Appendix. 385 



channel of Antler Creek, for which unremitting search has been made 

 for over thirty-five years, is claimed to have been discovered at a remote 

 point from the present stream, and extensive operations for working 

 the dead river channel are being made. A Canadian company with a 

 capital of 2,ooo,ooodols., has taken up twenty miles or more of Lightning 

 Creek from its junction with Cottonwood, with the intention to hydraulic it. 



A Seattle and New York company has been organised, with a capital of 

 5,ooo,ooodols.,to work twenty miles of the bed of theQuesnelle River. A 

 French syndicate and a Montreal syndicate, the latter with a capital of 

 2,5oo,ooodols., 5oo,ooodols. of which is to go at once into reservoir 

 and ditch construction, are also operating at Quesnelle River. These are 

 only a few of the big companies with large capital that have recently 

 entered this old-time and supposed " petered-out " mining district. Even 

 the beds of the Eraser and the Quesnelle, which cannot be reached by 

 pick, shovel, or hydraulic monitor, are being attacked by dredgers in hopes 

 of winning the golden contents of their sands. The Caribou miner 

 of thirty years ago looks on, scratches his head, and marvels. 



Of the West and East Kootenay mines much might be written, 

 particularly of the former, for they are in a far more advanced state of 

 development than the latter, good water and rail communication having for 

 almost ten years assisted the exploitation of the West Kootenay camps. 

 But, as I am neither an engineer nor a mining expert, and as such reliable 

 technical reports as Dr. Dawson's, Mr. McConnell's, and Mr. Carlyle's are 

 within reach of the reader, I will refrain from taking up space by repetitions. 

 For silver and lead, and, to a lesser degree, copper ores, West Kootenay is 

 to-day the most promising region in North America, though it is a 

 regrettable fact that nearly all of the good mines, with a few recent exceptions, 

 are or were in the hands of American capitalists who turned their attention 

 and their dollars Kootenay-wards several years before the fame of the 

 district reached the financial men of Britain or Eastern Canada. 



In gold-bearing ores West Kootenay is not as rich as its well-wishers 

 might desire ; but there are very hopeful indications, and the experience of 

 several magnificent mines of the Rossland district, in which the gold values 

 of the ore improved as greater depths were reached, augurs well for other 

 mines. Such changes are, we know, by no means infrequent. Nevada began 

 as a gold mining country ; it ended as one of the richest silver camps known. 

 And the reverse is, I am told by good authorities, just as likely to occur. 



Of the British Columbian mining laws no very satisfactory account can 

 be given, not so much in consequence of any radical defects, but principally 

 on account of the constant tinkering in which the Government and the 

 legislature indulges. Since 1882. when the first quartz mining regulations 



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