The Cariboo Gold Quartz Mining Co., in February, 1927, obtained by purchase, option and staking, 14 mineral claims amounting to over 700 acres extending for a distance of a mile along the rich mineral belt which fed the famous placers of the Barkerville area in the Cariboo mining district of British Columbia.The property is located about 3 miles from the Town of Barkerville. It crosses Lowhee Gulch about half a mile from its mouth, and it is established that the $4,000,000 in placer which has been recovered from this 'half-mile of creek had its origin in the mineral belt in which this company's holdings lie.
The object of this company is to raise $15,000 with which to drive at least 1000 feet of tunnel which will intersect the rich gold veins whose outcrops have been discovered on the surface. The following is a brief description of the proposed development:
HISTORY: Soon after the great gold rush to California in '49, the attention of the world was again attracted by the discovery of gold in the then unknown Province of British Columbia. Gold was struck in Cariboo, and another world-famous gold rush was on. The discovery was first made on Lowhee and Williams Creeks, close to the present old town of Barkerville. This event marks the birth of gold mining in British Columbia.
Placer operations have been carried on continuously since that time, and have produced over $35,000,000.00 in gold. The gold in Lowhee Creek has been mined steadily by large hydraulics for nearly 30 years. This hydraulic property has been owned and operated all this time by a Seattle man, Mr. John Hopp, and associates.
It has been proven that the gold in the creeks has come from the quartz veins that follow a certain belt of formation rock throughout the district. The most conspicuous instance occurs on Lowhee Creek, where fully $4,000,000.00 of gold was mined immediately below where the mineral belt crosses Lowhee Creek. This mineral belt is indicated by the dark lines on the accompanying sketch.
No real attention was given to the quartz until recently, when the old-time prospector, Al Sanders, a resident of Seattle, with Oregon experience, traced the gold to its source in the quartz above the placer diggings.
PROPERTY: The company holds fourteen mineral claims, giving us control of over a mile in length of the great Cariboo gold belt, including the now famous Sanders group.
QUARTZ VEINS: A number of rich gold quartz veins have been uncovered on the Sanders property. Al Sanders has himself alone, with hand mortar and pan, taken over $3,000.00 from the the surface of these veins, proving beyond doubt that the veins are very rich.
PROPOSED DEVELOPMENT: Our tunnel will cross the course of the veins and will cut the Sanders veins 300 feet below the surface. The property will then be ready to install a mill to treat the high-grade ore. The money received by sale of Treasury Shares now being offered in Seattle will be used to construct the tunnel, and every dollar will be applied to that work. No salaries will be paid except for actual labor performed in development.
GOVERNMENT PROTECTION TO INVESTORS: The laws of British Columbia give great protection to mine investors. Plans of development must be submitted to the Mines Department and approved by a Government engineer. The necessary money to carry out this work must be deposited in trust before a permit will be given to begin work, and further, the work must be carried out and be approved by the Government before a promoter's responsibility ceases.
ACCESSIBILITY: We are very much favored by roads already constructed to our property, and now that the British Columbia Government has reconstructed the old and famous Cariboo Road through the Fraser River Canyon, one may drive his car from Seattle to Barkerville and up the Lowhee Creek directly to our property.
EXTRACTS FROM GOVERNMENT ENGINEERS' AND GEOLOGISTS' REPORTS:
"The area has an abundance of quartz outcrops, indicating widespread mineralization: upwards of thirty million dollars was extracted from the gravels of restricted sections. The gold was generally coarse, much of it was angular and associated with quartz, indicating a local origin; the outcrops of many 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."
"The Government records from 1876 indicate that many rich ore bodies were located, but the ore bodies could not be successfully treated by any process known at that time. Apparently they could treat only milling ore, using the stamp mill, and as all of these ores are sulphides below the comparatively shallow oxidized zone of the surface, the old timers were unsuccessful."
"The 1903 report says: 'It is to be regretted that after having such encouraging prospects as the oxidized surface ores afforded, no effort was made to sink on these reefs. Though tunnels were driven, not one proves the reef below fifty feet.'"
"The 'A' veins conform roughly with the strike of the Cariboo series. They are prominent, often very wide, and generally low grade. The 'B' veins are found crosscutting the Cariboo series of quartzites and schists. They are from a fraction of an inch to five feet wide, and mineralized with quartz and metallic sulphides. They often occur in closely spaced parallel groups. The sulphides are pyrite, arsenopyrite, galena, etc. The arsenopyrite contains gold as high as $2,200.00 per ton."
"Rainbow Ledge: Recorded in the name of A. W. Sanders :-"Disintegrated quartz stringers very rich in free gold on the surface. $2.00 per pan and more has been taken from the oxidized clayey rock by roughly washing without crushing. The richness of the outcrops suggests that they overlie a series of well mineralized 'B' veins or intersections. The coarseness and angularity of the placer gold are strong indications of decidedly local origin. There is no evidence that the eroded parts of the ores were richer in primary free gold than the remaining parts. It is probable that they were similar. The fact that much of the gold from each creek has fairly definite characteristics shows that it is derived locally. There can be little doubt of this.
"The Rainbow group consists of three claims owned by A. W. Sanders and is situated on Cow Mountain at an elevation of 4650 feet, a short distance west of Lowhee Creek. On this property occur a number of veins striking northeasterly across the bedding planes of schists: bedded quartz veins are also in evidence-('B' veins and 'A' veins). At one place, there is virtually a stockwork formed of a number of these small northeasterly striking veins of the 'B' class, and their intersection with the bedded quartz veins of the 'A' class; within this area very high values in gold occur in places. During the past season, it is interesting to note that the owner obtained by panning the roughly crushed quartz and adjacent schist country rock some very coarse gold strictly comparable in size with the ordinary placer gold of the district. This is the first instance of any material amount of gold obtained from a vein comparing in size with the placer gold and must convince the most skeptical as to the source of the latter. The fortunate owner of this property by merely roughly crushing the quartz from his ledge and the immediate adjacent country rock and panning it, is able to pan out each summer a substantial amount of gold, assaying from several hundred dollars to $2,000.00 in value. Only development can enable an opinion to be formed as to the gold values of the primary sulphides. It remains entirely to be ascertained by systematic sampling, followed by preliminary sinking to get evidence of the depth to which values extend. Clearly, surface values invite and warrant development."
The preceding paragraphs have been copied from various yearbooks and other reports of the Minister of Mines of British Columbia. Government geologists and engineers have spent a great deal of time and much pains in examining and reporting on the mineralization of the Barkerville area, and the Cariboo Gold Quartz Mining Company feels wonderfully encouraged when it realizes that the portions of these reports embracing their properties, made by such capable and unbiased geologists and engineers, have always been most favorable and encouraging.
It is only too well known that many a good enterprise has failed on account of incompetent management. This company feels exceptionally fortunate in having associated with it Mr. Fred M. Wells, who will be the engineer in charge of all development work. Mr. Wells has been engaged in mining work in British Columbia for forty years, and is regarded as one of ๑he most capable mining men in the Province. He is well known among the mining fraternity for his exceptional ability, conservatism, and integrity, and the mere fact that he has actively associated himself in a development is sufficient evidence, to those who know him, as to the merit of the proposition. Mr. Wells himself believes that of the vast number of prospects which have come to his attention during the past forty years, the property of this company offers the greatest possibilities.
The business of mining has during the past fifteen years developed from a more or less hazardous undertaking to a reasonably safe business enterprise. This change is primarily due to the advances made in mining and metallurgical methods and strict governmental supervision of developments.
Stories of Barkerville, by John Graham Boulton