Placer and Vein Gold Deposits of Barkerville,
Cariboo District, British Columbia

CHAPTER I

INTRODUCTION

Barkerville area embraces 210 square miles and is part of Cariboo
district, central British Columbia. The town of Barkerville, the centre
of the area, is about 60 miles east of Quesnel, on Fraser river, in latitude
53° north. The placer mines of this area have produced, since 1860, about
$30,000,000 in gold, and although the greater part of the yield was obtained
in the sixties and seventies, varying amounts of gold have been produced
annually since then. The main producing creeks of Cariboo district—
Williams, Lightning, and Antler—are included in Barkerville area. In
the early days of placer mining the rich, readily accessible pay-streaks in
the beds of the creeks were mined out, partly by open-cut work and partly
by drifting. Hydraulicking began in the seventies and has been carried on
at some of the properties for over forty years. The area has been glaciated
and in many places thick deposits of drift overlie the pay-streaks. As a
result, not only has mining been difficult, but the finding of deposits was
so delayed that fresh discoveries have been made periodically since the
early days, and it is possible that still further finds will be made. In recent
years attention has been specially directed to the possibilities of gold-
dredging—which was actually started in 1924—and the mining of the
quartz veins from which the placer gold was derived.

The area was geologically examined by the authors for the purpose of
determining the source of the placer gold and of describing the possibilities
for placer and ‘‘quartz’’ mining. The senior author (W. A. Johnston) is
responsible for the descriptions of the superficial deposits and of the placer
mining operations on the several creeks. The junior author (W. L. Uglow)
is responsible for the descriptions of the bedrock geology and of the quartz
vein deposits. The authors are jointly responsible for the chapter on the
origin of the placer gold, and for the section on the origin of the physical
features.

ACCESSIBILITY

Barkerville area may be easily reached by stage from either Ashcroft
or Quesnel, the route to Quesnel being by boat from Vancouver to Squamish
and thence by Pacific Great Eastern railway, or—in summer—by gas
boat from Prince George. From Barkerville good roads extend to Bowron
(Bear) lake and to Grouse, Antler, and Cunningham creeks. Other roads and
trails lead to most of the creeks in the area. The old road to Barkerville,
constructed in 1865, formerly extended past Stanley to the head of Light-
ning creek, crossed a divide to Jack of Clubs creek, followed this creek a