14 ON THE GOLD MINES OF CANADA, 



mineralogical and lithological characters is similar to that of the 

 western coast, and to those of Russia and Australia. These auri- 

 ferous rocks in Canada, belong for the greater part to the 

 Quebec group, of Lower Silurian age ; but the quartz veins contain- 

 ing gold, mentioned above, are found cutting strata, which are sup- 

 posed to belong to the Upper Silurian period. Tbe auriferous 

 drift covers a wide area on the south s ide of the St. Lawrence, 

 including the hill country belonging to the Notre Dame range, and 

 extending thence south and east to the boundary of the province. 

 These wide limits are assigned, inasmuch as although gold has not 

 been everywhere found in this region, the same mineralogical cha- 

 racters are met with throughout. In its continuation southward 

 in Plymouth, and elsewhere in Vermont, considerable quantities 

 of gold have been obtained from the diluvial deposits. In Canada, 

 gold has been found on the St. Francis River, from the vicinity of 

 Melbourne to Sherbrooke ; in the townships of Westbury, Weedon, 

 and Dudswell, and on Lake St. Francis. It has also been found 

 on the Etchemin,and on the Chaudiere, and nearly all its tributa- 

 ries, from the seigniory of St. Mary to the frontier of the state of 

 Maine ; including the Bras, the Guillaume, the Riviere des Plantes, 

 the Famine, the Du Loup, and the Metgermet. Several attempts 

 have been made to work these alluvial deposits for gold, in the 

 seigniories of Vaudreuil, Aubert-Gallion, and Aubert de l'Isle, but 

 they have been successively abandoned ; and it is difficult to obtain 

 authentic accounts of the result of the various workings, although 

 it is known that very considerable quantities of gold were extract- 

 ed. The country people still, from time to time, attempt the 

 washing of the gravel, generally with the aid of a pan, and are 

 occasionally rewarded by the discovery of a nugget of considera- 

 ble value. In the years 1851 and 1852, an experiment of this 

 kind, on a considerable scale, was tried by the Canada Gold Min- 

 ing Company, in the last named seigniory, on the Riviere du 

 Loup, near its junction with the Chaudiere. The system adopt- 

 ed for the separation of the gold from the gravel was similar to 

 that used in Cornwall in washing for alluvial tin, and the water 

 for the purpose was obtained from a small stream adjoining. 

 Great difficulties were however met with, from a deficient supply 

 of water during the summer months. The gravel from about 

 three-eighths of an acre, with an average thickness of two feet, was 

 washed during the summer of 1851, and yielded 2,107 penny- 

 weights of gold ; of which 160 were in the form of fine dust, 



