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Les diagrammes suivants illustrent la m^thode. 1 2 3 32X 1 2 3 4 5 6 I '^ (' '? I I I /$ *■•% ft (■J ^^ THE GOLD REGION OF NOVA SCOTIA. \ REPORT OF DR. T. STERRY HUNT, F.R.S., ADDRESSED TO SIR W. E. LOGAN, F.B.S., DiaSCTOR OF THK OEOT.OfllCAL SURVEY OP CANAOA. JlrittteU lig (^rH^i: of tlie ?Sott0e of eomtnoti». PlilNTED BY HUNTEP., ROSE & COMPANY. 18B8. ^#*'''*i^ THE GOLD REGION OF NOVA SCOTIA. REPORT OF DR. T. STERRY HUNT, F.R.S., ADDRESSED TO SIR AV. E. LOGAN, F.R.vS., DIRECTOR OP THE GEOLOaiCAL SURVEY OF CANADA. ^tinitts i)^ ([^rtirr of tt)t Pfou^e oC eommon^* OTTAWA : PRINTED BY HUNTER, ROSE & CO. 1868. To De RETURN To an Address of the House of Commons, dated 15th April, 18G8 ; for Copies of Reports made by the Officers of the Geological Sur- vey, with reference to the Gold Districts of Nova Scotia. By Command. HECTOR L. LANGEVIN, Secretary of State. Department of the Secretary of State, Ottawa, 5th May, 1868. Add] toN( that and j Surv who Prov anxic in th on tl Mid draw Scoti Unive Leade frcm Supei dwt. besidi 1 Super that \ preaei I dete that J II of gol Lake day b 1 discos THE GOLD REGION OF NOVA SOOTIA. R E P O K T OF DR. T. STERRY HUNT, F.R.S., Addkibsid to Sir W. E. Looan, LL.D., F.R.S., F.Gr.S., etc., Director op the Geological, Survey of Canada. Montreal, April 30, 1868. Sir,— Early in the month of November last you were pleased to order me to proceed to Nova Sootia for the purpose of making some observations on the gold-bearing rocks of that Province, with the view of comparing them with those of other parts of the Dominion,* and also of obtaining such information as might be useful in the event of a Geological Survey of Nova Scotia itself. In this excursion I was accompanied by Mr. A. Michel, who had already and independently formed the plan of visiting the gold region of that Province, and of whose extensive knowledge in matters connected with gold mining I was anxious to avail myself, My own stay in Nova Scotia was confined to about four weeks, in the months of November and December, but as it seemed not improbable that a report on that region might be called for, it was deemed desirable to secure the services of Mr. Michel during another month, which he spent in the Province after my return. A report drawn up by him is before me, and will be made use of in the following pages. geology of the gold region. The principal sources of information about the geology and mineralogy of the Nova Scotia gold region are as follows : Dr. J. W. Dawson's Acadian Geology, published in •NoTB. — In this connection may be noticed the recent announoement by Prof E. J. Chapman, of University College, Toronto, in a letter dated March 8, 18G8, nnd published in the Toronto Globe and Leader. He has found gold in certain Bpeciniens of copper pyrites and galena, collected by himself frcm reini in the region of Black Bay, lying betweeu Neepigon River and Thunder Bay on Lake Superior. Carefully repeated assays by him of these ores yielded amounta of gold varying froti 17 dirt, to 19 dwt. together with rather more than 2 oz. of silver to the ton. Some of the ores contained, besides, from eight to eleven per cent of copper, luid one nearly one-half of its weight of lead. These veins, as remarked by Prof. Chapman, belong to the Upper Copper-bearing rocks of Lake Superior, described as altered Silurian strata, in the Geologi/ of Canada, chapter V. By referring to that work, on page 76, where tlie veins of this series of rocks are described, it will be seen that the presence of small quantities of gold in one them, associated with silver, copper, and cobalt, is indicated. I detected gold with the silver from Prince's Mine, in 1848, as described in the Geological Report of that year, page 63, and in 1863, wrote as follows in the Geology of Canada, page 745 : — " It has already been mentioaed that the native silver fi-am Prince's Mine contains small quantities of gold. The parallelism in age and mineral contents between the Upper Copper-bearing rocks of Lake Superior and the Quebec group of Eastern Canada, makes it not improbable that gold may one day be added to the list of the mineral riches of Lake Superior." This anticipation, however, in no way detracts from the economic importance of Prof. Chapmaa's discovery. -HT" 6 1856 ; a report of Mr. Henry Poolo, dated January 31st, 1862 ; one by Mr. John Camp- bell, dated February 25th, of the same year, and a second, dated February, 18GI{, nnd ac companied with a geological section. These reports were published by the Piovincial Government. In addition to these should be noticed the valuable reports of Prof, lien jamin Silliman, published in 1864; one on the Tangier district, and another on ♦hose of Waverley und Montague. To each of those is prefixed a sketch of thn gold region, embody- ing a great amount of information with regard to its geology, miacralogy and economic importance. In the following introductory pages I shall make frco use of the data fur nished by the gentlemen just named, adding thereto such observations as I was able tc make during my own short visit at a season of the year very unfavorable to examinatiou Farther researches will doubtless enable uato extend and, perhaps, to modify, in some par ticulars, the statements here made with regard to the geology of the region, which stil presents many points requiring farther study. I must here >. ' attention to a littli work published within the last three months by Mr. John Lovcll of this city, and entitled A Practical GuiJe to the Gold Fields of Nova Scotia, by Mr. Heatherington now of Halifax. In it the author has brought together a great mass of informa tion with regard to the history and present prospects of the gold region of Nova Sea tia, together with important statistical tables, and an Appendix containiug, among othe: things, the text of the present mining laws of Nova Scotia. He has also given copious ex tracts from the reports ot Messrs. Poole and Campbell, together with a reduced copy o: the geological section appended by the latter to his report of 1803. Mr. Ileatheringtoi commenced the publication, in January last, of a monthly journal called the JUiniii Gazette, and devoted to the raining interests of Nova Scotia. Although the Acadian Geoloyy of Dr. Dawson was published in 1855,^= some years befor the discovery of gold, there will bo found in its fifteenth chapter a somewhat detailed descrip tion of the coast district ©f Nova Scotia, which has since become famous as a gold region This consists of a zone of ancient stratified rocks lying exposed between the overlying strat. of the Carboniferous system on the north-west and the ocean on the south-east, and bavin: a breadth of from thirty to fifty miles in the wider portions, which to the north-east i reduced to not over eight miles. This belt of rocks extends along the Atlantic coast for distance of about 250 miles, from Cape Sable on the west to Cape Onnseau on tlie east, au has a superficies of about 6,000 square miles. Its surface is generally low, rising, howeve: in some places, to about 500 feet above the sea, and is in great part rocky and barren, tli powerful denuding agencies to which, in past times, it has been exposed, having, over large portion of the urea, removed tho alluvial deposits with which it was once covcret and left the upturned and worn edges of the strata bare, or covered only with boulders ( quartzite or granitic rocks. A large portion of this region is still an unexplored wildc: ness, and some of tho most important gold districts are in localities which, until the di: covery of the precious metal, were unreclaimed forests, so that it is in every way probab: that farther explorations may detect many other districts not less important than tho' already known. The rocks cf this region consist chiefly of slates and quartzitcs; they arc, hov ever, cut in many places by intrusive granites, .ind in addition to these several snia areas of gneisbio rocks occur in different parts of tho belt, but their true relations the great mass of the strata are not yet clearly made out. Leaving these aside, the rod which cover the principal part of the area under consideration, are, by Mr. Campbe: divided into a quartzite group, and a clay-slate group, the latter conformably oveilyin| tho quartzites, and the two constituting one gold-bearing series ; the total measured thi ness of these two divisions is, according to the same authority, nearly two miles ; but ti gold appears to be chiefly confined to the quartzite and the lower portions of the cl; slate division. The geological age of these rocks is uncertain ; although comparative! little altered, they are without fossils, so far !is yet known, and arc very unlike the fossi ferous Upper Silurian and Devonian rocks met with in other parts of the Province ; at tH same time the high antiquity of the gold-bearing strata is shown by the fact that t' Carboniferous system rests upon their upturned edges, and is partly formed from their ruii^ In the present state of our knowledge it appears probable that they may represent a pi ' * A second and much enlarged edition of this work is now in press, and will shortly appear. ' of the Lo ; t'ic contii * The which ha Mr. Cam] lino of se north war tion of til I bend towi ri between ( I In a \ series of I transversi J brought I l synclinals I west antic -| two miles f 31r. Cam] upper hal the gold would fol titutc of { tions of served, ai has expos breadth o JMr. markiug ( west axes markings and south of the cas ridges or layers an so large, ing what compared is seen ot but it is To section Tangier that of L: Oldham c gold field respectivi Mr. clinal of counectio hills, wh general in qucstic five degrc farther so quartz ho of tin wci neighbor Hav , John Camp- 18G3, nnd ac he Piovincial of I'rof. Ben ar on those of ijion, embody iuid economic | the data t'ur | I was able tc ■; examinatiou *; jT, in some par ; on, which stil { on to a littlt ; Kis city, and ; leatheringtoD ^ of inforraa of Nova Sco among othei | en copious cs | ;duccd copy o: f Ilcatheringtoi | d the Mliiiih V i [no years befor | ;tailcd descrip | a gold region ivcrlying stral st, and bavin, le north-east i utio coast for [I the east, au' ising, howcvc md barren, tli having, over s once covcrei ith boulders ( xplorod wildc , until the di: r way probab: ant than tho^ 4 they are, hov J several snia rue relations iside, the rod Mr. Campbc. uably ovcilyic ueasured thicl miles ; but ti ions of the cl; li comparative! ilike the fossi i 'rovince ; at ti I le fact that t^^ rom their ruii^l represent a pat^ lortly appear. of the Lower Si'urian series, which, like the Upper Silurian nnd I>evonian of this part of t'lc continent, may be supposed to consist chiefly of non-calcareous sediments. The rocks of the gold scries are affected by undulations running nearly east and west, which have raised the strata to high angles, often approaching the vertical. According to Mr. Campbell there are not less than six principal anticlinals exhibited on a transverse line of section, extending from the sea shore at the .southeast entrance to Halifax Harbor, northward to the llenfrew gold district, a distance of about thirty-five miles. The direc- tion of these nearly parallel anticlinals is about east and west; but to the westward they bend towards the south, and to the ea.stward, in like manner, disappear beneath the sea, between Capo Canseau and Liscombe Harbor, with a strike, E. 30'^ S. In addition to the great east and west folds, the gold series is affected by a second series of more gentle undulations, having a north and south direction, and producing transverse anticlinals, on the crowns of which the gold-bearing portions of the series are brought to the surface, while they are concealed not only in the great east and west synclinals, but also in the north and south synclinals where these traverse the ea,st and west anticlinals. The total thickness of the series, as already stated, is estimated at about two miles, and the amount of erosion on the crowns of some of the anticlinals, according to Mr. Campbell, cannot be less than one and a half miles in vertical thickness, of which the upper half mile, consisting of clay slates, is generally sterile. Since, so far as yet observed, the gold is confined to the quartzitc and the lowest portions of the overlying clay slate, it would follow that wide areas of the latter, holding the upper portions of it, will be des- titute of gold, or yield it only along a narrow belt where the lower and auriferous por- tions of the slate may be brought to the surface along the lino of an anticlii.al, as is ob- served, according to Mr, C, at the Ovens gold field. When, on the contrary, erosion has exposed a wide zone of the underlying quartzito on the crest of an anticlinal, the breadth of the area in which gold may be sought for is much increased. JMr. Campbell has called special attention to what ho has called the grain or reed-like marking often impressed on the surface of the beds in a direction parallel to the east and west axes of folding, and he points out that the angle of dip, eastward or westward, of these markings on the crown of Ihe great anticlinals enables us to detect the transverse or north and south lines of undulation, which have at a sub.sequent period disturbed the horizontality of the cast and west anticlinal fold.s. The markings in question often appear as rib-like ridges or flutings, which arc most conspicuous on the surface of the auriferous quartz layers and the enclosing beds. On the summit of the anticlinal folds they are sometimes so large, and so well defined aa to give to the layers a wrinkled or corrugated form, produc- ing what is designated in the region as barrel quartz, and has by some observers been compared to the ripples on water, and by others to that parallel arrangement of logs which is seen on what is called a corduroy road. The best known samples of this is at Waverley, but it is also seen at Montague, Oldham, and at Upper Stewiacke. To return to the six east and west anticlinals recognized by Mr. Campbell in his section from the southeast entrance of Halifax Harbor to Renfrew, — the Ovens and Tangier gold-fields, according to him occur on the first or southernmost anticlinal, while that of Lawrencetown is on tl:: second. Old Tangier on the third, Waverley on the tourth, Oldham on ihe fifth, and lienfrew on the sixth anticlinal. Farther to the northeastward the gold fields of Wine Harbor, Sherbrooke, Isaac's Harbor and Country Harbor, are by him respectively referred to the second, third, fourth and fifth anticlinals. Mr, Campbell has described an interesting locality to the north of the anti- clinal of Country Harbor, which merits further examination, and may be mentioned in this connection. It is at the Narrows of Country Harbor, and near a range of high granitic hills, which appear on the western side of the harbor, running northward ; while the general direction of the rocks in this region is N. G0° W., they have, at the locality in question, a strike of N. 15° W., and dip towards the granite at an angle of eighty- five degrees. Regularly interstratified with the beds, which are here more micaceous than farther southward, are numei'ous quartz lodes in a band of about 600 yards in breadth, the quartz holding gold, with raispickel and small garnets and zircons. Minute portions of oxide of tin were also, according to Mr. Campbell, found with gold in alluvial washings from this neighborhood. Having thus acquired a general notion of the geological structure of the region, we 8 may consider its lithological characters, which are very simple; The qnartzite which forms the principal rock of the lower division, interstratified however with thin layers of bluish argillite or clay slate, is essentially a granular quartz rock, with an apparently argillaceous cement, sometimes considerable in amount. It is hard and gray in color, passing into blackish or greenish m the interior, but becoming nearly white on weathered surfaces. Its lines of bedding arc distinct, and besides two sets of joints which often cause it to break into rf "ular rhombic masses, it occMionaliy shows a slaty cleavage, independent cf the bedding, and from a development of mica in the cleavage planea, passes into a vevy quartzose mica slate. The quartzite of this region is, by the miners generally designated as to/tm, the vulgar name in Scotland for a greenstone or diorite, which somewhat resem- bles it in color and texture, though a softer rock than the Nova Scotia quartzite. The slate, which is interstratified in thin bands with the quartzites, and frequently forms the underlying rock of the gold-bearing quartz lodes, is generally a soft and fissile, bluish or blackish argillite, or clay slaie, and the same may be said of the strata which forms thp base of the upper or clay slate division of the gold series, so far as I have have had an opportunity of observing it. A peculiarity of this region, which strikes every mineralogist, is the great rarity of everything like calcareou' rocks or minerals. This is seen in the absence of limestone, serpentine, diorite or other hornblendic rocks, and of talcose or chloritic slates, nothing of the kind being met with in most of the gold districts. Prof. Silliman, however, mentions the rare occurrence of chloritic slate, and also of cpidoto and staurotide in minute crystals in the Tangier district, and of a green magnesian rock resembling serpentine and holding gold, at Wine Harbor. Small portions of chlorite are found in the quartz lodes at Sherbrooke, Oldham and Montague. Ohloritio and hornblendic rocks, according to Dr. Dawson, occur near Yarmouth, and in the peninsula which termi- nates in Cape Canseau, fine-grained gneiss wi^h much mica slate, and clay slates abounding in crystals of cb'astolite, are met with. IH. north METALLIFEROUS LODES. In the scries of rocks just described gold is occasionally mot with, disseminated both in the quurtzito and in its accompanying bands of slate ; but it is chiefly found in well- defined beds or layers of a. more or less pure quartz, which are generally very distinct from these rocks, although interstratified with them. J3esides these there are other quartz lodes which cut or intersect the strata, filling cross fissures, whi^h, according to Mr. Camp- bell, are generally connected with the north and south lines of elevation. These cross veins are irregular, seldom continuous, and, though sometimes carrying gold, are of little economic importance ami seldom wiDught. The fact that the ])roductive quartz lodes of Nova Scotia are conformablo with tlie stratificatinu has been insisted upon both by Messrs. Silliman and Campbell. The latter, who conceives tiiein to bo newer than tho strata, and to have been formed in openings or separations between the bods of slato and quartzite, mentions that the Hdes in some instances pass from tin plane of one bed to another, in descending. In one suppo.sed instance pointed out to nic, this appearance seemed due to a small fault tunning eiist and west, parallel with ;ind near the crown of a great anticlinal. In other cases thl.-? apparent change of plane dopemlH, I think, upon irregularities in the bedd'ng, and the intercalation of lenticular masses of argillite or qnartzite in the layeis of metalliferous quartz. The beds of all the.so materials occasiooully thin out and disap- pear in the strike or dip, and in siino cases beds u\' ([uartz scpi rated by layers of interposed rock are found to unite farther on into a single bed. So far as my present observation goes, I think that to describe them otherwise than as interstratified beds would be to give a false notion of their gcognostic relationi. The laminated stiucture of many of the lodes, and the intercalation between their layers of thin continuous films or layers of argillite, can ' ardly be explained in any other way than by supposing the.so lodes to have been formed by successive deposition at what was, at the time, the surface of the earth. There is; moriovcr, evidence that these lamina; were formed before the lodes were folded and contorted; thisi.^ furnished by some remarkable specimens of the so-called barrel quartz which I took from a lodo nt Tipper Stewiacke, and which consists of a bluish quartz in thin plates, sometimes not more than one-twentieth of an inch ip thickness, and presenting in some instances glazed surfaces coated with thin argillaceous films, and in others, pellicles of argillite having tho thickness of paper. The surface? of all these layers are deeply I 9 lioh forms of bluJsh gillaceous .ssing into I surfaces, luse it to )eadcnt cf ito a very designated hat resem- frequently and fissile, rata which have have rikes every 8. This is iks, and of id districts. ) of epidoto nesian rock chlorite are lornblendic rhich tcrmi- I abounding linatcd both id in well- stinct from ther quartz Mr. Camp- rheso cross arc of little rtz lodes of I by Messrs. strata, and quartzite, another, in med due to it anticlinal. itien in the 1 the layeis and disap- { interposed observation be to give laiiy of the or layers of )dc3 to have )f the earth, were folded larrel quartz h quartz in I presenting era, pellicles 3 are deeply striated or furrowed at right angles to the axis of the larger convolutions of the bod, a result evidently due to a sliding of the layers of the quartz lode over one jinotlicr durinj; the corrugation of the strnta which has here taken place near the summit of tlio anticlinal. It seems not improbable that the corrugatea structure of the lodes, which gives rise to the barrel quartz is due to the difference in texture, and to the greater resistance to lateial pressure offered by the quartz layers than by the Cuclosing beds of clay and saiidt tone, which by their consolidation have given rise to the argillites and quartzitcs. There is, moreover, evidence that during the movement of the strata, openings and fissiiros wure in some cases formed in these quartz lodes, giving rise to joints in which gold, metallic sulphurets, and carbonate of lime were afterwards deposited, apparently by solution aiul segregation from the adjacent parts of the lode. it has been shown that gold-bearing lodes are met with at intervals through a great thickness of the auriferous series. As remarked by a writer in a late number of tliu MiiwKj Gazette, these lodes in Nova Scotia generally, if not always, occur in groups, each of which may include twelve, twenty, or more lodes of various dimensions. Other portions of the series are without quartz lodes, or coutain groups which are apparently destitute of gold. It results from the interstratification of the auriferous lodes, and their exposure on the denuded crowns of the anticlinals that, unless there has been a vertical displacement along the line of the east and west anticlinal, we should expect to fitid each lode of the north side repeated on the south side of the anticlinal axis. This repetition vif tho veins is recognized by the miners themselves in some of the districts, and becomes ol' service in guiding explorers. The elevations and depressions of the east and west anticlinal axes, caused by the transverse undulations, give to the outcrops of the strata which appear on the worn-down surfaces of the anticlinal domes, the form of more or less elongated ellipses, since the out- crops of the beds on the north and south sides of the axis must bend round towiird.s each other, and unite whenever the plane of erosion intersects a north and south synclinal. Of this a fine instance occurs at Oldham. While the slope of the beds on the two sides of the anticlinal axis will, unless the beds are vertical or present an overturn dip, be in opposite directions, it is easy to see that in the case of a synclinal the layers, being arranged in a basin, will dip towards each otlier from the opposite sides. The main anticlinals already spoken of arc, as is always the case, accompanied by subordinate parallel undulations which affect, more or less, the distribution of the auriletous strata. Thus, according to Prof Hind, a synclinal de- pression occurs in the crown of the anticlinal at Laurencetown, and in a recent article, probably from his pen, in the Mining Gazette, we are informed that shafts are here being sunk on lodes situated on the opposite sides of the synclinal, and dijiping towards each other at angles of forty-five degrees. Mr. Campbell describes the outcrop at Isaac's Harbour '* as presenting a succession of narrow parallel folds, in which the quartz lodes are arranged in a saddle-like form in the planes of bedding of the arched strata. The course of the lodes is in some cases inter- rupted by faults or dislocations connected with the transverse undulations already rcf ried to, but these faults are comparatively few and of little importance." I am informed by Mr. K. J. Leckie, that on the west side of Isaac's Harbour, at the Lone Star Mine, a dritt has been carried about 150 feet along a quartz lode, lying in the bottom of one of these synclinal folds, the axis dipping gently to the westward, while workings have been carried upwards for some distance on both the north and south sides of this folded sheet of quartz. The occurrence of the gold of Nova Scotia in interstratified lodes is by no means a singular fact in the history of gold deposits. The gold-bearing quartz lodes of Victoria appear, from the descriptions of Selwyn, to be for the most part true veins, cutting the , stratification ; but in the gold region of California, although such transverse veins are not unknown, by far the greater number of the auriferous quartz lodns appear ns layers con- formable to the stratification, often lying between the sandstones and slates which form the common rocks of the country, and sometimes, as in Nova Scotia, divided by thin inter- posed layers >i argillite. These conformable lodes are generally exposed on the upturned I edges of eroded anticlinals, but in one case in Nevada County a remarkable lode is mined, i which is described as consistinp of three distinct floors or bands, " having a very flat dip, 2 10 ere was d ia lUi slate. Is or im :old. A illiman, ispickel strict gi The and seeming to forma kind of basin," apparently a synclinal form. For further descrip copper pj tions of these gold-bearing lodes, see Whitney's Geology of California, vol. i, chap. 9. £p the Ta The auriferous rocks of California belong to the Mesozoic period, being of Jurassic Ascrved age, but those of the southern Atlantic States, which are probably like those of Novaiold, the; Scotia near the base of the Paleozoic system, exliibit not less strikingly the same pecuj|mall poi liarities of structure as those of Nora Scotia and California. The interstratification o jroportioi many of the gold lodes of the Southern States has been noticed by more than one observer ,, As a but is particularly insisted upon by the late Prof Emmons in his Mcport on the Gcologji%Qi\\ in t of the Midlar.d Counties cf North Carolina, published in 185G, lie there asserts tlia |lay slat( the gold deposits in the ancient rocks of that region occur in true beds, and that tht|isible gc precious metal was deposited with the sedimentary strata. It is not now, however, cou fined to these beds, but is met with both accumulated in their joints, and in regular quart: veins with sulphurets, traversing alike the auriferous beds and their accompanying strata " showing that it has changed its position since it was first deposited." The gold-bearing beds of that region are frequently of soft argillaceous or talcose slate, and at other time slaty and talcose quartzites. These auriferous quartzitc beds are sometimes white am granular, becoming vitreous, or passing into a kind of chert or hornstone ; all of thes varieties of rock are, in different localities, wrought for the gold which they contain di.i seminated, while beds interstratified with them are destitute of the precious metal. It i in a bed of cherty quartz, resembling buhrstono, and mined for gold, that the peculia I fineness silicious concretions supposed by Dr. Emmons to be of organic origin, and named by hie 0unce. Paleotrochis, are found. It is interesting to observe that in North Carolina, as in Nov ? Witl Scotia, the gold is not confined to the vitreous or cherty quartz layers, and that beds o aiarks as slate may be found profitable sources of gold. With reference to the sedimentary origii of the gold, asserted by Emmons, I conceive that although' this metal is often mechanical!; present in sediments derived from the ruins of older auriferous rocks, the gold of th ancient strata, both of North Carolina and Nova Scotia, was brought to the surface in state of solution, and that the watery solvent held also alike the elements of the acooii panying metallic sulphurets and the silica which now forms the quartz layers. Returning now to the consideration of the quartz lodes of Nova Scotia, we find th they are sometimes enclosed in quartzite, and sometimes in clay slate. In the grcati number of cases, however, they appear to be underlaid by thin beds of argillite, and ovu; laid by quartzite, the presence of one wall of soft fissile rock being very favorable tominiu operations. The thickness of the quartz lodes varies from a few lines to six feet or eve; more, but this great thickness is seldom continuou.'?, and it may be said that the thickness i the lodes mined is generally from four to fifteen inches. The same lode is subject to coc Kiderable variations in thickness in different parts of its course; but in several cases lodt have been traced without much change for distances of half a mile or more. Considerable differences may be observed in the character of the (juartz in differeu lodes, of which Prof. Silliman has distinguished two classes ; the first consist of crystallin quartz, often quite white, and usually having the gold in coarse visible particles, whici: liuterpris( like the associated sulphurets, show a tendency to crystallization. The second class hedesij I hese ma; nates as lodes of slaty structure, the quartz being lamellar or fissile in planes parallel to th j m of tlu bedding, and the faces of the lamina) showing the fluted or grooved structure which is sect ailure oi on the surfaces of the beds of quartzitc and of the more homogeneous lodes. The color of th ■; edge an( quartz in these lodes is dark, sometimes bluish orblackish, audits lustre is oily rather than vi mprofita reous. The gold in them is usually finely disseminated, and lies in plates near the borders, or: invisible. It is diflBcult to say which of these two kinds of ([uartz is the more productive,; as examples of rich lodes of both varieties may readily be cited. To this description i; ^£\^^, Prof. Silliman I will add, that lodes showing a passage from the one to the other of thes^ urface o varieties of quartz, are met with, and that coarse gold sometimes occurs in the blue and oin [hq t^ (], looking quartz, which occasionally approaches to chert or hornstone, and sometimes assume )ortiun the aspect of a gray vitreous quartzite. lu Tangier, according to Prof Silliman, the quart _ ,iuety m lodes often present a striking similarity to the harder slaty bands, as if they were thes \^q^q ^d in some altered condition. In addition to gold, the quartz lodes gcncially contain metallic sulphurets of which mispickel or arsenical sulphuret of iron is the most abundant, after which may \- mentioned cubic and white iron pyrites, a dark colored blende, and more rarely galena an iccordinL force ovo lo the ea May on t ortions r Iso offers It other t ■re limite meet witf erally mo the foot-v "If frc irregi ! ipecimeu! ectivcly, nd I am iuartz afi ^hich, wi |ich quar piuch grc f the loi 11 further descrip copper pyrites j native copper and specular iron were also obseryed by Professor Silliman il. i, chap. 9. iip the Tangier gold district, and molybdenite and antimony glance a.e said to have been eing of Jurassic «)scrved in other localities. Though the metallic sulphurets generally accompany the those of Novsiold, they are sometimes absent from specimens of quartz very rich in the precious metal, the same pecu f mall portions of calcareous spar and of a ferriferous decomposing spar containing a large rstratification o:iroportion of carbonate of iron, and sometimes enclosing gold, are also observed, an one observer ,; As already remarked, however, the metals are not confined to the quartz lodes; gold, on the 6rco%jioth in thin plates and ingrains of considerable size, is not unfrequently found in the ere asserts tha |lay slate, and even in the quartzite. Professor Silliman cites an example where f!, and that thftisible gold having been observed in a band of quartzite mixed with slato at Montague, , however, con Ipere was obtained from several tons of the rock more than an ounce of gold to the ton, n regular quart: yid in many other instances gold in paying quantities is said to have been found in bands Qpanying strata tft slate. The slate underlying the quartz lodes, contains in many cases, mispickel in crys- ^he gold-bearinji ills or imbedded masses, sometimes many pounds in weight, and generally rich in visible . at other time. fold. A single mass of gold weighing twenty-two ounces was, according to Prof':ssor times white am lilliman, foun^^ imbedded in mispickel from the wall of the Uelt lode in Montague, and ne ; all of thes ttiispickel rich in gold has also been found in Tangier, Oldham and Waverley. In the latter hey contain dis district grains and crystals of the mineral are found imbedded in the quartzite. us metal. It i ! The gold of Nova Scotia is remarkable for its great purity, different assays showing ;hat the peculia i fineness of from 966 to 982 thousandths, so that its value is about twenty dollars the i named by hie 0unce. ina, as in Nov 't With regard to the distribution of gold in the lodes of Nova Scotia, Mr. Michel re- nd that beds o |iarks as follows : " In sinking a shaft upon a lode wc must expect to pass through some limentary origii iortions rich, and others poor and even barren. The arrangement of the metal in the lode 'tenmechanicall' |lso offers great variations ; sometimes it is disposed in a single layer in the middle, and the gold of th ft other times in several layers parallel to the walls. These layers of disseminated gold the surface in |re limited in their extent, and it is often only at some distance from their limits that we ts of the acooiii ilieet with other similar layers. I observed in very many cases that the visible gold wasgen- crs. «rally most abundant in the portions of the lode adhering to the slate, which is generally otiu, we find tli the foot-wall, and often itself highly auriferous." In the groati : " If the results obtained during the lant few years in Nova Scotia show that the veins gillite, and ovei ire irregular in richness, they demonstrate their continued richness in depth. I saw vorable to mioii) Ipecimens rich in visible gold, extracted from depths of 105, 156, 180 and 215 feet res- six feet or c\ t ^octively, in the districts of Mount Uniacke, lleufrew. Wine Harbour, and Sherbrooke, ind I am aware that a shaft on the Tudor vein at Waverley yields at the depth of 185 feet ijuartz affording more than an ounce of gold to the ton. Such veins as these just mentioned, ^hich, w'ith a great regularity of form and position have presented alternations of poor and ^ich quartz to the depths already cited, will probably be found to offer similar variations to Smch greater depths. To abandon a working on account of a momentary impoverishment if the lode, .as has too often been done in this region, is therefore, unwise ; and in a large nterpriso, where mining is carried on in several veins at a time, the richness of some of liesc may always be counted upon to compensate for the temporary poverty of others. I Imofthe opinion that an unnecessary discouragement has had as much to do with the sot fciilure of certain gold-mining enterprises in Nova Scotia as the want of scientific know- The color of tli ledge and the neglect of proper preparations, and that many of those now abandoned as y rather than vi ttnprofitable, will be again taken up with advantage." the borders, or , ALLUVIAL CIOLD. 5 The absence of any considerable amount of superficial soil from a great portion of the lurface of the gold-bearing rocks of Nova Scotia, has already been noticed, and is doubtlers duo to the force of the denuding agency which has borno away into the Atlantic u great fiortion of the matters derived from their abrasion. Sable Island, distant about linety miles from the coast of Nova Scotia, is apparently nothing more than a belt of heso detrital matters, rising in some parts to a height of ninety feet above the sea, and according to Mr. Campbell, abounding in gold. The general direction of the denuding iluc sulphurets j^orce ^ygp j|j|g region, as shown by the grooved and striated rocks, is about fifteen degrees ,fcr which may I to the east of south, lie adds that in nearly all the deposits of glacial drift or boulder- rarely galena an ^iny qq jj^g south oodst, more or less gold is met with j but its extraction is rendered diflS- t the thickness i is subject to coc veral cases lodi »re. iiartz in differou jiat of crystalliD particles, whicl )nd class he desir les parallel to th ure which is more productiv Ills description ■ the other of tho^ the blue and oi imetimcs assuuit 12 cult by tlio f^rent tenacity of the clayey deposit, which ia too expensive to work by ordinary means. It its only where the glacial drift has been re-arranged by water that gold can be iound suffoioutly concentrated to make it worth working. Gold washings have been wrouj^ht with considerable returns at Isaac's Harbor, Wine Harbor, Tangier Harbor, Gold River and the Ovens, — and Mr. Campbell has called attention to many other localities of auriferous gravel, and especially to a considerable area of this kind in Cape Breton, to be noticed farther on. Tho existence in Nova Scotia of gold-bearing alluvions older than the boulder-clay is a contingency not to bo lost sight of ; the presence of considerable quantities of gold at Gay's River in Colchester County, in conglomerate beds at the base of the Carboniferous series, which are nothing more than consolidated alluvions of that period, shows the great antiquity of alluvial gold in this region. In the province of Quebec the boulder-clay is generally destitute of gold, but in his report on the gold deposits of that province, (^Geolo- gical Siirvfy. 1866, pages 01, 65 and 87) Mr. Michel has shown that beneath this sterile clay is an ancient deposit of alluvial gravel abounding in gold, of which the rich washings of the Gilbert River in tho Chaudi^re district are an example. ^ Analogous conditions are presented by the rich alluvial deposits of Victoria, Bolivia, and California. Mr. Michel, therefore, insists upon the importance of carefully searching in certain parts of Nova Scotia for similar ancient alluvions beneath the boulder-clay or glacial drift. Such deposits, when we cocsider the abundance of gold in the quartz lodes of the region, may reasonably be expected to be of great richness. ON GOLD WOEKING IN NOVA SCOTIA. The gold mines of Nova Scotia belong to the Crown, and the law of May 10, 186-t, extracts from which will be given in an Appendix, regulates all questions as to their con- cession and working. In accordance with this Act the Governor in Council may, on the discovery of gold in any locality, declare it, by proclamation ia The Royal Gazette, to be a gold district, and assign limits and bounds to such district, which may afterwards be enlarged or contracted if desirable. Besides those proclaimed districts are numerous others in which gold has been found, but which are not yet proclaimed, and, in many cases, are unsurveyed. Of the proclaimed gold districts, the following appear in the monthly returns of the Chief Commissioner of Mines : — Stormont, Wine Harbour, Sherbrooke, Tangier, Montague, Waverley, Oldham, Renfrew, and Uniaoke. The gold obtained from the other localities is classed in the official returns as coming from " Unproclaimed and other districts." The above mentioned districts, with the exception of Stormont and Tangier, were visited by Mr. 3Iiohel and myself, iu company, and we also went together to the district of Lawrencetown and to Upper Stewiacko. Repeated visits, for the purpose of more careful study, were afterwards made by Mr. Michel to the districts of Waverley, Renfrew and Uni- acke. His opinions, and the results of his personal observations upon the mode of work- ing, etc , will generally be given in his own language, and the portions translated from his maKU' quartz from all of these openings is extracted by underhand stoping ; the plan of overhand flr less h stoping, at first adopted, having been quickly relinquished on account of the hardness ol^hich h( the rock. When we visited the property of Mr. Biirkner, all of the shafts on the Tudor voin Iverage i were for the time abandoned, and of live on the Brodie vein, two only were being wrought, llinos, tl one at a depth of eighty, and one at thirty feet, which furnished eighty tons a month of ^ed on, quartz yielding 10 dwt. of gold per ton; the wl'olc cost of extraction and amalgamation fcg fiftec not exceeding S5,25, the working of these two shafts thus gave a monthly profit of S400 ^e ton.' Mr. Biirkner had also, at that time several trial pits on the South vein, about a quarter ot lonfined a mile south of the Tudor vein, which had already given satisfactory results. This vein » is not is observed, in its western prolongation, to turn towards the northwest, assuming a south- fttribute west dip, and will probably be found to join one of the veins on the north side of the auti fliostof tl clinal axis. Numerous other lodes have been observed in the Waverley district, some of brought them within, and others without the limits of the properties already mentioned, but thej ients a have not as yet, for the most part, assumed any special importance. The barrel quartz of Vi exteni Laidlaw's Hill, in the eastern part of the district, is, however, to be excepted. This has j We already been noticed, anJ its structure explained on page 7. It is apparently a quartz *ut Mr. j lode exposed on the crown of an anticlinal which runs a few degrees to the north of cast, Bieans ol the deep fhich w / The iBsternm #e3twarc iiches. jkie just ii Decen «I»d 8, hi ^ct. Gi Iftve bee t|e .shaft ilonly tl Ifo. 0, at tie niino dfaiti the the Nortl rilafts of ■e Souri 25 stamp mills, ■ e undergoing ed in part by by other pro- ; imalgamation. sording to the oz. 4 dwt. of ed activity in on the slope hese, on the which depth This vein is is then very ,s shafts; one degrees, has ot, about sixty I mile. Tnesc iferous quarta, , with opposite ist, but in this Several of the a seen to curve ase, can be fol- or less opened, quartz, which, ds of quartzite. ited appearance le barrel quartz iderable angle, To the north rves southward southern lodes, nd in some in- eral feet. The RENFREW. To the northward of the Oldham anticlinal, according to Mr. Campbell, wo cross a belt of clay slate belonging to the upper division of the gold series, aud occ-npy- ] ing a synclinal, before arriving at the sixth and northernmost anticlinal of his sicction, on which is situated the Renfrew gold district. The mining operations at Renfrew, he tells : us, have hitherto been confined to the lodes on the south side of the anticlinal, those to tiie ; north side being covered by a considerable depth of drift derived from the clyy slntes, or from the Upper Silurian rocks, which overlie the gold-bearing series a short distance to the ■ north. Mr. Campbell detected large exposures of quartz in two localities to the westwuid, along this same anticlinal, one about ten miles distant, where the River Hebert croasos it obliquely, and where gold was found both in the drift and in the quartz ; and another seven or eight miles farther westward, a mile and a half to the east of the post road from Ilalifax to Windsor, and about nine miles distant from the latter place. It is highly probiible th;it careful explorations may detect, at some points along this line, other outcrops of the rieh auriferous lodes of Renfrew. In February, 1863, when Mr. Campbell wrote the report from which the preceding details aro cited, the declared production of gold fur Renfrew was only 508 ounces; but since that time, the yield has rapidly augmented, — the official returns from 1861 to the end of September, 1866, giving a total of 9,81)8 ounces of gold, with an average yield of 1 oz. 8 dwt. to the ton of mineral. During the suceieding year, ending September 30th, 1R67, there were crushed in the Renfrew district 7,770 tons of mineral yielding 9,401 ounces of gold, which is equal to an average of 1 oz. 4 dwt. 4-gr. to the ton. The product for each laborer employed during these twelve months was not less than $895.30. These figures suffice to shew the great prosperity of the Renfrew district, in which we found at the time of our visits in Novetnbor and Decem- ber, 1867, three mining companies in operation, employing in all 225 or 230 workeien. TheOphir Mining Company, under the direction of Mr. H. B. Prince, w;is organised in 1866 in Boston, with a paid-up capital of S100,000, in shares of one dollar eiieh, which are now at a premium cf seventy-five or eighty per cent. The property comprises nineteen lots, — the three upon which the principal mining operations are carried mi, having been pought for §1,600. Three lodes arc here mined, — known as the North, South and Brook Veins, which run east and west, with a dip of about forty-five degrees to the south. The first of these really concists of three contiguous veins, divided by slaty layers, the breadth if the whole being from eighteen to thirty inches. All of the material extracted from this Jode, with the exception ot some adhering fragments of sterile rock, is submitted to the Itamps. Five shafts are sunk on this North vein, at intervals of 100 feet; they are num- schistose, with Jered from east to west, and have, in this order, the respective depths of 60, 128, lyi', 156 ict, generally of |nd 140 feet. They are connected by about 600 feet of galleries, opened at different levels, of these, as de- |br the extraction of the mineral, which, as well as the water, was raised to the surface by exception to the jneans of horse-power. At the time of cur departure, however, a pump was being fixeil in md south direc- |iie deep shaft of 156 feet, connected with a steam engine of twenty-five horse-power, t and west lodes, ifhich will also servo for raisinj the mineral from the adjacent shafts, ihes wide at the The three quartz layers of the North vein became so thin to the eastward, that the cs at nincy-six llisternmost shaft was abandoned at the depth of sixty feet ; but wa were informed that to the chloritic matter westward, beyond the limits of the Ophir Co., they unite in a single vein of seven or eight lurets were also inches. Upon the South vein, which is about one hundred and fifty feet to the south of ihe d 519 ounces of ii|ie just mentioned, six shafts have been sunk, numbered from east to west, iind having, and west lodes, it December last, the depths of 145, 150, 105, 162 and 156 feet. The shafts, Nos. 1,2 lin seams in the ipd 3, have distances of 120 feet between them ; while the others are at intervals of 100 %t. Galleries for the purpose of extraction, having an aggrckiate length of 700 feet, ry embarrassing Jiive been opened at different levels, one of which, at a depth of fifty-five feet, bturting f om ried on without tie shaft No. 3, connects the whole. The thickness of this vein in the easternmost shiift, eturns, without i|only three or four inches, but it gradually thickens towards the west, aud in the shaft 3 an appearance l|o. 6, attains a breadth of ton inches. The lifting of the mineral and of the water from ; region is suoh tie mine, was effected by horse-power, but preparations were at the time bei' g midc to ed, would have dtain the whole mine by means of a pump over shaft No. 5, to be worked by the cj^iuc on I that it appears U|c North vein. On this account workings wore temporarily suspended in some of the c to Oldham its ijafts of the South vein. The mining on the Brook vein, about 700 feet to the south of e South vein, consisted of a single shaft of the depth of sev^Dtj feet, from which the I 26 '^:l mineral and the water were raised by an apparatus moved by water power. The working at the Ophir mine is by underhand sloping — the method of overhand stoping, at first adopted, having been abandoned on account of the inevitable loss from the faUing of the small fragments of rich ore among the waste rock. Tbc height of the benches varies from six to twelve feet. The sides of the vein are first taken down, and the barren rock is, as far as possible, separated, and placed behind on scafi"oldings constructed for the purpose. The rich mineral is next removed, and taken down from stage to stage, to the place where the tubs for bringing it to the surface arc ready to receive it. The working of the Ophir mine is conductad in a systematic manner, and with great activity, as is shewn by the fact that 1,550 feet of shafts, and 1,300 feet of drifts had already been opened in the North and South veins. The veins are enclosed between a schistose quartzite, which forms the ovcrlyin^"; rock, and a slate, which lies beneath. Gold is visible not only in large grains in the quartz, but also in plates and strings in the slates which enclose and separate the quartz layers. Rich specimens, exhibiting both of these conditions, were extracted in our presence from shaft No. G, on the South vein. The tender slates which underlie, and are interlaminated with the quartz are estimated to yield 5 dwt. or 6 dwt. of gold to the ton, and are stamped with the richer mineral. The North and South veins have preserved their general aspect and their richness with great regularity, to the depths already noted, and everythiog leads to the conclusion that the working may be carried on for a long time under favorable conditions. We have already given, on page 14, the details with regard to the stamp mill of the Ophir mine, which we consider the best mill in Nova Scotia. From its establishment to December 1, 1867, it has pulverized and amalgamated 6,730 tons of mineral, yielding 9,795 ounces of gold. During the first four months of this time but sixteen stamps were in operation, and it is only since February, 1867, that it has been working with its full number of twentj-four stamps. We were not able to examine the workings of the New Haveu and llonfrew Co., and paid but a rapid visit to those of the Hartford Co., two Connecticut companies, both in success- ful operation, and under the direction of Mr. C. W. Allen. The property ot the Hartford Co. includes ninety-five lots, upon six of which are known about twenty veins, from three to twenty inches in thickness. Eleven of these were counted in a breadth of about 250 feet. They are enclosed, like those just described, and have an east and west course, with a southern dip, but exhibit in one place an abrupt turn loward.s the north or north-west. The workings on this property, which were in great part suspended during our visit, con- sist of ten shafts, and as many galleries, the depths varying from 30 to IGO feet, and the length of the galleries trom 75 to 150 feet. The mineral and the water are raised to the surface by horse whims or by windlasses. Besides gold, of which very rich specimens are met with, mispickel, galena, iron and copper pyrites are found in the quartz of these veins, portions of which yield 4 oz. of gold to the ton, the average being 2 oz. The stamp mill, which we saw in operation, is moved by a waterfall estimated to be equal to twenty horse-power. It consists of two batteries, each of four stamps of 700 pounds weight, having a lift of about ten inches, and making sixty-five or seventy strokes a minute. It is said to pulverize and amalgamate according to its greater or less hardness, from six to nine tons of mineral in twenty- four hours. The mineral under treatment at the time of our visit, was from the McLeod vein, about a quarter of a mile to the north of the North vein. This McLeod vein, which has like the others, a southern dip, and is about a foot in width. We saw upon it two shafts of eighty and ninety-five feet, situated about a hundred feet apart, in one of which work was going on. This same vein, further to the eastward, is mined by the New Haven and Renfrew Company. The price of labour in Renfrew is from $1.20 to $1.25 a day. The cost of extrac- tion of the mineral varies from $5 to $12, according to the size of the veins ; and the cost of crushing and amalgamating from 50c. to 81.50, according to the hardness of the mineral. At the Ophir mine, the cost of the mineral brought to the surface is estima- mated at $7, and that of the subsequent treatment at 70c. the ton. The Honbrable Robert Robertson, Chief Commi>^sioner of Mines, thus speaks of the district of Renfrew, in his Report dated January 10, 1808. " From being the third in rank to int ill to it 1 was Boi anc f'n five I 27 The working )ping, at first falling of the 69 varies irom rcn rock is, as the purpose, ic place where ind with great , of drifts had sed between a eneath. Gold rs in the slates ' both of these Q. The tender to yield 5 dwt. rhe North and reat regularity, e working may imp mill of the stablishment to incral, yielding len stamps were ig with its full J, nfrew Co., and . both in success- ot the Hartford .'ins, from three ih of about 250 rest course, with ,h or north-west. "• our visit, con- r 100 feet, and water are raised yhich very rich ud in the quartz rage being 2 oz. ed to be equal to 1 of 700 pounds strokes a minute, ardness, from six he McLeod vein, I vein, which has DO it two shafts of ' which work was New Haven and he cost of extrac- veins ; and the e hardness of the surface is estima- Lhus speaks of the n; the third in rank | last year, and the fifth in years previous, it has placed itself first this year, having produced nearly 900 ounces more of gold than any other district, and is only second in profit to Sherbrooke, each man employed having earned §895.30 for the year. This result may well inspire the miners in depressed districts with confidence ; since from being one of the poorest districts, it has in a short time become one of the most productive." TINIACKE. The history of this new gold district is given as follows, by Mr. Hamilton, the late Chief Commissioner of Mines, in his Report of December 1st, 1866 : — Early in that year a party of explorers in the township of Uniacke, discovered lodes of gold-bear- ing quartz, which were so promising and attracted so much attention that before midsummer there was already taken up, under leases and prospecting licenses, a larger area than in any other gold district in the Province. The tract ot land thus occupied belongs in part to the estate of the late Hon. llichard T. Uniaeke, and its centre is nearly three miles in a northwest direction from the Mount Uniacke station of the Windsor Branch Railway. It is the most elevated gold-mining district in the Province, being about 560 feet above the sea level. A road was laid out by the Governmcut from the station to the new district, where a village of fifty houses has grown up within the past year. The successful results already obtained shew that the district is one of great promise. The official report for the year ending September 30th, 1806, shewed only 73 ounces of gold for Uniacke, the average product being 2 oz. 17 dwt. 5 grs. to the ton. The labors since that time have been in a great degree exploratory, and the results obtained, for the most part, arc such as do not appear in the official reports. The published returns for 1867, shew, however, that there were treated, up to the 1st October last, 1,212 tons of mineral yielding 917 ounces of gold, giving an average of 15 dwt. 15 grs. to the ton. The number of workmen having been on an average thirty, the product of gold for each one was $584. The area over which auriferous lodes have b^en observed in this district has a breadth of about one and a half miles from north to south, and, it is said, not less than six miles from east to west. The dip of these lodes is nearly vertical, but with slight northward and southward inclination on the two sides of the field. Here, as elsewhere, there are examples of dislocations, probably connected with north and south undulations. The further study of this large area will doubtless present many points of geological interest. The lodes of Uni- acke present similar characters to those of other districts already described, and are inclosed in quartzite, generally with linings of slate. Their thickness varies from one inch to several feet, ani the large veins are frequently divided into several layers by thein intercalations of slate. Besides gold, gabna, iron and copper-pyrites and mispickel occur in the lodes, the latter in some instances in largo proportions. During our visits to Uniacke, in December last, wo found two regular workings, and several explorations going on, occupying in all about sixty laborers. The property of the Montreal Company comprises twenty-one lots, in three of which are said to be about thirty veins, varying from an inch to four feet in thickness ; one of these, named the Logan vein, had been opened by two shafts, one of which was then worked, and had attained a depth of fifty feet. This ve'.i, which is from ten to twelve inches in thickness, is divided by several thin layers of slate. At a depth of about twelve feet was a gallery, extending for about thirty feet along the vein, from which quartz, rich in visible gold, was then extracted. The service of the mine was by means of a hand windlass. The stamp-mill of this Company has a steam engine and eight stamps, but leaves much to be desired as to its construction ; it was, besides, only running at intervals, for the reason that the single small working did not suffice to furnish a constant supply of mineral. It is to be regretted that a property of such excellent promise should not bo worked in a more efficient manner. According to the Miuinfj Gazette for March, this company was then extracting quartz whose yield of gold was from three to four ounces to the ton. The Uniacke Company, which is directed by Mr. Macintosh, was organized in Boston by Mr. C. T. McCluro, who has also established the Ophir Company of Renfrew, and the Wellington and Palmerston Companies of Sherbrooke. The property of the T'niacke Company includes 121 lots, three of which are being wrought, and exhibit twenty- five veins, varying from six inches to ten feet in thickness. Three of these were mined at 28 the time of our visit. The principal vein, designated the Old Lead, had a thickness of twelve inched, aud w-.s divided by several thin layers of slate. It wns then yielding ml'ioral iioldiii;:,' visible gold, from a depth of 100 feet. The quartz is taken out from the drift by undoihund stoping. and, liko the water, is raised to the surface by means of a horse whim. The treatment of eighteen tons of this mineral, during one of our visits, yielded about 60 ounces of gold, or nearly three ounces to the ton. Mining was at the same time going on at another plaoe, a few feet south of the Old lead, where a group of thin veins, up to an inch in thickness, occurs interstratified in a layer of slate. A little more than a foot of this lude is crushed, and was yielding abont 2 oz of gold to the ton ; the mineral was ex- tracted by an open cutting about fifteen feet deep. This same slaty band is mined at another point a litt!e f rther to the west, whce it has a greater thickness, but is less rich in gold. Still another opening had been made on a vein of a foot in thickness, to the south of the last, and from a depth of '60 feet was said to yield 15 dwt. of gold to the ton. In these viirious workings, the rock and the water were raised to the surface by means of windlasses. The price of labor in this district is, on an average, 31.25 a day. According to the Milling Gazette for March, the crushing of 117 tons of mineral by this company, early in February, yielded 132 oz. 16 dwt. of gold. The mill of the Uniacke Co., constructed by Mr. Peter Monteith, cost, we were in- formed, $3,000 ; it has two batteries of four stamps, weighing GOO pounds each, shod with steel, and is moved by an engine of eight horse-power. The lift was fifteen inches or more, and the strokes sixty-five in a minute. This mill pulverizes eight tons of mineral in the twenty-four hours, and the amalgamation is eff'ected in the batteries, which are fur- nished with fixed tables, covered with amalgamated copper plates. The Mitchell vein, in this district, is worthy of notice as one of the few examples ob- served in Nova Scotia of a quartz lode enclosed between two walls of quartzitc, without j for Y^] accompanying slate. This vein, which has a thickness of two or three inches, yielded near ] of gold to the surface as much as 13* oz. of gold to the ton, and its richness at fifty feet, though * four st less, was still exceptional. Its working was at that time abandoned on account of its uar- , accordi rowuess and the hardness of the rock. Other important gold-bearing lodes have been , four h( discovered in its vicinity, and are included in the property of the Alpha Company, recent'y j justly i organized, and possessing eighty-eight lots, with a mill of eight stlimps, worked by steam ; wages power. Two small veins, to the north and south of the Mitchell vein, are noticeable from : having been afi'ected by numerous small dislocations, the effects of which are well displayed | Compa .| the a\ I year, I which I for th '4 yearly i equal ^dix, ai |gold-p I 'i those brookt works I ploye<3 i '^ I aurifei I of Mr. ^on the fits dip depth depth steam lode is i ing th minora on the exposed surface of the hard grayish quartzite. Interesting peculiarities may be observed in other parts of this district. Upon some lots there being explored by Mr. Biirkner, a group of small veins intercalated with slate is seen to form, 150 yards further to the east, two large veins, separated by a band of eight inches of slate j while not far off the reverse of this is observed in the case of a vein of two or three feet, which a hundred feet farther on is represented only by five or six small seams of quiirtz interstratified with slate. We were unable from want of time, to visit the lots of the Westlake Company, and also ^ those belonging to Messrs. Hall and McAlister, upon both of which explorations were being carried on with very satisfactory results. Further working of these properties have given products of unusual richness. According to tho Mining Gazette for February, thii teen' tons of quartz from a lode on the land of tho Westlake Company gave not less than i:34 oz. 6 dwt. of aold, or more than 18 ounces to the ton. This result is doubtless exceptional, but fifty five tons from the came property are said to have since yielded 201 oz. 10 dwt., aud Messrs. Hall and McAllister, from a depth of seventy feet, had extracted six ,|cuttin tons of quartz, producing 22 ounces 7 dwt. of gold. Tho official reports for these few \|in th months are not yet received, but there seems no doubt of the great richness of the quartz ^mean lodes in this new gold district. Sestabli SHERBROOKE. ^ 'J This mining district is situated near the sea coast, to tho uorth>east of Halifax, |thevil and about GO miies from New Glasgow, from which station, on the Nova Scotia railway, a ^*"c ro; public Conveyance runs daily to the town of Sherbrooke on the cast bank of tho St. Mary's organ Biver near its mouth. Tho mines are on the opposite side of the river, and about a mile and a half f'om the ferry. lus to Areliab T twenty north shafts time 0: quartz the sh: ment, conditi T tain a < he las re Gold was discovered here in 1861, and from that time up to the end of September, 1866, this district had, according to the official returns, produced 19^101 ounces of gold j 1803, ITo th (ning tt ( 29 a thickness of then yielding !a out from the leans of a horse s, yieldedabout ; amo time going . in veins, up to c than a foot of mineral was es- ad is mined at but is leas rich 3ss, to the south to the ton. In se by means of ay. According y this company, ost, we were in- unds each, shod fifteen inches or tons of mineral !, which are fur- ew examples ob- uartzito, without lies, yielded near fty feet, though scount of its nar- lodes have been 3mpany, recently worked by steam J noticeable from re well displayed ict. Upon some ated with slate is a band of eight } of a vein of two )r six small seams lompany, and also ations were being erties have given sbruary, thitteen less than 1:34 oz. tles9 exceptional, 2lded 201 oz. 10 Kid extracted six rts for these few less of the quartz i-east of Halifax, Scotia railway, a of the St. Mary's and about a mile ?nd of September, I ounces of gold ; [the average yield for the whole time, being 1 oz. 16 dwt. to the ton. In the succeeding : year, ending September 30, 1867, there were treated in this district, 5,809 tons of quartz, f which produced 8,522 ounces of gold, or about one-third of the entire yield of the province ! tor that period, the average being 1 oz. 9 dwt. 8 gr., to the ton of mineral. The average .yearly product of gold for each miner in this district, for the last three years, has been I equal to $1,379.40, and fcr the last year, as may be seen by the table given in the Appen- ^dix, amounted to not less than $1,592.58. Sherbrooke, therefore, ranks first among the I gold-producing districts of Nova Scotia. I The mines in activity at the tima of our visit, on the 20th of November, 1867, were i those of the following companies, viz. : — The Wellington, the New York and Sher- jbrooke, the Hayden and Derby, the Dominion and the Palmorston Companies, but their I works having partially suspended during the winter, the whole number of workmen em- i ployed was not over 180. I The property of the Wellington Mining Company includes nine acres, upon which nine I auriferous veins are known. Of these the principal i« nho mined to the east on the lots I of Mr. Cumminger, where it is said to have yielded IJ oz. of gold to the ton. Its thickness [on the property of the Wellington Mining Company is from fifteen to twenty inches, and fits dip about forty-five degrees to the north. It is worked by two shafts connected, at the [depth of 140 feet, by a gallery. The eastern .shaft, which had at the time of our visit a depth of 215 feet, was then yielding quartz rich in visible gold. The rock is raised by a steam engine of twenty horse-power, which al.io serves for the drainage of the mine. The ilode is overlaid by a band of several feet of bl.ack slate, and it was in the portion adjoin- jing this that the greatest part of the gold seemed to bo siccumulated. The yield of the mineral was said to be over two ounces to the ton; but according to the Mining Gazcttr for February, the treatment of 100 tons, completed on the 4th of January, gave 394 ounces of gold. The mineral is pulverized and amalgamated in a mill having four batteries of four stamps each, worked by a steam engine of fifteen hor.se-power, and capable of treating, according to its greater or less hardness, from sixteen to twenty tons of mineral in twenty- Ifour hours. The tables are fixed, and have tne form of sluices. This establishment is ijustly regarded as ono of the best in the region, and employs about forty laborcr.s, whoso wages average $1.20 a day. The minesof the New York and Sherbrooke Company, and those of the Hayden and Derby iCompany are both situated to the westward of the Wellington. Our time did not permit ins to visit the first ; and we made but a rapid examination of the second, but obtained from ^reliable sources the following information with regard to these two establishments. The New York and Sherbrooke Company have about forty lots, on which are known twenty-five lodes, varying from an inch to three feet in thickness, and running somewhat north of east, with a dip of about forty-five degress to the northward. Although a dozen [Shafts have been sunk, only five of them, connected by drifts, were being worked at the itime of our visit. The depth of the principal shaft was then 170 feet, and it was yielding quartz whose average produce was two ounces to the ton. The mill of eight stamps, with the shaking tables, is worked by a steo.m engine of fifteen horso-power. This ostablish- jment, like the last, employs about forty workmen, and although for some time in a depressed !condition, is now progressing under skilful management. The property of the Hayden and Derby Company consists of only seven lots, which con- jtain a dozen gold-bearing veins of from two to twenty-four inches in thi^'kness, dipping like ;helast. The working is carried on by six shafts, connected by galleries, and by an open Icutting of 100 feet on a vein of from eight to fifteen inches. The mill has fifteen stamps fin three groups; it is provided with shaking tables, and is worked by steam power. The fmean produce of the mineral from this laine was said to be three ounces to the ton. This lestablishment employed, at the time of cur visit, about twenty workmen. The mines already mentioned, are situated to the north of the road passing through [the village of Goldcnville, which has been built up on this gold district. To the south of jthe road are the mines of the Dominion and Palmerston Companies. The first of these was forganized in May, 1867, and includes nine lots, two of v.'hich havL' been wrought since |1863, and are known to contain about twenty veins, which offer many points of interest. |To the south of the Dominion vein there are seen, in a small breadth, numerous veins run- IniDg to the north of east, and nearly vertical, but with a slight dip to the southward. They 30 lift have generally a layer of slate on the north side, separating them from the schistose quartzii which here forms the predominant rock. To the north of the road, on the contrary, tl black slates appear to prevail. These facts, taken into connection with the dip, would sec to show that we are hero near the axis of the anticlinal, and that a repetition of the sla portion, with its accompanying veins, but with a southern dip, may be expected southwar Among the veins of the Dominion Company are two of about a foot each, separat( by only the same thickness of quartzite. Two others, of eight and four inches, are sep rated at the surface by a considerable thickness of quartzite, which in descending becom thinner, while the lodes augment, and finally, at a depth of twenty-five feet, unite in single lode of about twenty inches. Several of these have already been found to be aui ferous. The principal lodes are those known as the Dominion and Palmerston veins, t last about 100 feet to the north of the other. They were, at the time of our visi wrought by means of two shafts furnished with windlasses, and each 85 feet in dept At this level it was proposed from the Palmerston shaft to open two galleries, the o; northward to the limit of the company's property, and the other southward to meet t! Dominion vein — the sinking of the Palmerston shaft being continued to serve lor t! draining of the mine. The southern gallery was already being opened in November las and according to the 3Iintnij Gazette, for April, had intersected a mass of veins, whic ^/''"'^ "^ in a breath of twenty-two feet, contained more than fifteen feet of auriferous quartz, Tipi '.'^" ^'^' which a level had been driven thirty feet to the westward. The future working will ha """ ^''* for its base the Dominion vein, from which it is proposed, by transverse drifts, to comm rtica') ' nicate with the veins still farther to the southward. W^^ ^^^^ It had been found necessary as a preliminary to the successful working of this p: ^'^® perty, to fill up the old workings, thus excluding the surface waters. Although the lab( at the time were thus, in great part, preparatory, and with reference to the future of t mine, considerable quantities of quartz had been extracted, which was lately estimated 800 tons. That from the Dominion vein holds visible gold, associated with iron and ccB per pyrites, and portions of chlorite, which also forms thin slaty layers in the Palmerst "^oer, J We and ,c r minu provide The 1867, ce of tl irk, 00' gold t eat act i date ( This I miles e aurif Dces of ter employed only about twenty men, who received on an average $1.25 u day. The ec ^^^ '">° vein. In the latter the gold is associated with mispickel. The working during the w struction of a stamp mill is in progress, but was wisely deferred until the prcliinina labors should have opened the ground to such an extent as to ensure a constant and abu dant supply of mineral. The skill and forethought displayed by the director of this mil "^ f'^ Mr. Stephen Goodall, not IcaS than the abundance and apparent richness of the miner are such as should secure the success of this mining enterprise. To the west of the Dominion Company are two other workings, those of the Bould mine and the Palmerston Co. At the former there was but a single shaft, then at a dep of 63 feet, from which, by means of a windlass, was being raised quartz, seemingly rich gold, and charged with mispickel. Our time did not allow an examination of the P merston Company's mine, but as it is an establishment too important to be passed over a notice of the district, we cite the following details from Mr. Heatherington's Guide to t Qstruc Gold Mines of Nova Scotia, already referred to. This company was organized in Bost( - r^nn< in November, 1866, with a capital of §100,000, American currency. The shares, origina: J^"^' of $1 each, now bring $2.15, The property of the company consists of 20 lots, of whi only four are now worked. The average yield of the mineral, including portions of t slate which are crushed with the quartz, is stated at one and a quarter ounces the ton the mean cost of extraction and treatment is $6.70. The company employs 40 mine and owns a mill and shaft-house worth S6,000. The yield for some time past has been the rate of 200 ounces of gold per month. The financial statement of this company from its commencement, as given in the iV j'«(7 Gazette for January ,is as follows, in American currency : — lleeeipts from November 10, 1860, to October 28, 1867 $85,515.59 '' ipenses ' " ""' """ "" )vmce, the ric 2 disco\ oduce t rtly su The ve oeci iployini rth-nor lich is 330 fee d been iterial rasois Cost of erecting ten-stamp mill 7,287.50 §12,454.11 Net profit Deduct dividend of 25 per cent. Balance 43,061.48 25,000.00 §18,061.88 exami i, at opeu{ feet, enty-fi\ time try to t en 17 ( The rty ei}i ee feel ge reti mpanj eir pro 31 We saw the mill of the Palmerstoa Company, which consists of a single battery of ir, and two united of three stamps each, and has a steam engine of ten horse-power. e lift of the stamp is about twelve inches, and the number of strokes was seventy minute. This mill was said to treat on an average, ten tons in twenty-four hours, and provided with tables having lateral oscillations. The total yield of the Sherbrooke district for the twelve months ending December , 1867, was 9,4G3 oz, IS dwt. of gold ; being an increase of 3,634 ounces over the pro- ce of tlie preceding year. The returns for the month of January, 1868, show 4,368 days' rk, (iOO tons of ore raised, 550 tons crushed, and an average yield of 1 oz. 2 dwt. 13 gr. gold to the ton of 2,000 pounds ; the gross product having been 647 oz. 1 dwt. 6 gr. eat activity exists in this district, and several new companies have been organized since ! date of our visit. « WINE HARBOR. This i^oUl-miuing district is situated ninety miles eastward from Halifax, about I miles from Shcrbrooku and four miles from the mouth of the St. Mary's River. in November la; '^ auriferous quartz lodes are met with over a belt of nearly a mile from north to south, schistose quartzit the contrary, tl he dip, would sec etition of the sla xpected southwat 3ot each, separati r inches, are sep escending becora vo feet, unite iu n found to be aui merston veins, t time of our vis h 85 feet in dept; galleries, the o: hward to meet t! d to serve for t! i of veins, whic erous quartz, upi 5 working will ha drifts, to comni working of this p: Vlthough the labc the tuturo of i i lately estimated with iron and co nn the oast side ner, tho enter- am engiDe and passing, for al- vithout interest istward of the ills, on a small are overlaid by iniferous series, a mass of drift, ncl of the mill- ! lower portions r of an inch in )f the brook at aglomerate was h returns, ch is itself evi- riod. A small ccn detected in te hills of the g notes of ail I Island, from | 3 sands of two ) , and in one of '^agamatcook or ./ d rich valleys, 1 trials made by ^ luvial deposits, j 3 on the north- .. ncrative. The 3 latcook, but wo / t one a little to iles to the east- Jcyond these to ocks along this apparently Up- I, whose general on is presented ed no gold, but aserved on the esides veins of others of a soft silver dissemi- but for several I into Mr. Michel's I CONCLUSION, A table from the report of the Chief Commissioner of Mines, showing the returns of the (jold mines of Nova Scotia for the year ending Sept. IJOth, 18G7, is given in the appendix to this report. In this table are given for each gold district the average daily labor employed, tho number of mills with steamer water power, tho number of tons of quartz crushed, the rivcrage yield of gold to the ton, tho (juaiititics of alluvial gold, the total amount of gold, and finally the annual return for each miner employed, tho price of gold being estimated at $18.50 tho ounce, which, as we have seen, is considerably below tho real value. A column giving the maximum yield per ton from each district liii.s been omitted, inasmuch as it is deduced from the treatment of lots of ore of exceptional richness. It is impossible to determine with precision tho total amount of gold obtained from the mines of Nova Scotia since their discovery. The Department of Mines was not organized until 1862, and it was not until the following year that complete returns were obtained. From this it results that no accurate estimate can be given of the amounts of tho amounts of gold obtained in 1860, 1861 and 1862, though thoy arc supposed to have been not inconsiderable. The oflScial returns for the last six years, based on tho gold for which the royalty of three per cent, has been paid, are as follows : — 1862 7,275 ounces. 1863 14,001} " 1864 ; 20,023 " 1865 25,454} " 1866 25,204i " 1867 27,583 " Total $119,54U ounces. The value of the above amount of gold, at the Government price of $18.50 the ounce, is 82,211,508 ; but at $20, which is about the worth of the Nova Scotia gold, it amounts to 82,390,081. If to this wc add the unreported gold obtained in the first two or three years, we may conclude that the whole product has been equal in round numbers to about two and a half millions of dollars. This amount is doubtless small when compared with the production of regions like California and Australia, where t';o yield of rfomo single mines surpasses the whole annual production of Nova Scotia. Av wc have seen in a note to page 18, tho quartz mines of Victoria employed, in 18GG, 14,878 miners, and yielded 521,O0O ounces of gold. The mean yield to the ton of quartz wa.s. however, only lOdwt. 16 gr., and the produce for each miner £1 17.5s. 7|c?. or t570. 71, while for Nova Scotia these amounts were respectively 17 dwt. 23 gr. and $765. In Victoria the whole amount of quartz crushed up to tho close of 1866 was nearly 4,000,000 of tons, with an average yield r f 11 dwt. 23 gr., while in Nova Scotia it has equalled not quite 100,000 tons, with an average yield of over 20 dwt. of gold to tho ton. It is to be remarked that with improved systems of mining and working, both in Victoria and Nova Scotia, poorer materials ruay be wrought with profit, so that while the average product of gold per ton diminishes, the return for each miner increases. We have but to consult the table given below to see that the produce for each miner is proportionate not so much to the richness of the quartz as to the skill and economy of the management, which, within the last year has raised the production in Kenfrew and Sher- brooke to such high figures. It may however be affirmed that the average yield of gold to the ton of rock, and also to each miner, is greater in Nova Scotia than in any other auriferous region known. It may well excite surprise that so little mining has yet been done in Nova Scotia, where gold is known to be spread over an area ofnot less than 6,000 square miles, and where, notwithstanding the want of skill of the early adventurers, and the lack of capital, such remarkable results have already been obtained. The lodes of this region, which are very regular in structure, have been shewn to preserve their richness to depths of 200 and 300 feet, and from their geological relations there is every reason to believe will continue unchanged to tho greatest attainable depths. To this it may be added that the price of labor is moderate, not exceeding 81.25 a day; fuel, both wood and ooal, ohonp nnd !ibuQ(i» ant I the region healthful, and cflsily aooegsiblo from abroad. When all thoec thiugs w'« 36 taken into conBidcration, it would appear that no other gold-minin/jj region offers such induceiuents to the introduction of capital and skilled labor, and that these alone are required to make Nova Scotia one of the great gold-producing regions of the world. I have the honor to be, Sir, Your most obedient servant, T. STERRY HUNT. APPENDIX I. Statement shewing the average daily labor employed, the amount of quartz crushed, the yield of gold per ton of quartz, the quantities of gold from alluvia] mines, the yield cf gold per ton in each district and in the whole province, and the value of the average yield of gold per man employed i'- mining, for twelve months ending September 30, 1867. (From the Report for 18G7, of Hon. Robert Robertson, Chief Commissioner of Mines for Nova Scotia. Appendix B. ; see ante page 35. J DISTRICTS. a a o a to" £§• < 45 3:! 99 19 19 LSI 52 189 ;iO 076 bo«J II 2 4 5 4 1 5 4 5 2 .■55 p. o -.J M 2 :i 5 2 1 4 H 3 1 o S a "i "2 "i 1 •> M ^J a 03 H 1149 1607 6809 4815 214 11289 9f)0 7770 1212 117 Yield per Ton. oz. dwt. gr. Alluvial Gold. oz. dwt. gr. Total yield of Gold. oz. dwt. gr. Average yield per man for 12 months, at $18.50 per oz. Rtonnont f Isaac's Harbor^......... 1 ft 8 8 13 19 8 16 r 1 10 7 7 1 8 7 1 4 4 )5 15 1 3 4 1505 2 11 764 9 9 8522 8 11 ;iJ5 16 10 417 13 21 4134 IS 17 1359 12 2 9401 2 10 947 1 17 135 21 $618 73 428 60 "20""6 "0' 1592 58 Tan^Mer Montai?U6 385 50 406 60 422 63 Oldbaui • , 483 88 Renfrew 895 30 l^niacko 584 00 Uuproolaimed and other Districts. 28 15 15 273 65 27 ' 3067;! 17 23 1 49 1 15 27583 6 97 7fi,) 00 APPENDIX No. TI. The following numbered clauses are extracted from the present mining law of Nova Scotia, passed May 10, 1804, and include the principal points relating to mines of gold :- 1. The woid minr- in this chapter shall mean any locality in which any vein, stratum i or natural bed of coal or of metalliferous ore or rock shall or may be worked. '■'- * 2. (Jold-beariug quartz shall be held to mean all auriferous rock in si/il. 3. Gold elsewhere thau in rock in sitil shall mean alluvial mines. • 10. The (fovernor in Council, on being satisfied of the discovery of gold in any' locality, may, by proclamation in the Royal Gdzeftc, declare such a locality to be a gold dihtrict, and a,«8ign li;n'ts and boundaries to such district, and from time to time, enlarge, contract, or othcrwiso alter such limits. 1 1 . Quartz mines shall, so far as local peculiarities or other circumstances may permit- be In gencr:il laid off in areas of one hundred and fifty feet along a quartz lode, by two hun- dred and fifty feet across, which shall hereinafter be known and described ua areas of class Number One. AO as upon that OT r HUNT. )n oifers such I 12. Areas shall be laid out, as far as possible, uniformly, and in quadrilateral or rect- icse alone are I angular shapes. Measurements of areas shall be horizontal, and each area shall be bounded world. ■ by lines vertical to the horizon. 13, A.lluvial mines, not under lease at the time of the passing of this Act, and alluvial mines under lease at such time, but which shall hereafter bo surrendered by their lessees, or become forfeited to the Crown, shall be laid out, so far as local peculiarities will allo'iv, as directed in the case of quartz mines, the courses of the respective boundary lines of such mines to be decided by the Chief Commissioner of Mines; and the advance pay- ments, or rents and royalties, shall be the same as quartz mines. ?jC *i^ V )^ 3^ «!• 17. The advance sum to be paid upon any application made after the passing of this Act, for a gold mine, shall be at the rate of two dollars for each area of class Number One ; but nothing herein contained shall prevent the repayment of royalty accruing from the leased premises, or any such advance sum paid in accordance with any former Act of this Province. 18. Applicants for leases of mining areas In private lands, may arrange, by agree- ment in writing, with the proprietors, for leave to enter, and ibr casements, and for damage to lands ; and in such case the agreement shall be deposited with the Chief Commissioner, or Deputy Commissioner for the District, and the applicant shall thereupon be immediately entitled to his lease, and to enter and mine upon the area applied for. * • t * * * * 29. All leases shall be for the term of twenty-one years ; but the holder of any such lease may, at any time, surrender the same by notice in writing signed by him, and filed in the office' of the Chief Commissioner of Mines ; but nothing herein contained shall be construed to discharge him from liability in respect of any covenants in the lease, for or in respect of any Act, matter or thing, for which, at the date of such surrender, ho was liable under the terms of lease. 30. Such leases may bo forfeited on failure to pay the stipulated royalties, other than those arising from quartz crushed at a licensed uiill, or to keep employed annually on tho demised premises, tho number of days' labor hereinafter specified, or to comply with any other of the provisions and stipulations iu the lease contained. ;.: * * H; ;!;: ^ 32. There shall be employed annually on the demised premises a number of days' labor, equivalent to one hundred days for every Number One area composed therein. But any lessee, holding ten or more, but less than twenty areas, of class Number One, in any Gold District, will not ' o required, during tho first year of his holding, to keep more than three-fourths of the number of days' labor above required to be performed per area ; in like manner, if holding twenty or more, but less than thirty of such areas in the same district, he shall be required to keep employed only one-half, and if holding thirty or more only one-fourth the above required number of days' labor, during such first year. * * * * ^: :♦: * ;-;; * 38. Tho Chief Commissioner of Mines may issue licenses to search lor gold, to be called " Prospecting Licenses," which shall be subject to the rules prescribed by this Act. 39. 8uch Licenses may include any area not exceeding ono hundred acres in extent, rto as the same shall be laid off in quadrilateral and rectangular figures, and shall not iu length exceed double the breadth thereof. 40. Such Licenses shall bo in force for any period not exceeding three months from the date thereof. •11. All applications for prospecting licen.'-'Os shall accurately define by metes and bounds, the lands applied for, and shall bo accompanied by a payment at the rate of fifty cents per acre tor every acre up to ten acres in extent, and twenty-five cents for every aero in addition to that extent. inccs may permit' j ^^ rpi^^ i^q]^^^ of a prospecting license, who shall have fulfilled all the terms and i)dc, by two hun- I conditions thereof, shall be entitled to a renewal thereof for a second period of three months, ° 3 upon like terms and conditions, except that the price of nut of quartz of go\a from in the whole employed i'" for Nova Scotia. eld Average yield por man for 12 months, 1. at $18.50 per 1 o«. •gr. 2 11 $fil8 73 11 y ■123 60 S 11 1592 58 fi ID 385 50 H 21 405 60 S 17 422 63 2 2 483 88 2 HI 8H5 30 1171 f.84 00 21 ) 278 55 f. 0' 7(i,) 00 ing law of Nova' mines of gold :- my vein, wod. =<■ stratum of gold in anj ity to be a gold to time, enlarge, 1 ibcd us areas that paid ou tho previous application. tho same place shall bo only half 38 45. Withio th« period for which the lioense, or renewed license, is granted, the party holding the same shall be entitled to eeleot any area or areas, not exceeding one quarter of a mile on the lode, and in breadth five hundred feet, comprised therein in form as de- scribed in this chapter, and shall be entitled to a lease of the areas selected upon the terms imposed herein. * * * s)e * * 47. On all leases of gold mines, and prospecting licenses to search for gold, there shall be reserved a royalty of three per cent, upon the gross amount of gold mined. 48. The discoverer of any new mine shall be entitled to a lease for twenty-one years, free from advance payment or royalty, of an area of class Number One, as prescribed by this chapter. H 49. No person shall be considered the discoverer of a new quartz mine unless the place of the alleged discovery shall be distant, if on a known lodo, at least three miles from the nearest known mine on the same lode, and if not on a known lode, at least one mile at right angles from the course of the lode ; if in alluvial workings, at least two miles dis- tant from any previously discovered mine. ' * :^ * * * 5ie 56. Each licensed mill-owner shall separate from the yield or produce of gold of each lot or parcel of quartz, as crushed, three parts out of every hundred parts of such yield, as the portion thereto belonging, and payable to Her Majesty as royalty ; and shall ^ pay the same in such weekly or other payments as the Chief Commissioner of Mines shall order, into the office of the Chief Commissioner of Mines or hia deputy for the district, or otherwise shall pay as aforesaid, the equivalent in money for the same, at the rate of nine- teen dollars and fifty cents per ounce troy for smelted gold, and eighteen dollars and fifty cents troy for unsmelted gold. 56. So soon as gold shall be obtained by amalgamation, or otherwise, from any par- cel or lot of quartz crushed at any licensed mill, three parts in the hundred of such gold shall forthwith thereafter be and become the property of Her Majesty. 57. In case any licensed mill owner shall fail to pay such three parts on the hundred of gold, or money in lieu thereof, in the mode and at the time prescribed by this chapter, he shall be liable to an action at the suit of the Commissioner of Mines, as for money had and received to his use, for the value of said gold, estimated at nineteen dollars per ounce troy. ****** inted, the party ng one quarter in form as de- upon the terms for gold, there [ mined. 3nty-one years, escribed by this line unless the hree miles from east one mile at t two miles dis- luce of gold of d parts of such 'alty ; and shall ; r of Mines shall : the district, or * tho rate of nine- 'J dollars and fifty B, from any par- ; red of such gold on the hundred I by this chapter. | p money had and I 3 per ounce troy THE GOLD REGION OF NOVA SCOTIA, TABLE OF CONTENTS. Paqi. Geology of the Gold Region 5 Metalliferous Lodes 8 Alluvial Gold U Gold working in Nova Scotia 12 Notes on the Gold Districts 19 Lawrencetown 19 Montague 20 Waverley 21 eidham 23 Renfrew 25 Uniacke 27 Sherbrooke 28 Wine Harbor 31 Stormont 32 Tangier 32 The Ovens and other districts 33 Gay's River 3.4 Cape Breton 34 Conclusion , 36 Appendix — I. Table of gold production for 1867 36 II. Extracts from the Mining Law 36