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hydraulic operations were attempted at Lorne creek between 1900 and
1917 by the Dry Hill Hydraulic Mining Company and on Kleanza creek
from 1912 until 1922 by the Cassiar Hydraulic Mining Company, Limited,
but with little success. During the last few years a little placer gold has
been recovered from Phillips and Porcupine creeks. Douglas creek at
Kitsumgallum lake has been a steady though small producer of placer
gold for over twenty years.

Mineral claims were first staked in 1893 in the vicinity of Usk, the
Emma, Four Aces, and Madden being the first on which there is a record
of development work. The Toulon and Ptarmigan or Singlehurst properties
were staked in 1899, and the Golden Crown group two years later. By
1910 there were about two hundred claims staked in the vicinity of Usk
on deposits containing gold, silver, and copper. By 1914 prospecting
activity had spread farther afield. A large body of limonite iron ore was
discovered 38 miles up Zymoetz river on Limonite creek and coal was
reported on Kitmayakwa river nearby. Copper discoveries were made on
the Avon, Wells, and Montana properties near the head of Kleanza creek,
on the St. Croix and Continental claims on Chimdemash creek, and on the
Diorite property near Pitman. Silver, copper, and lead ores were found
on the Frisco, Zona May, M. and M., and M. and K. groups on Legate creek,
and high-grade ore containing gold, lead, zinc, and copper was found on the
Fiddler group. About the same time the initial mineral discoveries on
Thornhill mountain 7 miles southeast of Terrace, and at Kitsumgallum
lake 20 miles north of Terrace, were made. During the next fifteen years
small-scale mining and development operations were carried on at a number
of mining properties throughout the area and prospectors continued to
make new discoveries.

In 1916 M. Orr of Pacific shipped 10 tons of hand-picked silver-copper
ore from the Frisco property, which is said to have returned 33-5 ounces
of silver a ton and 42-2 per cent copper. During the same year Stanley
Ross and Sons shipped 104 tons of hand-sorted copper ore from: the Diorite
group to the Anyox smelter, which returned 65 cents in gold and silver a
ton and 5-2 per cent copper. In 1917 J. J. Price shipped 130 tons of float
ore from the M. and K. group, which returned 25 per cent lead, 20 per cent
copper, and 25 ounces of silver a ton. In 1923 J. F. Duthie shipped 80 tons
of ore from the Fiddler property, and a further shipment of 100 tons was
made in 1926. The first carload of the second shipment is recorded as
having returned: gold, 1-28 ounces a ton; silver, 5-3 ounces a ton; lead, 6-1
per cent; zinc, 3:8 per cent.

The Consolidated Mining and Smelting Company of Canada, Limited,
became interested in this area in 1928 and some development work was done
on the Lucky Jim copper prospect on Kleanza creek, on the M. and M. and
M. and K. silver-lead-copper prospects on Legate creek, and on the Seven
Sisters group near Cedarvale. The widespread economic depression, which
began in the autumn of 1929, brought about almost complete cessation of
mining activity throughout the area for several years.

Between 1933 and 1935 Columario Consolidated Gold Mines, Limited,
made an effort to develop their mining property near Usk into a paying
mine. Quartz veins containing gold-bearing pyrite were explored and a
number of ore shoots averaging half an ounce of gold a ton were mined.