door at Manson Creek with a letter which told of rich finds in Cassiar.
In a day or two Omineca was deserted. Until 1879 Vital and other
creeks were given over to Chinese. Successive companies made what .
they considered fortunes and returned to China. In 1879 there was a
revival, and in 1887 the miners were again attracted to other fields. Only
a few old-timers remained, and in 1895 the whole population consisted of
three or four prospecting parties, a few Indians, and twenty Chinese.
Since then work has been done on comparatively small scale. Some
efforts have been made by companies to get in machinery, but the trans-
portation difficulties have, as yet, proved too great.

The following table shows the placer returns for this district from
1874 to 1913 :—

Amount. rear. Amount.

$38,000 $15,000
32,040 00
No returns.

This shows that since 1902 the industry has fallen away and is now
not very important. The district has always been handicapped by its
remoteness and inaccessibility, which made it very expensive to operate.

Much ground throughout this district is known to be auriferous, but
will remain unworked until transportation facilities are provided. At
present it is very difficult to get in supplies or machinery, every pound
having to be taken in by pack-horse or toboggan. With a railway
prospectors consider there would be a considerable development in lode-
mining. The rocks exposed at the Black Canyon consist of gneiss, mica,
schists, quartzites, and limestones. Resting on these, but apparently
confined to the valley, are soft conglomerates, shales, and sandstones,
holding plant remains, cither Cretaceous or Tertiary. Farther up hard
unfossiliferous limestones occur. These are succeeded by gneisses and
mica-schists followed by shales, quartzites, and conglomerates, evidently
Lower Cambrian; then by limestones again. Above the limestones and
exposed all along the river from Germansen Landing to New Hogem is
a great series of green rocks, distinctly foliated in places, but often

Twenty-three.