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Les diagrammes suivants illustrent la m^thode. 1 2 3 1 2 3 4 5 6 mM wfM 1066832 \ LIBRARIES THE uxi\ERsrrv oi" \vj:stern Ontario LONDON CANADA LS-6061Z THE UNIVERSITY OF WESTERN ONTARIO DATE DUE ■m J J ,0, ^LAR I ROVmCE LA 96 2448C 8/^75 INBS CONTBACT AND INVB^MN 1. ISaUBD BY THK OP- TORONTO, l.lmlt«»5«^ iluii«, 1809. ( JX A * .w)- mM oe^ARV ill 683211 " ) J LiriR.\kii:s Till- UXn'ERSlTV 0|- WJ-.^rKRX ONTARIO LONDON CANADA LS-60612 %■ f SPEQAL UKcULAR ON TBB AND THE MINING OF THE PROVINCE 'SSUBD BY THB \>V • ^;W t tfeij^ n INKS CONTRACT AND INVBSHGAIION CO. OP- TORONTO. t.lmlt*^> June, 1899. u,/, \ ' iNooitPOKArmo may larn, taoe. Capltali •100,000 In 20.000 8h«r«» of 08.00 MMh PhII AMMMibllity. HENRY READ, Ste'y-Treaawrer. «l. W. CHEE8EW0RTH, Prttdwt. HEAD OFFIOE: CANADA LIFE BUILDINfi, - TOBONTO, ONT. N.W. ONTARIO BRANOH OrPlOB: NIOHOi^ON'S BLOCK, MAIN ST^ RAT PORTAOK. Bankers : IMPERIAL BANK OF CANADA. OODM USBD I Ok Stooks~-CLOUGH'8, On Minm, Etc-BBDFOBD MoNEIL'S, CANADA BUSINESS AND WESTERN UNION. Cable Addr8M~-*'VEINt.' Tolophono No. 1764 eUROPBAN AOKNOimSt LONDON OFFldB. • No. 1 FlilNOHUROH STRIUBT. Affents and PonrespondAnts in Plymouth. Swansoa, Paris, Bnunels, Amstardam, BerUn. Vienna, Genava, Nice. Monte Carlo, Borne, Genoa and Naidec. Has AGENTS and CORRESPONDENTS in the PRINCIPAL MINING GB¥fT|SE^ of Canada, the United States, Great Britain, .;^d the Continent of Europe. Vv Thb MiNiss Cp^^cT ANi> Investigation Co., Limited, is the con- solidated firms of the Mines Contract Co. of Rainy River and th4 Canadian Mining Bureau, without change of management. 7> , ^ /'A ■■:'aV \ I . i ^;- SPECIAL CIRCULAR OF THE Mines Contract and Investiration Co., OK TORONTO, LIMITED, ON MINES AND MINING IN ONTARIO, WITH SPECIAL REFERENCE TO THE GOLD FIELDS OF THE RAINY RIVER DISTRICT. THE gold fields of North-Western Ontario, especially those included in the large area comprising the Lake of the Woods, the Rainy River basin, and the more northern section bounded on the north by English River and Lac Seul, are steadily making a reputation which, notwithstanding present lack of capital, will prob- ably, within a few years, place the district in the very fore of the gold producing regions of the world. Amongst the advantages which tend to produce such pre-eminence must be placed the extraordinary abundance of water power, nowhere rivalled in gold producing countries, the plentifulness of timber, the easy and cheap accessibility of the entire region by water communica- tion and rail, the latter to be soon greatly increased, the cheapness and comfort of living, and more than all, the immense area of the gold- bearing rocks and the fact that nowhere else does quartz mining return a quicker profit for the expenditure incurred in opening and developing mines. Unlike the Australian and Transvaal fields, the entire country is traversed by exposed veins and reefs of gold-l)earing quartz, the veins numbering tens of thousands and yielding profit generally almost from the very surface. Canadians hav'* little capital to spare beyond what is needed in the ordinary operations of business ; hence the lack of activity wit- nessed in connection with some most promising properties. During the 2 Mines Contract and Investigation Co., Limited. past year or a little more, American capital has become interested in these fields, and wliere it has opened properties, work has been pushed with a vigor rarely equalled l)y Canadian or English syndicates or companies. Several of the properties opened are gigantic reefs of low grade ore, workable at very low cost, and in particular instances, such as the Hammond reef, equal apparently in bulk of gold-producing ore to the entire known veins of Australia or of South Africa. In such cases quarrying is the only method required, though pits have been sunk to moderate depths to test the quality of these quarries. Mostly the gold is found in smaller but richer veins. In several instances, on small properties of forty or eighty acres in extent, the f1?p!??«3f??5?pr^ v.. ■. ■ ■;;■■.;„ KAT I'OKTAGK, LAKE OK THE WOODS. veins are counted on the surface by the score. Five or six feet is a very common width of veins, but in not a few properties, cross cutting reveals a vein width of twenty feet or more of high grade ore. Failures have occurred in a few instances, but generally from lack of capital and from the inexperience of Canadians in mining matters ; and not from either the poverty or lack of continuity of superficially well-selected veins. In 1894 gold mining in the Rainy River and Lake of the Woods basin was almost unknown. The Sultana, which is now one of Canada's leading payers, had reached a depth of only 105 feet and was conse- quently merely a prospect. Today there are three dividend payers in Special Circular on Ontario Mining. 3 the Western Slioal Lake and Lake of the Woods district, and two in the region of the eastern SJioal Lake or Lower Seine, which drains into Rainy lake and river. So far as developments are concerned they have practically been confined to an area lying south of a line nieasuring 212 miles between English River and Ingolf Station on the C.P.R., though to the north several prospects have been developed with encouraging results. But even in the region south of the C.P.R., and between it and the inter- national boundary line, very large areas have not been crossed by prospectors. Almost everywhere where prospecting has been fairly attempted and the country is not hidden by swamp or alluvial deposits (the latter are not extensive), gold bearing veins show themselves in an abundance almost unknown elsewhere, either in the old world or in the Rocky Mountain and Andean regions of America. At present about 500 properties are under more or less active development, but generally by people who have very little money to push their work. For convenience of grouping, the Rainy River gold fields may be divided into five camps : — No. 1. The neighborhood of the Western Shoal Lake, a sort of western arm of the Lake of the Woods. No. 2. The remainder of the Lake of the Woods region. No. 3. The Eastern Shoal Lake, or Lower Seine River district. No. 4. The Upper Seine fields. No. 5. The Manitou region, including the country around Tache Station on the C.P.R., the Manitou lakes, and Lakes Wabigoon and Minnietakie. In Camp No. 1, Western Shoal Lake, there is one dividend payer and nine other producing mines. In Camp No. 2, north and northeast of the Lake of the Woods, there are two dividend payers and four other producing mines. In Camp No. 3, Eastern Shoal Lake or Lower Seine, there are two dividend payers and four other producing mines. In Camp No. 4, the Upper Seine, there are eight producing mines. In Camp No. 5, the Manitou country, there are four producino^ mines. These dividend paying and other producing mines are all more or less free-milling, never smelting propositions ; and nearly all possess easy accessibility by water or short roads to the Canadian Pacific Railway, and many will shortly be within easy reach of the Ontario 4 Mines Contract and Investiyation Co., Limited. and Rainy River Railway, now under construction and likely to be completed within a year, from Port Arthur on Lake Superior, down the Seine Valley as far as Rainy Lake, and soon afterwards to the Lake of the Woods, and on to Winnipeg. By the expression •' producing mines " it is intended to designate properties which have not yet reached the status of "dividend payers" but which, within two years at furthest, appear not unlikely to attain that position. They must not be confounded with promising prospects such as was the Sultana mine in 1894. In the list given below are included all the dividend paying and other producing mines, and, besides, a number of promising properties which appear more or less worthy of the attention of investors. But the list does not include all the developments where a depth of over fifty feet has been attained, as many of such prospects, as well as several of the mines, do not care to make public their operations. The information given is derived from various sources, such as directors' reports, and enquiries by confidential agents of the Mines Contract and Investigation Company, Limited, and is tested and supplemented generally by other information gained from the Ontario Government Bureau of Mines reports and in other ways. Most of the information applies to the position of the mines during the past month. Leading Gold Mining Properties. Included in the following list are all the producing mines of the Rainy River District of North- Western Ontario. There are included also many prospects which, though not yet, perhaps, entitled to be called mines, are nearly all sufficiently developed to indicate their likelihood of soon becoming promising properties deserving of the title of producing mines, and other properties on which development is proceeding, but regarding which it is yet premature to say what the probabilities are. Special Circular on Ontario Mining. Camp No, 1. Western Shoal Lake, Western Side of the Lake of the IVoods. MIKADO. D. 200, 202, 14{». Dividend payer. Mikado Gold Mining Co., (Imperial charter). Main shaft down over 300 feet, on 4 to 6 foot vein. 4 veins worked. Driftinga at 4 levels. About 120 men. 20 stamp mill. Large plant. Valuable concentrates on hand now going through, large cyanidation plant recently installed and has begun work. Bullion produced in January S41,()00. Average since production began has been said to be about $30,000 per month, and the present weekly bullion about 810,000 per week. SIRDAR. D. 410. Adjoins the Mikado. Toronto and Western Mines De- velopment Co. 4 shafts, deepest nearly 200 feet, on 3 to 7 foot vein, width increasing with depth. Work active on several veins. 40 men. Hoisting plant and ordinary ore-producing eciuipment. 50 8tam])8 to be erected this summer. Ore values claimed to be as good as Mikado's. CAMERON ISLAND. S. 171. Cameron Islands Mining and Development Co. Deepest 130 feet, on 15 foot vein. Some drifting at 110 feet level. 10 men. Steam, usual buildings. Ore claimed to be about $14. SENTINEL. W.A. 7. 40 acres, on Shoal Lake, in Mikado group. Sentinel Consolidated Gold Mining Co. Deepest over 150 feet, on a vein over 10 feet wide. Very active drifting and sinking is being done. 10 men. Usual buildings, hoisting and pumping machinery. Work began May, 1898. Mill run ore values about 314 per ton. NORA. D. 433. At Labyrinth, on Shoal Lake. An American syndicate. 130 feet on 4 foot vein. Drifting. 10 men. Ore assays said to average over $14. 6 Mines Contract and Investigation Co., Limited. BULLION. D. 233. Adjoining the Mikado. Bullion Mining Company of Ontario. Considerable development work. Is putting in compressor plant and other machinery. GOLDEN HORN. D. 288. Private ownership. Assays said to average over $23. 100 feet deep. 10 men. Buildings. GREAT GRANITE DIVIDE. E. 272. At Echo Bay. Great Granite Divide Gold Mining Company owns about 5,000 ucres close to Mikado. Considerable develop- ment on several properties. 272 E. reported to continue to show rich ore with depth. YUM-YUM. S. 94. Yum-Yum Mining Co. veins. Buildings. About 86 feet on one vein. Many STANDARD. Standard Mining and Development Co. Some development. No recent reports. CORNUCOPIA. D. 212, D.W. 216, 217, 229. Cedar Island Gold Mining Co., London, J]ng. Was a promising property in early development work, but through litigation between owners little development has been done of late. BURLEY. Water lot near Sultana. Private ownership. Over 100 feet. On a continuation of the Crown reef of Sultana. Crib work, steam hoist and able, air compressor drills, centrifugal pumps, etc. 10 men. Ore value not given. Title in dispute some time ago. Special Circular on Ontario Mininy. Camp No. 2. The Remainder of the Lake of the Woods District. SULTANA. VV. 5. Dividend payer. John F. Caldwell, owner. Depth, over 475 feet. Over 2,500 feet drifting and other underground work. 120 men. 30 stamps ; .30 additional contemplated. Ore value probably 88. Cost of mining and milling at present is $1.82, or 60 cents less than at the celebrated Homeatake. Gold brick turned out weekly. Owner said to have refused #1,500,000 for the property, and more recently #2,250,000. REGINA. • Whitefish Bay. (Dividend payer). Regina Gold Mining Co., Lon- don, Eng. Approaching 500 feet in depth, on vein 1 to !) feet ; ti levels. Over 2,000 feet of drifting. About 50 men. 8 Tremaine stamps,equal in capacity to 40 gravity stamps, recently put in. Very large equipment. A cyanida- tion plant, to treat concentrates, in use. Deeper sinking is being continued, though enough ground is opened to keep milling plant occupied. Ore value estimated at $12.00. Cost of working is about $3.00. STELLA. S. 86, 87. East of Andrew Bay. East side Lake of the Woods. Ontario Prospectors' Mining and Development Co. 100 feet deep; shafts pits, and also adits into hill. 10 men. Buildings. Assays reported about 121, with satisfactory results with increasing depth. GOLDEN GATE. The Golden Gate Mining and Development Co., which owns the Queen, McA. 46, the Sovereign, D. 236, an adjoining property ; the Regal, McA. 22, in the Western Shoal Lake country, near the Mikado ; Yum-Yum, and other well-known mines ; and the Duchess, south of the Golden Gate on the other side of the Lake of the Woods, has made arrangements by which work on these very promising— even specially good properties so far as superficial examination can determine —will shortly begin with energy. On the first two properties are veins 5 and 7 ft. wide, meeting, which by trustworthy analyses average $11, at the small depth reached by present developments. On the Duchess property, a very large one, 202 acres, there are 17 known veins. 8 BAD. Mines Contract and Investigation Co., Limited. P. 349. Haycock township. Non-company ownership. 100 feet deep ; tunnelling into hill to main vein. 10 men. Buildings. Average mill results stated as over $22. VIRGINIA. On Sturgeon Lake, east of Whitefiah Bay. Owned chiefly in WheeliniX, W. Va. Over 100 feet deep and drifting at 100, being done. About 10 men. Buildings. Average assays said to be over S30. TRIGGS. On Gi Bi Lake. Triggs Gold Mining Co. Ore body schist, 200 feet wide, with three veins of (|uartz, assaying 810 upwards, running through it. Shaft about 100 feet deep. Working day and night. GELLEY LAKE. The Stella is the leading property in a group extending east and northeast, which from indications furnished by what developments have been made, may prove to be amongst the richest groups in the Lake of the Woods country. The sub-district embraces Gi Bi Lake, with Gelley Lake as a centre. Gelley Lake locations S. 100, 101, 102, 103, easily reached by canoe from Scovil station, or by steamer and portage from Rat Portage, lie about 6 mines northeast of the Stella shaft. On S. 101 is a vein, assaying on an average over 810, and running 2 miles unbrokenly across the locations, and with the formation of the country. BATH ISLAND. 504, .58!) P. Bath Island Mining Co. Work confined so far to 504 P. 100 feet deep. Buildings. 19 veins claimed. Work suspended of late. Mr. Priiigle, late superintendent of Kegina, reports favorably of the property. BOULDER. Whitefish Bay. Ontario Boulder Mining Co., (American capitalists). 170 feet deep on 29 foot vein, with crosscutting and considerable drifting. Very many veins. Air compressor drills and powerful hoisting engine. 15 to 30 men. SCRAMBLE. Shaft reported 84 feet deep, with over 200 feet of drifting. Ore body very large, and said to be several hundred feet wide in places. TREASURE. 247 P. Near Margach Station, C.P.R. Ship to Keewatin Re- duction Works. Recent mill run said to yield 810 off plates. Special Circular on Ontario Mining. 9 BLACK STURGEON. Lot 12, 0th concession, and part of 11 and 12, 5th concession. Hay- cock. Private ownership. 130 feet in December. Walls not reached. 300 feet of drifting reported. 20 men. Buildings. Ore values said to average about 825. Camp No. 3. Eastern Shoal Lake, Lower Seine. OLIVE. G. 00, 01, 09. H.P. 43!>. Little Turtle Lake. Dividend payer. Olive Gold Mining Co. INIain shaft is over 250 feet deep. 4 shafts. Several hundred feet of drifting. 40 men. 10 stamps. Free milling ore and concentrates. Ore value 823. First dividend paid last October. Aline has paid nearly whole cost of development out of crushing done by a two- stamp mill. GOLDEN STAR. A.L. 114, 116. Monthly dividends. Golden Star Mining and Ex- ploration Co. 400 feet deep on vein averaging 7^ feet. 5 leveld and over 1,400 feet of drifting. 4,000 tons on pile, 50,000 blocked out. 50 men. 10 stamps, each crushing 3^ tons per diem. 20 additional stamps going in. Well e(]uipped. Otto aerial railway to mill, which is lighted by electricity. May mill run 822,835 ; profit 818,019. First dividend, 1 per cent., ae- clared in February. Average mill-runs over 820 per ton. J. O. 4L Shore of Bad Vermillion Lake. Adjoins Golden Star to the northwest, and on it is located the Golden Star stamp mill. A. D» 2, or GOLDEN CRESCENT. A.D. 2, 3, 4. Operated by the (Jolden Crescent Co. Work began May '97. Deepest shaft is down about 90 feet. 2 drifts, 100 feet each, along veins. About 500 feet development in all. 20 men now employed, ^^'ork to be carried on shortly with suthcient capital. 10-stamp mill expected to be erected this summer. Average returns from crushers about glO. 10 Muie!< Contract and hivestigatioii Co., Limited. LUCKY COON. P. (iijo. Closed down ."? years ago, after putting up 5-stamp mill and sinking two shafts, one (io feet deep, and the other 50 feet deep. Again working, deepest shaft 95 feet. Additional machinery has been ordered, including a 7 air-drill compressor plant. Part of the machinery arrived a few days ago. ALICE A. K. 191. 80 acres on Little Turtle river. American-Canadian Gold Mining Co. 100 feet'deep, with cross cut, etc., 10 stamps ; 100 more arranged for. Immense ore body, 700 to 800 feet wide. Average assays across run about 85. GO, and on a (U) feet wide streak about §10. Cost of mining and milling about 83 per ton. Concentrates according to complete analysis by Johnson, Matthey & Co., assayers and melters to Bank of England, show values in silver, zinc, lead and copper, which indicate that concen- trates alone will pay cost of mining and milling. Concentrating plant ordered. DECCA. K. 222. Decca Gold Mining Co., composed principally of Mon- treal people. Deepest shaft is over l.SO feet on seven foot vein, said to be with good results. 15 men. Stocks recently put on market to enable owners to proceed with development work. FOLEY. A.L. 74, 75, 7B. Recently secured by an English syndicate who are about to resume woi'k. Dei)th 4.S5 feet on ."H fout vein. 4 levels on main shaft ; longest drift 27H feet. 32 veins and 11 shafts or pits. 20 stamps. Thorousih equipment. Bullion produced 845,000. Average value of ore given at $14. EMPEROR. P. ()5r). Toronto owners. One shaft down 200 feet. men employed. Several buildings erected. Assays good. About 10 FERGUSON. A.L. 110, 111., K. 223. is now changing hands. An English Co. Has been dormant, but Several Other Properties. As a result of the success of the Golden Star several companies have been incorporated recently to develop, in the vicinity of that mine, several prospects of more or less promise, on a few of which some development work has been done. Amongst the properties are J.O. 41, Special Circular on Ontario Mininy. 11 A.D. 2 (Golden Crescent) Swede Boy— E. 257 (Headlight), the Gold Bug, (P. 660), the Lucky Coon (P. G55), the Randoli)h (A.L. 115), and the(JoIde°n Eagle, (H. P. 1!>2). The Lucky Coon and A.D. 2, are referred to above . The Randolph adjoins the Golden Star and was favorably reported upon by Julian Ropes, M.E., who at the same time reported on the Golden Star less favorably. The Swede Boy till last February was in the hands of its original owners and developers. On the Randolph work is being actively pushed. The Mutual Gold Dev. Co. are to open several very promising pro- perties near the southern end of Bad Vermillion Lake. Camp No.. 4. The Upper Seine. HAMMOND. ;iS7 and 3:38 X. Hammond Gold Reef INlining Co. Is an immense quarry— a reef rising several score feet in height— of Laurentian gneiss, impregnated with quartz and gold— about 500 feet wide, low grade ore, yielding a profit of S?3 per ton. Can be quarried and milled for less than ^1.00. 140 feet, deepest shaft. Cross-cutting where ore bed is 462 feet wide is being vigorously pushed. 40 to 70 men employed. 10 stamp mill. 30 stamps more have been put in. Well equipped. Electric power is to be brought from Clearwater Lake near by. Average 83.75, of which $3.00 per ton is clear profit, owing to the ore being easily mined. About to lie amalgamated with the Folger-Hammond property. FOLGER HAMMOND. 31(5 to 322 X. and H.P. 582. Saw Bill Lake. Folger Hammond Mines Co., a close corporation. A quarrying proposition in the immense Hammond Reef. Owns the water power on 357 X, and has contracted for water wheels and necessary electric plant to work the various properties on thereof. Considerable opening done, and immediate ecjuipment intended. Average values f4 to §6. KABASKONG. 322 X. On Hammond Reef. Kabaskong Gold Mining Co. Drifted 100 feet into a hill. Average assays, S3. 25. Nothing done for 12 months. BONHEUR BELLE. 320 X. A company subsidiary to the Folger-Hammond Co. Prop- erty is on the Hammond Reef and adjoins the Saw Bill. Extensive develop- ment work, and shipping. 6 men. t~. 12 Mines Contract and Investigation Co., Limited. WAMPUM. 334 X. Folger-Hammond syndicate. 55, 40 and 30 feet on 3 foot vein. Assays $4 to $13. HIAWATHA. 330 X. Hiawatha Gold Mining and Milling Co. 75 feet on 4i foot vein. Average assays, $15. . SAWBILL. X. 313, 314 on Hammond Reef. Sawbill Gold Mining Company, owners. 250 feet deep. Much drifting and other work. 10 stamps. 20 men. Well equipped. Ore, low grade. New syndicate expect to sink to 400 feet during the present summer. Mine has been put under new manage- ment, with Capt. J. P. Williams, an experienced miner, in charge. HIPPOPOTAMUS, or Old Railroaders.' A.L. 282,near Island F'alls. Owned by a syndicate. 190 feet deep in vein to 8 feet wide, and well defined ; nearly 150 feet of drifting. Steam diills, compressors, hoists, etc., and necessary buildings. Ore soft; average Vfilue from careful assays over S22 per ton. Water power securable at Island Falls, near by. NEW RAILROADERS.' A.L. 283. A Fort William, Out., syndicate. 74 feet in vein 8 to 14 feet wide. Average value 88.40 per ton. No work done during past year. PETTIGREW, or King Mine; A.L. 108, near Hippopotamus. Private ownership. 60 feet deep. About 10 men. 2 Tremaine stamp test mill being put in, and also holsters and drill plant. ROY. A.L. 298, 299, near Island Falls. About 150 feet in a 4 foot quartz vein, withi^i a (50 foot belt of gold bearing schists. Crosscut and drifting at 100 feet level. Average assays in quartz about 812.00 ; between $2 and $3 in schists. Sawmill being added to other buildings. CLEARWATER CO. MINES. W.L. 5(5, B. 13, 14, 15, Ki. Clearwater Gold Mining Co. About 90 feet deep. 25 to 30 men. Hoist, boiler, compressor, etc. WILKINSON. W.N. 5, A.L. 333. Near Island Falls. Shaft sunk at junction of two wide, strong veins. Special Circiilar on Ontario Mining. 13 Camp No. 5. The Manitou, or Middle Division. Comprising mines in the Manitou, Wabigoon, Minnietakie and Tache sections. INDEPENDENCE. H. P. 387. Between Upper and Lower Manitou lakes. Manitou Gold Mining Company. Deepest shaft over 100 feet on vein over 37 feet in width. Some drifting and cross-cutting done. Walls not reached. Has been steadily pushed for 14 months. 30 to 40 men. 10-stamps and other machinery recently brought in. 3,000 tons on dump. Average value of ore said to be over $17. BARKER. H. W. 339. Private ownership. GO feet. 100 feet drifting. 30 men. 2 Tremaine stamps. IngersoU Compressor plant going in. Mill run S30. Reported to have produced $15,000. PAUL GASSE. H. W. 75. Private ownership. Assays reported high. 2 stamps. JUBILEE. H. 301. Syndicate. 75 feet deep, with other work. Hoist engine, compressor. Assays over .S7. Not working last winter. QUACKENBUSH. H. P. 375. American syndicate. 3 shafts ; deepest 75 feet. Rich ore reported from first two shafts, which are on one vein. LOWER NEEPAWA, or Royal Sovereign. H. W. 64. Neepawa Gold Mining Co. 100 feet with 100 feet drifting. Assays $8 and over. Not working during past winter. UPPER NEEPAWA, or Victory. McA. 28. Neepawa Gold Mining Co. About 100 feet of sinking reported. 130 feet drifting, and small shafts. Vein said to be 35 feet wide. Low grade ore on whole. / 1 14 Mines Contract and Invesliyation Co., Liinited. EDNA. McA. 29. Gold Explorers of CHtiada, an English Co. Not work- ing at present. In 'i>7 was 55 feet deep, but not following vein. CRACKER JACK. Near Dog-tiy Lake, Lower Manitou. Private ownership. MO feet on vein 4 feet wide at surface. Said to be very rich as far as depth has gone. SWEDE BOYS, MANITOU. H. V. 251) and 304. Shafts (iO feet and 45 feet. A recent mill run gave $30 per ton. SYKES. S. V. 105. On Lake Minnietakie. John Sykes Gold Mining Co. 75 feet deep. Cross cut of 35 feet in solid quartz. Has not struck wall. I) men. 10 stamps recently put in. HARVEY'S. On Lake Minnietakie. 00 feet deep on large body of ore, yield- ing gold and silver. MUNRO. H. W. 41ti. Near Wabigoon. Canadian syndicate. 108 feet deepest in December. Several shafts and some drifting. 18 men. Ore is shipped to Keewatin Reduction Works. Average value over §10. NORTHERN QUEEN. H. W. 130. Near Wabigoon. Rand Gold Mining Co. 50 feet deep, and cross cut at that depth for 15 feet. Ore full of iron pyrites. Average gold value ^18.50 by assays. GOLD aUARTZ. V. 33. Four miles east of Tache. Gold Quartz Free Milling and Mining Co. Over 25 feet on 7 foot vein. Assays reported very high. Steam hoist, compressor, pump, etc. LADY MARION. One mile west of Tache Station, C.P.R. Lady Marion Mining Co. Shaft 75 feet, and cross-cutting at that depth to reach the vein. Assays not known. 4 Special Circulitr on Outariu Minhiy. 15 FRANCO. H. W. 419. North Western Ontario Exploration Co., London, Enj{. Over 200 feet deep. Vein irregular on way down, but gradually widening from a mere stringer - like surface to 5 feet at last level. Quartz reported invariably rich, but value not given. WRIGHT. N.T. 20. Darlot Mining Co., London, Eng. Sunk 70 feet to vein. Surface rich. Vein 12 to 18 feet. Value, etc., not yet made public. On the properties mentioned in the list given above about 1500 men are employed. Reports by competent engineers on any of the above mines or on other mining properties can be procured from the Mines Contract and Investigation Co., Limited. Milling: Capacity. Without including two stamp mills with somewhat antiquated machinery, there are the following stamp mills in the Rainy River District. Where Treraaine stamps are used their capacity is estimated on tlie basis of ordinary gravity stamps. I Mill. Ao. of St Saw Bill 10 Hammond Reef 40 Independence 10 Barker 10 Sykes 10 Paul Gasse 2 Pettigrew or King Mine 10 There are 302 stamps in the above list, but others are being put in. The Sirdar, Hiawatha, Golden Crescent, Golden Star and Alice A have contracted for or decided to put in during the next few months at least 200 stamps, thus raising, by the close of summer, the number to over 500, or sufficient to mill 375,000 tons of ore per annum, an amount which even at the low average value of $10 per ton of free mill- ing ore, would represent an output of 83,750,000 of bullion. No doubt other properties will shortly decide on erecting stamp mills, and a few chlorination or cyanidation plants. 1 // t: I 'i 16 Mines CmUract and Investigation Co., Limited. A Magnificent Mineral Range. The mineral range in which the Rainy River District is embraced is a very wide one, and of immense length. Possibly in its continuity and extent it has no known equal in the world outside of the Andean and Rocky Mountain regions and their continuations on the continent of Asia. It may correspond with that geologically early Laurentian island continent, which, like a bow, stretches from Labrador south- westward across the Ottawa almost to the shore of Lake Ontario and thence curves north-westward across Lake Superior to the sub-Arctic regions between Hudson Bay and the Mackenzie River valley — a region of glacier swept rocks, often out-cropping over large areas, and stretching for thousands of miles, with a width of from a hundred to several hundred miles. But little explored, a region of wilderness, almost uninhabited, is nearly all of it. This much is known, however, that in Labrador, on the Gulf and lower part of the River St. Lawrence, as well as in its entire stretch from a little east of the Ottawa and through Ontario to the eastern shore of Lake Winnipeg, gold, iron, silver and very many of the most useful metals are found in lenses, fissures, and cracks to an extent probably unequalled, so far as present knowledge goes, in the entire remainder of the world. The modes of occurrence of metals in these primitive and metamor- phosed rocks known as Laurentian, Huronian, Keewatin, etc., appears to be in some respects different from the modes in other mineral dis- tricts. With few exceptions, the known ones only in the extreme south- ern end of this immense bow, as in Hastings County in South-eastern Ontario, the gold ores are largely free milling. Experience thus far has been that the veins improve in richness with depth. Where a change in the character of the ore occurs, as it does in several instances in the Lake of the Woods country, it is to an increase in the ratio of concentrates to free milling ore. The concentrates are tested by wet, or chlorination or cyanidation processes. Smelters are not required. Everysvhere, too, though narrowing and losing values, sometimes, especi- ally at about the depth of 100 to 130 feet, occur to trouble the inexperienced miner, the tendency thus far observed has been for veins to increase in width with increasing depth. No failures are known where depth is reached, all failures being due to sinkings that were not on true veins, or to ignorance, inexperience, bad management, or lack of capital. As said before, the known veins are counted by thousands : sometimes even dozens are found on single properties, Special Circular on Ontario Mininy. 17 so 10 r- iars lis- ith- tern far fe a ices itio leci- Itlie Ifor Iwn lere |nt, by ies, especially in the peculiar eruptive granite areas around Shoal Lake on the Lower Seine, and several other localities in the Rainy River dis- trict. These veins are sometimes,in almost every section, ten to thirty or more feet in width ; and are said, on the not always satisfactory evidence of assays, to carry values as hif the gold values per ton of any of the producintj mines of the Ilr.iny River District. Comparisons with the Hand or with the Trail Creek and Cripple Creek gold niines, which entail much greater cost in production, will show the profits of gold mining in the Rainy River district to be gener- ally much higher than in the camps mentioned. The Rat Portage Miner in a recent issue states that the dividend producing mines of the Rainy River country aggregate ."^100,000 per month of bullion, while the total expenditure in reaching this pro- duction has been only about $500,000. ton. per it of >me- |11, is jton, the or Icost Advantages of North- Western Ontario. The advantages of the Rainy River district as a gold mining field for prospecting and mining may be stated as follows : The immense extent of the gold area. The extraordinary abundance of gold veins in nearly every sec- tion, and the ease with which, owing to the frequent out-cropping of these veins, they may be discovered and traced. It is only in a few sections that alluvium or drift covers the rocks below the light sur- face soil, while, except in alluvial valleys and swamps, the bare rock i-idges crop out every few hundred yards, and generally present their perpendicular faces at the sides of the canyon-like coulees and river channels. The general high value of the gold ores in veins of ordinary and sometimes of much more than ordinary width, and the ease and cheap- ness of working the large quarries of low grade ores. The abundance of water power and of wood for building and for fuel. The easy facilities for securing supplies by either rail or water. The country is interlaced with navigable streams and lakes, and lies but a short distance from Lake Superior. The Canadian Pacific Rail- way traverses the country from east to west, with English River on the eastern border of the district at a distance of only 112 miles from Thunder Bay on Lake Superior. Wabigoon, in the heart of the northern gold fields and on a line of navigation of its own, is only 198 miles distant, and Rat Portage, the foot of the extensive navigable waters of Lake of the Woods, Rainy River, Rainy Lake, and tha Lower Seine, only 293 miles from Thunder Bay. Within a very short »■ 20 Mines Contract and Investigation Co., Limited. ,iJ time a second railway.now under construction, from Port Arthur along the Seine Valley to Rainy Lake and the Lake of Woods, will be com- pleted and will traverse the very centre of some of the most active gold fields in the district. This ease of access compared with that possessed by the Transvaal and most of the gold fields of Western Australia is a very important advantage enjoyed by the Rainy River country. Cheap Fuel and Living;, Saw mills abound, and over the entire district land is found suitable, both in soil and climate, for farming, stock raising, dairying and gardening. The broad valley of the Rainy River from the Lake of that name to the Lake of the Woods is an ex tensive belt of very rich agricultural country, while around Wabigoon in the north are several townships of almost unbroken farming land. All the cereals, vegetables and fruits of Manitoba are grown in the district and are of good quality, and camps need not lack the usual delicacies the soil and climate afford, for agricultural settlement will rapidly follow, in many localities, the establishment of camps. From the outside, too, provisions are cheaply obtained. Manitoba reaches to the Lake of the Woods, and Southern Ontario with its farms and orchards and vineyards is within cheap reach by both rail and water. Full equipment in machinery, not as in ' Western Australia, British Columbia and the Transvaal, is obtained near at hand, frona the machine shops of Ontario, Quebec and the border States. The cost of mining is low. The ore is free milling and the con- centrates are treated by simple processes. Owing to the cheapness of living and nearness to thickly settled communities, wages are reason- able, not n arly so high as in most of the great gold fields of the world. Miners on the Hammond Reef, for instance, receive $2 a day and surface men from $1.50 to $1.75. The average cost of mining and milling in Northwestern Ontario varies according to circumstances from $1 to $3.50 per ton, most of the veins probably involving, under the present rather undeveloped conditions of the district, an expense of $2.50 to $3.50 per ton. Other Ontario Gold Fields. Going eastward from the Rainy River District, several gold-fields of more or less promise and development are found. North of Lake Superior veins and quarries of gold are known to exist, but little Special Circular on Ontario Miviny. 21 development has been done upon them. East of Lake .Superior, around the Michipicoten River, much activity was exhibited last winter. Thirty or more mining camps have been operating around Lake Wawa, — some of them employing as many as 20 to 40 men. But interest in the district is very recent, scarcely any development having been done until last October. The progress of this region will be attentively and hopefully watched. A little too, of gold mining, is done north of Lake Huron, in East Algoma, but so little as not to be worthy at present of more than mere reference. Amongst the mines Ivin'^ farther east in the Sudbury and Wahnapitte districts are several properties more or less developed, some of them carrying, as in the case of the Dwyer mine, veins five feet or more wide at the surface. There are isolated properties in the free milling district further south which may prove to be valuable, but are not sulHciently tested to justify particular reference to them. It is pleasing to observe the present great activity in gold mining, as well as other mining, in the Southeastern Ontario district, where many prospects are being more or less developed this summer, and where hundreds of men are employed in connection with mining operations. In the Hastings district,just north of Lake Ontario, there is more or less of free milling ore, but the ores are mainly refractory. The Deloro j\Iine, Canadian Gold Fields Co., Limited, has a valuable property in Marmora Town- ship, Hastings County, on which two rich veins are being worked. Shafts have been sunk over 150 feet on each and much other work done. The works, which include a plant for treatment of mispickel ore by a recent process, are extensive and the results said to be very »oocl. The Company,an English one,has sucli confidence in the results obtained that they have bought extensive gold-bearing lands in the neighborhood. Over 100 men are employed. As some of the gold can be extracted by ordinary processes, a stamp mill is to be put in. Tiie equipment of the mine is excellent. The Belmont mine, in the same region of refractory ores, is owned by the Cordova Exploration Co. It is, like the Deloro, a bullion producing mine. Two large veins carrying sulphur, with arsenic, are worked. The ore yields ^\S to 88 per ton. By a careful system, ore is selected for a well equipped 10 stamp mill, the only one actually operating last winter in the Hastings district. Aljout 120 men are eniployeil. The Ledyard gold mine and others are included in the district. North of Kingston, near Plevna, in Frontenac, dur- ing the last summer, extensive developments, with much machinery and many men, were commenced, and are now vigorously prosecuted. 22 Mines Contract and Investigation (Jo., Limited. on the Schinour property, owned by Detroit capital. Dr. Eames, with a furnace process of his own, is in charge, and furnaces for ex- tracting the gold from 40 tons of ore per diem have been in process of erection. Two veins are each 9 feet wide at the surface. Various pits have been sunk. 60 men are employed. It is, however, premature to express an opiaion on the merits of the Lake Ontario refractory-gold mining district, although the veins are abundant and the ore generally of high value in gold contents. Transmission of Electric Power. The instalment, now proceeding, of an electric plant to work the Hammond Reef marks a departure from the methods of mining hither- to in vogue in Northwestern Ontario. The importance of the use of electric power will be more apparent as time progresses, for although at present the supply of wood fuel is abundant nearly everywhere, the extensive development of the mining industry may within a few years everywhere, and in some localities in a shorter period, render wood relatively a heavy item in mining expenditure. The district abounds in excellent water power, readily utilizable for the produc- tion of electric power. In nearly every camp these water powers are close at hand, but the practicality of carrying electric power for long distance without much loss of current has been abundantly demonstrated. Golden Gate mine, Mercer, Utah, is supplied with electric power brought from a distance of 35 miles with a loss of only 5 per cent, of current, and at a cost of 8G0 per horse power per annum. Clelonde Point mine, Toole County, Utah, is supplied from a distance of 48 miles with a loss of only 10 per cent. Tacoma is supplied with electric power from a distance of 45 miles and Seattle from a distance of 31 miles, Ogden, Utah, 36 miles, and Fresno, Cal., 35 miles. Often the electric power producer is steam power, but this is whollv unneces- sary in Northwestern Ontario, where water-falls, rapids and also lakes small and large at various elevations, abound. The Rat Portage Re- duction Works is about to erect a 75 hor.se power electric plant, and it is estimated that the cost of working this, instead of being S?16 per day of 24 hours for fuel, will be but S8. The relative cheapness and flexibility of electric power w'll no doubt soon lead to its adoption on other properties besides the reduction works and the mines on the Hammond Reef. special Circular on Ontario Mining. 23 The Profits of Mining. The Witwatersrand in the Transvaal in 1887 produced only 8405,- 000 in gold ; in 1896 the product was about $44,000,000. In eleven years it was over 8240,000,000. The Comstock lode of Virginia City, Nev., in the past 20 years has produced $320,000,000 of gold and silver ; the gold production was only $8 per ton of ore. The Calumet and Hecla, south shore of Lake Superior, up to March, 1899, paid $60,850,000 on a capitalization of $2,500,000. The Alaska-Treadwell, a mine with ore valued at less than 83 per ton, generally much less than that, and not to be compared in extent and value with the properties on the Hammond Reef in Northwest- ern Ontario, paid up to April, 1899, $4,070,000 in dividends. The Ontario, Utah, up to November, 1897, paid $13,557,500 in dividends, and the MoUie Gibson up to a recent date $5,000,000. The Homestake of South Dakota has received from its shareholders only $200,000 and though not equal in extent or richness to some of the low grade properties in Northwestern Ontario, paid up to April, 1899, 87,431,250. These are but a very few instances of the enormous profits of min- ing in regions where generally the conditions are less favorable than in the new gold fields of Ontario. Quick Millions. Colorado has many millionaires who, beginning with little money, have acquired their wealth since 1893 by operating or investing in mines. We mention only a few, by way of illustrating tiie success that sometimes results from judicious investment. David H. Motiatt, of Leadville, who, through his many mining interests has become a multi-millionaire, in 1891, along with his part- ner Eben Smith, purchased a prospect in an improved Cripple Creek camp for $65,000, paying $5,000 down and engaging to pay the re- mainder later. He spent $5,000 in further development and with the proceeds of the ore taken out paid the 860,000 remainder of the pur- chase money. In 1893 he, with others, formed the Victor Gold Min- ing Co. with a capitalization of $1,000,000 to further develop and operate the prospect. Up to the end of 1898, it had paid dividends of $1,155,000, $350,000 of the amount last year. Mr. Moffatt's favorite 1 1* 24 Alines Contract and Investigation Co., Limited. \:.. \ ! and most profitable method, says the Denver JVews, has been, after careful investigation, to take hold of an undeveloped or partially de- veloped property at the minimum of price, cost and risk, and convert it into an ore producing, profit paying mine. Mr. Eben Smith, Mr. Moffatt's partner, amongst individual enter- prises on his own account, purchased a small interest in the liittle Johnny at Leadville, and has since received annually far more in dividends than the amount he paid for the interest. W. S. Stratton, in April, 1891, loaded his miner's outfit on a donkey and driving it before him, walked 35 miles from Colorado Springs to Cripple Creek and discovered and became sole owner of the Independence mine which has since yielded him millions of dollars. John F. Campion, a Prince Edward Island man, began work in 1891 on Breece Hill, Leadville, taking a lease and bond. He after- wards admitted as partners a few personal friends, who with him in 1892 formed the Ibex Mining Company with a capital of 8100,000. In 1893 about 81,000,000 of ore was taken out and up to the end of 1898 the mine produced about $10,000,000 of ore. Thomas P. Walsh, the owner of the Camp Bird mine, Col., two years ago bought it as an abandoned prospect, and, though he has hitherto shipped his ore to his ten stamp mill on mule back at a cost of over $2 per ton, the mine is netting him 830,000 per month. A Few Instances of Success* The Cripple Creek district is only 6 miles long by 3 miles wide, a mere spot compared with the gold fields of Northwestern Ontario,but since 1891 it has produced over 850,000,000 in gold, and the ore produced in 1898 is estimated at 815,602,022, and 19 of its mines paid an aggregate dividend of $2,352,710 in that year. Amongst the many instances of fortunes being made out of it, the few following may be mentioned : James B. Burns, a steam fitter, and James Doyle, superintending an irrigation ditch at a salary of $40 a month, in 1891 walked from Colorado Springs to Cripple Creek and taking another pai-tner in, commenced the Portland mine, and in 1894 organized the Portland Gold Mining Co., a company which paid, up to May, 1899, no less than $2,137,080 in dividends, of which $570,000 was paid last year. Adolph Zang, Fred Siegel and F. J. Campbell spent 880,000 in developing the Vindicator mine before it commenced to produce, but it has paid hundreds of thousands of dollars since. Special Circular on Ontario Mining, 25 irom J. R. McKenney in 1891 walked into Cripple Creek with a stock of bacon and flour for his own use. He is now one of the larf^est owners of the Moon Anchor and was one of the largest of the Black Diamond which, after a little development, was sold to the Portland Co. for 8350,000. Warren Wood and his two sons made over 8 1,000,000 out of Cripple Creek in 7 years, and now hold the controlling interest in several mints. In Southwestern Colorado the Smuggler-Union group, near Telluride, owned and operated by John A. Porter and associates, has produced since 1886, nearly .$10,000,000 in metal. The Sunnyside, near Silverton, has made its owner, J. H. Terry, rich in a short time. In the winter of 1894 he had five men at work on the property, but as he had no capital they agreed to wait for their wages till spring and be paid out of the proceeds of the ore. In the spring he hired a Mexican who owned a train of pack animals to carry the ore away to a small cheap mill he had built. A Mexican there shovelled the ore into the mill and Mr. Terry worked the mill. Entirely out of the proceeds of this mine he has since built an aerial tramway 16,000 feet long from his mill above the timber limit down to the railway, where he is now erecting a 100 ton mill furnished with the most modern equipments. The pay streak on his mine is 25 feet wide and runs from $6 per ton upwards. Millions have been made out of the Aspen and other mines of Southwestern Colorado, notwithstanding the disadvantages of the district when compared with Northwestern Ontario. The gold product of Colorado for 1898, is estimated at 823,303,- 613.78. In 1892 it was only 85,539,021. The entire gold production from 1892 to 1898 (inclusive) is placed at 894,800,140. Over 30,000 men were employed last year at the various mines, prospects and mills. Silver Silver is found in various parts of the great mineral belt from the Lake of the Woods to Hastings County in Southeastern Ontario. In a few instances in Northwestern Ontario it is found associated with the free milling gold ores in considerable quantity — as much as several dollars' worth in the ton — but it is in the Thunder Bay District in the neighborhood of Port Arthur that its occurrence in large quantities is most noticeable. Silver Islet, near Thunder "K 26 Mined Contract and Investigation Co., Limited. Bay, a small rock rising slightly above lake level, was worked some years ago until repeated Hooding induced its abandonment, after it had passed the tenth level. In all §3,089,157 of silver was taken out of it. The main region that of late years has received attention is that extending from Silver Islet and Thunder Cape westward to Whitefish Lake, a section occupied by rocks of the Animikie forma- tion, resting horizontally on a Huronian formation and capped with a thick overflow of trap. Of this region the report of the Royal Commission appointed by the Ontario Government to examine into the mineral resources of Ontario, says : " It would be difficult to conceive a more promising silver carrying region." Silver mining has of late revived in the Port Arthur reaion. Here are the Beaver and Badger and Porcupine mines, with rich ores and many hundred feet of development ; and the Rabbit Mountain and East and West Silver Mountain Mines, the last three actively mining, and the Badger and Porcupine also to some extent during the past few months. Rabbit Mountain, four or five miles south of Murillo station on the C.P.R., and about twenty miles west of Port Arthur, is worked by an English syndicate. It had reached 150 feet or more in depth when it was flooded, and work was temporarily suspended. Work recommenced in January under favorable auspices. Silver Mountain is about twenty-five miles south-west of Port Arthur, and less than three miles from the Duluth and Western Railway. The West End mine comprises 55, 56 and 57 R., in Lybster township. The East End mine has over 2,000 linear feet of underground work. The vein is twelve wide at the 400 foot level. Mill rock runs range from ten to eighteen ounces of silver to the ton, and some gold. On the Badger mine, 200 and 201 T.,in Gillies township, where many hundreds of feet of opening had been made some time ago, work has been recommenced by Mr. Alex. M. Hay, with English capital. The ore is very rich. Zinc Since 1881 zinc has been known to exist in large quantities on the White Sand river, eastward of Lake Nepigon. During the past winter large quantities were drawn to the C. P. R. near Schrieber, for shipment to a Belgian firm. The ore is said to yield forty-five per cent, of zinc. Zinc and lead, etc., is found at various places in Ontario, notably in a wide vein near the head of Thunder Bay. special Cirni/ar on Ontario Mhiituj. 27 gold. Lead Lead is known to exist in large bodies in various parts of Ontario from the County of Lanark in the east to the neighborhood of Port Artliur in the west, though none are worked, and what developments had been undertaken have in some instances failed through mismanagement. The Ramsay Mine in llamsay Township, Lanark, is the most eastern of the developments. In Frontenac County there are excellent galena veins of four feet in width, showing a very high percentage of lead, and a lead propei'ty of some note also exists in Galway in Peterborough County. The metal is also found at \arious points between Peterborough and Lanark, close to the iron deposits, and in the most of the gold belt stretchin" in front of tlie iron disti-iot. Farther north argentiferous galena is found in the .Sudbury district near Straight Lake, and in the township of Creigiiton and near Lady Evelyn Lake between Lake Temaga.iii and the Montreal River. In Eastern Algoma, ea.st of Sault Ste. Marie, on Garden River, is the Victoria mine, in which a depth of over 400 feet was reached, with drifts at various levels. The ore, which was argentiferous, was shipped chiefly to Swansea, Wales. Extravagant management is assigned as the reason for its abandonment. Tlie Cascade Mine, near by, resembles the V^ictoria in the character of its depoj^its. It reached a depth of four feet. A smelter was built in Frontenac County some years ago, but is not in operation. The capital required for lead mining is not great, but men of experience in lead mining have been too few, it is believed, for the proper develop- ment of an Ontario lead industry. A galena or silver lead property near Bannockburn in Hastings County is now being opened, with a considerable number of men at work. The ore is shipped to Europe. Iron. With the improved condition of trade in general, the activity in the construction of steam and electric railways, the recovery of prices, and the l)etter appreciation of the opportunities the Province presents for iron mining, iron mining in Ontario has revived of late, and appears to be taking on a character of permanence. Notwithstanding the distance of the ore deposits from Canadian and American coal fields, several mines are again at work in the most easterly of the 28 Mines Contract and Investigation Oo., Limited. Ontario iron fields, and also farther West in the Hastings regioa, where the Eldorado iron mine and the DufFerin are now shipping ctJtisider- able quantities of ore. Arrangements, it is said, have been made for a supply of ore to the Hamilton furnace from near Sault 8te. Marie, Ont., and Port Arthur. The construction of the Port Arthur and Rainy River Railway will, it is thought, lead to the opening of the great Atti-kokan Range deposits in the Seine River basin, and ulti- mately to the opening of the Northern continuation of the great Vermillion iron range of Minnesota into the Rainy River District at Hunter's Island. The extraordinary abundance of iron of higli grade is one of the most marked of the minerological features of the province. Apart from the large deposits known to exist in the comparatively little explored regions of Northern and North western Ontario, great bodies with widths, sometimes of forty to one hundred and twenty feet, are found in profusion in South-eastern Ontario, in the counties of Renfrew, Lanark, Frontenac, Leeds, Hastings, Peter- borough, and Haliburton, at no great distance from Lake Ontario, and on or near the many railways of that section of the Province, and amid magnificent hardwood forests, traversed by rapid rivers, furnish- ing abundant water power. Under the circumstances the manufact- uring of charcoal and other iron has sprung up of late with confidence of profitable returns. The Hamilton Blast Furnace Co.'s works at Hamilton, with a capacity of 200 tons per day, has now been in oper- ation for a little over three vears, and is usinij more and more of Canadian ore. In 1898 it smelted 77,023 tons of ore, 20,968 tons of it Ontario ore, besides over 8,000 tons of scrap iron and mill cinder. Over 50,000 tons of coke were used, and 48,2.53 tons of pig iron pro- duced, of a value of 1^530,789. The total Canadian production in 1898 was 75,920 net tons of pig iron, 23,541 of steel, and 2,276 tons of forgings. The manufacture of charcoal iron is now to be a much more important industry in Canada than it has been. Tiie quality of the iron produced at the Radnor Furnaces, Qne., (Canada Iron Furnace Co.), has been so good that special brands of it have been in demand in Great Britain, France, Germany, and the United States. The company, whose annual production in Quebec has not been \ ery great, are about to erect a furnace at Midland, on the Georgian Bay, to manufacture an iron similar in (juality to the Lake Superi(jr charcoal iron. The Midland furnace is to have a capacity of sixty to eighty tons per day, and is situated admirably for cheap abundant supplies of 1 [ion, where 5 coiisider- n made for he. Marie, irthur and ing of the and ul ti- the great District at ligh grade res of the ist in the thwestern e hundred )ntario, in gs, Peter- e Ontario, vince, and s, furnish- nianufact- confidence ; works at a in oper- d more of )8 tons of ill cinder, iron pro- ?t tons of uch more ty of the 1 Furnace 1 demand tes. The ery great, n Bay, to • charcoal glity tons upplies of Special Circular on Ontario Mining. 29 wood, while to it ore can be cheaply brought by rail from the counties immediately eastward, or by water from the iron deposits of the Lake Superior region. The Deseronto charcoal furnace, erected last year, has been put into blast with an average output of thirty tons a day. It is, it need scarcely be said, admirably circumstanced for profitable operation. This furnace recently received an English order for 1,000 tons of charcoal iron. Encouragement to tlie production of iron in Ontario is consider- able. Duties on imported iron amount to $2 to $2.50 per ton, and the Dominion Government also grants a bonus of $3 per ton for iron produced from Canadian ore. Furthermore, at the recent session of the Ontario Legislature, a bonus of $1 per ton on pig iron made from Ontario ore, and fifty cents per ton on iron from ore rained beyond the limits of the Province, was provided for out of a fund of .^25,000 per annum. Should the amount of bonus claimed in any year exceed the 825,000 provided, the bonus will be distributed on a jyro rata basis amongst the furnaces. Tlie conditions of the bonus are that the pro- portion of extra provincial ore used must decrease until after ei^ht years from the establishment of a furnace, only provincial ore shall be used. Not less than twenty per cent, of native ore being required for the first two years, not less than forty per cent, after two years, not less than sixty per cent, after four years, eighty per cent, after six, and not less than 100 per cent, after eight years. If the proportion of native ores ita any year fall below the percentage given above, there shall in such year be deducted from the payment of fifty cents per ton on the product of ores not mined in the Province, a percentage thereof equal to the percentage of deficiency in the requisite amount of Ontario ores. If the proportion of Ontario ores smelted in any one year is less than twenty per cent., no payment of bonus on extra- provincial ores shall be made The iron of Ontario is chiefly magnetite, though considerable deposits of hematite are found both in the Eastern and Western parts of the Province. The magnetite generally ranges from fifty-five to sixty-eight per cent, of iron, out of a possible seventy-two. In some localities phosphorus and sulphur are present in objectionable quan- tities, but in many deposits they present but a trace. The objection that coal is not found in the vicinity of the iron deposits is regarded by competent authorities as worth little. Mr. James Douglas, M.E., President of the American Mining Institute, who is familiar with all 1; 30 Minett Contract tiud [nrestiyatioa Co., Limitml. f the corulitioiis, said last March : " T tliink Canadians should he ashauHKi of themselves that their industries (iron and steel) occupy such an extremely comparatively insignificant position in their com- mercial life," and added, " I see no reason why in Central Canada an iron industry should not l)e built up that would compai-e witli Sweden." Corundum In 1896 corundum was discovered in the township of Carlow in great abundance in a dyke 300 feet wide, and along it was traced for 700 feet. In 1897 further scientific search resulted in the discovery of large areas of corundum-bearing rock, one large area, thirty miles long by nine or ten wide, covering parts of six townships in Renfrew — Sebastopol, Gritlith, Brudenel, Lyndoch, Radcliffe and Raglan, and two townships — Carlow and Bangor — in Hastings. Another consider- able corundum area covers part of Dungannon and Faraday townships in Hastings, and a third, a small one, of several square miles, in Methuen township in Peterboro. The corundum is of fine quality and in great abundance. As it is harder than the topaz and ranks next to the diamond in hardness, the discovery is an important one. The corundum of commerce comes largely from Turkey and the Grecian archipelago, but North Carolina and Georgia furnish a quantity which sells at seven to ten cents per pound, or $140 to $200 per ton. As an abrasive it is much better than emery, and if produced in sufficient quantity to make it cheap miglit be employed to great advantage in the manufacture of aluminium. These great areas of this mineral fur- nish an inviting field for capital carefully organized. H Copper The high price for copper for many months past has causeil a revival of interest in the copper deposits which abound in manv parts of the metalliferous belt of Ontario from west of Port Arthur east- ward across the province. The chief sources from which copper has been derived in the past have been East Algoma, north of Lake Huron, where the metal is found as a sulphide, and the Sudbury country where it is found associated with nickel. In the former district, the Bruce Mines, which during the period of their working produced 83,300,000 of copper, have recently been pumped out by Lord Percy Douglas with a view to the recommencement of mining. A Special Circular on Ontario Minimj. 31 New York State syndicate is said to he testinj,' a deposit on the Thes- salon River, and another American company have acquired at Hock Lake, near hy, a very large block of land acrc/ss which extends an ore body miles in length and tested recently by very considerable opera- tions which are said to have given satisfactory results, the ore body being in places fifteen to seventeen feet wide, and the copper percent- age high, according to returns at the Lake Superior Power Cotnpany's works at Sault Ste. Marie. In the Sudbury region, in many townships are large deposits of the copper and nickel mingled in not very different proportions. The yield of copper from the Copper Cliff mines, near Sudbury, in 1897, was returned to the Ontario Bureau of Mines as .$200,067 value in matte on the spot, and in 1898 the value was much greater. For the years 1893-97, inclusive, the average price of refiived copper was about 11 cents per pound. At present it is about 18i cer;ts. Owing to the boom in copper, companies are being organized and pushed, some with plausible arguments that probably are due to exaggerated views or notions of the value of the properties. While not knowing that such is the case, owing to the very limited interest taken in ccpper deposits in Cana,i:r,.'>tKi s.T'is,!'.',') '.'ti.iDT.iKKi 'j."!!:.!))'.' 33 Total Value. !?1'.M|'-<,1!I7 II,, ,..,-.'H7 Assuming the Ontario Hureau repoits to he approximately correct, Mr. 11. gives the matte produced at the mines as G4,061 tons, or 128,122,000 lbs. Senator S. J. Ritchie, of Akron, Ohio, formerly the most active man in the promotion and early operation of the Canada Copper Co., of Cleveland, states that the matte contains, on an average, twenty to twenty-one per cent, of nickel and twenty-five per cent, of copper. This would show 25,G2 1,400 lbs. of nickel and ;52,0;}0,500 lbs. of copper, or 5,H3.'5,r)00 lbs. more of copper than returned to either Govern- ment. At an average value of 43 cents per lb. for the nickel production in the six years and 10^ cents for the copper, the net production would stand, nickel ."?! 1,018,492, and copper .S3, 443,278, a total of 814,461,770, as against Ontario Hureau of Mines returns of 811,745,287, and, as against Dominion Mineral .Statistics, of S12,108,- 197, a difference in the former case of ."?2,7 1G,483, and in the latter of .§2,353,573. The American returns place the net value of the nickel at only i?4,372,866. But these discrepancies aside, and whatever significance they may have, an important fact stated in the evidence of Mr. Thompson, manager of the Constable Hook, N..J., refinery, before the Dingley Committee at Washington, in January, 1896, is that for every .§28,000 spent in wages and freight on nickel matte in Canada, $100,000 is spent on the same Canadian matte in the United States, or about .§3.50 in the latter country to every dollar spent in Canada. This would make the aggregate figures .§1,614,393 for expenditure in Canada against .§5,715,279.50 for expenditure in the United States. This is a consideration of some importance. The capitalization of the Clevehuid company is .§2,500,000. The actual cash invested th.rough shareholder.**' subscriptions appears to have been only ^570,700. The profits for th3 six years, 1892-97, seems to have been about $5,245,770. In actual dividends (apart from earnings invested in furnaces erected, lands purchased and plant established, etc.), there was paid between Dec. 16, 1893, and March 15, 1899 (a little more than five years), no less than .§1,075,000 or very nearly twice the paid-up capital, while in 1898 and the first 3 ^gli 34 Miiu\i Contract and hn-iistiyalioii Co., Limited. three mouths of the present year $325,000 was paid, or more than half of tlie whole cash capital. The nickel industry is evidently a very profitable one, and likely to be still more extensive in the future owing to various extensions of the use of nickel and the adoption of nickel-steel for armor-plating the war-tleets of the world. It is important to Canada tiiat public attention should be concentrated effectively on securing the full benefit of ttiis manufacture to our own country. Scores of nickel deposits are still held l)y Canadians and are all lying idle, the Copper Cliff smelter refusing to treat the ore that has been, or might other- wise be, produced by them — and up to the present time no custom smelter has been erected in the country. Years ago, when the industry was young, we strongly urged the Ontario Government to give adequate encouragement to the erection of custom smelters in the nickel district in order to secure proper development of these deposits in the genei-al interest of Canadians. At present, although the American monopoly has secured a great hold on the country, a remedy that wt)uld make much of the advantage of nickel mining and refining accrue to Canada would be either the levying of an export duty on ore and matte, or the granting of a bonus, as in the case of iron and steel, on every ton of refined metal produced from nickel ores. This encouragement would be likely to result in the development of many properties, in the establishment of custom smelters and refineries in Canada, and the building up of many indus- tries associated with nickel mining. Ultimately, it might lead to Canada's manufacturing armor-plate for war vessels, for the country has all the necessary material readily available.* 1 fa Lowest Cost of Gold Mining, Where mining is a well-developed industry, and a mine is managed by experienced men, and is well equipped with machinery and appli- ances for handling ore, and the ore itself is free-milling and not too slimy, the cost of mining and milling is sometimes reduced very con- siderably below that incurred in a new mining camp, often even when In eomieclion with iho trip of ineinbers of Iho (Ontario Lou;isl;iture and ('anadian and American .iouriiali-^ls interested in tlie iiiininM: business of Norlli- Western Ontario the statement is published tiialMr. Clergue of Sault Ste. Marie. Ont., wlio lias been experimenting witli tlie production of uicil!ick Hills, South Dakota ^W.hO 80.70 Gilpin Co., Colorado 7.00 75 Grass Valley, California (J. 00 81 Amador Co., " 4.25 45 Douglas Island, Alaska 2.85 .'!4.^' Victoria Canij), Australia 9.00 58 Ballarat " " .S.50 5(1 New Zealand lO.dfi .S2^ Transvaal 10. OO "10 As mining under favoiable conditions can be conducted at an expense of .^0 cents to >^{ per ton, and milling for >^\, and treatment of concentrates l:;y cldorination 10 to 20 cents per ton of (juartz, the total cost may thus not much exceed $2. Ore yielding 85 or .'tG per ton may therefore be worked at immense profit, even after making allowances for mistakes and some incompetence in general manage, ment. Under good management, with large ore bodies and ample machinery, and given the general conditions that prevail in North- western Ontario, it may be possil)le iii some instances, as on the Hammond Reef, to mine and mill at $1 per ton or even less. A com- petent mining engineer, in reporting on a wide ore body near Tache station on the C.P.R., gives the extraordinarily low cost of 25 cents per ton for mining, and 50 cents for milling, a cost which we assume can only be possible under the most favorable of circumstances. appli- )t too ' con- wlien nadian • iitario s been 'Cf vrupp, . ■«(-!" of five ■1 L Sault i Charactef of the Gold Ores of the Rainy River District. The ores of the Rainy River District, as of several other parts of the province, are essentially free milling, yielding either in broad bodies or reefs, or in veins, a suflicient value in free milling gold to make them profitable. But the proportion of free milling ore to concentrates varies very considerably in different properties. The values of most of the mines that are well tested ranges from 810 to 814, but in some properties it is very much higher, so far as is yet known, and in some of the reefs it is lower. Prof. Hille says that " according to the formation in which the veins occur tlie gold amounts to 'I an oz. free milling to j combined with sulpliurets, for instance, when 36 Jlines Contract and hivestujatio^i Co., Limited. in protogene or granite, while only | free to 'j combined if found in the nietaniorphic slates or scliists, and then often coarse, as well as very fine, in small solid particles, or in scales." The proportion of con- centrates, in the present development of the district, diminislies the actual bullion value return, as many of tlie mines have accumulations of concentrates which they have not yet tlie facilities to treat, and the custom plants, for reduction, are not always well eciuipped for the various kinds of treatment that the ores reciuire. Slime, the intrusion of calcite or schist on the amalgamation tables, interferes, often, to a considerable extent, with the quicksilver catching the light particles of gold floating over the tables. Every mine, in the treat- ment of its concentrates, requires a nuKlification in method on that broadly adopted. In some cases the associated metals bear a sutHcient proportion of value to pay, properly treated, the expense of milling and even of both mining and milling. An analysis, by Johnson, Matthey & Co., assayers ai.d melters to the Baidt of England, of concentrates from the Alice A lode showed 21.60 per cent, of iron, 10,25 of lead, 4.35 of zinc, 1.10 of copper, besides 14 dwt. 15 grs. of gold and 3 oz. 10 dwt. of silver. Iron pyrites is a very common associate of gold in the ores, copper a not uncommon one, and silver and lead occur in not a few instances. In the Alice A, in the opinion of an expert, there is sufficient value in the concentrates to pay for mining and milling. Flaky gold and very fine gold, in certain kinds of rocks, is apt to be more or less lost with the ordinary plants in use. The cyanide treatment, it is said, is sometimes objectionable, when copper is a considerable constituent of the ore. The whole sub- ject of the most profitable treatment of the varying ores is one of much importance to the directors and managers of mines and Prof. Hide's pamphlet on " West Algoma Ores and their Preparation for a Subsequent Metallurgical Process" is worthy of consideration by those who have anything to do with the instalment either of stamp mills or more elaborate machinerv for extracting gold. What Our Company Can Do. The Mines Contract and Investigation Co., of Toronto, Limited, is incorporated under the general provisions of the Ontario Companies Act, and with the powers specified in the Ontario Mining Companies Incorporation Act. It has the fullest powers that any company can obtain to conduct a general mining business. The capital ••^imKmwvRWHI Wflf,, Special Circular on Ontaviu Minlny. 37 stock, which is .^100,000 in 85 shares, is not non-assessable, but bears full liability, tliereby placing the company in a position more than equivalent to that of most co)npanies capitalized at SI, 000,000 in non- assessable stock. The stock, being taken up at par liability, affords ample capital for the company to carry out the work which the incor- porators have in view. The directors and officers are all experienced men in the business of mining, or its allied branches, and each depart- ment is under the management of an expert in his own line, under a general supervision that serves to concentrate the united energies of all to the most efficient accomplishment of any work undertaken, either in the direct interest of the Company itself or of that of its clients. The Company is to do all kinds of mining business, from exploration work for itself or for others, the oi'ganization of companies and judicious placing of stock, to that of equipping and operating mines. It has arrangements for obtaining, speedily, reports on mines and mining properties in every part of Canada, the Company having, under its present and past organization, secured the services of trustworthy and experienced men — mining and civil engineers of good character and ability. It is in a position to handle large blocks of stock of well organized, trustworthy companies, or honestly organized but inexperienced com- panies, to good advantage, both time and financial returns considered, and can do this to better advantage than can most companies, which, not infrequently, through incautious employment of agents unacquainted with mining and the money market, imprudently throw stock, either treasury or promoters', upon the market in improper quantities for its condition at the time, and in such a manner that the financial results are disappointing, and, sometimes, embarrassing or even disastrous. The Company has special facilities for doing the accountant work ani such of the general financial management of mining companies, as these companies, in any stage of their development or care er, are not always in the best condition to undertake to their best advantage, thus reducing for them the clerical and financial work, and securing at the same time such efficiency as can be attained in the interest of the particular company which intrusts our Company with such work. The Mines Contract and Investigation Company, Limited, owns or has control of several valuable mining properties, which have been carefully investigated, and is doing development work for clients. Its sales list is a noticeable feature in its way of doing l)usiness. Pros- pectors and owners of mines and mining prospects will very frequently U\ 38 Mines Contract mid LivestiyatiotL Co., Limiteu. find it to their interest to place their properties in our hands by option, commission or otherwise, so as to secure speedy and profitable sale or disposal of. We do not tie up properties without a chance of doing business for our clients as speedily as possible, and we have the best of connections and facilities for reaching possible purchasers in Canada, the United States, Britain and the Continent of Europe. We have also foreign connections by which we can obtain trustworthy infor- mation regarding mines in most parts of the world. We shall be pleased to furnish clients with full particulars regarding any procedure contemplated on their behalf. Intending purchasers of mining properties, or investors in mining stocks, we believe, will find it much in their interest to consult us before making investments, and to their advantage, also, to make our Company a medium for the transaction of their mining business. When a property has not been managed well, either through mis- takes in actual mining or through lack of capital, it will often be a saving in time and trouble to the owners of the property to make arrangements with our Company for placing the property in a good condition, either for further operation or for sale. No fee is charged for mere consultation, or for other services not involving reports, special investigation, contracts, sales, etc. That a property is registered with us for sale affords reasonable assurance that as accurate information about the same as can be obtained will be furnished. Our correspondence is a very large one, and puts us in close touch with all classes interested in mining, not only in Canada and the United States, but in Britain, France and Germany, while our foreign connections enable us to receive and furnish reports on mines and mine investments in other parts of the world such as Mexico, South America, South Africa and Australia. Foreign Pt-omotion* While British capital has been employed to some extent in the past few years in mining in Northwestern Ontario, and is now coming in in large quantities to develop a few properties, British companies depend upon Britain for their capital and do not float their stock on the Canadian market. It is not unlikely that the troubles in South Africa, which may lead to a prolonged period of disturbance, will adversely affect the interests of mining companies in the Transvaal. y option, ie sale or of doing e best of Canada, We have iiy infor- shall be )rocedure n mining Dnsult us make our ess. )ugh mis- )ften be a r to make in a good •vices not ■easonable ,s can be arge one, ining, not fance and ceive and rts of the tralia. ,ent in the i\v coming companies • stock on s in South jance, will Transvaal. Special Circular on Ontario Mininy. 39 War, or even something approaching to it, might lead to serious losses to mining companies, for mines are easily flooded, and machinery destroyed, while the employment and cost of labor may be interfered with to such an extent as to make mining operations unprofitable. Under these circumstances it is not unlikely that British capitalists will be more inclined to take into consideration the Ontario gold fields, where affairs are stable and conditions extraordinarily favorable to profitable mining. But Canadians need to be awake to the fact that not only American capitalists are more and more becoming amongst the most active and enterprising developers of the Ontario gold fields but that American promoters of Ontario mining companies are rapidly increasing in number and very generally float their stock in Canadian markets, thus retting large profits to the promoters that might be retained within the Dominion to the general prcfit of Canada. If the foreign promotion schemes were always reliable this would be legitimate enough, even if the profits that Canadians might make, if they fully realized the value of their resources, were in some aaeasure lost. But sometimes, we would not venture to say about how often, the schemes are not at all in the interest of the share- holders. A recent case in point is that of a mining company organ- ized ostensibly to operate a mine in the lower Seine on a property immediately adjoining a dividend paying mine, the Golden Star. The property was almost wholly undeveloped and was purchased by the pro- moters for $6,000. The stock, non-assessable, was floated in Toronto and surrounding places and jumped at so eagerly that, within two weeks after it was placed in the market, it was all bought up at a cash expenditure on the part of the investors of 862,000, all of which, apart from the original purchase money and advertising and other expenses, went simply to the promoters, leaving nothing, in treasury stock, to actually make the mine a paying property, which possibly, or perhaps even probably, it might be made. This transaction was done in the face of a market not very excited over mining matters. Why should not investors see as far as they can that the constitu- tion and aim of a company are jusf? Why should not, where practicable, home men, in whom people have confidence, direct mining companies 1 Do our home people realize the importance of our mining resources, as foreigners do 1 We, in Canada, have not been altogether free from direct and insidiously indirect ways of corrupting men with large blocks of 40 Mines Contract and Investigation Co., /Ami ted. stock for the use of their names and reputation, with the view of using them as figureheads for more or less doubtful schemes to decoy investors. This is a dodge used more or less amongst lousiness men, who in fooling others often half fool themselves. The recent dis- closures in Hooley promotion schemes in England should be sufficient to add a lesson to honest and intelligent and not over selfishly suspicious people to be on their guard. Men of experience in mining matters should not unreasonablj' follow these " guinea pigs." Three things are essential to success in mining; good properties, and good care taken to know they are in all probability good ; plenty of capital for their working; and good or fairly good management. Some men are over suspicious, over careful, over conceited, l)ut with reasonable care in these three points their investments should in the main, sometimes almost invariably, result in success. Foreign or extra-provincial mining companies doing business in Ontario should be compelled to register under and comply with the reasonable requirements of the Ontario Companies Act or the Ontario ^Mining Companies Act. The Ontario Government, it is satisfactory to know, and say, liave provided, as far as can be in all reason demanded, proper safeguards for the investor, sucli as are lacking in some, perhaps many, exti-a-provnicial charters. Compliance with the Ontario laws, as at present devised from experience, entails no hardship on any honest concern. Moreover, in common honesty, outside parties coming here to make and draw money out of the resources of this province, should contriljute something to its revenue, and to the Governinent, which as carefully protects their rights and privileges as it does that of its own citizens. The company whicli registers under, and complies with our Incorporation Acts, will benefit in the long run, by such compliance, for they will have, everything else apart, the greater confidence of the investing public. Canadians have hitherto been occupied with the development of their rich ayjricultural and forest resources and the industries iinmedi- ately dependent on these, and on the seaboard to some extent in fisheries. The revelations that have been made of the extraordinary mineral wealth of the country, came l)ut slowly to be appreciated by those in the Dominion who have more or less capital to spare seeking profitable investment. The rate of interest has fallen much in the m: Special Circular on Ontario Minim/. 41 past quarter of a century, and not altogether on account of th.^ fall in the few money-congested countries of Europe, such as (ireal 15ritain. Part of the reason of the fall in Canada is the lack of knowledge of the greatness of our resources. The growing interest in the mineral wealth of the country, fluctuating as it has been in the few years during which it has had any appreciable intensity, and affected unfavorably as it has been by inexperienced and often "wildcat" speculations, is but the beginning of a solid, generally wise, enterpris- ing and vigorous attitude of capital towards what is now realized as a material resource greater relatively to other resources, perhaps, than in almost any fertile country in the world, and absolutely the greatest in its kind to be found in any country. Canada appears to be— Siberia has not yet been tested— the greatest of mining countries of which, from practical tests and general geology, the world knows. The returns of gold and silver for the entire continent of Europe do not aggregate as much as may confidently be looked for from many very small districts in Ontario and British Columbia. Needs of the Mining Business. Farm, forest and fishery — with manufacturing and commerce dependent on these,— have engaged the attention of Canadians in the past, and it has been left to foreigners, trained more or less in the mining business, to teach Canadians the value and importance of tlieir enormous mineral resources. We still need manv trained minins men , the supply will come after a time. And we want capital. Careful and honest management of mines and mining company finances is one of the crying needs. Wild cat schemes and mining fakes will die a natural death ; as people become acquainted with mining matters the number easily caught by such schemes will be smaller than it has been during the past few years, though we nmst not forget the " Hooley " episode in London, which has lessons for Canada as well as England. One of the preient weakne.sses of the Canadian market is too much dependence on Americans from the West ; a large proportion of the public seems willing to prefer their schemes to straightforward propositions placed before them by Can;idians, with the result that comfortable little foi'tunes are made out of Eastern Canadians by promoters from the Western States, which could have been I'etained in Canada to the general advantage of Canadians. I' Mines Contract and Iitvestufation Co., Limiled. A Method of Some Pfomoters, Of methods adopted by some of the foreign promoters we instance one. A man with a little money secures a mining claim. Frecjuently there are two or three in the "deal"; one acts as the original owner and another as the expert, and they concoct a report on the property calculated to make at least the uninitiated in mining conceive the property to he one of wonderful richness. Sometimes there is a design on the part of promotors to defraud someone of a part interest, or a property may be held on option and the actual owner does not knosv its likely value, and the option holders wish to close a deal quickly before he finds it out and the option expires. It is a case of "deal quickly or you will lose a rare bargain." Should the possible buyers be inclined to go slowly and examine further, then the accomplice or accomplices come in with another customer, using the wires freely. This often has the desired effect. The deal is cjuickly closed, plans are made for the formation of a company with a million or more of dollars as capitalization. Everyone connected with promoting the company is to get for very little money a large block of stock which is soon to reach par or thereabout. Bright dreams are dreamt of much riches, but in a little time the waking up comes, only for the company formers to find that the man who sold them the property is the only man wlio is the better off for the transaction and he has left for other parts, or perhaps gone on "the grand tour" at the expense of his dupes. An Instructive Contrast. A contrast in the working of mines and mining companies is afforded by two mining companies operating in the Seine river valley. It has a valuable lesson for company directors and for investors. A company was formed to operate the Sawbill property, in the Upper Seine. The handling of the stock was placed in the hands of very clever brokers of good connections, and was so handled that it rose from the very first. The rise in the stock occurred during early development of the mine, and was largely due to reports published about the richness of the ore, and intention to put up a stamp mill, so encouraging did the development look. A stamp mill was erected, and it was expected by those unacquainted with the ways these things some- times go, that dividends would be speedily fortlicoming. Accordingly still further up went the stock until it reached nearly $3 per share, Special Circular oit Ontario Mininy. 43 or nearly 200 per cent, premium. But tlie crash came when the first mill run was made, and soon afterwards the stock was sellinji; at 25 cents per share, Tiie company has been struggling for an existence since, but most of the early promotors of the company knew how to make money out of mining stock. A contrast to this is the case of the Golden 8tar. The ore is rich and abundant, the machinery excellent and nearly adequate for present development, the mine management very good. In fact the mine may prove to be the best yet known in Canada ; certainly as a dividend- payer it has not been equalled by any company mine for the actual cash invested. But the stock has been very badly managed. The promotors, some of them men who apparently had pressing neces- sities, or did not understand the ever-varying conditions of the money market, were too anxious to " realize." Their stock was put on the market in too large blocks at a time ; in fact it had the same eflFect as a competition of the promotors for the cheapest purchaser. So the stock kept down, and the Canadian public have had the rare opportunity of being able to purchase stock for less than half its actual value, and as the stock has almost wholly been taken up in Ontario and Quebec, Canadians have for once got away ahead — if accidentally — of western American promoters. Companies should so arrange their stock that promoters' stock can not be rushed off at the expense of treasury stock, and should place their stock in the hands of brokers whose knowledge of minir.g and the condition of the market will prevent too large blocks of stock being offered at a time, or the value of stock depreciated by being offered at the wrong time. The Mines Contract and Investigation Co., Limited, has the requisite knowledge of mining and of the money market to carry out stock handling to the advantage of both companies and investors. Too Much to Pfomotofs. Over-capitalization of a mining company is an evil which is the more felt when the mine operated is paying dividends ; worse, how- ever, is the allotment of too much stock to promotors of a company, and too little to the treasury for development. Thirty-three per cent. on an ordinary capitalization is, in nearly every instance, as much as should be devoted to the promotors of any company handling an ordin- arily well developed property. The balance devoted as treasury stock 44 Mines Contract and Investigation Co., Limited. should, witli careful management on the stock market so as to secure prices the property merits, suffice to furnish enough to make a good prospect in Northwestern Ontario a large dividend-paying mine. Investors will do well to have an eye on prospectuses that promise sixty per cent, or more to the promotors. Bearing Stocks. A regrettable tendency is noticeable in many of the mining brokers. That is the individual and united effort to bull and bear mining stocks. A noticeable case of bearing occurred in connection with the Golden Star, A city broker received a telegram from a friend urging him to sell his stock and advise his friends to do so, as there had been a pinching out in the eastern drift. This telegram was shown and copies made of it. The so-called news and friendly advice made the stock suddenly fall nine points. The truth was there was nothing wrong at the mine, nor was there even an eastern drift, the veins on the Golden Star running north and south. It is to be feared that such tactics are common in the bearing of mininc stocks. Few of our companies, it appears, have made arrangements with competent, trustworthy brokers, especially any acquainted with mines, to protect their stock from serious losses that can thus be incurred. A company should have a regular broker to protect its interests, and see that in the event of bears attempting to unjustly lower the price, the regular agent should be in a position to promptly restore stock value to its proper position. The Mines Contract and Investigation Co., Limited, has made arrangement whereby it receives weekly or fortnightly reports from the leading mines. Companies, to avoid misrepresentation being made concerning their properties, should correspond with us directly, and we will guard their interests and that of their stockholders, so far as it is possible so to do. We are not interested as bulls or bears. Our effort is always to protect stock, secure proper values for the com- pany and the purchaser, promote sound development of our mining business, and thereby merit the confidence and patronage of the public. The Mines Contract and Investigation Co., Limited, is the present form of what is practically the oldest mine promotion business in Ontario, and the president of the company, who was engaged in the handling of mining properties and in mining broking in Toronto VJi W'l Special Circular on Ontario Mining. 45 over ten years ago, was the first mining broker in the city. Witli a competent staff, and a president as director who is intimately acquainted with mines and mining — an advantage enjoyed by few mining-business firmfi — the company is in an exceptionally good position to advise on mining aflfairs, to handle stocks or mines, to pro- mote or organize mining companies, to develop prospects and sell then), operate mines or conduct their financial affairs, and to supply machinery or anything required in a mining camp. Investors in mining stocks can depend on the company for as safe investment as the market affords ; inquirers as to tlie value of prospects or veins they wish to purchase can secure from it trustworthy reports made by trustworthy agents of the company, and those having good properties to sell can find in the company a medium unsurpassed in Canada for finding purchasers in the Dominion or abroad. 40 Mines Contract and Investigation Co., Limited. ONTARIO MINING COMPANIES The list of mining companies incorporated under Ontario acts since January 1, 1H95, the period of active prospe^cting and develop- ment of the Ontario f^old fields, is principally composed of gold mining companies, and intentionally excludes all companies not con- cerned in working gold, silver, copper, iron, nickel, zinc, lead or mica. There are, however, of companies formed previous to 1895 several wliich are in active existence, such as, for instance, in gold mining, the Bullion Mining Co., chartered in 1893, with a capital of §200,000 winch is now actively developing its property. Not a few iron mining companies were formed in the eighties, which worked several mines, which in many instances are now either worked by the same com- panies or have passed into the hands of individuals or syndicates. The resumption of silver mining around Thunder Bay recalls the Beaver, Badger, West End and other companies formed years ago. Of nickel companies there were a number formed about ten years ago, but they are nearly all inert at present owing to the prac- tical monopoly the Canadian Copper Co., of Cleveland, enjoys in the treatment of Ontario nickel ores. Amongst gold companies formed prior to 189") may be mentioned the Algoma Gold JNIining ajid Reduc- tion Co. (capital 6r)00,000) ; the Crystal Gold Mining Co. (capital 11,000,000) ; the Ledyard Gold Mines Co. (capital 81,000,000). The companies formed since 1895 are all limited liability com- panies, and nearly all formed during the past two years issue non- assessable stock. We are indebted to the Ontario Bureau of Mines and the Ontario (Gazette for the list, Navic of Company. W'liui Incorporated. Capital. Algoma Copper Mining Mar. 'M, 189() $1 ,000,000 Algoma Coal Minint; Dec. 80, " 1 ,000.(100 Atlas Cold Mining and Development Jan. 20, 1807 00,000 Anglo-Ontario Exploration and Gold Mining ... . Mar. 15, " 1,000,000 Ambrose Mine and Development Mar. 19, " 1 ,000,000 Algon(iiiin (loUl Minintr and Development Mar. 23, " 1,000,000 Assaying and Smelting Apr. 17, " 7."),000 Aurora Mining and Development Apr. U, " 1,000,000 A.D. 2 Gold Mining Aug. 19, " 500,000 Abbott-Mitchell Iron and Steel Feb. 11, 1899 150,000 Allan Gold Reeib Mar. IS, " 1,000,000 SiH'clal Ci)'('u/ar on Ontuvin Miniiuj, 47 N'nme of Company. When Incorpovaled. Atlin Mining Miiy 1!», 1S9!) AKiiasiz Kxploration ami Miniuf{ May 31, " Biiiil Indian Hiiy Mining and Investment Feb. 15, 1S!»7 Biuley (Joid Mininy Fol). l.'», " Hlttok Stur>,'eon Mining Miir, 1, " linth laliind Mining and Milling . , Mar. ;{, " Bi-metallic Mining and Oovojoptnent Ape. 7, " Bannock burn Gold Mining Apr. 1 7, " Buffalo Mining and Dovolopnient Dec. "J.'!, " Buiraio Xortii western Gold . . Apr. !), I.S'.IS Britiab Lion (Jold Mining and Development ... Apr. "27, " Bonbour Belle Gold Mining Apr. 27, " Bad Vermillion (iold Mar. -J.'J, " lioertb Mining Nov. •J.S, " Baltimore Copper and Gold Mining. . May '27, " Canonto Mica and Mineral Oct. Id, Canadian (iold Fields Feb. 14, Cronated Mining Feb. 24, Central Untario Mining .Mar. ], Coronado Gold Mining .Mar. W, Comsttick (iold Mining and Development Mar. l.'>. Czar (Idld Mining Mai. -j;}, Clima.-i Ciold Mine Mar. '2'^, CoiisolidaLed Gold Fields Development May '), Combined (4old Mines June '21, Cameron Islands Mining and Development Nov. ](», Chippewa (Jold Mining Sep. "J."), Citizens' Gold and Coal Mining Dec. 24, Calder Lake Mining .... Jan. 12, Cobb Gold Mining ,) une 1."), Corona Miniiig Jan. LS, Copper King Mining Mar. 24, Cracker Jack Gold Mining June Ki. ISOo 1S9() 18!»7 18! IS 18! 19 Diamond Jul)ilee Mineral Development May 12, 18!)7 Detroit and Hastings Minine and Milling Nov. ;i, " Deccd Mining Mar. 2,S, 1898 Dulutb Mining Apr. 9, " " '• capital increased Apr. 20, 1899 to Dalton Gold Mininc May 1 7, " Empress Gold Mining Feb. 7, 18!»() Equitable Mining and Development Mar. Id, 1897 Eastern Mining Syndicate Feb. 17, " Economic Gold and Nickel Pyrite Smelting Apr. 14, " Eastern Townships Mining and Development. .. . June 23, " ('(ii)ifiil. !?lntl,IHMt I.IMIIl.tKM) (;.(MIII 1,1111(1,(1(111 l,(MMI,()(H» 7.">< 1,(10(1 2.11*1(1,(10(1 .')00,000 1..')II0,(I0(I 1,0011,000 80,000 "lOO.OOO 2o,(i((o 1, 22."). 000 2.')»»,000 22,000 2,000,000 4.'>(»,0(tO 49,000 40,000 1)00,000 1,000,0(10 1,000,000 2,00(l,(!ilO 1,00(1, 01 to 2.')( 1, 01 1( I 1,00(1,000 1,000,0(1(1 100,(100 1,.")00,000 19."), 000 l.")0,000 1,000,000 2,000,000 2,000,000 97*"), 000 .■{0,0(l(t i).")0,00() 9! »( 1,000 100,0(10 1,000,000 1,000,00(» .SOO.OOO 500,000 48 Mines Contract and Investigatiott Co., Limited. Name of Compani/. When Incorporated. Eureka Mininf; July S, 1S97 Elzevir Mining aiul Development July H, ■■'^OS Eagle (iold Mining, originally Stanton (,i. Mining and Development Dec. i2S, " " Name changed Mar. l2S, 1S!M) Edey Gold Mining Apr. 13, " Foley Mines Xov. 2."), 1S96 Fort Frances Mining May ^(i, 1S!)7 Folger- Hammond Mines Oct. 7, " F.ghting Chance Gold Mining Apr. 1!), 1890 Gold liock Mining and Smelting Great .Vorthern Mining, Exploration and Devel- opment Corporation Golden Fissure Mining Grimsby Gold Mining Golden Goblin Mining Gold Hills E.xploration and Development Gagne Island Gold Mine Golden Gale Mining and Development Gold Brick Mining and Development . Golden Island Mining Gold Cliff Mining and Development Golden Star Mining and Exploration " Capital increased Gold Quartz Free Milling, Mining & Development Golden Prince Mining and Development Gold Horn Mining Goldsn Crown Mining Gold King Mining Great (iranite (Jold Mining and Development . . . Gold Creek Mines and Exploration Garcia (ioid Mining Gold Fields Grand Calumet Mining Gore Lawn Mining and Development Golden Dredge Mining Gold Reserve Mining Golden Crescent Mining and Exploration Gold Bug Mining Gold Sun Mining Golden Eagle Mining and Exploration Gold Leaf Mining Galena Gold Mining Gananoque Gold Mining Great North Couutrie Gold Mining Gold Quarry Mining Jan. 2.3, 1S96 Dec. 2, " Dec. 2, '• Jan. S, 1S97 Jan. 20, " Jan. 27, " Feb. 12, " Mar. 1(1, " Apr. 7. " Apr. .3M, " Apr. 7, " May 2(), " May 17, 1S99 to June 11, 1S97 May o, " May 2(1. " June 23, " July 7, " Aug. 12, " Aug. 19, " Oct. 2(1, " Nov. 27: " Dec, 1, " Jan. lo, 1898 Mar. ,'), " Feb. 28, 1899 Mar. 1(5, " Mar. 10, " Apr. l.S, " Apr. 13, " Apr. 19, " Apr. 26, " May 25, " May 1 May >r. Capital. $199,(l(»(> 199,(MM) 47r),()(M» 99(l,(l(H» 1,(MI(»,()()() 4(t,(l(l(> 1,(KI<»,(MI(» 999,999 l(Hf,(l(l() 07'),(MJO 1,(1(10,(1(10 200,000 r)00,(MM) 2,000,000 ,500,000 300,000 r)Oo,(joo 7.")0,o(io 1,000,000 1,000,000 l,20(»,ooO 2,000.000 7,")0,o(io 15,000 9oO,000 2,000,000 r),o(io,oo(> .")0(»,000 .•>0,(MtO 1,000,000 47r),(too 20, (KM) 80,000 99,0(H» l,oo(»,iioo 1,200,0(»0 2,')0,000 l,00(t,000 90(»,(MIO 999,000 4.")0,(»00 800,000 900,000 ^tUitSa t^iMXt:-.lltJ&iXl s. ^^i^MKy^ggisf^^g Special Circular oit, Ontario Miidiig. 49 Name of Company, When Incorporated. Capital. Heather Bell (iold Mining Nov. 6, 189(5 $1,0(10.0(1(1 Hammond Gold Reef Mining Mar. 17, lS!)7 1,0(J0,00(> Hawk Bay Gold Mining Jan. 29. " 15(1,000 Hub Gold Mining and Development Apr. 17, " 600.000 Hamilton Iron Mining May 12, " 90,000 Hasting8 Silver- Lead Mining ... Aug. 12, " 50,000 Hiawatha Gold Minmg and Milling Aug. 12, " 50((,000 Hattie Belle Gold, Copper and Nickel July 11, 1898 400,000 Headlight Gold Mining and Exploration Apr. 13, 1899 1,000,000 Hornblende Gold Mining Apr. 13, " 900,000 luter-Ucean Mining and Prospecting Jan. 20, 1897 1,000,(100 Industrial Mining, Development and Investment. Mar. 17, " 150,000 Indian Chief Gold Mining and Development .. . Apr. 14, " 1,000,000 Investors' Mining and Development Apr. 28, " 1,(J()0,000 Jaokfish Bay Syndicate Mining Apr. 23, " 99,000 John Dvvyrr Gold Mining July 23, " 450,000 J. U. 41 Gold Mining Jan. 8,1898 500,000 John Sykes Mining and Milling Jan. (J, 1899 499,000 Keewatin Gold Mming, Prospecting & Development Apr. 7,1897 750,000 Kabaikong Gold Mining Apr. 21, " 500,000 Koboid Gold Mining Nov. 12, " 5(lO,000 Klondike and North-West Corporation Dec. 15, " 475,000 Khladar and Angleaea Mining and Development. Mar. 9,1898 4()0,0(H) Lake Harold ( Jold Mines Dec. 9, 189(5 1,(I(JO,000 Lakeside Gold Mining Jan. 6, 1897 750,000 Leap Year Consolidated Gold Mining Jan. 27, " 1,000,000 La iieine Gold Mining Apr, 12, " 1,000,000 Leadville Mining Mar. 1(3, 1898 24,000 Lake Manitowich Gold Mming and Development Oct. 14, " 999,999 Lucky Coon Mining Apr. 13, 1899 1,000,0(JO Mikado (iold Mining Nov. G, 1896 225,000 Mississaga River Gold Mining Jan. 13,1897 490,0(X) Mineral Exploration ana Development Apr. 2, " 2,000,(HM» Megatherium Gold Mining Apr. 7, " 100,000 Mandarin Gold Mining Apr. 14, " 3(J(J,000 Mica and Mining Apr. 28, " 75,000 Mines Selection May 26, " 200,000 Mineral King Mining and Development May 26, " 77,000 M,)hawk Miaing Apr. 21, " 495,000 Manitou Gold Mining May 12, " 1,000,000 Mines Investment/ Association June 1, " 100,000 Methuen Mining June 1, " 45(J,000 Mine Centre Development Aug. 27, " 50,000 50 Mines Contract and Iiivesliyation Co., LimitcAl. Name of Company. When Incorjwrafed. McNablron May 15, 1S{)7 McGowu Gold Mining,' Apr. 7, " Mountain Mining Jan. 12, 1808 MuakokaGold Mining and Development Jan. lO, " Muakoka Beaver Mining Mar. ">, '* Mikado Peninsula Gold Mining and Development Apr. l.S, 189!) Mines Contract and Investigation Co. of Toronto, Limited May 12, " Neepawa Gold Mining Feb, 8, 1897 Nugget Gold Mining Feb. 12, •' Nan Ki Poo Gold Mining Feb. 17, " Xew Ontario Mining and Uovelopnient May 12, " North Star Mining and Development Apr. 21, " Northern Giant Mining Jan. 29, 1898 Ontario Mines Development Ontario Gold Fields Mining and Development, . . Original Swede Boys' Prospecting Ottawa Gold Milling and Mining Ontario Reefs Mining and Development Ontario Prospectors' Mining and Development . . Oriole Gold Otisse Gold Mining Olive Gold Onaping Gold M ining Ontario-Victoria Mining Ontario and Rainy River Contracting and Supply Orion Gold M ining Providence Gold Mining Princess Gold Mining Preston Gold Mining Pipestone Gold Mining Premier Gold Mining Palmita Mining and Development Peninsular Mmingand Development Plutus Gold Mining Pontiac Mining Parry Sound Copper Mining Queen Bee Gold Mining Queen of the Lakes Gold Mining & Development. Quartz Creek Gold Mining Rainy River Mining Rabbit Mountain Mining Rupert Mining Rand Gold Mining Oct. 3(1, 189(5 Jan. (5, 1897 Mar. 10, " Apr. 9, " Apr. 17, " Apr. 21, " July 21, " Dec. (i, " Dee. 13, " June 1"), 1898 Feb. 28, 189!) Apr. 13, " May 17, " May 2, 1895 Oct. 21, I8!t6 Nov. 4, " Aug. G, " Mar. 1(», 18!)7 June 23, " June 23, " Feb. ,"), ' • Dec. 10, 18!»8 Mar. 28, " Feb. 1"), 1897 Mar. 23, " May (i, I8!)!t Nov. I, i8!)(l Nov. T), 18!)7 Feb. 5, " May 5, " Caj)ilal. .f,")0,000 ], 000, 000 49!),00(» 9!),000 490,0U(J 1 00,000 100,000 1,000,000 ;")(», 000 1,0(HI,000 r)0,ooo r),ooo,oo() 400,0(»0 r)0,ooo 2,500,000 90,000 1,000,000 5,00(»,000 1,000,000 24,000 1,000,000 1,000,000 4!)0,000 950,000 80, (too 999,999 40,000 500, (»00 50,000 500,000 4!»5,O00 1,000,000 !)00,000 1,000,000 4!)0,00(t 5,000,000 1,000,000 1,000,000 950,000 1,000,000 2.000,000 200, ( (00 1,000,000 m mA ^lit MM Special Circular on Ontario Mitiing. Name of Companu iVhci Imorporatcd. Ifailroadera' Gold JNIming .Sep. '2. IS!t7 Rook Lake Mining Jan. Is, IS'.m Randolph Gold Mining Mar. 2S " Saw Bill Lake Gold Mining May 26, ISOfJ " has 8ince increased its capital to Seine Manitou Gold Mining Sep. 9, " Standard Mining and Development Dec. 24 " Sweden Gold Mining j^n, 1897 Security Gold Mining and Development Mar. 1, " Sovereign (Jold Mining and Development Mar. 8, *• Shoal Lake and Seine River Mining Anr. 7, " Scramble Gold Mining Apr. 7, " Soo Mining and E.xploring June 2,3, " Sheba Gold MininL^ and Development Dec. 2.S, " Sentinel Consolidated Gold Mining Apr. 29, LS98 Snake River Mining . Oct. f) " Seneca Gold, Copper and Nickel Mining Aug. 31, " St. George Mining and Development Feb. 22, 1899 Standard Mica Mar. 28 " Sudbury Copper and Nickel May 3, •' Sailor Consolidated Mining and Milling of Camp McKinney (Licensed) May 6, 'i'rill Mining and Manufact-uring July 7, 1896 Temiscamingue Lithographic Stone and Mining. . Mar. 20, " Toronto-Tudor Mining Jan. 20, 1897 Thessalon (iold Mining Mar. 3, " Toronto and Western Mines Development Jan. 13, " Triggs Gold Mining July 12, 1898 Tycoon Mining and Development Sep. 13, " TTnion Jack Gold Mines . Aug. 27, 1897 Victoria Mining Dec. 2, 1896 Voss Mining Oct. 14, 1898 Virginia Mining, increased its capital Feb. 25, 1899 to Western Ontario jSlining Nov. 18, 1896 Wabigoon Free Milling Gold Mining Feb. 17. I8t)7 Webbwood Gen. Mining and Development Mar. 23, " Willow Creek Gold Mining and Development . . . May 6, *' Walpole Ore Oct. IT), " Windsor Yukon Mining. . : Mar. iil, 1898 Wawa (ilold Mining Apr. 2!), " Wallingford (Jold Mining Sep. 17, '• Westminster Mining Mav .'?!, " Wahnapitao Gold Fields June 9, " 51 Caintal. .Sr)00,000 1,000,000 1,000,000 100,000 125, 000 100,000 50(»,000 TjOO.OOO l,r)00,ooo 2,.')00,000 600,000 1,000,000 99,000 49"), 000 2r)0,ooo 2,500,000 999,999 150,000 90,(hiO 2,000,000 1,000,000 100,000 1,(»00,()00 800,000 200,000 500,000 150,000 150,000 450,000 10,000 250,000 1,000,000 I,Q Afino)^ Contract and InA''estuiation (Jo., Limited. Name of Company. When Incorporated. Capiltil. Yum Yum Gold Mining Ooc. 24, IS'Ki 81,(100,00(1 Yankee Doodle Mining Sep. ±2, 1S!»7 45,000 Yellow Jacket Gold Mining Aug. 11), " ilo.ooO Yukon Mutual Mining and Exploring Oct. G, " 2o.OO(» Y'^ukon Nugget Gold Mining and Exploration. .. . Dec. M, " 'i.lO.OOO Yukon-Klondike Co-operative Mining Jan. 11, iSflS 300,000 Zenith Gold Mininff Mar. 9, " 98,000 «• " increased its capital Apr, If), 1899 to 900.000 Particulars regarding any of the companie.s mentioned above and the properties they control, etc., or regarding any other Ontario mining or mineral companies and their properties may be obtained from the Mines Contract and Investigation Co., Limited. THE LAW REGARDING MINING COMPANIES. Joint stock companies for carrying on mining operations of various kinds, for exploring, for smelting or reducing ores, amalgamating, etc., may be incor- porated under the provisions of the general law relating to joint stock companies. Few mining companies, however, have been formed of late, excepting under the Ontario Mining Companies Incorporation Act, which in some respects is similar to the Acts in force in various States of the neighboring republic. The powers that may, if desired, be conferred on a mining company are extensive, amply covering everytliine likely to facilitate the operations of mining, milling, smeltinc, reducing or exploring, and include the right of building or acquiring steamboats, and even the carrying on of manufacture of goods reciuired by employees of the company. As a consideration for ores, metals, or minerals sold or treated or for work done otherwise, the company may take debentures, stocks, etc., of similar companies incorporated under the Act. It may co-operate with companies carrying on business which may benefit its own shareholders and may hold shares in a company formed to build and maintain roads or waterways leading to or from its lands ; in the last case, however, only with the sanction of a special general meeting of the company. The special feature of the Act, however, is its provision for noii-assessable stock. A mining rompany may in its letters patent secure a provision that no liability in excess of the amount paid or agreed to be paid for shares shall attach to the holder of such shares. No such shares can be issued at a discount or any rat'? otlier than had been previously sanctioned by the company, unless expressly anihorized by by kw fixing the rate. A copy of such by-law, duly attested by ailidavit of oihcers of the company, must be mailed to the Provincial Secretary within 24 hours after Its passage. Every stock certificate of a company thus organized must bear In red letters the statement, "Incorporated under the Ontario ilining Companies Incorporation Act," and the words "Subject to Call," or "Mot Subject to Call," according to the facts of the case. "No Personal Liability" must be printed on the stock certificates and other business paper of a company incorporated with the special exemption referred to above. Where stbck is snliject to call, and default is made in paying the call within sixty days after demand is made, the Secretary may advertise for one month the M A a»«- Spp.cial CircnJar on Ontario Mining. 53 aalo of such stock by auction, and sell it, if the call and costs aro not paid before the time announced for the sale. No shareholder is personally liable for non- payment of calls nor for debts contracted or payable by the Company. A company incorporated under the Alining Companies Act, whicii has not in its letters patent of inc jrporation the non-assessable stock proviso, may from time to time, for lawful purposes of the company, issue shares at a fixed discount or premium, if it passes a by-law for the purpose. A copy of the bylaw, duly attested by affidavits, must be mailed to the Provincial Secretary within 24 hours. Every stock certificate issued under such by-law must bear in red ink after the name of the company, the words, " Operating under the Ontario Mining Companies Incorporation Act," and where such stock certificates are in respect of shares sold, or disposed of at a discount, the words " Issued by the company at a discount of per centum," as the case may be. While shareholders are not responsible in non-assessable companies, for wages, directors are for wages not exceeding one year's pay earned during the year such directors hold office. No director, however, is liable unless he is sued for any such debt within a year after it becomes due, nor unless such director is sued therefor within a year after he ceases to be a director, nor before an execution against the company has been returned unsatisfied in whole or in part. Any mining company, however incorporated, is by the Act compelled to furnish information required by the various Company Acts, and also such further information as may be demanded by the Provincial Secretary or Director of the Bureau of Mines. Amongst information specifically refjuired bv the Act is the number of shares sold and the price at which they have been sold. Extra pro- vincial companies are practically under mucii the same obligations in this respect as companies incorporated under the Ontario law. No extra-provincial mining, milling, reduction or development company having its headquarters elsewhere than in the province, can, directly or indirectly, sell its stock within the provinco, unless it has been licensed to do so by the Provincial (iovernmenl. No license can be issued until the company has satisfied the Director of the Bureau of Mines that it has been duly incorporated, that it possesses the real estate and other assets and that it is carrying on its operations on a scale and in a manner to command the confidence of the public. To obtain this infotmation the (Government can require the production of the sworn and other documentary evidence re(juisite. The Government, also, if an extra provincial company acts so as to forfeit its good character, can revoke the license granted to it. In regard to false returns, reports, etc., the provisions of the Act and of other laws bearing on the case are excellent. Fines, with a long imprisonment, can be imposed for false statements in such reports, or in the prospectus or advertisements of a company, and such penalties arc recoverable at the instance of either the autiiorities or private individuals. Special provision is made under the Mining Act for the incorporation of companies for building and repairing roads and drains, and the operation of waterways in connection with mining districts. Tolls must be fixed by Order in Council. Such companies may share profits with actual mining companies. THE MINING LAW OF ONTARIO. The Mining Law of Ontario, amongst its many provisions, provides for bonuses to iron smelting furnaces, for tTie appointment of inspectors and the powers they may exercise, and also for securing the health and safety of employees in mines and mine buildings. The iron bounties are referred to elsewhere. The following is a synopsis of the most important provisions of interest to investors in mining properties. 54 Mines Contract chains or KiO acres, 4(1x20 chains or SO acres, and 20x20 chains or 40 acres. Five per cent, of the land is reserved for boundary roadways, and on locations bordering on lakes or rivers, a strip of one chain in wuith must be reserved for roadway, excepting where in the case of islands of less than thirty acres the Commissioner of Crown Lands may decide that tlie roadway is unnecessary. Of course this reservation along tiie water front is not interpreted so as to interfere with the erection of buildings at the water's edge. In territory surveyi'd into townsliips and lots, locations must consist of a half, quarter, eighth or sixteenth of a section or lot, but so that no location shall have a less area than forty acres. Plans of surveys, field notes, etc., of a location in unsurveyed territory must be filed with the Commissioner of Crown Lands within four months after application for such location has been made, and no surveyor's plan, etc., is regarded as constituting a claim on a location unless they be filed at the De{»artment immediately upon completion of the survey. The survey must be made by an Ontario Land Surveyor An application for a location must be accompanied by affidavits of discovery of ores or minerals, and of absence of knowledge of adverse claims. No individual can acquire within a radius of fifteen miles in any county or district in any one calendar year more than 320 acres of mining locations, and no firm or syndicate or company more than (540 acres. Lapsed or abandoned applications may be made up for on applying for other locations in the same county or district, but where a location is rich in ores and minerals, the Commissioner may further limit applicants to one or more locations of forty acres. South of the French River, Lake Nipissing and the Mattawa River, mining locations may be as defined by any Order in Council, but shall never be ot less than forty acres. Prices Paid for Mining Locations. The price per acre for all Crown Lands sold as mining locations is : — In surveyed territory within six miles of any railway, S3. "jO ; within twelve miles, §3 ; elsewhere $2. 50, In unsurveyed territory the prices are r)0 cents lower in each of the three classes. The price per acre for a patent of mining rights is one half of the rates given above. In lands leased or demised for ten years in surveyed territory, the annual rental is for tlie first year 81 per acre everywhere, and for each subsequent year, 30 cents, 2.") cents and 20 cents respectively for the classes of land distinguished above accorcHng to distance from railway. In unsurveyed territory the rental is in each case five cents lower. Where, in unsurveyed territory not within a mining division, the land is shown to have no value for pine timber, a prospector or explorer may stake out not more tiian two mining locations of forty acres eacli in any one calen10, the license to continue for one year and to be renewable from year to year on payment of the same fee. Leases of mining locations may provide that in case of forfeiture or non- renewal of the lease, any mining plant or machinery may be removed. One fourth of the purchase money or rental of a location in unsurveyed territory must be paid within sixty days after the application is made for such location and the remainder within three months after the application. In iSj>ecial Circular oil Ontario Mitiiiiy. 55 surveyed townships only thirty days may bo allowed at the diacretiou of the Coiiimissioiior for fultilliiif^ all tlio rcciuirenieiits of the applicatiou uud ihe payment of purchase money or rental. Expenditure Required on Locations. The grantee or owner of mininf; lands imist, durink' tiie first two years fol- lowing the issue of his patent, expen7 time for levying Much roy.iltios ia left to the discrotion of the (ioverniiicnt and no royalty has yot been demanded. On lands sold or leased prior to iMay 4th K891, all olaim to royalties has heen abiindoned by act of the IcviHlaturo and thus great blocks of nickel lands as well as some other mining i)r<.perti.H are exempted from liability to the general royalty provided for. Ores from mining locations {/ranted smce, or that may be granted up to .Jan. lat, ls!»i» ure subject to royalty as follows : Ores of silver, nickel and copper, and iron, two per cent all other ores and minerals, such percentage, not exceeding two per cent as maybe Hxed by Order in Council. The royalties may b<' calculated on "the value of the ores at the pit's mouth, less cost of explosives, and of labor for mining and subsequent treatment. No royalties can be imposed until seven years after the issue of a patent or lease. After the beginning of IS!)(» ores of silver, nickel, or nickel and copper are to be liable to a royalty of three per cent., iron not more than two percent., all other ores and minerals such percentage, not exceeding three per cent., as may be imposed by Order in Council. The royalty may be calculated on the value of ores at the pit's mouth, less the cost of explosives and labor used in mining and raising such ores. woru. Diamond Drills. rwo diamond drills are provided for loan, at low cost, for exploratory ADDENDA. Since the first part of this circular, containing notes on the present position of leading gold properties in the Rainy River District, went to press, several noteworthy changes have been announced, among which are the following : The amalgamation of the Hammond Reef Co. 's and the Folger-Hammond syndicate's properties on the Hammond Reef, under a new company with a capitalization of $5,000,000. The sale of the liarker mine in trie Manitou Lakes countrv. for about $250,000. The acquirement of the Alice A mine by a British company, organized in England, with a capital of ^300,000, and said to intend immediately erecting a mill of 150 stamps or more. The sale of the Foley mine to a British company, the Canadian Mines Development Co. (Sir Erlward Thornton, President), with a capital of £'M),{M). In Eastern Ontario the Parry Sound Couper Co., with very high- grade copper deposits, and with a capitalization of .'?5, 000, 000, has in addition to acquiring several thousand acres of copper lands around the McGown Gobi Mine near Parry Sound, acquired tlie McGown mine also. There are rumours that the Regina mine, now said to be over 500 feet in depth, may make changes in organization which will permit of greater facilities for handling its immense ore deposits. BRITISH COLUMBIA. Note. — A circular on the British Columbia mines will be issued later by the Mines Contract and Investigation Company, Limited. 58 Muies Contvact and Im^t'sfufalinti Co., Limifed. The New Mining Divisions. The boundary of the niiiiiiij^ division recently eMtahlished in the Rainy Uiver Dinlriet, is llie Manitoba boundary from \Vinnipe«,' River to the C.P.R.; the C.P.R. to Hawk Lake Station ; the hikes southward to the base line, latitude 49 , '.V2' 18" N., in Dry berry Lake; that base line to Eagle I^ake ; Eagle Lake and River, and Wabigoon, Englisli and Winnipeg Rivers to the Manitoba bouruhiry. (See Map). The new division in Thunder May District has for boundaries the shore of Lake Superior from Fort William to Nipegon River; Nipegon River and the Lake to Poshkokagan River ; that river. Lake and River Des Isles, Dog River and Lake and the Kainini^tiiiuia River. The new division in Eastern Algoma has for boundaries the Height of Land from the Western l)oun(]ary of Nipissing District to the C.P.R. in township 15; the C.P.R. southeasterly to the northern boundary line of Moncreiff township near Straight Lake ; that line prolonged eastward to the Nipissing boundary line, and the Nipissing boundary northward to the Height of Land. 1^ \ Our Map, The copper-plate map accompanying this circular is prepared from maps of the past two years issued l)y the Ontario Crown Lands' survey, and supplemented in respect to the country east and northeast of Lake Minnietakie througli the courteous aid of the Geological Survey of Canada, which is now preparing a n)ap embodying the results of the surveys and explorations made during the past year. Accuracy in detail is yet impractical)le over much of the district, for, as has been indicated in previous pages, only a few townships, the many mining locations, and a few other features of the country, have been thorough- ly surveyed. Not always, even in some of these details, has the true latitude and longitude been determined, much of the work, especially in regard to mining locations, having been done for immediate prac- tical purposes. Numerous canoe routes of broken lake and river have been followed by trained men, and notes taken, geological and other, along the way, but sections of tlie district, considerable in aggregate area, are all but terrae iacopiitae, so far as close exam- ination of the topographical and geological details are concerned. The map, however, 8hows,with a correctness perhaps not yet surpassed, the general features of the country, and its drainage basins, and will prove of value to those wishing to know the trend of the rivers that flow ipto the English and Albany rivers, and through the Lake of the Woods into the Winnipeg river, which discharges, along with the waters of the English river basin, in! a Lake Winnipeg. r us f mining corn- property. mining prospects, )tions on the same* machinery or sup- vorthy reports on ^. 'i and management ir organized, i/s stock on the \ the management i g all the wants r In diMtrlots vitbwn MAP of Fai't of tlio NORTH WESTERN ONTARR) GOL15 FIELDS Spci'in/lv Hntiiuivfil tor and /hl'li.ihftf hv THE MINES CONTRACT AND INVESTIGATION CO. OF TORONTO (LiMiTiD) ,, > I'dimpiUoi from tAe latr^rt taiuulinit litoliiflical Surv^t and trom Survev.r by tAf J)ef>ar*rtirMt of Crv>i .it hands- .... ^ vt' Ontario. ^ THETORONTO LtTH.CO.tixiTto f!<>ale of HUsa O lO 31) .to 40 fiO Hiti/tvf^y,* intiinMirii ihuM /'rtffi't^iH/ ffiu'/travLrwA'?.;i.« .m m, »»■ I1K>^^ ^ A iJ ^ - - V V'^a Hiiv iw« , _fVu„-llav -^'///VV Copyriffht fy- thf Minet iinttfact «f* Inrertitiation (h.Lifiuied 58 Mines Coutracl a, ^.-'JUtera The Ne\ The l)Oundary of the mi; Rainy River District, is tlie to the C.P.R.; the C.P.R. to to the base line, latitude 49° line to Eagle Lake ; Eagle Le Winnipeg Rivers to the Ma division in Thunder Bay U Lake Superior from Fort \V and the Lake to Poshkokf Des Isles, Dog River and L new division in Eastern Al Land from the Western bou in township 15 ; the C.P.I line of Moncreiff township i eastward to the Nipissing b< northward to the Height of The copper-plate map from maps of the past two ) survey, and supplemented ii of Lake Minnietakie througl of Canada, which is now pr< surveys and explorations ir detail is yet impracticable c indicated in previous pages locations, and a few other i ly surveyed. Not always, latitude and longitude beet in regard to mining locatioi tical purposes. Numerous have been followed by trail other, along the way, but aacregate area, are all bu ination of the topographies map, however, shows.with general features of the c( prove of value to those wis flow ijito the English and j Woods into the Winnipeg waters of the English rivei WRITE TO US Of Consult us IF y^^ want to know the position of mining com- panies, or of any mine or mining property. IF you want to invest in stocks. IF you want to sell stocks. F you want to buy or sell mines or mining prospects, or if you want to give or take options on the same. F you want to buy or sell mining machinery or sup- plies. F you want to have special trustworthy reports on mines in any part of the world. F you want advice on organization and management of mines or mining companies. F you want a company promoted or organized. F you want to place your company's stock on the market to best advantage. IF you want a prospect developed or the management of a mine undertaken. We have excellent facilities for meeting all the wants mentioned above* D*~ R»tlMbl9 Mg^ats and Comspond^nts wMBt»d Id dMiiotM wban wa an not minmdy tuppllmd. mm ^HE Provinoe of Ontario, Uuf^erto superileUa area than '*' eitiier France or Germany, is one of the richest metal- Ilflsroas countries In the world. Iron, nickel, copper, silver, gold, galena abonnd. The gold flelds of the northwestern part of the province are enormous in extent, richer on the average than the Transvaal, easily accessible and workable at very low cost Gold mining, while only recently com- menced, has made great progress, and the district promises to be before long one of the most famous in the world. Hetums are unusually quick. Owlght E. Woodbridge, the eminent American geologist, interviewed by the Chicago "Tlmes-Eerald" on June 6th, 1899, says : "There is no mining counti*y in the world so thoroufi^Uy Impiignated with goldivelns as is the Western Ontario district The peculiar feature of the district is that aU the gold veins have been exposed by gladal action. The glaciers have scraped the country completely, and left the veins where they can be eatily traced by the prospec- tor. Ihe ore is fl*ee mlHing and very rich." Proofs of the richness of these gold flelds, and of the 1000 miles long metalliferous belt of Ontario, are found within. ^ 0m$$^ LIBRARIES THE UNIVERSITY OF WESTERN ONTARIO LONDON CANADA IVbOUS