83

French Company, Ne’er-do-Well, and Carnelian claims and at the bend the
Cascade, Shy Robin, and Ontario. Above the bend on the right bank was
the Duxeford shaft where the old channel was considerably above the present
ereek, and at Boone Sawmill point one-fourth mile above the bend, where a
buried channel occurs on the right side, the gold lead practically ended.
The present channel of the creek opposite Boone Sawmill point and for some
distance above was mined to bedrock by a Chinese company, but the work
is said not to have paid. The highly productive part of the creek extended
upstream from the Heron ground about 13} miles, and was mostly worked
out in the early days. The old gold-bearing channel near its upper end is
about 40 feet above the level of the present creek; it crosses over and forms
a rock-bench on the left side at the bend and again crosses to the right side
below the bend, on which side it continues as a rock-bench downstream to a
short distance above the Heron ground, where it coincides with the present
creek. In the Heron ground it is below the creek-level and under the high
bank on the right side. Thus the gradient of the old channel is greater than
that of the present. Rock-benches, however, occur on the left side opposite
the Heron ground and represent a still older channel with a low gradient.
The benches are evidently a continuation of those farther upstream and the
deep channel in the Heron ground is, therefore, more recent than the channel
represented by the rock-benches, and the present channel is still more
recent. The richest parts were where the present channel has cut through
the old channel or lies close alongside of it. The principal work done on
the upper part of the creek since the early days was on the Hard-up ground,
immediately below the Heron ground. This work and the work on the
Heron ground are here described somewhat fully because they have a
bearing on the question of the continuation of the famous “Heron lead”
into the drift-covered flats in the lower part of the creek. The continuation
of this ‘lead’? has been searched for for many years and the question of its
occurrence is still an open one. The information regarding the workings
was obtained mainly from Joseph Wendle who, along with B.A. Lasell, had an
interest in the Hard-up property, and was for several years in charge of
work by the United Company. Parts of the workings which have not
caved were also examined. The location of the tunnels and a generalized
plan of the workings on a small scale are shown on Figure 11.

The Heron Company’s ground consisted of nine 100-foot claims and
extended upstream on the right side from where the present stream falls
about 6 feet over a hard limestone ledge. The Hard-up Company’s ground
was immediately below and extended downstream on the right side for
about 800 feet, the lower part of the ground being on the flats. Bedrock
outcrops in the bed of the creek from the falls upstream for 725 feet to a
point 185 feet upstream from the Heron incline, which extends into the
right bank from near the level of the creek and from which most of the
pay-streak mined in the buried channel beneath the right bank of the creek
on the Heron ground was taken out and washed. The incline was about
100 feet long, and the bottom of the channel was about 18 feet below creek-
level. The present stream flows in a narrow rock channel, which is appar-
ently partly an artificial cutting for 350 feet from a point 185 feet above the
Heron incline. This cutting is probably the one referred to above as
having been made in 1867. For some distance above the upper end of it,