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Mining development work directed towards mining of the deep channel
of Little Valley creek was begun in 1902 by a syndicate of which L. A.
Bonner was manager, and a shaft was started on the left side of the valley
opposite the Discovery claim. A tunnel 300 feet long which tapped the
shaft at a depth of 41 feet was run to carry off the surface water, but trouble
was experienced in sinking and little progress was made for several years.
In 1908 the two cross-sections of bore-holes shown on Figure 18 were put
down, and in 1909 the West Canadian Deep Leads, Limited, was formed
to exercise the option held by the original syndicate upon the leases, and
took over the property. 8. Herbert Cox of London, England, was con-
sulting mining engineer for the company, and Mr. Bonner continued as
manager. It was decided that the results of the borings warranted the out-
lay necessary to sink the shaft to bedrock. Apparently no reliance was
placed on the borings as indicating the gold values in the ground, and it
was later proved that the deepest part of the channel was not reached by
the borings in the cross-section of the shaft. A three-compartment shaft
was then sunk to a depth of 286 feet, the bottom 16 feet, including an
8-foot sump, being in bedrock, but difficulty was experienced in sinking
because of the water pressure and the shaft was not completed until 1911.
It was equipped with Cameron sinking pumps and two 18-inch Cornish
pumps obtained from La Fontaine mine on Lightning creek. Two 80-
horsepower and one 26-horsepower boilers were used for power. The
Cornish pumps proved defective, as they were used at a much greater
depth than at La Fontaine mine. A tunnel, however, was driven from
the bottom of the working shaft towards the channel for about 250 feet
and a blind shaft sunk 14 feet, proving that the deepest part of the
channel was not reached by the borings. Some gold was found on bed-
rock at the bottom of the shaft, but apparently only a little in_ the
channel gravels, although it was not certain that the deepest part of the
channel was reached, and comparatively little actual mining was done. In
sinking the shaft, cemented gravels were struck at about 110 feet. They
were cemented in places down nearly to bedrock, but the channel gravels
are said to be uncemented. In 1912 and 1913 a drain tunnel, which started
2,400 feet downstream from the shaft and was intended to tap the shaft
at a depth of 100 feet and thus relieve the water pressure so that the
pumps could easily control the water, was extended for about 600 feet,
but the flow of underground water (seepage from the creek) is said to
have caused trouble in running the tunnel. Operations at the mine were
suspended in 1913. The partly cemented gravel on the mine dump
contains a few well-glaciated stones. It is probable, therefore, that all the
gravels down to bedrock are glacial gravels. It is possible, however, that
there are some older gravels in the deep channel. The gravels are
similar to those which are sometimes referred to by the miners as ‘‘cobble-
stone wash” and are rightly regarded as less favourable for placer gold
occurrences in them than the “flat wash’? seen on many of the dumps
of the old mines, because the smooth, rounded gravels and boulders are
typical of glacial outwash deposits, whereas the flattened, oval-shaped
stones are typical of stream bed deposits formed, without a great deal of
wear, from fragments of the country rock.