weCONNELL | ECONOMIC MINERALS. 39 c

Creek, a tributary of the Omenica, was found in 1868, and Vital Creek,
a branch of the former, in 1869. In 1870, diggings were found on
Germansen Creek and the following year on Slate, Manson and Lost
Creeks. No further discoveries were made until Tom’s Creek was
struck in 1889,

The population of the country reached its maximum about 1872, Population.
and has since steadily declined. In 1893 four miners were working
on Germansen Creek, eight on Manson Creek, three on Vital Creek
and about twenty on Tom’s Creek. The other creeks have been
worked out and deserted.

The total production of the camp up to the present time, judging production.
from the fragmentary statistics of the district published in the Annual
Reports of Minister of Mines for British Columbia, and from other
sources, probably approaches closely to, if it does not exceed, a million
dollars.

The gold in the Omenica region has been obtained principally from Auriferous
the gravels overlying the older rocks, in the beds of the present streams. poke
The gravels, as a rule, have little depth, and the productive portions
of the different streams seldom exceed three miles in length. . No
deep diggings or extensive hydraulic workings have so far been
attempted in the district.

The auriferous gravels underlying the boulder-clay on Germansen, Auriferou
Manson and other creeks in the district have a wide distribution and ee
promise favourable results if worked on a sufficiently large scale. A
short tunnel was driven into a bank of this description on Germansen
Creek by Mr. Clinton in 1892, and sufticient gold taken out to pay
small wages. Water can be obtained almost anywhere from lakes
and mountain streams, within a reasonable distance, and the only
drawback to successful hydraulic mining is the great expense atten-
dant on the carriage of material and supplies from the coast. The Transporta-
absence of easily navigable waterways, and the mountainous and pet
swampy character of the surrounding country, present obstacles to
transportion which can only be overcome at great expense. At the
present time, the greater part of the supplies are brought in by pack
animals from Hazleton at the Forks of the Skeena, the rate to Manson
Creek amounting to 17 cents per pound.

Some prospecting has been done in the Omenica region every season Prospecting
since its auriferous character became known, but the district has by
no means been thoroughly explored. The discovery of pay gravels on
Tom’s Creek, close to Vital Creek, twenty years after the later was
found, shows how loose the examination has been, nor need this be