Jvegislative ^ and COWICHAN NEWS
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JvegislatiVe ^ is* P APR 18 UFm Crofton flazem ^ORIA,^ Ss^ AN..D. COWICHArr»w/TriJAMN MEW/NEWOS Devoted to the Mining and Agricultural Interests of Vancouver Island, Texada Island, and Coast Mainland Districts. VOL. 1. CROFTON, B. C, THURSDAY, APRIL 17, 1902. NO. 8 MINERAL ZONE OF NORTH COWICHAN DISTRICT. present known, is about 1,200 feet, and if it maintains its continuity to the west coast it should cross the Alberni Canal (William ,M. Brewer in the Engineering and Mining Journal). near its entrance to Barclay Sound. But instead of doing •this the zone apparently wedges out near Cowichan Lake, OUNTS Sicker puuBrenton, which are separated by while another vein of schistose rooks, very similar to those of the Oheinadnus River, are located within a few miles the Mount Sicker region, occurs on China Creek, about twelve M of 'Horseshoe (Bay (Chemainus' Harbour), Osborne miles from the head of Alberni Canal. and 'Maple Bays, on the east coast of Vancouver On Mount Sicker there is one feature connected with the Island. Discoveries of copper-gold ores were first made near •mineralized zone which deserves attention. It is that on the thi? summit of Mount Sicker in 1897, when the Lenora mineral northern boundary of the schist a well-defined, persistent ledge claim was located. Later followed the location of tihe Tyee of hungry-looking quartz occurs. This has up to the present claim, adjoining the Lenora on the east; the Key City, Vic time marked the northern limit of the local occurrences of ore, toria, Copper Canyon and Susan to the west of the Lenora, the southern limit being as equally well defined and marked with the Key City adjoining that claim, and the others situ- by a dike of ponphyritic rock, which at the contact between it LENORA ORE SHKDS AND DUMP. ated in the order named. The boundaries of these claims and schist has a peculiar appearance, and resembles a body of east and west em'braee all the ground 1,500 feet wide from the dirty .brown, melted gutta percha with white nodules as im extreme summit of Mount Sicker across the Chemainus River, pregnations through it. When struck with a pick or drill this almost to the summit of Mount Brentou, and present at tlie material is found to be a soft 'but spongy-like India rubber. present time the productive portion of the district. A largo Its thickness varies from a few inches up to two feet, and \ number of other claims have been staked, and partially pros when exposed to the air it slacks and breaks up like shale. pected, north, south, east and west from those designated by This material has bzeen noticed by the writer in the under name. ground workings of both the Tyee and Lenora mines, but it. The Mount Sicker district may be considered to occupy a has not been noticed on the surface, although he is informed position almost at the line of demarcation between the sedi that it can be found at some points marking the contact. mentary rocks and tlhe crystalline area. A izone of schisit The character of ore occurring in the zone of schist, is occurs extending from 'Maple Bay, on the east coast, through chalcoipyrite with an iron pyritc, the latter being chiefly marca- Mounts (Sicker and Brenton towards the west coast, an un site, while sometimes pyrrhotite also forms a portion of the determined distance. 'The line of strike is nearly due east ore foody. The gaugue is principally silica, sometimes massive nnd west. The width of the mineralized zone, so far as at quartz, nt others silicious schist; but often the ore is a solid1 THE CROFTON GAZETTE AND COWICHAN NEWS. • y mixture of chalcopyrite and iron pyrites of considerable thick THE SARITA MINE, WEST COAST V. I. ness, even reaching fully 30 feet in some portions of the work ings, and maintaining that thickness for considerable length. Mr. J. W. Ladd is engaged in developing the properties on Following the zone of mineral-bearing schist towards the Barclay iSound belonging to the Pacific Steel Company. The west, the 'Lenora, Key City, Victoria, Copper Canyon and tram line from the Sarita mine to the water has been sur Susan claims are crossed 'by the Cheniainus River, flowing veyed, and work upon its construction will begin at once. The along the boundary between the Victoria and Copper Canyon Sarita will then become a shipper to the Irondale smelter. It claims from north to south. is also the intention of the Pacific iSteel Company to make the The river will famish ample water-power to run all the Copper 'Island a shipper in tihe near future. The new town- milling and lighting machinery for the entire district. site has already been laid out. To the west from Mount Brent on is situated Cowichan Lake. Whether the same geological and mineralogieal condi tions prevail in the region adjacent to and on the north side of the lake as in the Mounts Sicker and Brenton districts1 is at LUMBERING AT THE LAKE. present unknown, because very few prospectors have pene trated into that territory, and no discoveries of the occurrence (An Interview With Mr. William Gidley, Manager of the of mineral have been reported; but on the south side of the Cowichan 'Lumber Co.) lake, and towards its Ihead, a discovery of galena ore was reported during the past summer by Mr. II. iS. 'Smith, of Dun HE Cowichan Lumber Company has been in existence can, -who was the discoverer of the Lenora mine. This is in now nearly some six years. This corporation bought the the vicinity of the headwaters of the Cordon River, which T Cowichan Bay mill and certain timber limits, to which empties into the Straits of Juan de Fuca at 'San Juan Har- t'hey have greatly added, from the Bank of British North niour, on the southwest coast of Vancouver Island. America, in whose hands this property was then held. The Previous to the present year, reports of discoveries of previous owners were Messrs. Hewett & Macintyre, and their galena on the Cordon River have been circulated, but the loca predecessor was Mr. W. Sutton, who was the original pro tion was remote from any trails and very diflicult to reach. prietor of the mill. ,Mr. Boyd is the managing director and The country (between San Juan Harbour and the head of tho chief shareholder of the Cowichan Lumber 'Company, the Gordon River is heavily timbered, mountainous, and for the manager being Mr. William Gidley. most {part unexplored, except at some points close to the river. Mr. Gidley is of the opinion (writes a representative of the The discoveries reported on the south side of Cowicha1 n Gazette) that the lumber industry on Vancouver Island is as Lake are not so inaccessible, because there is a good wagon yet in its infancy. There are hundreds of millions of feet of road from 'Duncan Station, on the Esquimau & Nanaimo Rail timber lying ready to cut. This timiber—and .Mr. Gidley was road, to the foot of the lake, where a summer resort is situated. 'speaking generally of the timber in tlhe Cowichan Valley—con From this point to within a short distance of the occurrence of sists chiefly of Douglas fir, cedar, hemlock and spruce. The the mineral claims, the lake itself affords an excellent route to lir grows to a very great size, an ordinary tree measuring 150 travel, lit is quite possible that the headwaters of the Gordon feet in height and about five to seven feet in diameter. The and iNitinat rivers will 'be prospected during the season of timber, taken generally, is not unusually large, font that in the 1902 from this route rather than by following up those rivers Cowichan district, is probably the best on the Island—or, for from the west coast of Vancouver Island, as has been the that matter, in British Columbia—'because it is a soft white custom heretofore. The country to the west between Mount wood and easy to work. Indeed, when the Cowichan Bay Brenton and the Alberni Canal, and to the north between mill was running, there was always a sale for Cowichan lum Cowichan Lake and Nanaimo Lake, is at the present time un ber. The Chemainus mills have evinced a preference for logs known and unexplored. Near the latter lake some localions from the Cowichan Valley over all others. The Company of mineral claims yielding copper-gold ore have been reported. sold last year to the Chemainus mills, Sayward of Victoria, These are at present remote from transportation facilities, and Taylor of Victoria, and the Whatcom company, amongst •must await the building of wagon roads at least before exten others, and they have sent large quantities of timber to Van sive development can foe attempted. couver and other Mainland sawmills. Nearly all the lumbering done in the valley has been car ried on near the shores of the lake, but in a very few years from now this industry will have to foe conducud at a distance MINING NEWS. from the water. For about a mile from the water it is prac ticable to use horses for (hauling out logs, font for a greater Mineral in the Malahat District. distance than this steam locomotives will be necessary. The whole of the country in the interior of the Island is a N the,Malahat Mountains, within one mile of the railway, great lumbering district. Millions of feet of timber will some mineral claims are now in course of develop always come down the Cowichan River, but there is a great O ment.