_District._ _Yield of Gold_
_per Ton of Quartz._
Stormont (Isaac's Harbor) 2 oz. 10 dwt. 0 gr.
Wine Harbor 10 " 6 "
Sherbrooke 1 " 7 " 0 "
Tangier 14 " 12 "
Montague 5 " 9 " 8 "
Waverley 9 " 11 "
Oldham 15 " 12 "
Renfrew 1 " 2 " 0 "
Ovens[P] 18 " 9 "
The difference in yield between the districts is here very considerable,
as it happens,--yet in the month of October the average yield at Oldham
was 1 oz. 16 dwt, 20 gr., and at Renfrew 2 oz.; while for November it
was at Stormont 3 oz. 2 dwt. 12 gr., at Tangier 1 oz. 10 dwt, at
Waverley I oz. 3 dwt. 12 gr., and at Oldham 1 oz. 8 dwt. The _maximum_
yield per ton was 50 oz. at Wine Harbor, 12 oz. at Sherbrooke, 11 oz. 12
dwt. at Oldham, and 5 oz. 15 dwt. at Stormont, for the same period.
"The average yield," says Professor Chace, "per ton of quartz, of the
gold-fields of Nova Scotia will, it is believed, compare favorably with
that of either Australia or California, while some of the maximum yields
_indicate ores of unsurpassed richness_."
In regard to the best and most effectual methods of dressing and
amalgamating these rich ores, it seems to be conceded that the modes
hitherto in use in Nova Scotia have been very defective. Much larger
returns of gold are to be expected from the introduction of the new
processes, which scientific research is every day bringing to a greater
degree of efficiency in Colorado and California. The promoters of the
Nova-Scotia mining-enterprises, thanks to the skill and pains of their
scientific advisers, are fully awake to the importance of this vital
point. Pyrites--the mineral mixture so universally found with the gold
of this region--is well known to escape, or rather to resist, the
attraction of the mercury used in the amalgamating process, and it has
hitherto been allowed to pass away with the "tailings", or refuse from
the mills. When we state that it has been repeatedly shown to be from
ten to twelve per cent. of the components of the ore, and that by test
of the United-States Assay-Office its average yield is one hundred and
twenty-eight dollars to the ton,--and by the careful experiments of
Professor Silliman, at the Sheffield Laboratory in New Haven, it has
yielded even as high as two hundred and seventy-six dollars and
forty-nine cents to the ton,--the oversight and bad economy of its
waste will be sufficiently apparent. It may safely be estimated,
therefore, that the process of Dr. Keith, or some other equally simple
and efficacious method of extracting this hitherto wasted portion of the
precious metal from the accompanying sulphurets, will produce an amount
quite equal, at least, to the previous minimum yield. The effect of such
an increase in the returns will readily be appreciated by others besides
the merely scientific reader.
In regard to the capacity of the various mines for the regular supply of
quartz to the mills, it may be stated that ten tons daily is the average
amount fixed upon, by the different experts, as a reasonable quantity to
be expected from either of the well-conducted properties. Works of
exploration and of "construction", such as will hereafter be pointed
out, must, it is true, always precede those of extraction; but a very
moderate quartz-mill will easily "dress" ten tons of quartz daily, or
three thousand tons per annum, requiring the constant labor of thirty
men, as shown by the large experience already gained throughout the
Province. And this, says Professor Silliman, "is not a very formidable
force for a profitable mine,"--particularly when we consider that the
price of miners' labor in Nova Scotia rarely rises above the moderate
sum of ninety cents per day.
If the quartz cost, to turn its product into gold bars, as high as
twenty dollars a ton, there would be, says the same eminent authority,
"a deduction of one-fourth [as expense] from the gross gold-product. The
gold is about nine-hundred-and-sixty thousandths fine, and is worth, as
already shown, over twenty dollars per ounce. But the cost of the quartz
cannot be so much by one-half as that named above; and there is the
additional value of gold from the pyrites and mispickel, as well as
probably fifteen per cent, saving on the total amount of gold produced
by improved methods of working."
The reason why so little _alluvial_ gold is to be found throughout this
district may be very simply and concisely stated. It will be observed,
that the length of the gold-field lies mainly from east to west, while
its width from north to south is over a much less distance, and
therefore lies almost at right angles to the scouring and grinding
action of the glacial period. No long Sacramento Valley, stretching away
to the south and west of the quartzite upheavals, has here retained and
preserved the spoils of those long ages of attrition and denudation. The
alluvial gold has mostly been carried, by the action alluded to, into
the sands and beneath the waves of the Atlantic Ocean; and it is only at
the bottom of the numerous little lakes which dot the surface of the
country, that the precious metal, in this, its most obvious and
attractive form, has ever been found in any remunerative quantity in
Nova Scotia.
This statement brings us naturally to the consideration of another of
our opening positions, namely, that the gold of Nova Scotia is to be
successfully sought only under the application of the most scientific
and systematic methods of deep quartz-mining. That no pains nor expense
has been spared by the present promoters of these important enterprises,
in the very commencement of their mining-works, will perhaps be
sufficiently evident from the fact that no step has been taken without
the full advice and concurrence of the eminent mining authorities
already cited. A summary of the methods now employed for developing the
rich yield of these deposits may not be out of place in this connection.
The ill-considered system of allotting small individual claims, at first
adopted by the Colonial Government, was founded, probably, on a want of
exact knowledge of the peculiar nature of the gold-district, and the
consequent expectation that the experiences of California and Australia,
in panning and washing, were to be repeated here. This totally
inapplicable system in a manner compelled the early single adventurers
to abandon their claims, as soon as the surface-water began to
accumulate in their little open pits or shallow levels, beyond the
control of a single bucket, or other such primitive contrivance for
bailing. Even the more active and industrious digger soon found his own
difficulties to accumulate just in proportion to his own superior
measure of activity; since, as soon as he carried his own excavation a
foot or two deeper than his neighbor's, he found that it only gave him
the privilege of draining for the whole of the less enterprising
diggers, whose pits had not been sunk to the same level as his own. Thus
the adventurers who should ordinarily have been the most successful were
soon drowned out by the accumulated waters from the adjacent, and
sometimes abandoned, claims. Nearly all of these early efforts at
individual mining are now discontinued, and the claims, thus shown to be
worthless in single hands, have been consolidated in the large
companies, who alone possess the means to work them with unity and
success.
The present methods of working the lodes, as now practised in Nova
Scotia, proceed on a very different plan. Shafts are sunk at intervals
of about three hundred feet on the course of the lodes which it is
proposed to work,--as these are distinctly traced on the surface of the
ground. When these shafts have been carried down to the depth of sixty
feet,--or, in miners' language, ten fathoms,--horizontal _drifts_ or
_levels_ are pushed out from them, below the ground, and in either
direction, still keeping on the course of the lode. Whilst these
subterranean levels are being thus extended, the shafts are again to be
continued downwards, until the depth of twenty fathoms, or one hundred
and twenty feet, has been attained. A second and lower set of levels are
then pushed out beneath and parallel to the first named. At the depth of
thirty fathoms, a third and still lower set of levels will extend
beneath and parallel to the second. This work of sinking vertical
shafts, and excavating horizontal levels to connect them, belongs to
what is denominated the "construction of the mine", and it is only after
this has been completed that the work of mining proper can be said to
begin.
The removal of the ore, as conducted from the levels by which access to
it has thus been gained, may be carried on either by "direct" or by
"inverted grades,"--that is, either by breaking it up from underneath,
or down from overhead, in each of the levels which have now been
described,--or, as it is more commonly called in mining language, by
"understoping" or by "overstoping." When the breadth of the lode is
equal to that of the level, it is perhaps not very material which plan
be adopted. But when, as at Oldham, Montague, or Tangier, the lodes are
only of moderate-width, and much barren rock, however soft and yielding,
has, of necessity, to be removed along with the ore, so as to give a
free passage for the miner through the whole extent of the drifts, we
shall easily understand that the working by inverted grades, or
"overstoping," is the only proper or feasible method. In this case, the
blasts being all made from the roof, or "back," as it is called, of the
drift, the barren or "dead" rock containing no gold is left on the floor
of the drift, and there is then only the labor and expense of bringing
the valuable quartz itself, a much less amount in bulk, to the surface
of the ground. The accumulating mass of the dead rock underfoot, will
then be constantly raising the floor of the drift, and as constantly
bringing the miners within convenient working-distance of the receding
roof. In the case of "understoping," however, in which the blasts are
made from the floor of the drift, it will be perceived that all the rock
which is moved, of whatever kind, must equally be brought to the
surface, which entails a much greater labor and expense in the hoisting;
and gravity, moreover, instead of cooperating with, counteracts, it will
easily be understood, the effective force of the powder.
Such is a necessarily brief and condensed account of the novel and
interesting branch of industry which has thus been opened almost at our
very doors. The enterprise is as yet merely in its infancy, and will
doubtless for some time be regarded with incredulity and even distrust.
But if there be any weight to be attached to the clearest, most explicit
scientific and practical testimony, we must henceforth learn to look
upon Nova Scotia with an increased interest, and, perhaps a somewhat
heightened respect. The spies that came out of Canaan were not, at any
rate, more completely unanimous in their reports of the richness of the
land than the eminent persons who have been sent to examine the
auriferous lodes of our Acadian neighbors. If gold does not really exist
there, and in very remunerative quantities, it will be hard for us
henceforth to believe in the calculations of even a spring-tide, a
comet, or an eclipse.
"Up to the present time," (June, 1862,) says Lord Mulgrave, "there has
been no great influx of persons from abroad; and the gradual development
of the richness of the gold-fields is chiefly due to the inhabitants of
the country. Some few have arrived from the United States, and from the
neighboring Provinces; but they are chiefly persons destitute of
capital, and without any practical knowledge of mining-operations. This,
I fear, is likely to produce some discouragement, as many of them will
undoubtedly prove unsuccessful; and, returning to their homes, will
spread unfavorable reports of the gold-fields, while their failure
should more properly be ascribed to their own want of capital and
skill."
In contrast with this sensible prediction, and to show the very
different results of associated capital and labor noticed in the outset
of our remarks, we give the following on the authority of the
"Commercial Bulletin" of February 13, 1864:--
"At a meeting of the Directors of the St. Croix Mining Company, held on
the 14th ult., a dividend of _sixty per cent._, payable in gold, was
declared, and, in addition to this, a sum sufficient to work the claim
during the winter was reserved for that purpose."
The latest information from this highly interesting region is contained
in the Annual Report of the Chief Gold-Commissioner for the year 1863,
issued at Halifax on the 26th of January, 1864. The present incumbent of
this responsible office is Mr. P.S. Hamilton, of Halifax,--the former
Commissioner, Mr. Creelman, having gone out of service in consequence of
the change of Ministry which occurred in the early part of last year.
Mr. Hamilton's Report is singularly clear and concise, and exhibits
throughout a highly flattering prospect in all the Districts now being
worked, except that of Ovens,--the reasons for this exception being,
however, fully explained by the Commissioner. "Taking the average yield
at what it appears by these [official] tables," says Mr. Hamilton,
"_these mines show, a higher average productiveness than those of almost
any other gold-producing country, if, indeed, they are not, in this
respect, the very first now being worked in the world_. I may here
mention one fact affording increased hopes for the future, which
although unquestionably a fact, the exact measure of its importance
cannot well be shown, as yet, by any statistical returns. Excavations
have not yet, it is true, been carried to any great depth. Few
mining-shafts upon any of the gold-fields exceed one hundred feet in
depth; but, as a general rule,--indeed, in nearly every instance,--the
quartz seams actually worked have been found to increase in richness as
they descend." "The yield of gold to each man engaged during the year is
very much higher than has yet been attained in quartz-mining in any
other country."
Wine Harbor, almost at the eastern extremity of the peninsula, has, it
appears from this official statement, "the distinction of having
produced a larger amount of gold during 1863 than any other district in
the Province. During each one of five out of the last six months of the
year, it showed the highest maximum yield of gold per ton of quartz;[Q]
and on the whole year's operations it ranks next to Sherbrooke in the
average amount produced per man engaged in mining." In the table giving
the entire returns of gold for the year, the whole yield of the
Wine-Harbor mines is set down as 3,718 oz. 2 dwt. 19 gr.,--equal, at the
present price of gold in New York and Boston, to about $125,000 for the
twelve months,--certainly a very hopeful return for a first year's
operations. It is evident that the Commissioner regards this district
and the neighboring one of Sherbrooke, as specially entitled to his
consideration, for he continues,--"Here, as at Sherbrooke, gold-mining
has become a settled business; and the prospects of the district are of
a highly satisfactory character." But he adds, (p. 7,)--"From every one
of the gold-districts, without exception, the accounts received from the
most reliable sources represent the mining-prospects to be good, and the
men engaged in mining to be in good spirits,--content with their present
success and future prospects." To those who consider the accounts of
Nova-Scotia gold as mere myths we commend the attentive study of these
Government returns. "Miners' stories" are one thing,--but a certified
royalty from a staff of British officials, in ounces, pennyweights, and
grains, on the first day of each month, is, in our modest opinion, quite
another. They "have a way of putting things," as Sydney Smith expressed
it, which is apt to be rather convincing.
It would not be surprising, if so marked an addition to the resources of
a small, and not an eminently wealthy Province, had been productive, in
some degree, of excitement, idleness, and disorder. But we have reason
to believe that hitherto this has not been found to be the case. Lord
Mulgrave bears willing testimony to "the exemplary conduct of the
miners," and Mr. Creelman, the late Chief-Commissioner, is still more
explicit. "It affords me the highest satisfaction," he concludes, "to be
able to bear testimony to the orderly conduct and good behavior of those
who have hitherto undertaken to develop the resources of our
gold-fields. I have visited every gold-district in the Province twice,
and, with one or two exceptions, oftener, during the past season; I have
seen the miners at work in the shafts and trenches; I have noticed them
in going to and returning from their work, at morning, noon, and night;
I have witnessed their sports after the labors of the day were over; and
I have never heard an uncivil word nor observed an unseemly action
amongst them. And although the 'Act relating to the Gold-Fields'
authorized the appointment of a bailiff in every gold-district, it has
not been deemed necessary to make more than three such appointments,
and, with one single exception, no service from any of these officers
has been required.... It may be said, in general, that the respect for
law and order, the honest condition, and the moral sentiment which
pervade our gold-district, are not surpassed in many of the rural
villages of the country."
* * * * *