The Sun.
London, England, 1863-10-30 00:00:00

GOLD IN CANADA.

The following official correspondence has been
published at Quebec:
Department of Crown Lands, Quebec, Sept. 12, 1863.
Sir,—ln consequence of the extensive discoveries of
gold, which is alleged are now being made on the Chaudiere
and its tributaries, and the frequent applications to this
department for licences, &c., I am desirous of ascertaining
officially the truth of these reports, and also the circum-
stances under which these applications are being made,
with a view to the adoption of such now regulations as the
interests of the Crown and the development of the mineral
resources of that ;region may seem to require. You will,
mining districts and report to me
Yoof gold, and the position,
your attention will be given
e thesp: therefore,caicatlulya actual
oisstiratetpteho
reoteigdao
fflda
indicationsisr.
nature, and extent of the mining operations now going on,
whether in the seigniories or on the lands of the Crown.
I remain, &c., Wet, MeecnouGama Commis-
sioner of Crown Lands.
F. T. Judah, Esq., Clerk of Crown Domain, &c., Quebec.
Department of Crown Lands, Jesuits' Estates and
Crown Demain Branch, Quebec, Sept. 26, 1863.
Sir,-- I have the honour to state that, in conformity with
your instructions of the 12th inst., to visit and report on the
Chaudiere gold mining district, I left this city on the 14th,
on my way to the locality, and reached the village of St.
Joseph, on the banks of the Chaudiere, and in the seig-
niory of St. Joseph, on the evening of that day.
On the following morning I proceeded to the adjacent
parish of Francois, calling on the road at the residences of
two of the brothers Poulin, to whom I shall hereafter refer,
and passing the River des Piantes, which falls into the
Chaudiere from the east, arrived about noon at the river
called Touffe des Pins, or Gilbert, in the same parish of St.
Ropigaud Vaudreuill, where I under-
stooderations were going on.
rifiynrisontigcalled Touffe des Pins from the loca-
FrTanhcistohilssl atsgerioigivdniirmo,
loca-
lity where it reaches the Chaudiere, has been re-named
Gilbert, after the person whose daughter first found gold
therein some 30 years ago. The old man Gilbert, now some
60 or 70 years of age, still lives near the mouth of the river
and I learned from his own lips a recital of the story :—lt
appears that the daughter, in leading a horse to water one
morning, found lying in the stream what she supposed to
be a yellow pebble of about the size of a pigeon's egg; her
father, anxious to learn what it was, gave it to some one
coming to Quebec, and the jewellers here pronounced it to be
gold. Old Gilbert parted with it for 40 dole., a sum appa.
rently much below its value. Encouraged by the discovery,
he made searches, and on several occasions found more gold,
but not any considerable amount. The seigniors of the seign-
iory, the Dr. Lery family, in consequence of these discove-
ries, and the indications which presented themselves, applied
for and obtained from Government, per letters patent of Sept.
18, 1846, an exclusive mining privilege for the precious
metals for ever within the limits of the seigniory in question,
subject to certain conditions, and among others, the payment
of a Royalty of 10 per cent on the gross produce,which con-
ditions it appears have never been complied with. It does
not seem that the seigniors ever carried on any considerable
operations themselves, and in 18.51, they leased, subject to
a per centage, their rights over the whole seigniory to Dr.
James Douglas and others of Quebec. Dr. Douglas eventu-
ally because solely interested in this lease, and under it
mining operations were carried on by him and others under
sub-leases, at different times and at more than one place, as
I will hereafter show, Dr. Douglas's lease expires Sept. 1,
1864, and was transferred in consideration of the sum of
3,000 dols., about the middle of July last, to a company com-
posed of Messrs. Hans, Hagens, and others, also of this city,
who are now mining on the Gilbert, as hereafter mentioned.
These last named parties have likewise leased from the
seigniors a further similar lease of 15 years, for which they
have agreed to pay 8,000 dols., 2,000 dols. of which have
been given in cash. Both of these leases are made expressly
without any guarantee on either part. The present opera•
tions on the Gilbert were brought about in the following
manner : —lt appears that one of the three brothers of the
name of Poulin, who have been for some years past engaged
in mining for themselves and others, with more or less suc-
cess, having discovered this mine last fall, imparted the in-
telligence to the other two brothers, and about the end of
May last they commenced operations ; the news having
spread others joined them, and there have been from seven
or eight to 100 or 150 men engaged ever since. Many left
from time to time to attend to their field duties, to be re-
placed by others.
When I visited the mine I should judge that there were
not over 100 men engaged altogether.
Having proceeded to the mine in question upon the river,
in the third range, east of the Chaudiere, called De Lery
Concession, and on lots Nos. 19, 20, 21, and 22, belonging
respectively to persons of the name of Rodrigues, Loubier,
Villieux, Grondin, and Poulin, I found extensive mining
operations for gold in progress. The river, which falls into
the Chandier about one mile and a half to the south, crosses
these lots, each three arpents wide, nearly at right angles.
The stream at high water is here about loft. or 20ft. wide,
but now, from the dryness of the season, is very inconsider-
able. On Foulin's lot (22), and Grondin's (21), no works are
in progress, and they are in no way occupied by the miners,
with the excvt.on of a sluice which crosses part of the firsts,
where the river is dammed, and the whole of the latter, and
which serves to convey water for the operations carried on
by Messrs. Hagens and Co., who are prosecuting works on
Villieux's lot (20). Upon this lot the sluice terminates, and
it is here that the gravel and stone are washed, and the gold
extracted therefrom. The lower part of the sluice (which is
altogether about five arpents long, and sauce 18 inches wide,
and the same in depth), is fitted up with three false bottoms,
each 10ft. long, composed of strips of wood placed length-
wise with openings between; the gravel and stone being
thrown in from trenches dug at the sides of the sluice is
washed clean by the water, the fine sand and gravel and the
gold sinking in the openings, and the coarser stones being
raked out; once a day, in the evening, the bottoms are re-
moved, and the water being partially turned off, the sand
and gravel are carried away, and the gold remains behind,
the finest sand is caught in a pan at the foot of the sluice
and washed by hand, while care is taken to catch any gold
which may escape, by small pieces of wood placed across
the flume, which carries off the water at the end of the
Sluice. The depth of water in the sluice is about two
inches, and the leakage from the dam is trifling. The fall
is about 10 feet in five arpents, and about 1 foot in 15 or 20
at the end of the sluice. Messrs. Hagens and Co. have
also in operation a long tom, the only one I saw in use
there, and which consists of a box or trough, in which the
gold is washed by water from the sluice. They arc working
on shares, in partnership with two persons of the names of
Brock and Purceval, who receive one-half of the proceeds
on payment by them of the expenses. On my second visit
to the mine t saw, at 6 in the evening, the gold collected at
the foot of the sluice for that day, and it amounted to some
12 dols. or 15 dole.; but Mr. Purceval showed me the pro-
ceeds of the day previous, among which were several large
pieces, am ,unting• altogether to some 50 dole., and he ad-
mitted that the average yield had exceeded 30 dole, per day.
I am disposed to believe that the average return may be a
good deal larger. Five men were employed ; wages 80
cents. per diem, without board, which, it must be ad-
mitted, is a very moderate rate for gold-diggings. On
Lubier'a lot, the north half of 19, nothing at all is now being
done ; a few pits have been sunk, in some cases to the depth
merely of three or four feet, and in others down to the bed
rock; but the whole has been abandoned for the apparently
more lucrative workings on the adjoining lands. It is upon
Rodrigues' lot, the south half of 19, that the greatest extent
of work is going on ; pits have been sunk in every direction
in the bed and on the sides of the river, and miners are at
work by the dozens in excavating and washing. The exca-
vating is done by pick and shovel, and the earth and stone
is carried in pans or boxes to the edge of the river, where it
is washed in the cradles or rockers. From four to ten men
are engaged in each pit—one being employed in rocking, one
in supplying the water, and the others in digging and carry-
ing the gravel and stones to the cradle. The rocker or cradle
consists of a box about four feet long, 18 inches wide, and
one foot high, pieced on rockers, one end being fitted up with
a movable box of about six inches deep, fitted on the top of
the cradle, the bottom of which box is perforated with small
holes, the bottom of the cradle is also fitted up with a couple
of small cross 'pieces to catch the fine sand and gold. The
stone and gravel being thrown into the box, the cradle, which
is slightly raised at the upper end, is set going, one man
constantly supplying water, and the small gravel and gold
being detached from the larger stones fall to the bottom,
the larger pieces of gold being extracted w;th the hand, and
the smaller ones washed out of the sand in a small pan in
the stream. No washing is being done with a pan other
than that I have stated. The pits (called claims) sunk on
Rodrigues' lot, and being dug or worked, when I visited
the mine, number some couple of dozen, there being about
GO or 75 men engaged hero altogether. To the depth of two
or three feet the surface is covered with a vegetable mould
or clay (earth), then follows a layer of gravel and sand, and
lastly a thickness of two or three feet of surface rock, con-
sisting of blue slate down to the bed rock, which is found
at about ten feet from the surfaco. It is in the gravel and
sand, and embedded in the slate, that the gold is found in
pieces and nuggets varying from the size of about a quart._ r
of a grain upwards, the largest piece yet found being 11 oz.
It is only
when the washing and cleansing operation is
completed that the gold is seen. It fs represented to be
23 carats, but I think this is a mistake, for the finest which
has been discovered in the Chandiere sliettict, submitted
to test, is 892-1,000, and no doubt the first named propor-
tion is a mere approximate calculation; the gold is, how-
-1 ever, beautifully pure and clean and of a deep colour. The
indications of the quartz from which it hat been detached
is visible in nearly every piece, The alloy is silver. I
saw no very fine or flour golf!, hor was any visible with an
ordinary
magnifying glass. Notwithstanding this, it may
still exist,but it must be in infinitesimal particles intermixed
with the fine ennd, requiring the aid of quicksilver, of which
none is now being made use of at the mine, to collect It.
From May till the middle of July some of the miners paid
Dr. Douglas, the lessee from the seigniors as before-men-
tioned, a percentage of their gross returns, that of the Pou•
1 (mlii
oni.nehawnnagi
having
with,
8,31, t;gomodt
iaronkiuggenunoteni ,pn,
possession
andhs
aseleoos
nswwieonhtneoo owner
(t:hdeo:..
pie_soo
ufi.i tln 83
Messrs.alro et s i
aw
Hagensh er e
atnh partner-
shipand
....aStle'd lot, car -
'' - Nov. principally on Re-
nt-sing from
_ next to others,
150 to 25tt. square, at prices giv-
"id Claims to o 1 _ under their lease, sublet or