Iron Ores of British Columbia and Yukon

CHAPTER 1

GENERAL STATEMENT

British Columbia possesses deposits of iron ore, and has important
coal fields. Direct trade routes lead from its coast to the other countries
bordering the Pacific. These conditiors and the existing local demand for
iron have encouraged the hope that a profitable iron-making industry may
be created within the province. An iron-making industry can be successful
only if there exist an adequate source of raw material and markets for the
finished product. As one step towards reaching a decision regarding the
feasibility of establishing an iron-making industry, the Geological Survey
at the request of, and in co-operation with, the Government of British
Columbia, undertook an investigation of the known iron ore deposits of
the province to determine, as far as practicable, the extent and character
of the available iron ore resources. The results of this investigation are
presented on the following pages, together with an account of such iron
ore deposits as have been heretofore noted in the Yukon.

The field investigations were commenced in 1922 by G. A. Young
with M. E. Hurst as field assistant, continued in 1923 by the same officer
with T. D. Guernsey, R. E. Hayes, F. F. Osborne, and C. O. Swanson
as field assistants, and concluded in 1924 by W. L. Uglow, who examined
the various deposits along the west coast of Vancouver island and whose
report thereon constitutes Chapter IV of this volume.

Adequate accounts of certain iron ore deposits were already available
and such occurrences were not reinvestigated. Certain other deposits
already reported upon were not re-examined because of their remoteness
and the resulting prohibitive cost of transporting ore to any conceivable
market. A very few other deposits which had not been adequately
described were not revisited because of various reasons, but it is confidently
believed that if these deposits had been examined, the resulting information
would not have materially affected the conclusion that may legitimately
be drawn from the facts presented in this report. No attempt was
made to find and examine iron ore deposits merely rumored to exist
in almost every district, but, on the other hand, considerable attention
was paid in the field, and is given in this report, to certain occurrences of
no possible value as sources of iron ore, but which have been cited as being
commercially important.

No considerable market for iron ore as such has ever existed in the
province. At one time there was a limited demand for iron ore as a flux, and
also for a short period comparatively small quantities of ore were shipped

1 By G. A. Young.