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The possibilities on Dragon creek include drifting of the buried channel
alongside the canyon; drifting on bedrock at the head of the hydraulic pit
at the east side, where the bedrock channel is slightly deeper than where
drifted on the east side; and extending the hydraulic pit upstream. As
already pointed out, there are difficulties in hydraulicking, especially the
insufficient supply of water. The ground above the present head of the
pit is believed from the results of drifting in the early days—about which
little is definitely known—to contain sufficient gold to pay for hydraulick-
ing, but no drilling to test the ground has been done.

New Creek

New creek flows into Slough creek from the southwest and is the first
below Nelson creek. It is comparatively short with a high gradient,
and in the dry season has a very small flow of water. In its middle part
the stream flows in a rock canyon for about 1,500 feet. There are one or
two buried channels alongside the canyon. Below the canyon the drift
deposits in the valley bottom are thick. There is a great deal of glacial silt
and clay and the “slummy” wet ground on most of the creek has rendered
prospecting difficult.

Considerable prospecting and a small amount of mining have been
done, but nothing of value has been found. A tunnel starting near the
road in the lower part of the creek was run in the early days, by Wm. Brown
of Jack of Clubs creek, but did not reach the channel. Brown has recently
returned to the creek to continue his work. Farther up the creek a tunnel
was run in the early eighties by the Glamorgan Company. When it was 600
or 700 feet a blind shaft was sunk 20 feet to bedrock. Drifting was com-
menced from the bottom of the shaft, but work paid only about 1 or 2
ounces to the set, about $200 in all having been recovered. Several pros-
pect pits and shafts were also sunk. The bedrock gravels where prospected
are said to be glacial and clayey. The general experience in the district has
been that where these occur on bedrock the pay is not likely to be either
rich or continuous. Apparently no gold was found in the bed of the creek
above the canyon. Brown holds that there is a stretch of the creek for
about 1,500 feet between the Glamorgan tunnel and his tunnel which has
not been prospected, and that the most favourable channel is on the north-
east side of the canyon.

The rock canyon is an interesting feature because of its height above
Slough Creek valley and the difficulty of explaining how it was formed in
post-Glacial time by such a small stream, especially as there are on both
sides of it lower, drift-filled depressions. It was probably initiated by a
more powerful stream coming from the upland during the closing stages of
glaciation and at a time when the valley of Slough creek was still occupied
by ice. Once the rock cutting was started the creek would persist in the
canyon that was formed.

Montgomery Creek

Montgomery creek is the next creek below New creek and flows into
Willow river. The creek has a steep gradient and bedrock is not exposed

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