PLACER MINING.

Placer mining on what may be termed a fairly extensive scale, was first carried on in the Yukon Territory in what is known as the Fortymile district, in the year 1894. Before this time, however, there had been considerable river-bar mining on the Lewes and Salmon in 1881 and 1882 and on the Stewart river in 1885. It was estimated by .Dr. Dawson, on information obtained from the miners, that $100,000 was obtained from the Stewart river during the years 1885 and 1886. The principal bars on this river were worked out in a few years, and in 1887 a discovery of coarse gold was made on fortymile creek, and most of the miners stampeded to that stream. It has been estimated that during the years I887 and 1888 between 100 and 350 miners were employed on the Fortymile river. In 1884. however, the two principal creeks that were being worked in the Fortymile district were Glacier and Miller, tributaries of the Sixtymile river, a stream entering the Yukon about sixty miles south of Dawson, and although considerable mining was carried on upon these two creeks the values found were not such as to create any general interest.

The great discovery of gold in what is known as the Klondike district was made on August 10, 1S00, on Bonanza creek, a tributary of the Klondike river about two miles from its mouth. A stampede followed, and Bonanza creek and its chief tributaries, as well as Hunker creek, were staked from top to bottom before the end of the year. The following year discoveries were made on Dominion, Sulphur and Quartz creeks. These five crocks, with the addition of Bear creek, which enters the Klondike between Bonanza and Hunker, and Gold Run, which enters Dominion creek close to the mouth of Sulphur, are the chief gold-bearing creeks in the Klondike district. It may be mentioned here, however, that Bonanza creek and its tributary, Eldorado creek, have proved to be by far the richest creeks in the district.

One very striking peculiarity of mining in the Klondike district is the fact that the ground is frozen to bed-rock, which ranges from 15 to 40 feet in depth. Owing to this frozen ground miners had to devise new methods of mining. They derived very little benefit from previous experience in other mining camps. At first all shafts were sunk to bed-rock by what is known as ' wood fires.' A lire was built on the ground about six feet long by four feet in width. I his fire was allowed to burn from eight to ten hours, and the ground which had thawed under it was then taken out. Another tire was started in the hole thus excavated, and by this means they gradually worked their way to bed rock. From two to three feet of dlirt was taken out with each thaw.

Below Discovery, Sulphur Creek.

The bed-rock is covered with a layer of gravel, ranging from one to four feet deep. The gravel and the bed-rock for about two feet in depth below contain gold. The formation from this pay gravel to the surface varies to a certain extent on the different creeks, but as a general rule is a composition of organic matter called ' muck.' A miner, after sinking his shaft to bed-rock then drifts by the same means along the bedrock from the bottom of the shaft, and hoists out the gravel and bed-rock containing the gold. For the first two years of the camp the shaft-sinking and drifting was done during the winter, the gravel being taken out and put in a heap by itself. Then in the spring when the water starts to run these Humps are shovelled into sluice-boxes erected for the purpose, and thus the gold is separated from the gravel. Though the frozen ground creates much difficulty in the sinking of shafts, yet at the same time it has this advantage: when the miner drifts from the bottom of a shaft, it is not as a general rule necessary for him to timber the drift, as the frozen ' muck ' holds up with perfect safety even where very extensive drifting is done. The miner is thus saved the very considerable expense of timbering his drifts.

The values in the bench gravels were not discovered until the autumn of 1897, and were first found on the left limit, close to the junction of Eldorado and Bonanza. These benches have proved to he by far the richest and most extensive in the territory. The pay extends in an unbroken line from French hill on the left limit of Eldorado creek, about one and one-half miles from its mouth) to No. GO below Discovery on Bonanza creek, a distance of about seven miles. The claims located on this pay-streak were worked in a large number of cases by tunnelling from the side of the hill until the bed rock is reached on the level of the pay gravel. In a large number of cases, however, the original system of sinking shafts was adopted.

The bench pay appears to have crossed Bonanza at No. 60 below Discovery, and to have continued down stream on its right limit until reaching1 Lovett gulch, when it appears to have swerved off eastward from Bonanza creek, and crossed over a small divide to the Klondike river. A considerable number of good claims have been found on this pay-streak, but as a general rule have not proven to be anything as good as the claims on the benches above No. 60 on the left limit. Although a very considerable amount of pay gravel has been found on the benches on Hunker on both limits in different localities, there are no very long regular pay-streaks. On Last Chance creek, however, a tributary of Hunker creek, an excellent pay-streak was found on the benches on its left limit, running almost the whole length of the creek.

On the Indian river side the bench pay has not been so good, although on Dominion creek there seems to have been considerable bench pay on the left limit between the Discoveries, and for some distance below lower Discovery.

The mining of bench pay has been considerably handicapped owing to the difficulty in obtaining sufficient quantities of water by gravity. In order to obtain water by gravity at the proper elevation, it had to be taken almost from the source of all the small creeks in the vicinity of the mines upon which the supply was to be used. As these crocks are small, the result is that a sufficient quantity of water can only be available in the spring of the year for a very short period, the rains of the summer being of very little value in this regard.

In 1901 a number of miners tried the experiment of pumping water from the creeks to the benches, but operating expenses, chiefly the cost of fuel, was found to be so great that in nearly every Ease the experiment was a failure. It was eventually found that the cheapest method of working the benches was by hydraulicking, even wire the quantity of water was limited.

The great rush to the Klondike started in the spring of 1897. The larger portion of this rush, however, did not arrive in Dawson until the spring of 1898. It was estimated that at one time during the summer of 1898 25,000 people lived in and about the city of Dawson. A large portion of this number, however, stayed in the territory for a very short period.

The following winter was noted for the large number of stampedes that took place. As the people who arrived in the territory in the spring of the previous year had no mining property, they took every opportunity available to stake claims. The result was that when the slightest rumour got abroad that a discovery of gold had been made on a new creek, these people would immediately start out for the scene of the new strike, or where the discovery was supposed to have been made, in order to stake. Every stampede was a race, the first arriving at the crock having the best opportunity to obtain valuable property. Almost every creek within 100 miles of Dawson, either on the Yukon river or on the Klondike river, was staked from end to end during that winter.

These stampedes, however, did not result in any find of great importance. All these creeks were prospected more or less, and although on nearly every creek ' colourswere found, there was not sufficient value discovered in any case to warrant working the properties by the methods in use at that time.

Improved Methods of Thawing.

Owing to the many improvements made in the methods of mining' the whole system has totally changed from what it was in the, years 1897 and 1898. In the winter of 1898-1899 it was discovered that by using steam the frozen gravel could be thawed at a rate of from eight to ten feet a day—a great improvement on the old system whereby the thaw was only from two to three feet a day. The steam is forced into the frozen ground by what are known as steam points. A steam point is an iron pipe of about 5feet in length, connected to a cross-head by means of a small rubber steam hose; the cross-head is connected to the main pipe, which is connected to a boiler supplying the steam. As a general rule the miner drives the steam pipe into the ground, where it is left for a short time until a hole is thawed. The pipes are then replaced by ordinary gas pipes, as it is found that the gas pipes allow more steam to be forced into the ground. These pipes are called locally 1 sweaters.' In very dry gravels the holes are made with a mixture of hot water and steam, taken from the blow-off of the boilers; in loose gravels the steam alone is used. Another economical method used for thawing gravels in drifting operations is what is called the hot water method. This is especially used where the gravels are hard. A description of the method is as follows :—

A sump-hole is made at the bottom of the shaft, and a small duplex pump is set up, to which is attached a small firehose with a two-inch discharge, and as the water is pumped against the face of the drift it is returned to the sump-hole, leaving the gravels thawed on the drift. This water is pumped over and over again on the face of the drift.

Open-cut Method.

On all claims where the depth of bed-rock is less than fifteen feet it has been found that tho ground can be operated more economically by what is known as the open-cut method.

This method has been used very largely on Bonanza and Eldorado creeks. At first the surface of the ground is removed by what is termed ground sluicing,' the water from the stream

is diverted into small ditches, and men with picks and shovels remove the material into running water, which is carried away. By this means all the muck or surface material is gradually carried away until nothing i.-, left hut the gravel containing the gold. The sluice-boxes are then set up, and the gold-bearing gravel is shoveiled in.

The mining methods to which reference has been made are the chief methods whereby placer mining is carried on in the territory under the term of ordinary placer mining.

GRAVELS OF THE KLONDIKE GOLD-FIELDS.

A section across the valley of any of the gold-bearing streams entering the Klondike shows a comparatively narrow trough-like depression below, from 150 to 300 feet deep, bordered on one or both sides by wide benches beyond which the surface rises in easy, fairly regular slopes up to the crests of the intervening ridges. The benches represent fragments of older valley-bottoms partially destroyed by the excavation of the present valleys. .Narrow, rock-cut terraces occur at intervals between the- level of the old valley-bottoms and the present level.

'Auriferous gravels occur on the present valley-bottoms on the portions of the old valley-bottoms still remaining, and on the rock terraces cut into the slopes connecting them. They may be classified as follows, beginning with the youngest:—

' Low-level gravels -
' Gulch gravels, creek gravels, river gravels.
' Gravels at intermediate intervals—
' Terrace gravels.
' High-level gravels —
' River gravels.
While channel gravels:
'White gravels, yellow gravels.'

Low-level Gravels.

'The low-level creek gravels are the most important gravels in the district. These gravels floor the bottoms of all the valleys to a depth of from four to ten feet. They rest on bedrock usually consisting of decomposed and broken schists, and are overlaid by a sheet of black frozen muck ranging in thickness from two to thirty feet or more. They are local in origin, and consist entirely of the schists and oilier rocks outcropping along the valleys. The schists pebbles are usually flat, round-edged discs measuring one to two inches in thickness and two to six inches in length. They constitute the greater part of the deposit, but are associated with a varying proportion of rounded and subangular quartz pebbles and boulders, and, less frequently, with pebbles derived from the later eruptive rocks of the region. The pebbles are loosely stratified, are usually embedded in a matrix of coarse reddish sand, and alternate in nlaces with thin beds of sand and muck.

"The creek gravels frequently inclose leaves, roots and other vegetable remains, and also the bones of various extinct and still existing northern animals, such as the mammoth, the buffalo, the bear, the musk-ox and the mountain sheep and goat.

'The gulch gravels occupy the upper portions of the main creek valleys and small tributary valleys. They differ from the creek gravels in being coarser and more angular. A considerable proportion of their material consists of almost unworn fragments of schist washed down from the adjacent slopes. They contain the same vegetable and animal remains as the creek valleys.

"The only river gravels of the district proven, so far, to contain gold in paying quantities occur in the wide flats bordering the lower portion of the Klondike river below the mouth of Hunker valley. The river gravels consist of quart-zite, slate, chert, granite and diabase pebbles largely derived from the western slopes of the Ogilvie range. They are harder and better rounded than tho creek gravels -a necessary result of the greater distance travelled.'

Terrace Gravels.

'Rock terraces occur at various points cut into the deep slopes of the present valleys. They were produced during the deepening of the valleys, and are -imply remnants of former valley-bottoms. They are small, seldom exceeding a few yards in width and a few hundred yards in length, irregular in distribution, and occur at all elevations up lo the bottoms of the old valleys. The terraces support beds of gravel, usually from six to fifteen feet in thickness, very similar to that in the creek bottoms, but showing somewhat more wear. The terrace gravels, like the creek gravels, are overlaid, as a rule, with

muck, and at one point on Hunker creek were found buried beneath 100 feet of this material. '

High Level Gravels

'High-level gravels are extensively distributed along Bonanza and Hunker creeks and some of their tributaries, and also occur on Eldorado, Bar, Quartz, Nine Mile and All Cold creeks. They consist principally of ancient creek deposits, overlaid near the mouths of some of the valleys by gravels laid down by the Klondike river, when it ran at a much higher level than at present and occupied a somewhat wider valley.

'These gravels occur at various points along the Klondike river. In the Klondike district they are found covering the small plateaux in which the ridges separating Bonanza and Hunker creeks from the Klondike river terminate. The\ rest in both places on high-level creek gravels at an elevation of about 450 feet above the present valley-bottoms. They have a thickness of from 150 to 175 feet, and consist principally of well-rolled pebbles, of quartzite, slate, chert, granite, diabase and conglomerate embedded in a matrix of gray -and, and derived, like those in the present stream, from the western part of the Ogilvie range. The high-level river gravels are reported to contain gold in paying quantities at Beklen's farm, a name given to a portion of the bench on the right limit of the Klondike, two miles above its month, but are generally of little economic importance.'

High-level Creek Gravels.
(White Channel.)

'The high-level creek gravels consist principally of the important deposit known as the quartz drift white wash of white channel gravels. The latter name is now generally used by the miners, and is adopted in this report.

'The white channel gravels are ancient creek deposits laid down in the wide, flat-bottomed valleys which characterized the region previous to the last general upraise. After their deposition, the country was elevated 000 to 700 feet, and the increased grades acquire! by the streams enabled them to cut down through their old gravel beds into the bed-rock beneath, and to excavate the steep-sided trough-like valley in which they now run. The old gravels now occur on wide benches bordering the present valleys at elevations of from 150 to 1500 feet above them, the elevation generally increasing down stream. Their distribution along the valleys is irregular, as a large portion of the deposit was destroyed during the deepening of the main valleys and the tributary valleys and gulches.

'The general character of the white channel gravels is remarkably similar in the various Klondike creeks, but differs considerably from the ordinary type of stream deposits in other regions. They consist of a compact matrix of small, clear, little-worn and often sharply angular grains of quartz and scales of sericite thickly packed with rounded quartz pebbles and rounded and subangular and wedge-shaped quartz boulders often two to three feet in diameter. Flat and subangular pebbles of sericite schist, the principal rock of the district, are also present, but in much smaller numbers than the quartz constituents. The schist pebbles are usually decomposed and crumble rapidly when thawed out. The deposit is always stratified, but, except in rare instances, there has been no sorting of the various constituents into separate beds, and the composition is very uniform throughout. The colour is characteristically white or light gray, due to the preponderance of tho quartz constituents and the leaching out of the greater part of the iron. The colour is darker and the sands are noticeably coarser towards the limit of the deposit on the upper part of the creeks.

'The white channel gravels vary in thickness from a few feet to 150 feet, and in width from 100 feet to half a mile or more. The deposit increases in volume descending the stream, and attains its greatest development near their mouths.

'The white compact gravel deposit described above is overlaid in places by loosely stratified gravels known as the yellow gravels. The latter are of a rusty colour, are more distinctly stratified than the white gravels, and consist mainly of flat schist pebbles lying loosely in a coarse sandy matrix. Quartz pebbles and boulders are also present, but are much less abundant than in the white gravels.

These upper gravels are not so widely distributed as the white gravels, but are present on several of the Bonanza hills and at points along Hunker creek. At Gold hill, on Bonanza creek, the white gravels occur as a buried ridge bordering the present valley, and the depression between them and the southern slope of the old valley is filled with yellow gravels to a depth of 115 feet. The same relationship between the two deposits obtains at Adams hill, and probably at other places,

but it only determinable where shifts have been sunk to bedrock across lhe whole width of the old valley.

'Unlike the creek gravels, the white channel gravels are destitute, or nearly so, of vegetable or animal remains. None were found by the writer, and the few reported discoveries of fragments of wood and bone by miners are all open to question.

'On Dominion creek and its tributaries, Sulphur and Gold Run creeks, white gravels, almost identical in character with the high-level white channel gravels of Bonanza and Hunker creeks, occur in the bottoms of the valleys underlying the present stream gravels. Their low position is due to the fact that the present valley of Dominion creek corresponds, not to the present valley of Bonanza and Hunker creeks, but to the old valleys cut through by them.' (McConnell.)

During the summer of 1900 it was reported that gold was contained in the pebbles and boulders of the white channel, which by process of crushing and amalgamation it was considered would yield a profit. The Territorial Government promptly arranged to have a test made by the cyanide process. Eighteen and one-half tons of quartz boulders, which had been washed from the white channel by the hydraulic process, and nine and one-half tons of virgin ground from different parts of the white channel on Bonanza and Last Chance creeks, were tested under the superintendence of the government mining engineer in Dawson. The virgin gravels were an average sample of the deposit from top to bottom, and the values given include the placer gold, which can be recovered by washing, the gold which is lost by washing and recovered by amalgamation and the gold in the quartz which cannot be recovered other than by amalgamation. The proportion of quartz boulders to fine material in a cubic yard of virgin gravel, was one of boulders to three of line material. The value of gold recovered by stamp battery amalgamation was as follows:—

'Average value of quartz per ton.............. 32c.
Average value of virgin ground per cubic yard...... 54c.

The tailings in the test did not exceed 20 cents per ton in gold. The cyanide test was, therefore, omitted, as the samples did not contain sufficient values to warrant further treatment by that process. The basis upon which a cubic yard of gravel was calculated was 3,000 pounds.

The volume of the white channel deposit, which is situated on narrow benches and at an elevation eminently suitable for hydraulic mining, has been estimated by McConnell at about 250.000,000 cubic yards on Bonanza and its tributaries, 200,000,000 cubic yards on Hunker and it- tributaries, 115,000,000 cubic yards on a low bench on Quartz and a smallest quantity on Bear creek.

All the old creeks to which reference lias been made, viz.: Bonanza, Eldorado, Hunker, Bear, Dominion, Gold Bun and Sulphur, have been fairly thoroughly worked out, as far as ordinary placer mining methods are concerned. Some of the richer claims on Eldorado have been worked over three times; and it is the general opinion that the only method of again working these creeks at a profit is by means of dredging. I3nicer mining has now reached a stage where work must be carried on upon a large scale to make it profitable. Mining by the ordinary placer mining methods is about over, and in the near future all creeks will be worked by dredges where the conditions are at all favourable to that system of mining.

As to the benches, it will be necessary to obtain a greater and more constant supply of water than has heretofore been available.

A large number of creek and bench claims on Bonanza and Eldorado creeks have been purchased by the Yukon Consolidated Gold Fields Company. This company, together with the Northwest Hydraulic Mining Company, are making gigantic preparations to mine on a larger scale by the dredging and hydraulic process the creek and bench claims on Bonanza and Eldorado.

Duncan District.

Next to the Klondike district in importance as a gold-bearing district is the Stewart river. The tributaries of this stream, near its mouth, were! all staked in 1898, but none of them proved to be what is termed ' paving propositions.' In BOO a stampede took place to Clear creek, a tributary of the Stewart about 90 miles from its mouth. On this stream several claims were found to be of considerable value, and mining has been carried on upon several claims on this creek up to the present time. Duncan creek was staked in 1901-1902. This creek is a tributary of the Mayo river, which enters the Slew-art river at about 175 miles from its mouth. Claims of greater value were found on this stream than on the Stew-are river, but the miners on Duncan have had considerable difficulty in working certain portions of the creek where the bed-rock is very deep (over 100 feet) owing to their shafts being flooded by water when they have sunk to a depth of about 70 feet. This difficulty has, so far, prevented all the owners from getting to bed-rock. From prospects, however, that they have found on the rims of some of these claims there is a general opinion that once they succeed in controlling the water by pumps of sufficient capacity they will obtain good results when they reach bed-rock. This creek, a tributary of Mayo, was staked in 1903, and has been worked up to the present time. This creek, although small, has been a very good producer.

Whitehorse District.

In the season of 1898, during the great rush to the Klondike, a large number of the streams flowing into Teslin lake and the upper tributaries of the Yukon river were staked by the people who were on their way to the Klondike. The only ease, however, where any of these streams amounted to anything for mining purposes was the tributaries of what is known as the Big Salmon river. The names of the tributaries of this creek that were staked are Livingstone, Cotton Eva, Salmon and Lake creeks. These creeks have Leon worked continuously since 1S90, and they have produced altogether about $75,000 a year. They will probably continue to produce this amount for some time. One feature of these creeks is the difficulty the miners have owing to the large boulders they find on bed-rock.

Kluane District.

In 1900 a discovery of gold was made in what is known as the Kluane district. This district lies about 150 miles in a westerly direction from the town of Whitehorse. It is a very large district and a great number of creeks were staked. The principal creeks, however, upon which gold in sufficient quantity to work profitably has been found, are Fourth, of July, Burwash, Feid, Bullion and Arch. On nearly all the creeks in this district there is practically no soil on the surface, which is simply waste gravel from rim to rim, with an occasional patch of clay or sand. Since 1903 mining has been carried on upon these creeks continually, but not to a very great extent, as the creeks have not proven to be of much more value than what is termed a 'wage proposition.' The output so far has been about $25,000 a year.

QUARTZ.

Quartz claims of value were first found within what is known as the "Windy Arm district in 1904. The development of the Windy Arm properties shows a sufficient quantity of ore of working value to assure a permanent camp in this district. The showing of these properties has stimulated prospecting in the Hut horn portion of the territory, and reports of new finds recently made are numerous. There is a very large expanse of country that has never been prospected, and there is every indication of discoveries being made that will make camps similar to that of the Windy Arm district.

The following is an outline of the development work which has been done on some of the principal quartz properties in the Windy Arm district:—

Montana.

An adit from the surface has been extended on the vein for a distance of 625 feet. From this work three winze- have been sunk 30 feet each. Two upraises have been made to the surface, also on vein: one 130 feet and the other 80 feet. A fourth winze has been sunk, which is really an extension of the 100-foot raise. This has been sunk 200 feet below the tunnel level, and at the 300-foot point drifts were turned north and south.

The approximate value of work done on this claim is about $24,000. Eighty-five tons of ore were shipped to the smelt* at Tacoma, Washington, and tin; return shows an average value of $100 per ton.

An aerial Riblett tram has been built from the company's dock to the Montana group, a distance of about four miles, at a cost of $00,000. On this group there are also a gasoline hoist, 50 horse-power engine for air compressor, 50 horsepower air compressor and three Sullivan air drills.

Mountain Hero.

This claim is also on the Montana vein. Cross-cuts have been made, of 00 feet and 2S5 feet, and an upraise of 90 feet and 205 feet of drifting. The total development work on this claim amounts to about $11,000.

Uranus No. 1

A cross-cut has been run 265 feet. On the vein there are five tunnels of from 15 to 220 foot, and one shaft on vein 50 feet. A great deal of open-cutting and stripping has been done, leaving the vein exposed for nearly 600 feet. The approximate value of development work so far is about $10,000.

Joe Petty.

A shaft has been sunk 53 feet, from the bottom of which a drift has been run on the vein 50 feet east and 75 feet west. Three hundred feet east of this point a cross-cut is run 10 feet, cutting the vein, and a drift extended east 011 the vein 40 feet and north 110 feet. Five or six open-cuts have been dug exposing the vein for about 150 feet.

Three tons of ore were shipped last year to the smelter at Tacoma, Washington, and the return showed an average of $208 per ton.

M & N

A tunnel has been driven on the vein for at least 0(1 feet, from which an upraise was driven to surface, 55 feet. Two tons m. ore were shipped last year to the smelter at Taeonia, and returns showed an average of $124 per ton.

Venus No. 1.

A shaft has been sunk 50 feet, and from the bottom of this a drift has been run 00 feet to the north and another the same distance to the south.

Venus No. 2.

A cross-cut, cutting the vein, has been run 120 feet, from which a drift was run north 95 feet and another south 130 feet; 168 feet lower down the mountain side a second crosscut was driven 500 feet, at which point the vein was cut. The cross cut has been extended 08 feet past the vein; a drift north on the vein 210 feet and south for 240 feet. There is an upraise to connect with first cross-cut, now 180 feet.

There is already a dump of about 50 tons of ore, and from assays it is expected to average $70 net per ton. The; approximate value of the work will be about $30,000.

Vault.

One tunnel has been driven on the vein 205 feet and crosscut at a point 120 feet. Another tunnel is now being driven on the vein and is now 142 feet long.

One hundred and eighty-two tons of ore have been shipped from 'Venus' No. 2, the ore averaging $53 a ton; and 34 toils from the 'Vault' which averaged $55 per ton.

At the 'Vault' mine there is an auxiliary tram about 2,000 feet long, with one 6 horse-power gasoline engine for operating. There is also an aerial Riblett tram now under construction, 4,800 feet long, which will cost complete, $12,000; also gasoline engine with fan, &c., for ventilating.

At the 'Venus' there is an aerial two-bucket Riblett tram, about 1,800 feet long. There are also one 50 horse-power gasoline engine for compressor, one 50 horse-power Leyner air compressor and five Sullivan air drills with full equipment. Also 1,500 feet of hydraulic pipe and Pelton wheel to operate air compressor; and gasoline ventilator engine, with fan, pipe, &c.; the equipment at this mine costing in the neighbourhood of $20,000.

Hamper No. 1, Hamper No. 2, and Red Deer.

On these mines a shaft has been sunk 20 feet deep, and a drift run about 200 feet on the vein, and about 100 feet of stripping.

Twenty-five tons of ore were shipped from these mines to the smelter at Tacoma, and it is reported that exceptionally high values were obtained.

Venus Extension.

There is one shaft about 40 feet deep, and a drift of about, 70 feet. Another shaft of 30 feet and drift of about 20 feet. There is a cross-cut of 25 feet and 40 feet of a drift on the vein. In this there is a winze of about 25 feet. A cross-cut is now being driven to tap a vein 50 feet below bottom of winze, now 25 feet.

Between S and 10 tons of ore were shipped from Venus Extension, and exceptionally high values were reported.

Caribou.

On this claim there is a tunnel of about 90 feet on the vein, and from this a winze of about 8O feet, and a drift of 110 feet on the vein. This claim forms part of what is known as the 'Big Thing Group.' There have been considerable open-cutting and stripping as well as tunnelling on the other claims of the group.

Fifty tons of ore were shipped to Tacoma, and the return showed an average of $47 per ton.

Little Johnnie.

One open-cut 25 feet and about 75 feet of stripping. Al>o one open-cut of 00 feet exposing Montana vein.

Thistle Group.

Thistle. One shaft about 50 feet deep.
Aurora.- One tunnel about 60 feet long.
Columbian.—One tunnel about 40 feet long.

There are about five tons of ore on a dump, which will average about $90 per ton.

Conrad Mountain Group.

One tunnel 127 feet long.
One tunnel 00 feet long.
Ono tunnel 12 feet long.
One tunnel 10 feet long.

About 50 or 60 feet of stripping.

So far there have been no shipments of ore from this group.

A group of claims have also been staked on the east shore

of Lake Marsh. Sumo of the ore on this group is reported to be worth $100 per ton.

A group of quartz claims have also been staked on the right limit of Lake Laberge.

A group of claims have also been staked 12 miles southeast of Whitehorse. On this group is a shaft 8O feet deep, with 25 feet cross-cut. The ore assays $4 to $20 per ton.

Up to the present time there have been 1,000 quartz claims located in the Whitehorse and Windy Arm districts.

Though upwards of live hundred quartz claims have been recorded in the northern end of the territory, particularly in the Klondike district, and large sums have been expended in development work on the different groups of quartz properties by companies and private individuals, as well as aid given by the Territorial Government, yet the results have been somewhat disappointing, and quartz mining has not been carried on with so much enthusiasm during the past year. Practical quartz miners, however, have much faith in the future of the  KIondike district, and believe that further development work will reveal abundance of the hidden treasure.

Prominent among the quartz properties in the northern part of the territory, are the Violet Ledge group and the Lepine group, upon which considerable development work has been clone. On the left limit of the Yukon river opposite Dawson the Nortli American Transportation and Trading Company have done considerable work on their quartz properties, a tunnel having been driven from the edge of the river into the rock for a distance of 50 feet. There are indications of a good body of ore, but values so far obtained are not such as would warrant treatment in Dawson. Were this ore within reasonable distance of a smelter, the mines would be valuable at the present time. Considerable ore has been taken out and shipped by the; company, the cost of sending rock from Dawson to Seattle being not less than $40 per ton plus smelter charges.

The company propose to develop the mines on a much larger scale in the near future.

The Yukon Milling and Dredging Company, with a capitalization of $350,000, will erect in Dawson this year a stamp-mill which has a capacity of 200 tons a day. This company will employ between 30 and 40 men, and expect that the mill will ho continually employed crushing ore from the properties surrounding Dawson. In order to aid and encourage the development of quartz, the mill, which will be erected within the city limits, has been exempted from taxation for a period of five years.

DREDGING.

Mining by means of a dredge is considered as mining on a large scale, and outside the pale of ordinary placer mining. Quito a large; number of leases have been issued for the dredging of submerged beds and bars of rivers in the Yukon, but very few dredges have been operated in the rivers. In 1000 a dredge was brought into the Yukon Territory, and used during that summer and the following summer on what is known as Cassiar bar, a bar on the Yukon river some distance above Selkirk. This dredge was not a success on Cassiar bar, and the following year it was taken to pieces and brought to Bonanza creek, where it was operated on Discovery and the adjoining claims both up and down stream. Though this was not considered a modern dredge, yet its operation on Bonanza was successful, and demonstrated the possibility of low-grade ground being worked at a profit that could not otherwise be worked.

In the summer of 1905 the Canadian Klondike Mining Company, Limited, installed a large dredge on the Boyle Hydraulic concession, at the mouth of Bear creek. The approximate cost of this dredge, including the power plant, was $300,000. ' The dredge is second in size only to the mammoth

machine at Oroville, California, which handles more than 3,000 cubic yards of earth daily. This one is expected under the less favourable conditions presented by the frozen gravel of the Klondike to handle, in twenty four hours, 2,000 cubic yards, digging 35 feet below the water surface, and throwing the tailings 22 feet high and back 60 feet. Each of the 95 buckets weighs 1,700 pounds; and the grizzly, 27,500 pounds: and the spud, which steadies the barge from the stern, 10 tons; while many other pieces weigh from 6 to 8 tons each. The hull of the barge measures 100 by 63 feet. The electric power is generated by three 150 horse-power boilers and a 600 horsepower Westinghonso-Parsons turbine engine. Last year this dredge was operated 170 days. In California, where dredging operations are carried on, a dredge can be operated 305 days in the year. The fact that a dredge cannot be operated in the Klondike during the winter might be looked upon as a great disadvantage, but the conditions are more than sufficient to offset the short season. Owing to the continual daylight in the Yukon during the summer season, a dredge can be operated the whole twenty-four hours, or in other words from the beginning to the end of the summer without stopping. In the second place- and which is probably the most important to the investor- - the values in the Yukon gravels are very much higher than anything to be found in the auriferous deposits of California, where this class of mining is carried on. In the Yukon, during the winter season, wood is cut and placed convenient to the dredge, the prospecting drill is used to locate the areas carrying high values, and other preparations are made for the golden harvest in the summer. In fact the prospecting drill can be used to best advantage during the winter season. The dredge belonging to the Canadian Klondike Mining Company has now been operating for two summers, and the best indication of the result of its operations is the fact that two other dredges of a similar capacity have been ordered by this company, which expects to have them in operation during the summer of 1908.

In the summer of 1905 a dredge was constructed at the mouth of the Klondike river by the Bonanza Basin Gold Dredging Company, and earlh in the summer of 1900 was moved on to a group of river claims owned by this company on the flat at the mouth of the river. This dredge has a practical capacity of 750 cubic yards per twenty-four hours, the size of the buckets is 6 cubic feet, and 150 horse-power is required for operation. The cost of installation was $154,000. During the summer of 1906 this dredge worked at a disadvantage owing to the ladder being too long for the depth of the ground, and the quantity of dirt handled would have been greater had the ladder been the proper length. The motive power on this dredge was steam, but this year (1907) it is understood that arrangements have been made to substitute electricity for steam. It is also reported that the company proposes to install another dredge on the property this year.

As a result of the success of these dredges many parties have been formed amongst the people of the Klondike district for the purpose of restaking the old creeks that had been staked in 1898 and 1899, but were abandoned because they could not be worked under the old methods. These parties go out and stake large blocks of claims adjoining one another on a creek, with a view either of forming a company for the purpose of purchasing a dredge to work their property, or to sell to any person who may be desirous of obtaining the ground for dredging. Nearly all the creeks formerly staked and abandoned have recently been restaking these parties, but nothing further has as yet been done. Whether any of these creeks will prow to be of sufficient value to be worked by a dredge is extremely problematical, and depends largely on the depth and quality of the bed-rock, the most favourable ground for dredging being a shallow soft bed-rock. Leases, which have

Bonanza Dam, Yukon Consolidated Gold Fields.

beenissued for the dredging of the submerged beds and bars of rivers, did not provide for actual representation work, but for the installation of a dredge within a certain period and the payment of an annual rental. Ground, however, which has been staked as placer claims and upon which dredges are operating must be worked under the terms of the Yukon Placer Mining Vet, and conditions as to representation and renewal of all such claims are similar to the conditions under which the individual miner operates.

The Yukon Consolidated Gold Fields Company have just completed the construction of three dredges near the mouth of Bonanza creek, for the purpose of working the creek claims the company have acquired in this vicinity. The company have also acquired water rights from the Twelvemile river, a small stream entering the Yukon about 18 miles below Dawson, and upon a tributary of this stream tie} have installed an electric plant for the purpose of supplying power to their dredges. The water to supply the power plant is taken from the Little Twelvemile river at a point about 44 miles from its mouth. The water conduits consist of 1½ miles of ditch and the remainder of Hume, having a capacity of 2,300 inches. The water will have a direct pressure of 674 feet on the wheels, which will generate 1,050 horse-power. The pipe conducting the water from the penstock to the wheels 30 inches in diameter, and imbedded in a trench on the hillside.

The transmission line from the station to a point on Bonanza crook at 79 miles below Discovery is 30 miles in length and carries a tension of 33,000 volts. It is estimated that electricity will be delivered on Bonanza creek with ninety percent efficiency. At 70 below Discovery on Bonanza is situated a substation, controlling the electrical energy to be used on Bonanza creek. The cost of the power plant is reported to be in the neighbourhood of $200,000.

In the Fortymile district the Yukon Gold Dredging Company of Alaska have one dredge in operation, and contemplate building another dredge this summer.

The North American Transportation and Trading Company also propose to build a dredge to work the creek claims within their concession on Wilier creek.

Writing of the possibilities for dredging in the Yukon Territory, Mr. J. Moore Elmer, a member of the American restitute of Mining Engineers, says:—

"As a result of six years' experience, operating a three-foot, Hisdon dredge in the Klondike district, and by careful observation during that period of the auriferous deposits of the country, and the climatic and other conditions peculiar to it, 1 am convinced that the vast Yukon basin from the Rocky mountains to the Bearing sea contains immense areas in which this form of mining can be profitably carried on ....

'There are countless thousands of acres in the Yukon basin that are suitable for dredging, and that would pay handsome returns on the investment if judiciously made. The country is capable of thorough investigation, and it is the thorough and intelligent investigator that the country needs. When the true conditions become generally known, by reason of such investigation, I believe I am not. too optimistic in predicting that the number of dredges in operation in the Yukon will be limited, for a number of years, only by the capacity of the manufacturers to fill orders.

'In order to succeed with a dredge in the Yukon the first desideratum is careful selection of the ground as to its suitability for the purpose; then, given a dredge properly constructed to meet the conditions under which it is to be operated, and intelligently managed, the Yukon presents an almost limitless field for the profitable investment of capital in mining gold by the dredge process

Hydraualiking.

liver since the discovery of the Klondike gold-fields there has boon, during a certain period of the summer season, a scarcity of water, which has affected the mining industry to a much greater extent as the richer crook claims of the district were worked out and miners turned their attention to the high-

level gravels. On No. 6 and 7 below Discovery on Bonanza creek an expensive pumping plant was erected at a cost of $120,100. This plant lifted the water from Bonanza creek and delivered it under the high pressure required for hydraulic mining on the face of the auriferous gravels on Cheechaco Hill. The expenditure incurred by such a task was very great. After several operators had tried and failed in the experiment of pumping water from the crooks to the benches, on account of the heavy operating expenses, it was eventually found that the only practical method of working the bench gravels was by a system of gravity water. About this time several large mining operators on Bonanza began to realize that an immense quantity of water flowing into the gulches and mountain streams in the vicinity of the mines during the spring thaw might be profitably utilized for hydraulic purposes, if largo reservoirs were constructed to retain and conserve the water, which could be used during the dry season for mining operations. In 1905 the Dominion Government sent an engineer to investigate and report on the feasibility of a water scheme from the headwaters of the Klondike. The construction of impounding dams, however, at different point- on Bonanza creek, the granting of water rights from gulches and other mountain streams to corporations which are making gigantic preparations to mine the high-level gravels in the district on an extensive scale, and the acquisition by these corporations of large numbers of claims on Bonanza and Hunker creeks and their tributaries, have obviated the necessity of subsidizing or undertaking as a public utility the construction of a large water scheme for the Klondike district.

On Bonanza creek then have been constructed three impounding dams, one of which will be completed this summer on No. 57 above Discovery, and has a capacity for 354,066,000 gallons of water. This dam was constructed by the Yukon Consolidated Gold Fields Company. The source of supply is the seepage -water of Bonanza creek above the point of construction, and embraces an accumulating area of 35 square miles. The water will be taken from the dam and conducted by means of two ditches, each ditch having a capacity of 1.000 inches, to the hills and benches below Gold hill, to Gold hill and the hills and benches above Grand Forks. The water is under a sufficient pressure for hydraulic purposes on all the bills and benches. As Gold hill is on the opposite side of the stream along which the water is to be conducted, the valley is crossed by means of an inverted syphon. This syphon has a capacity of 1,000 inches. It is 20, 22 and 24 inches in diameter, and the water delivered on the rim of Gold hill has a pressure of 150 feet. Two monitors, 3 and 4 inch, are directly connected with the syphon. The cost of the construction of this dam was between $250,000 and $300,000.

The next impounding dam of importance is situated on Adams creek, about three and a half miles above its mouth. This dam was built by the lessees of the Matson and Doyle Concession, and has a capacity of fifty-eight million gallons. The area within which this water is accumulated is between six and eight square miles. The water from the dam is conducted along the left limit of Adams creek, and used under a pressure of 175 feet on the hills and benches on the left limit <>f Bonanza between the mouth of Edams and Boulder creek, a distance of three miles. The water is conducted entirely by flume, which is 24 by 30 inches, having a capacity of 000 inches of water. On Adams hill three monitors of 21, 5 and 4 inch nozzle diameter are used. This dam cost approximately $75,000.

In 1901 the Yukon Consolidated Gold Fields Company commenced the construction of an immense ditch from a point on the main Twelvemile river to Grand Forks, which is situated at the junction of Bonanza and Eldorado creeks. The water to be conveyed by this ditch, which is between 60 and 70

miles in length, is intended to mine by the hydraulic process the hill and bench gravels of Bonanza, EJdorado and Hunker creeks and their tributaries. The width of the ditch at the bottom is 12 feet and at the top 20 feet; the greatest depth of excavation being 12 feet, and an average depth of 1 feet. There will be 25 miles of flume and pipe, the cost of flume will be $20,000 per mile, and about 40 miles of ditch, which is excavated at a cost of $8,000 per mile. Steam shovels arc used for excavating, and the cost is 15 cents per cubic yard. The quantity of timber in the flume is 1,000 feet B.M. in every 16 feet of flume. The flume is 7 by 6 and has a capacity of 10,000 miner's inches. The piping Consists of heavy steel pipes win re long and deep depressions have to be crossed, and redwood stave pipes where the pressure of the water does not exceed 125 feet. The inverted syphon to be installed across the Klondike river will be 40 inches in diameter and 15,000 feet in length. The greatest pressure on this pipe at the bottom of the valley will be a little over S00 feet. The redwood stave pipe is 4s inches in diameter, and will be 2½ miles in length.

In 1906 the Yukon Consolidated Cold Fields Company also built a reservoir on a bench on the right limit of the Klondike river, opposite the mouth of Bonanza creek. The water is conveyed from .Moosehide creek along its left limit, then along the right limit of the Yukon river and across the face of the mountain behind Dawson by ditch and flume—accumulating along the rout the seepage water from the hills—to the reservoir, which is situated 200 feet above the gravels. On the bench gravels between the reservoir and the Klondike river the water is being applied at the present time by two monitors.

On the Miller Creek Hydraulic Concession the North American Transportation and Trading Company constructed nine miles of water conduits, having a capacity of 1,200 inches to hydraulic the crock bed of Miller creek. Operations have been carried on in the creek bottom by the use of an hydraulic elevator, which system has been found unsatisfactory on account of the insufficient water supply. As has already been pointed out, this company contemplate the construction of a dredge on Miller creek, and do not propose to resume hydraulic work until such time as the dredge has worked the creek bottom to the desired point of operation, when the benches will be worked by hvdraulicking, and the tailings can be dumped on ground which has been worked out. To carry on hydraulic operations it will be necessary to construct a ditch of about 25 miles, and from 400 to 500 inches of water will be available from Miller, Bedrock and Pat Murphy creeks, from which the company have obtained water rights appurtenant to their property.

Besides the hydraulic operations which has already been described, there is considerable hydraulic-king on a smaller scale on Bonanza and Hunker creeks. In nearly every case, however, the supply of water is limited, and hydraulic mining can only be carried on during the early and latter part of the summer, at which times the spring and fall rains furnish a supply of water for this class of mining.

COPPER.

Within a short distance of the town of Whitehorse is a large number of copper claims, which have been developed to a very considerable extent. In 1005 the American Institute of Mining Engineers made an excursion into British Columbia, Alaska and the Yukon Territory, and the following extract concerning the copper properties at Whitehorse is taken from a report of the excursion by K. W Raymond, Secretary of the Institute:—

'The auriferous copper-belt of Whitehorse, as far as now known, about 10 miles in a curve around the town, presents a considerable number of promising "prospects" of high grade ore, some of which will doubtless be successfully developed in the near future, -especially if (as seems to be beyond doubt) the present progressive world demand for copper shall continue. The reported offer of a rate of $5 per ton for ore in sacks, or $6 in hulk, from Whitehorse to the Tvee Company's smelter at Ladysmith, on Vancouver island (a distance of 112 miles by rail and 900 miles by water), leaves some margin of profit on the mining and shipment of rich copper ores; and this operation may be expected to promote the development of mining on a larger scale, and the realization of economies in all the departments (including transportation) which will make ores of lower grade profitable.

'Up to the present time, about 500 locations have been made in the belt, and about 200 kept valid by annual work. The greatest depth of workings is about 1S9 feet, and the total shipments of ore have been about 1,000 tons, ranging in value (for 100-ton lots) from $10 per ton for ore not sorted to 40-04 per cent of copper and 11 ounces silver and $2.58 gold per ton. One lot is reported to have yielded a net profit, over cost of freight and treatment, of $32 per ton.

'The prevailing mineral in these ores, so far, is bornite, carrying gold and silver. Since this mineral is generally recognized as a secondary product, not likely to continue to great depth, the nature and value of the deeper parts of the deposits can only be determined by development, for which, fortunately, the rich bornite of the upper levels may furnish the means.'

During the past year twenty-five men have been employed on the principal copper properties adjacent to WThitehorse. The following is a brief description of the development work up to date :—

' Pueblo.'- -Open-cut 40 feet wide.
' Copper King.'—100 feet shafts and tunnels.
' Arctic Chief.'—150 feet tunnelled, 52 foot shaft, stope 00 by 20.
' Carlisle.'— 90 foot shaft.
' Grafter.'— 125 foot, shaft and cross-cut.
' Keewenaw.'—50 foot shaft.
' Valerie.'—50 foot shaft.

Last year 200 tons of ore were taken from the 'Carlisle' and 2,000 tons from the 'Pueblo.' This ore was shipped to the smelter on Vancouver island.

Several copper claims have been located near the head of White river, from which prospectors have brought large pieces of line specimens of placer copper. These claims, however, are near to the boundary line, and miners usually apply for record in both the Yukon 'Territory and Alaska.

COAL.

Tantalus Mne.

This mine is situated on the left bank of the Yukon river, about 201 miles south of Dawson. During the past winter preparatory work has been going on at the mine, such as driving tunnels and making rooms for working; 120,000 feet of prop lumber has been prepared, and a much larger wharf will be built this spring. The mine is situated so close to the river that it is difficult to find space for the construction of bunkers and wharfs. Analyses of this coal show:—

Fixed carbon........ 65 to To per cent.
Ash............. 10 to 15
Water............ 1 to 3
Volatile........... 24 to 12

The mine has been leased to H. H. Phillips and associates for a period of ten years, and it is expected that about forty miners would be employed during the coming summer. The coal has been used on the steamers of the White Pass Company, plying between Whitehorse and Dawson, for the last two years, and the output so far is estimated as follows:

1903......................................11 tons.
1904.................................... 640
1905....................................3,000
1906....................................5,000

It is expected that the output for the present year will amount to 12,000 tons, or possibly more; 5,000 tons of this amount being consumed by the steamers of the White Pass Company.

Tantalus Butte Mine.

This mine is also situated on the Yukon river, about two miles east of the Tantalus mine. I here has been no coal taken out, but three seams of 5½, 7 and 7½ feet respectively are being opened up. There is a gravel bank on the face of this mine, through which a tunnel of 200 feet will have to be driven before coal can be reached. The proprietor of this mine states that the coal-measures can be traced almost to Whitehorse. The following is an approximate analysis of samples of coal taken from the Tantalus Butte mine, named :—

Fixed carbon (on surface) . . . . 55 per cent.
Ash...6
Water...10
Volatile...29

Twelvemile

Lignite coal mines have been stake! in the Twelvemile district, the coal containing about S per cent ash and 50 per cent fixed carbon. These locations are about seven miles from the mouth of the Twelvemile.

Fire Fingers.

This mine yields coking coal, which is only used for smelting purposes, and is the only coal of this kind so far discovered in the Territory. The seam is about 3½ feet. Three men worked in the mine during the past winter, and one tunnel has been driven 700 feet.

Mr. Camsell, in his report on the Peel river, 1906, reports deposits of lignite coal, twelve miles below Mount Deception, where a section of tertiary rocks is exposed. This shows six feet of lignite, associated with beds of clay and sandstone, overlaid by glacial drift.

"The lignite is still in a primary stage of development, and shows the twigs and leaves of which it is composed, and even some blobs of resin. This seam of lignite is again exposed two mile.-! below, overlaid by six foot of rusty gravels, and resting on a bed of clay. At the base of all is a soft and very fine grained sandstone, which is also very porous. The lignite, when dry, burns fairly readily, giving off the odour of burning resin and leaving a great deal of ash.'

Sourdough Coal Mine.

About six miles below Fortymile and fourteen miles from the Yukon river on its right bank, is the Sourdough coal mine, which is being worked by the Sourdough Coal Company. The mine was purchased last fall by this company, who took out over 2,000 tons of coal, which was shipped to Dawson before the close of navigation and sold during the winter at from $15 to $20 per ton. Fifteen men have been employed all winter, and extensive preparations have been made for a large output during the coming summer. Thirty men are at present working in the mine, and a larger number will be employed during the summer. There are three seams of 8, 12 and 20 feet respectively. There is an incline shaft of 240 feet, which has been run at an angle of forty-five degrees.

A railroad has been constructed from the mines to the Yukon river, a distance of fourteen miles, at a cost of $400,000, several large bridges having to be erected along the route. From this .point the coal is brought to Dawson by the company's steamers.

If arrangements can be made with the different companies operating and contemplating the installation and operation of dredges in the, Klondike and Fortymile districts, the Sourdough Coal Company propose to install a large power plant at the coal mines to furnish power to dredges, as well as light to Dawson and Fortymile. Eleetricity is being furnished in Dawson at the present time by a plant belonging to the company, who have already contracted to furnish power to dredges in the Klondike district, and as soon as the demand for power exceeds the capacity of the present, plant, a large

plant will be constructed at the coal mines on Coal creek. A preliminary survey has already been made with the view of constructing a trunk line from the mines to Dawson.

Besides the power and light which this company will be prepared to furnish, they also contemplate the introduction of a system of heating by electricity as a substitute for fuel. So far the principal fuel in Dawson has been wood, and during the past few years a considerable quantity of coal has been used. Thong* no definite arrangements have been made, yet the company are of the opinion that if such a system can be introduced it will be possible to furnish the electricity for this purpose at a cheaper rate than either coal or wool can be obtained. It is estimated that coal can be mined for 50 cents per ton, and a> the company propose to install a plant at the mine, a saving of from $S to $10 per ton on transportation will be saved. The expenditure for fuel to generate the power will, therefore, be reduced to a minimum, and the company will be able to supply electricity at a much reduced rate.

Steamers operating on the lower river can obtain coal from the bunkers at the terminus of the company's railroad at $6 per ton.

MINING DISTRICTS.

The Territory is divided into the following mining districts :—

Dawson Mining District.

All that portion of the Yukon Territory not included in any other district, as hereinafter described, and which may be more particularly described as follows:—

Commencing at the most northerly limit of the 141st meridian, thence southerly along said meridian; thence along the northerly, easterly and southerly limits of the Sixtymile mining districts; thence along the 141st. meridian: thence along the northerly limit of the Kluane mining district: thence along the northerly and easterly limits of the Whitehorse mining district; thence along the 00th parallel of latitude; thence along the easterly limit of the Yukon Territory; thence along the southerly, westerly and northerly limits of the Duncan mining district; thence along the easterly and northerly limits of the Yukon Territory to the point of beginning.

Duncan Mining District.

All that portion of the Yukon Territory lying within the watershed of the Stewart river and its tributaries above the mouth of and including the McQuesten river.

Sixtymile Mining District.

All that portion of the Yukon Territory lying within the watershed of the Sixtymile river above the mouth of and including Boucher creek.

Conrad Mining District.

All that portion of the Yukon Territory tributary to Lake Bennett, Lake Kares, Lake Tagisli and Lake Atlin.

Whitehorse Mining District.

All that portion of the Yukon Territory tributary to the Lewes river on its right limit above a point one mile above the mouth of Little Salmon river, and on its left limit above a point one mile below the mouth of the Nordenskiold river, excepting, however, from within its boundaries, the district described as the Conrad mining district.

Kluane Mining District.

All that portion of the Yukon Territory tributary to the White river, above and including the Kesling river, and all that portion of the said Territory tributary to the North Pacific ocean lying to the south of that portion of the Territory tributary to the White river, above and including the Kesling river.

Values of Gold Dust.

The following is an account of the value of gold dust from some of the most important creeks in the Yukon :—

SYNOPSIS OF REGULATIONS.

Placer Mining Act.

Any person eighteen years of age or over is eligible to stake out and obtain entry for a placer mining claim in the Yukon Territory. A placer claim on a creek, which means any natural watercourse whether usually containing water or not, shall not exceed in size five hundred feet along the base line by one thousand feet on each side of such line. Claims situated elsewhere than on a creek shall not exceed five hundred feet in length by one thousand feet. A person locating the first claim on any creek, Bill, bench, bar or plain shall be entitled to a claim one thousand five hundred feet in length, and to a party of two discoverers two claims, each of one thousand feet in length.

A claim is marked by two legal posts on the base line at each end of the claim, each of which posts shall give information as to the name of the claim, its length, the date of staking and the name of the locator.

Application for a claim shall bo made to the "Mining "Recorder for the district within ten days after location, if it is within ten miles of the Recorder's office. One extra day is allowed for every additional ten miles or fraction thereof.

A person having received a grant for a claim is entitled to hold it for the period of the grant with the absolute right of renewal, provided work is done on the claim each year to the value of at least $200, and evidence of such expenditure furnished within fourteen days from the expiration of the period covered by the grant.

Claims, however, may be grouped, and upon the owners thereof filing a deed of partnership permission may be granted to perform on any one or more of such claims all the work required to entitle such owners to renewal grants for each claim. Claims grouped may be made renewable by the Mining Recorder on the same clay.

Xo person shall receive a grant of more than one placer claim on each separate creek, hill, bench, bar or plain, except by purchase or by recording an abandonment of the claim held.

Disputes between owners of claims as to distribution of water, boundaries and dumping may be heard and determined by a board of arbitrators appointed by the owners of the property. The owner of a claim may, upon complying with certain conditions, deposit tailings upon an adjoining claim.

Royalty at the rate of two and one-half per cent on the value of the gold shipped from the Yukon Territory shall be paid to the Comptroller. Gold to be valued at $15 an ounce.

Fees for a grant of a claim for one year. $10
Fees for a grant of a claim for five years.  $70
Fees for a grant for a renewal. $15
Fees for abandonment $2

Diversion of Wafer for Mining Purposes.

Every person owning a claim is entitled to the seepage water on his claim and to the use of so much of the water naturally flowing through or past his claim, and not already lawfully appropriated, as may he necessary for the due working of the claim.

An applicant for a water grant must, for a period of twenty days previous to making application, post notice thereof, giving full information, at the point of diversion, on the land to be operated, on each person's land crossed, and in the office of the .Mining Recorder, and a copy of this notice should be forwarded to the Gold Commissioner.

The price charged by the holder of a water grant with the pri\ilego of selling shall be subject to the control of the Commissioner of the Territory.

The Commissioner may also grant permission to impound for mining purposes the surplus waters of any creek or gulch, and for that purpose he may withdraw from mining entry any worthless ground required for a reservoir site.

The fees charged for a grant of water are:—

For 50 inches or less................................................................................510.00
From 50 to 200 inches................................................................................25.00
From 200 to 1,000 inches........................................................................50.00
For each additional 1,000 or fraction............................................50.00

Dredging Regulations

An applicant may obtain a lease to dredge for gold, silver and platinum throughout a continuous extent of ten miles of the bed of a river in the Yukon Territory, but not more than one lease can be issued in favour of an applicant.

'River' means a stream of water the bed of which is of an average width of 150 feet throughout the portion sought to be leased, of which fact the Gold Commissioner shall be the judge, and 'river bed' means the bed and bars of the river to the foot of the natural banks.

The lease shall be for a term of fifteen years, renewable from time to time provided the leasehold has been efficiently operated, but has not been fully mined out, and provided the regulations have been complied with.

The lease shall be subject to the rights of all persons who received entries for claims prior to the issue of such lease.

Within three years from the date of the lease the lessee shall have a dredge of sufficient capacity on his leasehold and shall operate the same during forty days of ten hours each in every year after the third year, and furnish satisfactory proof of such operation.

A rental of $100 per mile of river leased is charged for the first year, and $10 a mile for each subsequent year.

The lessee may obtain permission to cut, free of dues, such timber as may be necessary for the purposes of his mining operations.

The lessee is not allowed to interfere with the free navigation of the river, or with the construction of roads, ways, bridges, drains or other public works.

The royalty on gold produced from dredging operations is the same as that on gold produced from placer mining claims.

Quartz Mining Regulations.

Any person eighteen years of age or over, who has discovered mineral in place, may locate a claim not exceeding fifteen hundred feet in length by fifteen hundred feet in width, by marking it with two legal posts, one at each end of the line of the lode or vein, and marking out the line between such posts. Upon each post should be marked the name of the claim, the name of the person locating and the date, also the number of feet lying t<» the right and to the left of the location line.

The claim shall be recorded with the Mining Recorder for the district in which it is situated within fifteen days after the location thereof, if located within ten miles of the Recorder's office; one additional day will be allowed for such record for leery additional ten miles or fraction thereof. In the event of a claim being more than one hundred miles from a recorder's office, and situated where other claims fire beino-located, the locators, not less than five in number, may appoint a recorder, but if the latter fails within three months to notify the nearest Government Mining Recorder of his appointment the claims which he may have recorded will be cancelled.

The fee for recording a claim is $5.

An expenditure of not less than $100 in mining operations must be made on the claim each year, or a like amount paid to the Mining Recorder in lieu thereof. The survey of the claim, under proper instructions, will be accepted as expenditure during the year in which the survey is made. When $500 has been expended or paid in connection with a location the locator may, upon having a survey made, and upon complying with certain other requirements, purchase the land at the rate of $1 an acre.

The Minister of the Interior may grant a location for the mining of iron and mica, not exceeding one hundred and sixty acres in area, provided that should any person obtain a location which is subsequently found to contain a valuable mineral deposit other than iron or mica, his right to such deposit shall be restricted to the area prescribed for other minerals, and the remainder of the location shall revert to the Crown.

The Minister may also grant locations for the mining of copper in the Yukon Territory, each location to consist of an area not exceeding one hundred and sixty acres in a square block. 1 lie boundaries of each location shall be due north and south and due east and west lines, and not more than one area shall be granted to any one person within a district of ten miles. The grant of such location for the mining of copper shall not give to the grantee any right to any other minerals excepting minerals that are combined or mixed with copper or copper ore, but in no case shall it include free milling gold or silver.

The annual expenditure in mining operations on iron, mica and copper claims of excessive size shall he $200, and the fee for entry and renewal of such copper locations shall be $20.

The patent for a mineral claim in the Yukon Territory shall reserve to the Crown for ever the same royalty upon the products of the location as is provided or which may hereafter be provided in the case of placer mining claims in that Territory.

The collection of royalty, however, may be abolished on the gold produced from any quartz mining claim or group of such claims in respect of which a sufficient expenditure has been incurred within a given time in installing and putting into operation a suitable plant for milling or otherwise treating the ore, and provided such plant is capable of milling or otherwise treating not less than five ton's of ore per day for every claim in respect of which such plant is installed.

The output of copper from any mining location or group of locations will also be exempt from the payment of royalty, provided a sufficient expenditure has been incurred within a certain time in the erection of a smelter or other plant for the reduction of the copper or other metals in connection with such location or group of locations.

All the rights and privileges which were accorded a free miner under the quartz mining regulations may be exercised and enjoyed by any person of eighteen years of age or over without taking out a free miner's certificate.

Petroleum and Natural Gas.

The Minister of the Interior may reserve for an applicant, who has machinery on the land, to be prospected an area of 1.920 acres for such period as may be decided upon. Should the prospector discover oil or gas in paying quantities, and satisfactorily establish such discovery, an area not exceeding 610 acres, including the oil or gas well will be sold to him at the rate of $1 an acre, and the remaining 1.2S0 acres reserved will be sold at the rate of $3 an acre. The Minister may also make a preliminary reservation of a like area of land for a period of four months, for the purpose of allowing an applicant sufficient time to instal on the land the required machinery. A fee, of $100 shall be charged for such reservation. A royalty at such rate as may be specified by order in council will be levied and collected on the sales of the petroleum.

Disposal of Water for Power Purposes.

The Minister may grant for a term not exceeding twenty years the right to use the water from any stream or lake in the Yukon Territory for the purpose of generating power, and the right to transmit, sell or use the power so generated.

Prior to making application notice shall be posted for a period of sixty days at the point of diversion, at the place where the power plant is to be constructed, and in the office of the Mining Recorder. This notice should contain the name of the applicant, the name of the stream or lake, the point where water is to be returned to the stream or lake, the difference in altitude between the point of diversion and point of return, means by which power is to be generated, number of inches applied for, purpose for which power is required, locality where water is to be sold, and date of posting.

Upon satisfactory proof being furnished as to the posting of in nice, of the correctness of the statements made therein, and of the ability of the applicant to utilize the: power expeditiously; and upon a report from the Government Mining Engineer as to the volume of the unrecorded water available for diversion, a lease may be issued for such quantity as may be decided upon. The fees charged arc in proportion to the quantity diverted.

Coal Lands.

Coal mining rights, which are the property of the Crown, may he leased for a term of twenty-one years at an annual rental of $1 an acre. Not more than 2,560 acres shall he leased to one applicant.

Application for a lease shall he made to the agent of the district in which the rights applied for are situated, and the tract applied for shall he staked out by one or other of the following methods:—

(a) By planting at one angle of the tract applied for a post four inches square and standing not less than four feet above the ground, upon which shall be inscribed the angle represented, the name of the applicant, the date of the application, and the length and direction of the boundaries. The tract must be rectangular in form, and the boundaries must be duo north and south and cast and west lines. A description by metes and bounds of the tract applied for to be furnished with the application.

(b) If, however, the applicant desires to follow a coal seam the tract shall be marked by two posts of the above dimensions, bearing notices, placed one at each end on the line of the seam, and the location shall not exceed 21,120 feet in length. The line between the posts must be clearly marked.

The length of the tract staked shall not exceed four times the breadth. Notice of application shall be conspicuously posted on the tract applied for, and application shall be filed with the agent within thirty days after staking, accompanied by an affidavit showing that the requirements of the regulations have been complied with. Each application shall be accompanied by a fee of $5, and a plan showing the position of the tract, and a royalty shall be paid on the merchantable output of the mine at the rate of five cents per ton.

The lease shall include the coal mining rights only, but the lessee may be permitted to purchase whatever available surface rights may be considered necessary at the rate of $10 an acre.

Land.

Every person who is the sole head of a family, and every male who has attained the age, of eighteen years, shall be entitled to obtain homestead entry for 100 acres of agricultural land in the Yukon Territory. Entry shall not be granted for lands valuable for timber, and such entry shall not give the holder thereof any right to the minerals under the land.

Homesteads, when located on a water front, shall be marked by two legal posts, one at each end of the front boundary, and such frontage shall not exceed forty chain-. A homesteader shall take possession and commence residence on the land within three months from the date of entry, and at the expiration of two years, upon having a survey made and upon submitting evidence that he has resided on the land during the months of May, June, July, August, September and October in each year, and brought at least ten acres under cultivation and erected a habitable house thereon, he will be entitled to receive a patent for the land homesteaded.

Applications for lands for purposes other than agriculture should be made to the Crown Timber and Land Agent for submission to the Commissioner of the Territory, who is empowered to dispose of the same at a price varying from $1 to $10 an acre, one-half of tin1 purchase price being payable at the time of the sale and the balance in twelve months, with interest at live per cent. Such lands are sold subject to the minerals which may be found thereundqr, and if the land is at any time valuable as a townsite then the Government shall own absolutely one-third of the blocks of lots in such townsite, and the sale of such blocks will be b\ public auction.

Leases may also be obtained of lands for agricultural and other purposes.

Timber.

Permits may be granted by the Crown Timber and Land Agent, with the approval of the Commissioner of the Territorv, to cut timber within certain specified districts, upon payment of an office fee of $5 and dues on the timber cut at the rate $1 per thousand feet B.M., and of ten per cent ad valorem on the products of the berth not enumerated.

In such districts as the Commissioner may designate permits may also be issued to cut, free of dues, logs fur the erection of roadhouses and for firewood to be used therein.

Any person who is bona fide settled upon land which he is using for agricultural or grazing purposes may be granted a permit, free of dues, to cut such timber as he may require for use on his own land.

Grazing and Hay.

Leases of grazing lands may be issued for a term of ten years, at an annual rental of $100 per square mile. In unsurveyed territory the applicant shall mark one corner of the ground applied for by a legal post, and lay off the tract from such corner.

Leases of hay lands shall be for a term of ten years, at a rental of fifty cents an acre per annum. Permits to cut hay may also be obtained from the Crown Timber and Land Agent, upon payment of a fee of $2.00 and dues at the rate of $3 a ton.

Water Fronts.

Leases of water fronts on rivers in the Yukon Territory may also be obtained upon application to the Commissioner. The term of the lease is fifteen years, and the rental varies from $1 to $6 per foot frontage according to the position of the tract sought to be leased.

SCHEDULE OF REPRESENTATION WORK UNDER SECTION 27 OF THE
YUKON PLACER MINING ACT TO TAKE EFFECT JANUARY 1, 1907.

Shaft Sinking.

For first ton foot in depth, $2 per running foot of dirt removed.
For second ten feet in depth, $4 per running foot of dirt removed.
For third ten feet in depth, $6 per running foot of dirt removed.
For fourth ten feet in depth, $8 per running foot of dirt removed.
Below forty feet in depth, $10 per running foot of dirt removed.

Tunnelling.

(a) In unfrozen ground, for first (25) twenty-five feet, $2 per running foot. Beyond 25 feet, $3 per running foot.
(b) In frozen ground, for first (25) twenty-five feet, $3 per running foot. Beyond 25 feet, $4 per running foot.

Drifting from Shaft.

(al In unfrozen ground, $2 per running foot.
(b) In frozen ground, $0 per running foot.

There shall be allowed in addition, Si per running foot for every ten feet in depth of the shaft from which the drift, is run.

Timbering.

In shaft, $3 per running foot.
In drift or tunnel, $2 per running foot.

Open-cutting.

(a) Ground sluicing, 25 cents per cubic yard of dirt removed.
(b) Stripping (by scraper) 50 cents per cubic yard of dirt removed.
(c) Hand shovelling, $1.75 per cubic yard of dirt removed.

Drilling.

Two dollars per foot in depth in unfrozen ground.
Four dollars per foot in depth in frozen ground.

Hydrauliclcing, Dredging and Steam Shovelling.

Fifty cents per cubic yard.

Unprovided Cases.

Other miner-like work for which special provision is not made shall be allowed for at the rate <»f $6.50 per day per man employed.