 
 
 I have the honor to bo, 
 Sir, 
 Your most obedient servant, 
 
 T. STERRV HUNT. 
 
REPORT 
 
 ON TH« 
 
 GOLD REGION OF HASTINGS 
 
 BY 
 
 A. MICHEI, Esq., 
 
 ADDRBS9KI) TO 
 
 SIR W^. E. LOQAlSr, F.K.S. 
 
 DIRECTOR OP THE GEOLOGICAL SURVEY OF CANADA. 
 
 (^Translated from the Frenrh.) 
 
 Sir, 
 
 I had tlio honor, some thtie shoe, to report to you the rcsult.s of an 
 excursion which 1 made to Madoc, at your rtMjuo.st, about the middle of 
 Novem])cr last. In then suhinittiii,^ to you the obsei'vations which I had 
 been able to make; and the information which I had gathered regarding 
 the so-calhni Richardson gold mine, 1 stated to yon that 1 was not allowed 
 to descend into th<,' excavation for the purpose of examining the auriferous 
 deposit, whose exti-aordinaiy richness WJis spoken of in the journals of 
 Upper Canada. Later, on the t('>th December, yon dcsin-d nio to revisit 
 the county of Hustings, not to make explorations, whieh the season of the 
 year would have r(!ndered difficult and e<»3tly, but because ymi hoped that 
 Mr. Richardson <ind his assMcintrs woiihl ponuit nu to visit tliou- mine, 
 and because, moreover you desired lo obtani smuc eortniu iiiformation 
 relative to various other discoveries of gold, said to !ia\e bcrn nia.de in the 
 county. I therefore loft .Vl.nitrea! agani, on thc' IStl. 1 loi-.iiiber, anti spent 
 three weeks in excursions in the townships of Hungerl'oni, I'llzevir, Madoc, 
 and Marmora; and now, after having subuiitled to Dr. T. Hteny ilnnt, 
 the various specimens of rocks and earthy uiatt^M rolirclcd by uu' in the 
 different looahties visited, I have the honor to lay belbre you the facts 
 ascertained with regard to the Richardson mhie, and other discoveries of 
 gold in tliat regiim. 
 
 In or ler to give you an idea of the diftieulties attending my examination, 
 
8 
 
 I sball mention oertam details of which I s^hould not otherwise Lav,, '.j.oken. 
 Thus, when I firnt wem to the mine, on the 22nd December, th-.M; of the 
 proprietors then present wouM n<^i allow me to go down into it, alledging ha 
 a reaaon, the absence of Mr. ILchardson. Through the new purchasers of 
 the muie, however, some days later, I wius permitted t... descend, but the 
 number of persons at thn same time in the pit, the darkness, and moreover 
 the irregularity of the working, were ul) unfavourable to my exammation. 
 The excavation at the Richar<lson muie, on the eighteenth lot wt the fiith 
 concession of Madoc, is round in form, hin ..,• seven feet in dianu.'te.;, and 
 about <i-ht.'''n fcut deep ; the rock in wliidi it is sunk u])pears to be a 
 chlcritie gm-iss, uK.re or less mixed with a crystalline ferrugm- ms bittei--spar, 
 witii whidi .uystuiline .luartz and orthoclase feldspar are also apparent, 
 formin- Mhut s.-ems to he a veinshnie. The excavations appears to have 
 terminated in a steafcitie rock, in the western side ol' th<- <^Kcavation is 
 seen the gold-bearing crevice, whicli appears to be an earthy ilecomposed 
 vein, irregular and twisted, with two expansions or pockets m its course, 
 the one about four ieet below the surface of the ground, the other begni- 
 nin^- at the bottom of tlic pit, an.l extending downwards m the steatite. 
 From the decomposition ui the veinstone, there remains now httle more 
 than an earthy reddish oxyd of iron, associated with a black ca.-bonaceous 
 matter, in both ..f which, but especially in the latter, the gohl ,s imbedded. 
 Specimens ..f a veinstone of ferruginous bitter-^^i..u', Nvith crysti.Uine ho.-n- 
 blende, rich in gold, were shown me, and otbrrs -f steatite ponetrat^id by 
 gold, but 1 saw none of these in piac-, u-r was t permitted to make, or 
 cause to be made, the re((uisite examinations. 
 
 One of the new purchas.n-s of the mine, who undertook to ;:>hew it toimn 
 lyiH<^ upon his back ot the bottom of the pit, ami introducing part oi Ins 
 bodv into the crevice, vvas .dde by st>< tcbing out his .,„;, to extract with 
 difficulty, three small pinches of the black matter, winch he gave me. 
 This ^veldling 282 grains, yielded aie ninet(.en gran.. .1 gold, w..ti 
 70 cents'" I was also permitted to gaUier fi'om the bottom ui the put .b^ul 
 two pounds of earthy Uiaterial, n>ixed with debns of tlie rockM. <) 
 this matter, vsbieh shewed none of the black oarbonnceous .ub^tauee, ,.nd 
 traces only oi the earthy oxyd of iron, one a. id .. half r-iuul^ gave nie, 
 by pnlverikngau(i Nsashing, twenty-four grains weight of gold, worth |H>e. 
 liaving taken care to examine^ tne little tiagnn nts of rock, beto.v pulver- 
 izing, I fmnd nnoo^ them -v^veral mor.eU of hlttcv-spur, a->M-,atH with 
 hornblende, ami rich in vi.ibU g-M. I more, »ver, caused to he broken 
 from the gneissic rook of the e^e^^ation, about a d.u>'.eu pounds, takeo ir^nn 
 three diflbrent places. One oi ilu.-. wngldng about uu>ntyhve oin.e:^ )ind 
 supposed t(. have been lakeu n'oia u(^ar the crevice, gavx^ me one gran. 
 weight of gold, by a meclianical u.say, but the remaiuiiig eigltt pounds did 
 
not yield a trace. The most striking peculiarity in this deposit is tlie 
 association with the earthy < •xyd of iron, of a carhonaceous matter, in both of 
 which the gold is disseminated. For the rest, the occurrence of gold in 
 earthy oxyd of iron is a fact freiiuently observed in South Araerica, and 
 elsewhere, as I have myself observed, and as is described by Jiurat, who 
 refers those oxyds to the decomposition of })yrites, from which they are, no 
 doubt, often derived. In the present case, however, the oxyd would seem 
 to come from the decomposition of the ferrifero\is spar, as in the case 
 signalized by Dr. Hunt in his Report of last year on the gold-bearing 
 veins of the Chaudiere. 'fo sliew the richn«,v^s of the Richardst.-i mine, 
 it is sufficient to say that the ochreous anrl carbonaceous i>.:attors 
 extracted from the crevice have yielded from lifteen to hveuty dollars of 
 gold to the pound. Sixty pounds or more of tins material were carried to 
 the United States, by the first purchasers of the mine, and 1 met numbers 
 of persons in tlie county of ILtstings, having more or less of the gold from 
 this mine .11 tlieir possession, so that the quantity already abstracted must 
 be cout-ido ,tblc. 
 
 The gold from the mine, in its native '^tatf. ia not at all like the alluvia! 
 gold of Lower (Janada, l)ut is <luU i-eddis!i in colour, and in thin scales 01 
 plates, sorneiimes di"nd)-ltie, or more often in fine dust. The abundance of 
 the precious metal \\-\\V\ Im.- sufficient to forbid any suspicion of an artifinut 
 enriching oi' the mine. an<l the peouliar character of the gold, as well as its 
 unusual associations, are so many more y)roofs, to my mind, of the 
 genuineness of the di.^covery. Neverthelesss, I should have lieen glad to 
 support ray eon\iotion )>y still farther facts, and 1 therefore, eariiostly 
 bcx't'ed to be allowed to Tnake, at the cost of the Geological Survey, ar d 
 in the presence of the proprietors of the mme, some fartSier trials, which 
 might have easily V-een mudi-, but I. was refused. I was finally informed 
 at B.'lleville, on'the oOth December, that Mr. RiehanJson and his friends 
 had at last consentod, and. J at once returned to Mailoc, but only to he 
 disappointed, for I loarned on my arrival there, th;it the jir'.firietois had 
 already a gaui chang-d tluir minds, an^l bail tilled uji the pit wilh logs of 
 W(iod and stonos, so that, as they said, no one shuuld go doNMi into the 
 mine until they had l)ei'n paid for it. 
 
 It ap))ear8 ovi<lent that INfr. liichardsou ami his associates, tniided 
 probably by the counsels of pers.>ns of more e\[ierieiice than tliemsohcs, 
 i'liti rtaui doubts as to the contuiui'i .ulmes.s of the crevice, a questiuh 
 which nnist n>st in (h.ubt until farther explor;il'p'i'.-i -hall have heen made. 
 Burat r en, ark/., with regard to veins, that they ate subject K) a grent 
 many aceiilents ai\il variations of form ; thoy swell out, contract, and arc; 
 flometimes entirely cut oft', for a time. It often happen.s, moreover, that 
 veins, earthy or decayed in parts, are found m other jwrtious of their 
 
10 
 
 course, less docorajyosed, or altogether unaltered. These consi<leratii»ns 
 ap[M?ar anfficiout to nhow the uncertainty wliich exists as the contin\iity in 
 depth oi' the vein is in question. 
 
 I have also visited, in accordance with your instructions, various lots in 
 the townshij)a of Hungerford, Elzevir, M.uioc, and Marmora, wh( re the 
 pit'eace of gold had been mentioned in t!if Belleville journals. With but 
 few exceptions, the exannnations which had been made had been very 
 snpcvficial and slight. On the eighteenth lot of the seventh concession of 
 Madoc, and the seventeenth of the tenth of Marmora, the matters which 
 had been examined for gold consist of a fine somewhat reddish sihcious 
 sand. Those from the tenth lot of the ninth concession of Hungerford, 
 and the sixteenth of the seventh of Madoc, are of a coarser silicious 
 sand, with a reddish ochreous admixture ; while fragments of mica-slate 
 and of gneiss are mingled with the silicious earthy soil which I coUected 
 on the fifth lot of the second concession of Elzevir, the fifteenth of the 
 fourtli, the sixteenth of the sixth, and the seventh of the fifth of Madoc. 
 I founii traces of gold. 
 
 1. In the ochreous matters adjoining (jnartz, in tiic fifteenth lot of the 
 second concession of Elzevir, where I remarked in an excavation ten feet 
 feet by five, and four feet deep, a band of quartz, whose outcrop is also 
 visible about one hundred feet to the east, its course being east and west. 
 The Hon. Billa Fluit showed mo a little button of gold, which he had 
 obtained by amalgamation from a small porticm of ochreous matter from 
 the same excavation. He also, during my stay iu the county, fovuid traces 
 of gold in several other localities in Elzevir. 
 
 2nd. In an ochreous quartz, which occurs imbedded in blueish aud 
 reddish-white limestones, on the eightteenth lot of the seventh concession of 
 Madoc. Two coTitiguous excavaticma have here been made, one four feet 
 square, and four feet deep, the other eight by ten, and fifteen feet deep. 
 
 Brd. In an ochreous matter, and also in a cavernous ({uartz, holding 
 orthoolase feldspar, both from an excavation abiait eight feet l)y ten, and 
 fourt^'en feet deep, on the shore of Mud Lake, on lot sixteen of the sixth 
 concession of Madoc. 
 
 4th. In a ferruginous ear%, associated with fragments of white quartz 
 and black tourmaline, from a depth of two or three feet, on the fifteenth lot 
 of the fourth concession of Ma(h)c. 
 
 During my stay in the county t)f Hastings, numerous specimens, rich in 
 visible gold, were shewn to me as having como from different localities 
 more or les'j remote from the Itichai'ikon mine. A [iers(vn gave me two 
 ])ortions of rock coarsely pulverized, which he assured mo he had collected 
 on the niueteiMith lot of the fifth, aud the cighteentli lot of the seventh 
 concession of Madoc. The first of these gave me, by a mechanical assay, 
 
11 
 
 .■*^l'li.|„..| i;„., „ , „ ,' "■'"■•7';"- "f M-l.- >v.v.,„ ,ny , |,i„i„,, ,,,„ 
 
 ^'«-^»' i'-- -'h! ;: ;: r 'x;:::,;:::.;;::'7'' 'T'r' 
 
 1 liave the honor to be, 
 Sir, 
 Your most obedient servant, 
 
 Montreal, Januarj 20, 1867. 
 
 A. MICHEL.