193

CHIEF PROPERTIES

It is difficult to present a comprehensive and well-balanced statement
of the geology and potentialities of the large number of quartz veins and
ledges that occur in this area. Many of the best-known ledges, on which
considerable work had been done in the early days, seem to possess a
degree of merit that is not apparent in the newly-discovered ones, but
there is. reason to believe that this difference may be due to the lack of
development of the latter.

Only small amounts of useful information could be secured from the
present-day examination of the properties; so the writer has endeavoured
to analyse the old reports and to select therefrom for presentation here
those parts of the descriptions which contain seemingly important data.
The source of these data is given in all cases, but no statement can be made
regarding the methods of sampling the veins, or the care with which the
samples were assayed at Barkerville.

The locations of some of the best-known ledges are shown on the
geological map, but for the locations of the others the reader is referred to
the portfolio, published by the Geological Survey, Canada, in 1895, con-
taining Maps 364 to 371, descriptive of the principal auriferous creeks of
the district.

Black Jack Ledge

The property consists of two claims, the Black Jack, a real estate
claim, and the Black Jack Extension, a record claim (in all about 62 acres),
located on Williams creek at the south end of the town of Barkerville.

The workings consist of an open-cut 100 feet long, 30 feet deep, and
20 feet wide at the face, and a shaft 120 feet deep. The open-cut is half
filled with debris, but a very good exposure of mineralized vein material
may still be seen along one side of the cut, and along the face. The shaft
is totally filled with water and debris.

The deposit consists of a shoot of sulphide minerals located at the
intersection of an A vein with a series of parallel, mineralized B veins.
Twenty-five of these crossing veins, from 2 to 10 inches wide, were counted
in a total distance of 50 feet. The minerals of the B veins and of the
intersection are quartz, siderite, galena, pyrite, and some arsenopyrite.

There is no one now in Barkerville who worked in the mine or who
has any first-hand information about the workings. The following inform-
ation, therefore, taken from the reports of the Government agent, from
the old company’s letter book, and the superintendent’s reports, is here
presented.

The company had a one-stamp mill on the ground, operated by an
overshot water-wheel. Most of the hoisting was done by a windlass, but
in 1892 a boiler and small steam hoist were hired.

At the 42-foot level, the ledge is 5 feet wide. Two hundred and two
tons from here produced $3,573.10, as follows; $932 or $4.61 a ton in free
gold was caught on the plates, and 46 tons of concentrated were produced
and treated at the Government Reduction Works, yielding $2,641.10 or
$57.52 a ton. This represents a total average of $17.68 a ton from
the 202 tons.