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individuals. Water for hydraulicking was brought by a ditch from Last
Chance creek. A tunnel was run through bedrock for 580 feet and drifts,
upraises from the tunnel, and shafts totalling about 200 feet were run and
sunk to determine the depth and values of the gravels. The recent work
by J. F. Williams has been done near the lower end of the pit where Mr.
Williams holds there is a buried rock channel.

The Last Chance hydraulic mine at the mouth of Last Chance creek
(Figure 28) is owned by Kwong Lung Kee and has been operated for over
twenty-five years, water under a head of about 220 feet being obtained by
a ditch from Van Winkle creek and Grub gulch. A long cut was extended
upstream from Lightning Creek flat and the bedrock in the pit was reached
only in 1922. A long drain tunnel parallel to the pit had been run in the
early days and considerable drifting had been done from the old Clarke
shaft near the mouth of the drain tunnel. The ground in the pit at its
head was also drifted on bedrock and, probably, for some distance upstream.
In the pit there are masses of large boulders above the posts of the old
driftings. These boulders cause trouble in hydraulicking as they have
to be blasted, but considerable gold is said to be recovered annually. There
are several shafts, in addition to the Clarke shaft, near the lower end of
the hydraulic cut and on the benches on the south side of Lightning creek
opposite Stanley. The most recent one near the mouth of the old drain
tunnel was sunk by J. F. Williams who maintains that part of the old
channel of Last Chance creek was not mined out, and that the shaft did
not reach the channel. Many years ago a tunnel 400 or 500 feet long
was run on the south side of Lightning creek opposite Williams store at
Stanley. The tunnel is said to have followed the bedrock on the benches
all the way, except that in a few places there were depressions in the bed-
rock below the tunnel leve!, but apparently very little gold was found.
The rock benches extend upstream to the Victoria ground and in the
upper part where the ground is shallow were mined to some extent by
open-cut work.

The total production of gold from Lightning creek and its tributaries
is not definitely known. It was estimated! that during the first period of
active mining, from 1861 to 1864, the Campbell and Whitehall claims
yielded $200,000, that Van Winkle creek produced a large amount, and
that the yield from Last Chance creek was over $250,000. As several
other claims on Lightning creek were productive, and as the tributaries
Chisholm (especially the branch Oregon), Davis, and Anderson were
mined, to some extent at least, as well as Van Winkle and Last Chance,
it is possible that the total production during this period was at least
$2,000,000. During the second period of active mining, from 1870 to 1876,
the total amount yielded by the leading claims was at least $1,500,000.
During this period the tributary streams and other claims on the main
stream were probably also productive to some extent. From 1876 to
1895 the total production of the creek and its tributaries, as given in the
Annual Reports of the Minister of Mines, B.C., was approximately $850,000,
of which the tributary streams produced about $200,000. The average
annual production of gold since 1895 is not definitely known, but was

1Ann. Rept., Minister of Mines, B.C., 1875.