Clinton mine was starting to emerge
from a welter of staking, letters, wires,
phone calls and on-the-spot examin-
ations. The Conwest executive
machinery slipped smoothly into high
gear. Berry was sent back from Toronto
and during late March, in company with
Dr. Smitheringale, he arrived in Daw-
son City, where a tentative option ar-
rangement was completed between
Conwest and the Fred Caley group.

By April, 1957 Dr. Smitheringale,
Alec Berry, Al Storey, and Dick Gilles-
pie were flown into the Clinton Creek
area by Pat Callison, a well known and
much respected Dawson-based flyer.
Callison landed his ski-equipped plane
on the Fortymile river just below the site
of the present bridge. They tented their
first night on the riverbank and the fol-
lowing day they snowshoed to Arthur
Anderson's trappers cabin on Clinton
Creek.

Later that month, Dick Gillespie,
Caley’s son-in-law, walked in a D6 trac-
tor from a spot near the Sixtymile road
and crossed the Fortymile river on the
ice. Gillespie carried out the initial
trenching on the property and helped
set up the spring tent camp.

After the preliminary examination
was completed Dr. Smitheringale was
sufficiently impressed with the property
to complete a formal five-year option
on the Caley group’s 32 original claims.

By late spring Jack Christian, then
president of Cassiar Asbestos Corpo-
ration Limited, and Fred Murray, Mine
Manager at Cassiar, B.C. inspected
the property. This eventually led to an
agreement between Cassiar Asbestos
and Conwest Exploration on June 1,
1957, in which Cassiar acquired the
Clinton Creek property under option
from Conwest.

During August of 1957 trenching was
started in the vicinity of “discovery”
outcrop on Snowshoe Hill and on
nearby Porcupine, Wolverine and
Trace Hills. Fibre was found in all four
locations. Subsequent trenching on
Porcupine Hill developed what ap-
peared to be very interesting pros-
pects. These results helped determine
the future course of exploration.

By the beginning of September an
access road from the Sixtymile at mile
37 was roughly completed by Dick Gil-
lespie. Tractor drawn equipment could
now be brought in overland.

ESE

By September, 1957 it was decided
to continue exploration throughout the
winter. A permanent exploration camp
was established and during the winter
of 1957-58 adits were driven under
outcrops on Snowshoe and Porcupine
Hills under the direction of Trevor
Horsley. That year the first ice-bridge
across the Yukon river at Dawson was
constructed. By the end of the year a
DC3 airstrip had been constructed and
was in use.

The summer of 1958 saw adit work
continuing until October 31 when a total
of 3,176 feet had been driven and po-
tential orebody of five million tons esti-
mated. Bulk samples from the adits
were test-milled at Cassiar, British
Columbia. Samples of the milled fibre
were sent to Cassiar’s customers for
their evaluation.

Despite this apparent progress how-
ever, the estimated tonnage was not
considered adequate to support a min-
ing operation. The huge capital costs
required to establish a mine could not
be justified unless a greater quantity of
ore was discovered. In view of this, the
Clinton program was shelved until
economic conditions warranted further
and more detailed exploration.