Cariboo’s Golden Renaissance

IRST FAMOUS in the period from 1858 to 1861 as a placer gold country which yielded

fortunes to the adventurous argonauts more than 70 years ago, the Cariboo region

of British Columbia, and particularly that area which is adjacent to the town of Barker-
ville, is experiencing a golden renaissance after a long lapse of idle years.

Today the new chapter in the colorful history of Cariboo has progressed far
enough to disclose the fact that lode gold production possibilities are great enough to
justify imtensive new exploration and development of the famous creeks and _ hills
around Barkerville.

Concealed by heavy over-burden and obscured by popular geological miscon-
ceptions which have since been set straight, the lode gold wealth of Cariboo is only
now becoming recognized.

Some of the ablest mining engineers in Canada and the United States have
visited the Cariboo country within the past two years and have been deeply impressed
by what they saw.

Their impressions were translated into action in not a few instances, with the
result that such major mining companies as Newmont Mining Corporation, Howe Sound
Company, Premier Gold Mining Company, and a large number of strong private syndi-
cates and individuals have obtained large holdings in the zones of favorable geological
formation and are carrying out development programmes which involve the expenditure
of at least $2,000,000 this year and next.

In the Barkerville region alone upward of $35,000,000 in gold was obtained
from alluvial deposits worked by crude panning, rocking, sluicing and hydraulicing and
later by hydraulicing on a large seale and dredging.

It has now been noted that the numerous ereeks from which this production
was obtained were productive where they passed through a certain rock formation and,
except for gold which was transported by fast running streams, were comparatively
barren elsewhere. This fact, coupled with the further knowledge that gold in the creeks
was still sharp-edged and contained particles of quartz and was frequently found on
hillsides well away from alluvial influence, produced the theory that the concentration
of gold in creeks had oceurred at points close to the original place of deposition in
quartz-filled fissure veins.

Early miners discussed this theory, but paid attention mainly to the wide
quartz belts which are a conspicuous feature of the rock formation in the Barkerville
area. These showed a low mineral content except where cut by the narrow eross fis-
sure veins.

Some development occurred in the late Nineties opening ecross-fissure veins
which showed some free gold in a heavily, sulphided ore. The stamp milling and metal-
lurgical processes of that day were incapable of accomplishing an economic recovery
from sulphide ores and lode gold mining ventures in the Cariboo resulted in a series
of disappointments which resulted in a period of practically 30 years during which
little or no attention was paid to lode gold deposits of the region.

It remained for Fred Wells to re-awaken interest in this gold placer country and
to accomplish the remarkable feat of prospecting, pioneering, developing and operat-
ing which has revitalized a large area of British Columbia and drawn from mining men
the expressed opinion that Cariboo’s past in placer mining will be as nothing compared
to her lode gold future, : i