48 HAMILTON AURIFEROUS DEPOSITS OF NOVA SCOTIA. 



number of these quartz veins that had been opened for the purpose 

 of mining, or at least "prospecting." As to the results, individu- 

 ally, of these exaixsinations, I must admit that I do not speak from 

 notes taken on the several occasions ; but speaking from memory I 

 can recal no instance where I have seen a quartz lode fairly tested, 

 ■which did not prove to be auriferous. I have seen a shaft sunk 

 upon a previously untried lode, to a depth of sixty feet without a 

 *' sight" being discovered ; and then the quartz has become exceed- 

 ingly rich. In many instances very rich quartz lodes have been 

 temporarily abandoned as non-auriferous, because the miner has 

 happened to commence operations upon a poor section of the outcrop 

 of the vein. It is possible that there are many other abandoned 

 lodes, which will hereafter prove to be highly auriferous. Many 

 quartz veins Avorked in Nova Scotia, have proved to be very nch in 

 gold. The statistics of the Department of Mines show that, for 

 four years past, the average yield of gold per ton of quartz has 

 exceeded that of any other gold-quartz mining country. 



The phenomena observable in connection with these auriferous 

 deposits are almost wondrously various, and ai*e oftentimes very 

 puzzling to the man of science, as well as to the practical miner. 

 These seekers after truth — and something more — are virtually in 

 accord upon one point. Both wish to knoAv the law of Nature by 

 which gold has been deposited in quartz ; for that law once being 

 known, gold can be found without any waste of time, capital, or 

 labour. But the miner, of course, looks solely to the end : the man 

 of science, we must assume, regards only the means. I Avill briefly 

 mention some of these phenomena, many of which are seeming 

 inconsistencies of Nature. 



Most of the auriferous quartz lodes which have yet been opened 

 and mined upon in Nova Scotia, have the same strike and dip 

 generally as the rock enclosing them. They are what some minei'a- 

 logists call "beds," in contradistinction to " true veins," which cut 

 the enclosing strata transversely. Yet these " true veins," or 

 *' cross leads" as the miners here call them, are found in all the 

 mining districts. As a rule, they are considered unproductive and 

 are not worked. Yet, in the Ovens Gold District, most of the gold 

 obtained from quartz has been out of these cross leads ; and in 

 Oldham, a cross lead -vvas accidentally struck, two years siuce. 



