106

being changed, was about 150 feet representing about 200,000 cubic yards.
In 1915, however, which was an exceptionally favourable year, nearly
225 feet were hydraulicked out in a section where the channel was some-
what narrower than above or below the section. With steel plates a much
larger yardage can be handled than when the boxes were paved with wooden
blocks, and it is probable that, on the average, 300 feet of the channel can
now be mined each season. If so, the possible life of the mine is nine or
ten years. The maximum production in any one year by hydraulicking
was probably in 1915, during which year a “clean-up” of 2,300 ounces is
said to have been obtained. The gold has been obtained from ground
that was previously drifted on bedrock, and apparently the largest amounts
were obtained at places where the old driftings were most extensive. Much
of the bedrock was badly broken and the masses of angular slide rock and
boulders were so numerous that thorough cleaning of the bedrock in the old
workings was very difficult, which probably accounts for the fact that a
considerable part of the gold remained to be recovered by hydraulicking.
At the head of the hydraulic pit as exposed in October, 1924, the old driftings
continue and are one to three sets wide. The old timbers exposed in
hydraulicking include posts 11 feet high and 2 feet in diameter. The
timbers are quite sound, although they have been underground for over
forty years. Thereisa “balloon” drive with 33-foot cap about 20 feet above
bedrock, probably run for drainage. There is an old shaft, probably an
air shaft, on the east side just above the lower dam, and the old workings
may extend for a short distance above it. No shafts are known higher up
and it is generally held by the miners that the ground above the air shaft,
except possibly for a few hundred feet, has not been drifted. The value of the
ground available for hydraulicking is not definitely known, but it is reason-
able to suppose that it contains approximately the same values as the ground
lower down and that in the part which was not drifted the values may be
somewhat higher. It is fairly certain, however, that the ground was
drifted as far as it paid for that kind of mining.

The water supply for the mine is brought by an extensive system of
ditches about 26 miles in length and there are two storage reservoirs, Ella
lake near the head of Jack of Clubs valley and Groundhog lake at the foot
of mount Agnes. The Lowhee ditch comes from Ella lake and extends
along the west side of Lowhee creek to Watsons gulch. In 19238 the ditch was
extended to the head of Stouts pit and a new dam for a reservoir constructed
on the summit 2,150 feet above the old dam. The old Gold Fields ditch,
which forms part of the system, comes from the headwaters of Lightning
creek, and where it ends near the end of the Lowhee ditch, is 100 feet above
the latter. The water from the Gold Fields ditch runs into the reservoir
on the summit and is used for a ground-sluice at the head of the Lowhee
pit, where there is a vertical fall of about 80 feet. The Lowhee ditch is
7 feet wide at the top and 4 feet at the bottom and is capable of carrying
1,500 miner’s inches of water. It has a gradient of 9 feet to the mile.
The ditch is 240 feet above the bottom of the channel near the head of the
pit and as the ditch is well above the summit a good head of water will be
available for future work, although it will gradually decrease as the pit
is extended upstream. The average head for the past few years has been
about 250 feet. Only one No. 6 monitor is used during the dry season and