PAGE Alz, THE HERALD, Wednesday, April 6, 1977

Mr. Giggey’s knowledge
of the area in the early days
goes back to very early
mining operations in the
region. The following is the
first of four articles dealing
with such mining
operations.

Exciuding the early
placer mining which took
place prior to 188, the
following is, to the best of
the writer’s knowledge, a
short history of beth placer
and lode mining in the areas
now known as Skeena and
Omineca Mining Districts.

Starting with the Dry Hill
Mining Co. at Lorn Creek
during the years .prior to
1901 and the following 10
years.

This company, as_ the
name Dry Hill implies,
centered on an ancient
stream bed some 200 feet
above the present Lorn
Creek and approximately
one mile upstream from the
Skeena River.

The Dry Hill operators,
after testing the ground,
decided on an extensive
placer operation. Hydraulic
was a well known method
and required an abundance
of water with a high factor
of pressure.

The company did a survey
of Torn Creek and this
survey determined that by
going upstream to the forks,
a distance of approximately
two miles, and constructing
a dam this would provide
the desired vertical drop to
bring the water to the
minesite.

First of all, a tote road
was slashed out from the
Skeena River boat landing
to the damsite. Over this
road a water-powered
sawmill was hauled in. After
building the dam this mill
sawed the plank and tim-
bers required for building
the flume. It goes without
saying that horses were
used to deliver logs from
woods to mill and for all
movement of supplies.

The outlet gate at the foot
of the dam was constructed
so as to regulate the amount
of flow lo the fiume or to
shut the flow entirely. The
flume size was four by four
feet and started at this
control gate. The first
section was constructed and
then just enough water was
allowed in the flume to float
the plank and timbers for
the next section. This
method was continued
section by section from dam
to minesite.

It is well to note that the
terrain was, from dam to
minesite, very rugged and
in many places the flume
was secured to nearly
vertical rock faces which
presented a vertical drop of
nearly 100 feet.

Some time during the
1930s the writer, ac-
companied by my good
friend, Thos. Presby Sr.,
viewed for himself the
remaining portions of this
flume and marvelled to see
the way it was secured to
these vertical rock faces.
Naturally there were some
sections where the flume
base only required hand
grading on dirt or gravel
hillsides, but all in all it was
an engineering feat to bring
the water at a scant water
grade and have a vertical
drop of 60 or more feet from
penstack to monitor.

According to information
available, the cost of getting
the waler to minesite was
$250,000 and in those days
that was “a lol of hay”.
Work on this property was
continued until the G.T.P.
Railway was surveyed,
After construction was
started on the railway
grade, the railway
engineers complained thal
the Lailings from the placer
mine were flooding the
grade so this duomed the
hydraulic mining on this
property.

“Nearly everybody shops
at IRLY Bird" and that is
why Al & Mac, your Prince
Rupert and Terrace IRLY
Bird Stores insist upon their
staff being friendly, helpful,
and most of all, happy to
represent IRLY Bird in
their respective locations.
Al & Mac isn't really looking
for more customers even
though they welcome them;
all they try to dois look after
you and you who drop in
month after month. But
then,

“Nearly everybody shops

-fat Al & Mac’’ and there must

be a reason.

A p

Mr. George Little, or
Terrace fame, told the
writer that one of his first
jobs on the Skeena in 1905
was flume walker on this
mining operation. This job,
as George explained it, was
to walk this flume from
penstock to intake, several
times daily. This precaution
to observe any faults or
leaks which might. occur,
also to make ‘sure that no
debris lodged in the flume
which might obstruct the
free flow of water. George
chuckled when teeling of
this job, saying “By Gad,
there weren’t too many men
capable of walking the two
by twelve on top of the flume
with the water rushing
under you and in some
places a long drop if you lost
your balance.”

_ It is reported that the first
“cleanup’' netted the
company just*over one
quarter million dollars,
which amount just about
offset the initial cost. An
engineer’s report in later
years stated that the
remaining area of this
ancient streambed could
conceivably contain
$600,000. This report was
based on the old price of
gold at $35. Al today’s gold

valuation this Figure could-

assume to be $1,800,000.

Another major placer
operation was conducted
just above the first canyon
on’ Gold Creek (now
Kleanza). The two majors in
this project were Lee
Bethurem anda man named
St. Marie.

Briefly, this project en-
tailed the daming of the
creek about one half mile
above the canyon and the
building of a flume large
enough to carry the entire
creek flow. This flume
fulfilled two purposes,
namely, to remove the
water from the area to be
worked and also to deliver
thislarge volume of water to
a 400 H.P. low head turbine.
This turbine was anchored
to solid rock at the upper
end of the canyon. This
turbine delivered power by
a four foot, six ply leather
belt toa high pressure pump
which furnished the water
under high pressure for the
hydraulic monitor.

All of this extremely
heavy equipment was
shipped upriver to Kitselas
via sternwheeler and horse
hauled to the creek. The life
of this effort was from 1909
to late 1913.

There wasn't much in-

The Glynns needed a mortgage to open the door.

formation about the
financing but it was
assumed that St. Marie was
the financier. Another name
connected with this difficult
project was Dick Adams,
who, the writer surmises
was the mechanical brains
of the company.

At any rate, after all this
strenuous endeavor, I was
informed by Lee Bethurem,
that once they had
hydrauliced to bedrock they
found it, using Lee’s words:
“As smooth as the bottom of
a porcelain bath tub.”’ And,
as he said, there was no
earthly chance of gold in
quantity lodging on this
smocth bedrock.

So ended an abortive try
for the elusive ‘gold’.

Mr. St. Marie faded from
the picture but Bethurem
and Adams figured
prominently in sawmilling,
as related in the ‘‘History of
Terrace’’ by Nadine Asante.

Taking a fairly long step
in both time and distance,
the years of 1920 to 1925 saw
considerable activity in
individual placering at
Douglas Creek, which flows
into Kalum Lake at
Rosswood.

The names which appear
prominently in the writer's
merhory are, first of all,
Frank Nitewine and his wife
and her brother, Mr. Shaw.
Nitewine’s placer claim was
located in the first canyon
about one and three quar-
ters mile upstream from
Rosswood. I visited him
several times during his
years on the claim. Frank
showed me some of the gold
he was recovering. The gold
was ‘nuggety” (a good omen
in any placer operation).
The gald varied in size from
afullounce to penny weight.

Frank said if he could only
get rid of the creek water
which would allow a cleanup
of bedrock he was sure there
was a fortune there. As it
was his recovery was on rim
rock and this only at low
stage of water, All told he
worked this claim for five or
six years until a tragic
accident occured. A falling
rock killed his wife’s brother
and this put an end to his
mining venture.

The three Bruce brothers,
Donald, Angus and Alec,
better known as ‘Sandy’,
were holding claims at the
lower end of the canyon.
They had been trying for
some time to work these
claims with negative results
and as Donald explained to

.me, they needed to build a

Happiness. To the Howard L. Glynns
it was a 6-raom. three-bedroom, bun-
galow with enough property for two
youn children and one very large dog,
Niagara knows a lot about the Glynn's
kind of happiness. We also know a lot

_NIAGARA/

Fonseca :

They

t action.

The history of mining

flume 300 feet long:and large
enough to carry all of the
creek water,

This. flume would need to
be eight feet wide with side
walls four feet high. As
Donald explained, if I would
supply the plank, timbers,
spikes, nails, etc. they would
haul the material to the
claims. (No small job, 16
miles from my mill at four
mile to the south end of
Kalum Lake, raft the stuff
eight miles to Rosswood,
then go devil from
Rosswood to the claims.)
For my part I would have
one quarter of the recovered
gold. I had plenty of lumber
but dam little money so it
looked like a pretty fair
deal.

Quoting the old adage -
“Man proposes but God

‘disposes” - they finished the

flume, wing dammed the

creek and by late fail

started sluicing. On the
evening of the flash flood
they retired to their cabin
which was located near the
north bank of the creek.
They noted it was raining
quite hard, as it had been
most of the day but this
wasn’t unusual for late fall
weather.

As they related the story,
one of them woke up in the
middle of the night, hearing
a bloody awful racket, he
jumped out of his bunk and
landed with both feet in
water. He managed to light
a lantern and roused the
other two and by this time
the water was pouring into
the cabin, carrying gravel
and rocks with it. They
managed to salvage their
boots and clothing and
quoting - “They got to hell
out of there.”’

The rest of the night was
spent out in the’open and at
daylight they found the
cabin filled to within three
feet of the roof with sand,

-gravel and rocks, The

flume, together with all
tools and equipment, had
completely disappeared.
They were so discouraged
they didn’t try to salvage
anything from the cabin.
Needless to say, they wrote
‘finis’ to this venture,

Over the years there have
been a number of in-

dividuals who have tried.

their luck on Douglas with
very nominal financial
success. Among them, the
writer who has held three
half mile leases since 1946.

Douglas is a coarse gold
bearing stream, to wit,
Nitewine and two men

_ by CLM. Giggey

which I picked up at the top
of Spring Hill. 1 was headed
for town with a load of
lumber and when I asked,
they were glad to get a lift.
They each had heavy packs
which they placed behind
the cab and got in the cab
with me and said they had
hiked it in from the north
end of Kalum Lake. After
travelling for a few minutes,
the one sitting next to me
asked if I'd like to see a fair-
size nugget. Of course, the
answer was obvious, The
nugget was shaped like a
small pancake, about‘ two
inches across and one
quarter inch thick.

They said they had
worked like dogs for several
months on Douglas Creek
and this nugget, together
with about two ounces in a
bottle, was all they had to
show for the months of hard
labour. I asked if they in-
tended to go back and the
answer was “No dam
chance’. I did hear that the
nugget weighed in at a little
better than five ounces.

- This, together with the other

two ounces, seven ounces at
$35 per ounce would net
them $245 return for several
months of hard work.

One more sidelight on.

placering, Bill Elder, a
painter and paper hanger by
trade, and a very good one,
decided to try diving for
gold on Gold Creek. Bill had
done the painting and paper
hanging on our house in
Terrace so I knew him quite
well. When I heard of this
diving venture 1 decided to
go and have a ‘look see’.
He had his tent camp set
up on the lower side of the
Gold Creek trail at about
five mile. The day of my
visit Bill wasn’t diving. I
asked if he was diving under
water alone with no one on
the surface in case of ac-

‘cident. Bill was very non-

commital, saying, “There
was no danger.” ‘Really”’.

Elder didn't offer any
information as to the gold he
was recovering and I knew
better than to ask.

One more fairly
auspicious project on Lorn
Creek was sponsored by Mr.
Thos. McCubbin. He held
placer claims adjacent to
the forks, just above where
the old Dry Hill had their

.dam and mill. Mr. Me:

Cubbin operated a general
store at Pacific and also a
small subsidiary store at
Doreen. This placer project
took place during the late
1920s and early 1930s. His

Niagara was their key.

about money, Thats our business.
Morlgage money to purchase a new
home, money for home improvements,
anew car. money to consolidate bills
or refinance an existing mortgage. If
what stands between you and a thing put a little money-into action.

Loans, Morigages, Sales financing.
Moncy inaction,

called happiness is a thing called
money, come in and sit down with (he
people you've come to know af Niag-
ara, We'll show you how sometimes
all it takes to be a little happier is to

_Some of these that come lo

‘later years on Douglas

pet plan was to drive a
tunnel through one of the
rock bluffs and divert the
creek through this tunnel.
The plan was never carried

through.
There was no doubt
many placer miners

throughout the Skeena and
Omineca Mining Districts
who carried on in their
lonesome, individual way.

mind, Kendall and my dad,
C.A. Giggey on Gold Creek
in the early 1900s. Also in

Creek, just to name a few,
Gendron and Coutier, the
Thompson Bros., and an
eccentric named Rice who
was reputed to have a
wealthy brother who
financed him. On Lorn
Creek, an elderly engro,
McDame, who claimed tobe
the first ‘white man’ on the
Skeena.

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