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Report on Pine Creek (N.G.E. Ltd.), Atlin Mining Division.
Vancouver: Northern Goldfields Exploration Limited, 1933. 4to (11.25” x 8.75”) brown stock pocket-folder covers, typed paper title piece at front cover, metal brad binding. [1 p. index], 24, 5, [33] (1 p. inserted between pp. 31 and 32), [1], 50 pp. typed on onion skin, 61 b&w photos, 5” x 3.125”, mounted with black corners and captioned in type below images, lacking two photos. 1 p. TLS, dated 21 Sept. 1936, from Norman Terry to J. P. Porter, Esq., laid in. CONDITION: Very good, some wear to covers and slight chipping and tears (.5” to 1”) to margins of some leaves, not affecting text or images; photos very good, rich tonality. An apparently unrecorded typescript report—richly illustrated with captioned, original photos—on the mining possibilities of Pine Creek in British Columbia, issued by a placer mining firm some thirty years after the region’s initial boom on the heels of the Klondike Gold Rush. Although gold had been discovered the Pine Creek Valley as early as 1857, it was not until the Klondike Gold Rush began to wain—and thousands of miners began searching for new riches—that the valley, and the surrounding Atlin District, would become known as one of the richest gold mining regions of British Columbia. The report offered here, compiled by W. L. Sheeler of Northern Goldfields Exploration Limited (N.G.E. Ltd.) in 1933, details the mining history of the Atlin region from the 1890s to the time of writing, as well as Pine Creek Valley transportation (accessible to Atlin by “a good gravel road” etc.); climate (“No frozen ground is encountered…consequently no thawing is necessary and the ground is ideal for hydraulic purposes”); property (including lists of leases “taken over from the Discovery Mining and Power Company” and “located by” N.G.E., as well as various mineral claims, buildings, etc.); buildings (“Several log cabins…sufficient to accom[m]odate 12 to 16 men”); water rights (including infrastructure); lode possibilities, and concluding analyses and recommendations regarding the profitability of placer mining in the area. These sections include estimates for specific projects and labor as well as other cost considerations—all calculated on the cost of gold “figured at $18.66 per ounce.” The report concludes that, “With the small amount of preliminary work necessary to put the property into production at an early date…the proven creek area should net good returns on the small capital invested…”). An earlier, undated and anonymous report, “found by the writer among the old records found” in the ghost town of Discovery City, is also reproduced “as a matter of record.” The captioned photos primarily document views along Pine Creek; including “virgin” areas near Atlin and above the Stephendyke Bridge; hydraulic workings near Atlin and elsewhere; numbered holes (drilled “to determine the length of the gold in paying quantities”); and other landmarks (“By-Pass Dam,” “Panama Canal,” etc.). One view shows the sprays of water issued by a “Blast from ‘mud capping’” and another is captioned: “D[rilled].H[ole]. No.23. Note canyon. It is here that the Old Miners were unable to reach bed rock due to the inability of their equipment to handle the water.” A view of “Stephendyke Bridge looking up-stream” shows an area where “individual miners were unable to reach bedrock…note high rim rock near bridge. Good gold values are reported to have been ‘sniped’ from this rim rock. In the center foreground the individual Miners had a ‘long wingdam’, were unable to reach bedrock but reported ‘good prospects’, this is heresay [sic] information but the source is considered reliable.” A few images include men at work, and several shots show Discovery City, including the erstwhile blacksmith’s shop, bunkhouses, and more. Northern Goldfields Exploration Limited was incorporated in December of 1932, and took over the assets of the Discovery Mining & Power Co. Among the company’s first actions was a “drilling campaign,” which “proved up more than a mile and a half of economic placer ground” (“Atlin Gold District Busy”). Controlled by J. P. Porter (a prominent Portland, Oregon contractor) and directed by mining engineer W. L. Sheeler (who was also a key player in the firm Norgold Mines, Ltd.), N.G.E. Ltd.’s Pine Creek project became the largest hydraulic mining operation in the region. A typed letter, signed by one Norman Terry and dated from Atlin three years after the report, addresses J. P. Porter and suggests interest in acquiring the Pine Creek placer holdings. No copies recorded in OCLC. A rich and visually engaging portrait of preliminary gold placer mining activity in one of the most lucrative regions of British Columbia in the early 1930s. REFERENCES: “Atlin Activity,” The Vancouver Sun, March 12, 1934, p. 17; “Atlin Gold District Busy,” The Vancouver Sun, April 21, 1934, p. 11; “Atlin Mining Division,” British Columbia Department of Mines : Bulletin No. 1, 1931 : Placer Mining in British Columbia (Victoria, B.C.: Printed by Charles F. Banfield, 1931), pp. 23–24.
Item #9464
Price: $1,250.00
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