of coal-bearing strata appear occasionally along the 

 shore very good prospects are said to exist at Hes- 

 quiot Harbour until the cretaceous rocks are over- 

 lapped by the tertiary on the coast of Fuca Straits. 

 Otherwise, in many places the rocks are highly min- 

 eralized, the metamorphic rocks are seen, and for 

 long- stretches there are only gneissose rocks, crys- 

 talline limestone and porphyry. These realms will 

 well repay the adventure of the prospector. Of the 

 terra incognita inland of Vancouver Island it may be 

 predicted that some of the many valleys between the 

 mountains will, in due time, prove to be coal-bearing 

 of the same cretaceous horizon. A drawback to ex- 

 ploration for minerals of any kind, is the mass of 

 vegetation growing everywhere round the lakes and 

 on the river banks, preventing thorough search and 

 concealing all but exposed sections. 



AN OLD ESTABLISHED COMPANY. 



Of the established coal mining industries the oldest 

 now in operation is that of the New Vancouver Coal 

 Mining and Land Company, Limited, an English 

 joint stock corporation, whose original charter dates 

 from 1862. Its business has been conducted on so 

 large a scale that during its existence of thirty-five 

 years it is probable that the cash circulated by the 

 company, for wages, services, machinery and supplies 

 will foot up to as many millions. A vast concern 

 an honourable career. 



The central works and principal shaft, or pit, of the 

 Nanaimo Colliery, are in the precincts of the city of 

 Nanaimo, where also the offices of the company are 

 situated and all operations of the busy industry are 

 carried out under the immediate supervision and di- 

 rection of the company's well-known and popular 

 Superintendent, Mr. Samuel M. Robins, J.P. The 

 other colliery works and pits are at distances (miles 

 apart) in the north, south and east coal fields of the 

 company's broad estate of many thousand acres. 

 Railroads of standard gauge connect these works and 

 pits with shipping wharves. The company's lines of 



