SCOTIA GOLD VEINS. 69 



met in the upper or slate division of the gold strata, which is feebly auriferous, do carry- 

 small amounts of gold over considerable distances. 



From these considerations it would appear most probable that the source of the gold 

 in the Nova Scotia gold veins should be sought in the immediate encasing strata. From 

 the fact that the majority of worked veins present slate ou one side, and quartz, etc., on 

 the other, it would appear that the division line between strata of such differing flexibility 

 offered the readiest plane of oi^ening. If the questions, then, be raised which material 

 furnishes the gold, au answer may be sought in the consideration of which would be 

 most likely to receive and retain it. 



So far as the subject has received attention, the slates appear to be the source of the 

 gold. The metal, in common with various metallic compounds, may have been carried 

 and deposited in the various layers as they were forming. That which fell in the sand 

 would, presn.mably, for the greater part, accumulate in the underlying bed of denser 

 material, forming the first stage in the concentration now presented. In this connection, 

 the fact that arsenical compounds of iron are present in large amounts in the veins in 

 several districts may be referred to as an interesting example of the local segregation of 

 an element which is, perhaps, most abundant in rocks approximating in age those now 

 under consideration. It is also frequently observed, that while the vein is attached to, and 

 passes into the slate, the junction with quartzite is well-defined. 



Prof. Hynd, in reporting to the provincial government on the "Waverley gold district, 

 and assuming the veins to be contemporaneous quartz beds, considers the gold of the 

 pay zones to have been contemporaneously deposited in them as beds from some con- 

 trolling cause, such as the presence of vegetable matter. It may, perhaps, be more readily 

 understood that the gradual deposition of gold from currents in the beds of clay or mud 

 and sand might, through special currents, be accelerated or specially increased at certain 

 points, and that from this enriched material the veins derived their " pay streaks." The 

 discovery of rich zones in any fissures vein is, I believe, seldom a matter of calculation 

 beyond, laterally, the nature of the encasing strata, and vertically the shape of the fissure 

 permitting of circulations favoring the deposition of metallic accumulations. 



The points referred to in these notes have a bearing on a question of the greatest 

 importance to the Nova Scotian gold miners, whether a pay streak in a vein is likely, after 

 failing in depth, to be succeeded by another. Hitherto, no attempts have been made to 

 solve the problem here, and the Government has been frequently urged to test the 

 question by deepening some shaft worked in one of these pay streaks to a depth of, say, 

 one thousand feet. It is assumed that by taking the line of the greater axis of the pay 

 streak, rich ground may be found again after a barren interval, or that by a vertical 

 sinking another underlying and distinct zone may be reached. 



The plausibility of the argument may be conceded in speaking of fissure veins, but 

 in these veins, which have, so far as mining experience has gone, very definite limits, and 

 a limited chance of lateral enrichment, owing to their great number and proximity, its 

 application should be cautiously received. If some of the veins have rich zones, due to 

 lateral enrichment, the persistence of the line, however interrupted, of the underlie of the 

 zones, would dejiend on the original conditions of deposition of the gold as a sediment. If 

 it were possible to reconstruct a chart of the ocean of those days, or to assign any direction 

 to its currents, then some foundation might be secured for applying a rule to the courses 



