amined by John E. Hardman, M. E., of Montreal, during my visit, and work which has been suspending, pending the results of Mr. Hardman's investigation, will be resumed immediately. Mr. Frank Peterson is manager.

Alice A. Mine.

The Alice A. mine is reported to have been sold to an English company under an agreement to install a large mill of 100 or more stamps.

At present sinking in a test shaft is in progress. A depth of 95 feet has been reached. At 100 feet crosscutting will be done in both directions, and sinking continued at the same time. A steam hoist and small compressor have been installed. two-stamp Tremaine mill, still on the property, made some mill runs from test pits at various points, with apparently satisfactory results. Mr. T. D. Prideaux is manager, with a force of 14 or 16.

Α

Gold Bug and Emma Abbott Locations. The Gold Bug, P660, and Emma Abbott, K215, were both visited and examined.

They adjoin the Alice A. on the west and east respectively, and contain the extension of the same body of ore. Small test pits have been made on veins on each property. Both properties are promising looking, especially the Gold Bug, which is full of small quartz stringers and should carry gold uniformly.

Foley Mine.

The Foley mine remains in the same condition as at the former report; it is continually stated that work will be resumed immediately.

Independence Mine.

The Independence mine, near Sturgeon Falls, has been closed down for some time, but it is expected that it will be opened again

very soon.

On the whole, mining in the Lower Seine is in a very healthy condition. The people of Duluth and of the eastern cities are taking more interest in the district than ever. When the railway is completed there will doubtless be a great boom in that section.

D

URING the summer of 1898 the writer was instructed by the Council of the School of Practical Science to carry on Summer Mining Schools at several

Visits to Mines in connection

points in Western Ontario, under with Mining an arrangement with the Bureau

Classes work. of Mines, and in addition to the

regular work it was decided that a series of visits should be paid to the working mines in order that, wherever possible, addresses of an instructive nature should be delivered to the miners. In the performance of this work an opportunity of inspecting many of the mines was afforded, and the following notes are the results of these visits.

Mr. James A. Bow, the Inspector of Mines, whom I accompanied on his first visit of inspection for 1898, describes minutely the condition of each mine and its adjuncts, and the observations which follow are intended to be complementary to these descriptions by dealing with the more general aspect of the work.

once more.

The West

Silver Mountain Mines.

While at Port Arthur in May a visit was paid to two of the old silver mines, the East and West End Silver Mountain, which after a long period of idleness were being operated At the West End 21 men were at work under Captain Tonkin and End Mine. very encouraging results were being obtained. There are four shafts in all, but only in one, which had been pumped out to the 100-foot level, was there any active work in progress. The vein, which strikes 105° and dips at about 80°, is somewhat variable in width. At the working shaft, No. 2, a cross-section of five feet can be seen, while in a tunnel driven to crosscut the vein 850 feet to the east only three small lodes, 10", 18" and 22", are to be seen. It is quite probable that the vein has split up into these several branches at some intermediate point, although this cannot be seen from the present workngs. Two small stringers, with a gaugue

chiefly of barite, meet the main vein on the north side at a small angle; rich deposits of silver were found at the junction in each case. The vein filling consists of well crystallized calcite with green fluorite, yellowish barite and a little amethystine quartz, together with native silver, argentite, zincblende, galena and a little pyrite. The manner in which the argentite or sulphide of silver occurs is quite interesting. In several places along the north or hanging wall it had been deposited in the partings of the slates, and after knocking down a few loose fragments leaves of the mineral quite as thin as paper could be stripped from the flat surfaces of cleavage. The rich ore is carefully put aside in the mine and the contents of each bucket are subjected to a careful hand picking at the surface, while the poor ore is dumped on the stock pile to await treatment in the stamp mill.

The East

At the East End mine the old workings are quite extensive, including a shaft 800 feet deep and a tunnel 1,800 feet long, End Mine. but as work had just been commenced and there was still a great deal of water in the mine there was not much to be seen. The vein, which is continuous with the one at the West End, is much the same in appearance and general characteristics.

No other properties in the district were in operation, so that we may pass on to Wabigoon where the next stop was made.

almost unique in western Ontario, and resembles somewhat closely the auriferous pyrites and pyrohotites of Rossland.

Circumstances prevented me from visiting any properties in the Manitou district, and all save one in the New Klondike region, one of the most recently discovered gold fields. This property, which is known as Tabor and Stevenson's claim, is situated near the falls of Long Lake river, SV258, and is interesting because of the occurrence of the ore as a series of lenses along the edge of a dike of felsite cutting chlorite schists. The quartz is white or slightly yellowish in color, and gives a very handsome tail" of gold in the pan, but from the surface indications and from what could be seen in the six feet of shaft which was not under water only a small amount of good ore could be obtained.

Turning next to Lake of the Woods, work was progressing steadily at the Mikado with a staff of about 60 men. The main the Woods shaft, which is vertical, has struck the

On Lake of

Waters. lode at a depth of 185 feet and

crosscuts are driven every 60 feet to connect with the levels. A considerable body of felsite, said to run $40 to the ton, is found on the second level, and this was being opened np at the time of our visit. The mill is not equipped with any concentrating machinery, and the installation of a cyanide plant, which is being carried on at present, will add greatly to the efficiency of the plant.

At the Cornucopia and Ontario Limited everything was at a standstill, with shafts full of water, so that we pushed on to the YumYum. Here one is struck with the large amount of prospecting work which has been done, and some of the veins, after stripping, look quite promising; no work was in progress however.

Four miles to the west of Yum-Yum lies Cameron island, only some 200 yards across. On the north side, at the water's edge, can be seen exposed a dike of felsite which shows an interesting structure. A band of black felsite 18 or 20 inches in width is bedded between walls of the same rock, but red, or whitish green in color. The black material shows signs of slickensiding, and the whole Occurrence would seem to indicate two

separate generations of dike matter. The strike is almost north and south, and close to the centre of the island. The main shaft, 6 by 12 feet, increasing to 7 by 14 feet, had been sunk at a slight incl ne to a depth of 103 feet upon a somewhat wider section of the dike. The ore may be described as a felsite more or less intermixed with quartz, so that while some portions have the characteristic appearance of the latter mineral, others resemble the barren country rock very closely indeed. The whole veinstone is quite heavily charged with pyrites, which appears as strings of fine crystals along the seams in the ore. A lot of 200 tons is said to have yielded $12.40 per ton at the Keewatin reduction works, although picked quite indiscriminately a result that should certainly encourage further exploitation.

Another locality which has been brought into notice of late is the Camp Bay district, on the east shore of Whitefish bay. Two miles south of Camp bay is the property of the Boulder Gold Mining Co., of which Mr. Gifford is manager. A shaft was being sunk here on an 11-foot vein, which could be traced for a considerable distance, and although the ore was admitted to be low grade an ample supply could be had at a small expense for mining if the same width were maintained to a fair depth. There is always a possibility that there may be a marked improvement as the workings are extended,.but even apart from this hope it is probable from the present aspect that those mines which are working upon ore of fairly uniform value, even if small, will be the more successful in their enterprize.

At Camp Bay, three-quarters of a mile from the water's edge, is the Bully Boy mine, which was idle at the time of our visit. The ore is a series of lenses in a dike of quartz porphyry, which cuts dark green rocks of Keewatin age. The shaft, over 100 feet deep, was partly filled with water, and little could be seen.

A mile further inland from the Bully Boy is the camp of the Combine Gold Mining Co. Development work was being vigorously prosecuted at a number of points, and the outcroppings on various parts of the locations

had been carefully stripped. The most interesting deposit is that known as the Jumbo vein, about half a mile east of the camp. There, upon the top of a knoll, is exposed a large body of quartz four feet deep, resembling a true bed with slight dip. An open crosscut had been run into the mass, and it displayed a layer of quartz of the thickness just stated, resting upon the dark green country rock. A short distance away a shaft had been sunk to a depth of 21 feet with no sign of the ore body, so that at the time it was impossible to arrive at any reasonable conclusion as to the nature of this peculiar mass. Another vein 200 feet to the west is three feet wide, and dips 60° northeast; it has been opened up to a slight depth by a test pit, and gives good promise.

On our arrival at the Regina we found that the mill was being entirely reconstructed, and that no underground work was in progress at all. The shaft had reached a depth of 450 feet, and showed great improvement in the vein; a good deal of drifting had also been done and some stoping, in preparation for the start of the new plant. The old equipment, which consisted of ten stamps of 850 lb. each with two Perfection concentrators, has been replaced by seven Tremaine steam stamps and two 3-compartment jigs for concentrating, the tailings from which flow over gyrating amalgamated plates, and thence to waste. The concentrates are ground in Berdan pans, and pass to the cyanide tanks for leaching. The Blake crusher which was formerly used has also been replaced by a Gates gyratory rock breaker, which is said to be more satisfactory. The whole plant is a bold and radical change from the usual types of milling machinery, and the results of the experiment will be of much interest and value to all who are engaged in treating gold ores.

Three miles inland from the foot of Andrew bay lies the Stella property, under the management of Mr. Neil Campbell. There are three shafts at short distances from one another. The first and most easterly is sunk on a large fahlband, and was at the time full of water. The second was for the exploitation of a small but rich vein, and was also

full of water. The third is the present working shaft, and had reached a depth of 80 feet. The vein outcrops on the face of a hill at this point, and a tunnel had been driven on the lode for a considerable distance, exposing a mixture of quartz with a varying proportion of country rock, the whole being said to carry gold. At the mouth of the tunnel the shaft had been sunk with a dip of 75° on a body of ore of the same nature as that in the tunnel, and had reached that stage when a steam hoist was necessary.

Our next visit was to the well-known Sultana, which from the water presents the appearance of a bustling village. The new mill is first-class in all its appointments, with an equipment of the most approved design, and the process of ore treatment has been rendered complete by the installation of the chlorination works.

Another of the important gold fields of western Ontario lies at the mouth of Seine

In the Lower River, which, before pouring its Seine Region. waters into Rainy lake, expands into the shallow basin known as Shoal lake.

On the western shore of the latter sheet of water is the Foley mine, the most fully developed property in the district. At the time of our visit no work was being carried on, although the plant was in first-class condition for an immediate commencement.

Three miles to the north lies the Ferguson, Lucky Coon and AD2 properties, all of which were idle.

The mine which is being most actively worked at present is the Randolph or Golden Star, half a mile north of the Ferguson. The mining is done on a dike of felsite which carries lenses of quartz of varying size and shape, and in August the shaft had attained a depth of 300 feet, with a good showing of quartz at the bottom. The dike may be traced somewhat indistinctly up the hill to the south for a considerable distance, while to the north it plunges into a small valley and is lost beneath the drift. Just a short distance to the south of the shaft is the northern edge of that huge eruptive boss of granite upon which are situated the Foley, Ferguson, Lucky Coon, etc., and it is quite possible that the felsite represents an offshoot

from the molten granite, although this could not be determined for want of time. The country rocks at and near the shaft are porphyrites. A considerable quantity of ore consisting of a mixture of quartz and felsite, the latter carrying it is said fair values, had accumulated on the dump to be transported by a tramway to the shore of Bad Vermilion lake for milling. At this point a bench had been prepared on the side of the hill for the foundations of the mill, which has since been erected and put into service with satisfactory results. The distribution of the quartz throughout the dike is exceedingly interesting. As has been said above, the lenticular form is the most prevalent, although some of the lenses, to judge from sections afforded by the shaft and levels, must be quite irregular. To illustrate The ore body in the first level south is at the shaft two feet wide; a few yards in, and the width increases to eight feet, which continues for a short distance and then splits into two divergent branches, six inches and 10 inches wide, which had not at that time been followed further. An encouraging feature of the deposit is the fact that with one exception the dike at all sections is of good width. It will probably continue also to great depths, and taking into consideration the felsite, which it may be possible to work as a low grade ore, the cost of further development should in a measure be met by the proceeds from the material excavated, even although the richer quartz may be entirely absent for a time.

Lying to the southwest of the Golden Star, at a distance of a mile and a half, is the Emperor, belonging to a Minneapolis company. A shaft was being sunk on two small veins and had reached a depth of 90 feet, showing a marked increase in the width of the lodes. From a level at the bottom of the shaft a crosscut was being driven to a cross vein which could be seen outcropping at some distance to the northwest. Operations were being vigorously carried on, and the company deserves credit for its enterprise.

Adjoining the Emperor to the south is the Decca, which was hardly as much developed as the former property. The shaft,

which was being sunk as fast as possible, exposes a good vein, and the venture has good augury of success should the lode prove rich enough.

Both of these properties are situated in the so-called protogine granite, within a few minutes walk of the Ferguson, AD2 and Lucky Coon.

Some eight miles northwestward of Mine Centre is the Olive or Preston gold mine, which has earned a reputation as a producer of the precious metal. The lode is one of the few bedded veins of the district, and is enclosed in dark gray compact schist of Huronian age. The width varies somewhat, but to a depth of 200 feet would perhaps average five inches. The quartz however is rich, and the small Alaska two-stamp mill crushing 12 to 15 tons per six days of 10 hours manages to produce some very nice gold bricks. The ore is rather heavily charged with pyrites, and the concentrates are estimated at five per cent. and quite rich enough to form a valuable asset. For lack of ventilation only a little work was being carried on during our visit, and until the arrival of the compressor plant, which was on its way, not much could be done.

An Encour

Outlook.

With this our series of visits terminated, as it was impossible for me to visit the mines of the Upper Seine region. Alaging general though at a number of points one was disappointed by the abandonment of all work, in many places steady progress was being made, and the continual working of such mines as the Sultana, Regina, Mikado, Golden Star and Olive can hardly be construed otherwise than favorably. A number of prospects were being developed carefully in the different districts, and while the bustle created by the boom of 1897 was lacking, a feeling of determination to explore further had possession of many of the miners and owner to the great benefit of the industry at large. With two thoroughly equipped reduction works at Rat Portage, with cheap water carriage in most cases and low treatment charges, there seems to be no reason that custom work should not prevail on Lake of the Woods as it does in some of the Western States.