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below the Mathers shaft, another of five or six holes, one-half mile above the
shaft, and two cross-sections, of five or six holes each, one about one-quarter
mile above the Venture shaft and the other one-half mile farther upstream.
Mr. Thorne states that some gold was obtained in the surface gravels and in
the bedrock gravels and that very fair values were obtained in a few of the
holes, but that the average value of the ground is much less than as esti-
mated by Mr. Hogg. Mr. Thorne estimated that there is possibly 1,000,000
cubic yards of 30-cent ground in the middle section of the creek, the average
depth of the ground being 35 feet.

QUARTZ VEINS
GENERAL STATEMENT

Almost from the commencement of placer mining in 1860, the existence
of numerous quartz veins was noticed, but no particular attention was
paid to them until the yield of alluvial gold began to be seriously diminished
in 1875 and 1876. About this time the prospectors turned their attention
to the exploration and development of many of the veins. The Provincial
Government established reduction works at Barkerville for the treatment
of the quartz ores; several small stamp mills were set up in the district;
several shafts and tunnels were driven, and many tons of ore were tested.
Considerable free gold was obtained from the oxidized parts of the veins,
but very little from the sulphides. None of the deposits was scientifically
explored or exhaustively tested, but until 1907 the veins continued to receive
some attention.

Failure during the past forty-five years or so to discover a quartz
mine in this district does not necessarily warrant the inference that the
values are too low for successful mining. In addition to the general low
grade of the deposits there are many other reasons for the failures, such
as expensive transportation, the difficulty of bringing in machinery, the
absence of modern mining and milling equipment, the lack of prospectors
with experience in lode deposits, and the manifest failure on the part of
the miners to appreciate the character and potentialities of the veins.

There was considerable justification for the unbounded confidence of
the local mining community of the early days in the future successful
development of the veins. The area has an abundance of quartz outcrops,
indicating widespread mineralization; upwards of $30,000,000 was extracted
from the gravels of restricted sections of Williams, Lightning, and Antler
creeks and their tributaries; the gold was generally coarse, much of it
was angular and associated with quartz, indicating a local origin; the
outcrops of many of the veins contained small bonanzas of free gold; and
the belt of quartz veins crossed the country near the upper auriferous
limits of the pay-gravels. These facts are a satisfactory vindication of
the confidence of the early miners and the government officials; and today,
when that confidence is almost destroyed, owing to the record of failures,
the same facts point to possibilities which are worthy of serious considera-
tion in the light of recent progress in the methods of mining and treatment
of low-grade lode deposits in general.