Evening Republican, Volume 14, Number 271, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 14 November 1910 — Gold LuresMany to British Cohumbia [ARTICLE+ILLUSTRATION]

Gold LuresMany to British Cohumbia

A SHORT time ago word came to Prince Rupert that a big strike had been made near Stewart. Where the Portland canal divides British Columbia and Alaska there are Prince Rupert and Stewart, one at the head of the canal and one at the beginning, two mining camps just emerging from the tented stage and talking about streets and sewerage, quite confident of greatness in the near future. When the news came first Stewart was Stewart Camp. Already it is respectfully called Stewart Town and Stewart City. The population I has jumped from 1,500 to 5,000, and every boat is bringing crowds. The tents that were disappearing came back again in full force to house the immigrants, and keeping a boarding house is a better way of getting rich than even shouldering a pick. In England when the news came it created a sensation. The London Times correspondent described the engineers who had struck the gold as reporting that a thousand stamps could be worked for a hundred years on ground they had traversed and scarcely mark the reef, which is many miles in length, and in places more than 2,000 feet high. “The engineers declare this will prove the greatest mineral discovery ever, made.” In return the cable sent word from England to Canada that thousands of men were getting ‘ ready to set forth and seek their fortunes in the wonderland of the north, and that the greatest excitement prevailed. Later dispatches were more calming. It seemed that the new fields were no Tom Tiddler’s ground, where one might go “picking up gold and silver," but even in the reaction there was no lack of confirmation of the fact that a remarkable discovery had been made. The gold is there, and the dominion chief geologist gives his official sanction to the statement that the find is valuable, and that there is room for the prospective miners. Only the reward will not probably be as spectacular as In the case of the Yukon mines. It seems pretty certain, however, that the strike is the most Important since Klondike days, and people are flocking to the little town and the head of the Portland canal. It is estimated that in the first three weeks after the report of the discovery 15,000 persons were on their wax to the fields. The little coastwise steamers from Seattle were crowded, and from Vancouver the boat Ito Prince Rupert is taking close to 400 passengers every iew days. First reports say that a single property has shown >25,000,000 worth ofc gold, and that another possesses enough to keep a miner working half a century. Whether this is exaggerated or not, it appears to«be quite true that gold found at the head of the canal is assaying at >9OO to the ton, and various old Klondike miners who are on tho spot have remarked laconleally that it is “good enough for

them. There are some men famous in the annals of mining adventure who have gone back to the love of their youth and disappeared Into the British Columbia wilderness with their kits on their backs. The officers of the geological survey at Ottawa, while admitting the richness of the country,jwarn intending miners of the difficulties of the trip. Prince Rupert is the objective point of the Grand Trunk Pacific’s proposed line through British Columbia, and the British Columbia & Alaska railway is intended to pass near, but neither of these roads is as yet built. So far the engineers and prospectors who have left Stewart and gone into the heart of the gold fields have had great difficulty in getting enough food, to say nothing of carrying blankets and Implements. The town stands at the mouth of a little river known as Bear Creek, a stream running through a valley only a mile wide. On either side rises a wall of mountains, precipitous and sometimes as high as 5,000 feet. In these mountains lies not only the gold, but many other valuable minerals, and they have to be scaled somehow. It is hard enough work without the task of carrying supplies, and for men burdened with baggage the difficulties are great. There will be considerable suffering and privation for a time, at least. The residents up that way, oddly enough, are not wildly enthusiastlo over this gold discovery. Mineral wealth is an old story to them. They are in the country not to mine but to build and trade and farm, and they like the emphasis laid, when one talks of their province, not on gold, with its suggestion of boom and disorder and more or less riot, but on the agricultural richness of the land. Gold mining seems a bit crude to them, a trifle nouveau riche and vulgar. It is true that many of the Prince Rupert people have bought picks and set forth for the mountains, but they are not the “old families” of the communities.

Producing annually over 70 per cent, of the total mineral output of the dominion, British Columbia Is essentially the gold province of Canada. The early miners of the Fraser in 1858 and following years washed out in rockers from benches and creeks >50,000,000 worth of free gold nuggets. Since that time British Columbia has produced over >114,000,000 In gold and >185,000,000 in other minerals. In 1907 the mineral production was >26,000,000 and there are still 250,000 square miles of unexplored mineral lands open for free prospecting. The Bitter Creek mines on Portland canal now claim the world’s attention. For five years mining operations have been carried on In this district quietly, conservatively, and with no cry in the marketplace. Gold has been found along the banks of the Bear river and all three of its tributaries—Bitter creek, Glacier creek and American creek. The big reef of Bitter creek is a gray-white porphyry dyke from five fset to 20 feet wide and « miles in length. Imbedded in the reef are veins of quartz from two feet to fifteen feet wide, presenting on the surface a honey-combed appearance, one recent assay from which gave a return of >49.20 per ton in gold with a trace only of silver. On the north fork of Bitter creek is the oldest property In Portland canal, the Roosevelt, a sample shipment of ore from which, taken to Tacoma, gave total values of >42.05 per ton. For the whole distance of the Big Reef every claim is staked, so anyone wishing to acquire property now must buy from or through an original locator. The government is building a pack trail up Bitter creek, and this should greatly help development.

MINING GAMP AT BITTER CREEK

BOAT ARRIVING AT STEWART