"RICHEST COLD MINE ON THE EARTH."

Taranaki Daily News, Volume XLVII, Issue 81891, 20 November 1906, Page 4

"RICHEST COLD MINE ON THE EARTH."

Uinniprg. Sipti ruber u> 1 lie gr>... lOveiy .1 gild on .lie i'lacc Kivei in A iialiasca w.e, made .. a c0...k, w.,0-1 1-ui. -Sity v.;n ali' itted l>> the yI- am it nit tai in a nark. Mr j. A. .MclJmm.il. int auei of liie p.ley to waicb die cook wav ae.nni'd. ha- just ainveii liete, anil dec aiii tuai. tilt* strike wlit puivc 011 c of the nclicst depo-its oi gold in the world. The pai.y has been absent far neatly two ycais 011 an exploJng expedition. Tliey went iu suivey s.me four and a haif million acres of land tor the Dominion el 'verument.

laty btiuck the gold d posit >rf one of the una l terraces of the Peace river goige. When the cock hist ,au traces of the metal, the bed it the sla e -hale was investigated, ami aas lound .0 be heavily piegnaied nit.; flour g" Id, The precious metal i* quite visible to the naked eye, so thickly i 5 i. studded 1,1 tin- specimens brought back. These are expected ■o yield an extraordinary high asjay. The gold-bearing bed is 100 to 150 feet thick, and is eight mile- long. The gravel bed above it. is only 25 feet deep, so that mining will be an xceedingly simp'e matter.

The party al-o found traces of irjn nr-ar the British Columbia boundary, which were not investigated, and vast quantities of coal of a semianthracite nature. The scams ouierepjied for ten miles near the I'uie liver and ex ended 600 feet below he surface. The only means for reaching the Peace river at present is by rail from Winnipeg to Edmonton, thence bv waggon t:> Athabasca Landing. Ihence to Lasser Slave Lake by Hud--on Bay steamer, a distance of 200 miles, antl from the Lake 10 the cYace river by Indian trail for apnroximately too mi es. Once the river is reached, it is pos•s'ble to get up or down it by Hud-on !Jay York boat or steamer. Owing to ■hi force of the current, however, in :hc up journey the boats have to be 'tacked/' The term Peace River Valley is a misnomer. The river actually flows hrough a deep gorge cut down from he prairie surface to a d'pth of 700 0 Soo feet, with a width at the botoin of 1200 to 1500 feet, and in iverage width an top of two miles. On the slopes there are frequently small terraces between the top of the oank and the water, but in a dis\ince of'Soo miles between Fori St John and Vermillion there wouid be but eighteen miles square in all these erraces put together. The land on either side is arable,

ind covered with spruce and willow, except in the mountainous regions. The party grew all sorts of vegeables in the summer of igo4, even tirns and beans maturing. Their potatoes weighed from three ,'o six pounds each.