Eagle-McDame Area, Cassiar District, B.C.

INTRODUCTION

Eagle-McDame area is rectangular in outline and embraces about 3,500
square miles in northern British Columbia between longitude 129 degrees
and longitude 130 degrees. Its southern border is the divide between
Tanzilla and Stikine rivers at latitude 58°10’ and its northern border is
McDame creek at latitude 59°15’. Approximately 2,700 square miles of
new territory were mapped during 1935, the remainder of the area having
been mapped previously.

Placer gold deposits have been known in Cassiar district since the
early seventies, but it was not until 1934 that its lode deposits received
any notice. In that year a ton of gold quartz ore, which contained 4 ounces
of gold, was shipped out by airplane. This shipment aroused a good deal
of interest, especially when it was reported that free gold occurred in other
veins around McDame creek.

In 1887 Dawson mapped Dease river and located the boundaries of
the Cassiar batholith where crossed by the river.1 In 1925 the bedrock
geology and placer deposits of Dease lake and vicinity were studied by
Johnston and Kerr.2 The area has been visited also by engineers of the
Department of Mines of British Columbia. Their reports deal mainly
with the gold placers and general conditions of the area and are contained
in the Annual Reports of the Minister of Mines of British Columbia.

The writers were ably assisted in the field by J. G. Gray, E. B. Vick,
D. C. Holland, Chas. Campbell, and G. B. Paulin. Many courtesies were
extended by R. F. Latimer and Jack Fleming of Dease Lake and by R. J.
Meek and W. Glennie at McDame. The writers are also indebted to the
prospectors and others in the area for courtesies received.

GENERAL CHARACTER OF THE AREA
LOCATION AND MEANS OF ACCESS

The usual mode of entry to the region from Vancouver. is by steam-
ship to Wrangell, Alaska, and thence by river boat 150 miles up Stikine
river to Telegraph Creek. The Barrington Transportation Company
connects with the northbound Canadian Pacific Railway steamships at
Wrangell and maintains a weekly schedule on Stikine river during the
summer months. The trip from Wrangell to Telegraph Creek is made in
three days and the return trip downstream usually in one day.

1 Dawson, G. M.: ‘Report on an Explomition in the Yukon District, N.W.T., and Adjacent
Northern Portion of British Columbia’; Geol. Surv., Canada, Ann. Rept., vol. III, pt. 1 (1889) and
Pub. No. 629 (1898).

2Johnston, W. A.: “Gold Placers of Dease Lake Area, Cassiar District, B.C.”; Geol. Surv.,
Canada, Sum. Rept. 1925, pt. A, pp. 33-74.

Kerr, F. A.: ‘Dease Lake Area, Cassiar District, B.C.’’; Geol. Surv., Canada, Sum. Rept.
1925, pt. A, pp. 75-99,

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