¥
+

_ square miles.

After pushing gravel for
3-weeks to a month you reduce
the amount of water, lift up
these rails and get in there
with a rake and shovel and
goldpan. You rake the gravel
off and the gold settles right’
to the bottom. You rake down
the box for 6 to 12 feet and
you have gold all along the
box. You put that in your pan
and pack it out. The box is
18 ft. long but I only clean
out the front section tli “ough
the season, and then put
the last 6 ft. of the box,
if you're doing your job prop-
erly, there's very little gold
down there. Maybe 2-3 oz. of
very fine gold."

A course in prospecting
and gold panning was held in
Cassiar last year. Part of the
course was to come out and
Study George's operation.

Are George's methods much
different from those used in’
the goldrush days at the turn
of the century? "Yes, in that

_the gravel I'm working does-

not carry near as much gold as
what the old-timers warked,
because they were first on the
scene. Nature concentrated a
lot more gold in the shallow
gravel, which they were able
to work by hand." George is
now digging for gold at the 18
ft. depth. "That's what made
it impractical for the old-
timers to get it. They didn't
have the machinery we have
today, like the D8. I can
move more dirt in an hour
with the D8 than, 100 men
could move in a month."

Many oldtimers from the
Barkerville and Dawson gold-
rushes believed the much-
sought Mother Lode was never
found. I asked George if he
felt there Mother Lode in the
Cassiar area. 'Well, I don't
think there is one, because
the Mother Lode as such, is
scattered over thousands of
On the other
Side of Quartz Creek, on Table
Mountain, there's huge quartz
veins that run for miles and
miles, and they carry gold.
But Nature has 'mined' them,
century after century, and
everything gets washed down
to the creeks, and that's
where the concentrate is. So
the Mother Lode is a little bit
here and a little bit there."

Mining can only be done
for 4 or S months of the year,
from about the middle or end
of May to October. ''Then
Nature locks the door for 8
months. Best. bank in the world.
Only problem is, you can't wri-
te cheques against it!"

There is still enough gold
in the area, George feels, to
Support several more enter-
prises like his. "But it takes
a lot of work and a lot of dol-
lars. It took us 8 years to get
it to a point where it was sup-
porting us, instead of us sup-
porting it. It was the jewellery
business that finally made it

work, because” that noe ou get

paid as being a jeweller and

as such, you get a better price
for your gold. A good propo-
rtion of our gold here is in
nugget form. It's well suited
for jewellery beqause it comes
from upstream about 15 miles,
and in travelling all that dis-
tance the nuggets get pounded
between the rocks, and all the
quartz and other impurities

get hammered out. When it re-
aches here it's mostly in flat
nugget form, nice to work with,
and about 22 carat gold, which
is pretty close to absolutely
pure gold.

Down below me there's a
canyon for a mile anda half,
which acts just like a ball
mill, too, and down below that
the gold is even finer, but
smaller, too."

A 73 oz. nugget, the big-
gest ever found in B.C., came
from this prperty ‘exactly 100
years ago. It was about 2 in...
thick and nearly as big as a
saucer, and all pure gold. Sa-
dly, many of the rich nuggets
found in the old days have been
melted down. They would be worth
a fortune now.

George gets most of his jade
from his own property as well.
Much of it is of good quality,
as it goes through the same puri-
fying process as the gold. How-
ever, ''Jade, from my experience,
is about 95% junk, suitable for
book ends, carving, things like
that. But the real good quality,
the kind that makes good jewel-
lery stones, is a small percen-
tage of the total. That seems
to hold true of all jade coun-
try, for example, the jade they
are bringing out of Dease Lake."

Is jade easy to work with?
NNO juat' S tricky, vat otakes
quite a bit of experience to
know how to cut and polish it.
I used to spend hours and hours
out here in the yard with my
machine set up, cutting stone, -
but lately I've gotten away
from making my own stones."

George also used to make
beautiful tables out of various
kinds of local rocks, including
red. and purple marble, and
jade. He still has 2 of these
marvellous tables at home. 'We
used to sell quite a few of ~

them, but they're SO much work,
there was just no money in it,"

What is it that keeps George
here, when he could work almost
anywhere he wished? ''My favou-
rite aspect of the whole busi-
ness is making an independent
living. As a steam engineer,
the job often got boring after
a week or two in a new place.

I reached a point where the .
trade lost its challenge. With
a pencil you can sit down and
Figure out what you'll be worth
at 65 if you keep a job like
that. So we decided to try some-}

thing on our own. I've been a

rebel all my life. I just got
fed up with working for others."

Most of George's business,

over the whole year, comes
from local people, although
tourists are plentiful in the
summer. He has put up a much
larger sign this year,’ but is
not really keen on advertising.
"We aren't interested in ex-
panding or anything; we don't
sell our jewellery anywhere
else but here. But people who
have been here occasionally
write in an ask us to send
them something; they know
what they're looking for."

ning for the public this year,
in response to requests from
many people. This is the first
time it's ever been done in
Cassiar. George has set up a
trough filled with water, to
which he adds gravel from

his own mine. People can some
out and pan anytime.
try your luck? Is gold guar-
anteed? ''Yes,
gravel I get MY gold from.
But I won't guarantee any
LO'OZs

George is offering gold pan-

Why not

it's the same

nuggets !"

LIONS BALL

The Cassiar Lions Club was
forced-to cancel their 14th
Annual. Ball. This cancella: ion
became 12cessary due to the .
poor pubiic interest(only twenty —
tickets sold as of May 3rd)
and our projected loss of $2,000
if sales had not drammatically

improved. Our intention was to
put on a very enjoyable evening
with a_ seated dinner service,
etc. Apparently Cassiar is
not ready for this type of
social event, at the price
necessary with present costs.

We sincerely regret amy inco-
nvenience this cancellation may
have caused and hope to put on
a successful Ball later in

the year.

Sa hate ds

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;PHILLIPS
“ Marvel Nitti
x 190 Zimmerman Street.

: 778-7220

LOW CHARTER CLASS FARES FOR

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Limited seats available on
each flight at these low fares.
No availability on these fares
until late August.

So book early for fall and
winter travel.

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HOURS 2 Oo ee 10 AM to 6 PM

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Cassiar Minor Hockey Awards cont'd

winning team of - Szilard Friska,
David Storoschuk, John Grant,

Manley Garducci, Joseph Tiszolczi,
Kelly Houston, Robert Repolusk and
Brrok Watson.

Individual Trophies - Peewee Divi-
sion -

Best Goalie- Went to David Storos-
chuk, presented by Mr. Gene Over-

ton on behalf of the Guides and
outfitters.

Best Defenseman - Went to John Grant -
presented by Mr. Barry Houston on
behalf of Elvins Equipment Ltd.

Top Scorer - Went to Szilard Friska -
presented by Mr. Len Moth on behalf
of the United Steel Workers Union.
Most Improved Player - Went to Brook
Watson - presented by Mr. Jack Grant
on behalf of the Cassiar Minor Hockey
League.

Best Positional Player - Went to Jo-
seph Tiszoloszi - presented by Mr.
Gene Overton on behalf of the Out-
fitters.

Most Valuable Player - Went to Gabor
Friska - presented by Mr. Barry
Houston on behalf of Cassiar Asbestos
Corp. Ltd.

Most Sportsmanlike Player - Went to
Kelly Houston - presented by Mr. Bob
Watson on behalf of S§&J Transportat-
ion Ltd.

Most Popular Player - Went to Gabor

Friska - presented by Mr. Frank Nitti,

on behalf of Curtis Hoover.

In the Bantam - Midget Division-
League Trophy - D. Rushfeldt Memorial
Trophy went to the team of:

Keith Marison, Grant Overton, Graham

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Overton, Byron Williams, John Dennis,
Gordie Kamlah, David Quash, Don Mc-
Cellan, Allan Massin and Floyd Jo-
seph. Presented by Mr. Overton on be-
half of Grant Stewart Construction.
Individual Trophies in the Bantam-Mid-
get Division:

Best Goal Average- Went to Grant Over-
ton. Presented by Mr. A. Borsato on

-behalf of Levitt Safety.

Best Defenseman- Bantam Division-Went
to Graham Overton, Midget Division-
Went to Ken Empereale, presented by
Mr. Borrsato-on behalf of Levitt Sa-
fety.

Top Scorer-Bantam Division-Went to
Gordie Kamlah

Midget Division-Went to Rick Pro-
sser, presented by Mr. A. Borsato

on behalf of Levitt Safety.

Most Improved Player-Bantam Division-
Went to .Cakvin Marion.

Midget Division-Went to Reggie Duke
presented by Mr. Bosato on behalf of
Levitt Safety.

Most Valuable Player-Bantam Division-
Went to John Dennis.

Midget Division-Went to Rick Prosser.
Presented by Mr. Borsato on behalf
of Levitt Safety.

Most Sportsmanlike Player-Bantam Di-
vision-and the Midget Division com-
bined-Went to Keith Marion, presented
by Mr. Borsato on behalf of Levitt
Safety.

Most Popular Player-Went to Allan Ma-
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presented by Mr. Frank Nitti.

With only seven Girl Hockey players,

there were not enough to form a

Watson Lake

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league or present individual tro-
phies, however, there were five girls
who always showed for practice and
did well in all their games. These
five girls were presented with tro-
phies; Donna and Ellen Knowles, Erla
and Irene Anderson and Brigit Guder-
jahn. Mrs. Overton presented these
on behalf of Mrs. M. Nitti for Phi-
lips Travel.

Thanks from the Minor Hockey Club
are extended to:- The Lions Club,
The Steel Workers Union, Finning
Tractor, Elvins Equipment, Cae
Morse Co, Cassiar Asbestos Corp.,

. Mrs. Ann Stewart, The Outfitters,

Deitrich Collins, and S§&J. Trans-
portation Ltd., for their continued
generous support to our club, which
enables us to purchase needed equip-
ment for the club.

I would also like to thank very
much the following people who gave
their time freely this past sea-

son, Mr. Jack Harley, Mr. Dave
Wylie, Andre Tischler, Mr. Bob
Yorke, and the members in the arena
who did their best to give us ice
this season.

We are looking forward to having
artificial ice in the arena for
next season and to having more visi-
ting teams and a longer season, on
the ice.

Special thanks:- To all the parents
of hockey who contributed to the gifts
given to me at Minor Hockey Ban-

quet, thank you very much, they are
lovely. Also thanks very much to the
cookery staff for the lovely dinner
and gorgeous cakes they made for us.
-Mrs. Gene Overton

Cassiar Minor Hockey.

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