Owned by the War Eagle Consolidated Mining & Development Co., Limited, of Toronto, Ont. Capital $2,000,000, divided into 2,000,000 shares of $1 each. The total output of this mine to 31st January, 1900, has been 131,976 tons of ore, of a gross assay value of $2,646,612. The sum of $545,000 has been distributed as profits. During 1900 the mine shipped 10,278 tons. This was shipped prior to the disturbance in labor conditions in March, 1900. During the rest of the year the mine has been undergoing development. The main shaft was 1,307 feet deep at 1st February, 1901.
Owned by the Centre Star Mining Company, Limited, of Toronto. Ont. Capital $3,500,000, divided into 3,500,000 shares of $1 each. The Centre Star is the eastern extension of the Le Roi, and the workings in the two mines are connected. The mine has been very extensively developed to a depth of 431 feet, measured on the vein. The total amount of ore produced up to 30th September, 1900, was 31,121 dry tons, averaging $17.06, smelter's gross assay value. The amount of ore shipped during 1900 was 40,875 tons, active shipments having been resumed during the last quarter of the year. Up to 1st January, 1901, $70,000 have been distributed in dividends. The mine is under the same general management as the War Eagle.
Owned by the Iron Mask Mining Company, Limited, of Spokane, Wash. Capital $500,000, divided into 500,000 shares of $1 each. The Iron Mask is the eastern extension of the War Eagle. It has been under slow, steady development for a number of years. The expense of development has been largely met from the receipts of ore sold. No dividends have as yet been paid. During 1900, 2,739 tons were shipped.
In
addition to the properties mentioned, many others in the Rossland belt have been and are under development, and some have made small shipments from time to time. It is not improbable that the productive area will meet with considerable en- largement as development work and underground exploration go on. Mention should also be made of the Velvet mine, on Sophie Mountain which, although it is not in the Rossland belt, is usually associated with it. This property has been ex- tensively developed by the London company which owns it.Properly speaking, the Slocan District includes that tract of country enclosed by Lakes Kootenay and Slocan, the Slocan River, and the height of land or divide at the mouth, an area of 40 miles from east to west, and about 75 from north to south. This naturally circumscribed territory lies within the silver-lead zone of the province, and has probably the greatest producing capabilities in that respect of any similar area on the continent. To a considerable extent the geology of the district disappoints the "old-time" miners of other countries, who have operated silver-lead mines. The lower granite or granitoid rocks, pushed up through the metamorphosed stratified, mostly slate, formations of later periods occupy much at the entire area, though they differ in sections, in appearance and color. Many of them are gray, others are characterized by mica, and frequently with hornblende. In some portions appear the coarse porphyry with twined feldspar and crystals. From appearances the granites are intrusive and of a later age than the stratified rocks though much changed in contacts. The accumulations throughout bear evidence of immense pressure in the upheavals of ages past that formed the mountain ranges of the entire west coast of America.
The metal is found in fissures or veins in the rocks, which run diagonally across the hills, with more or less regularity, often to the tops and down the other sides, but following no apparent rule at uniformity. As far as operations of late days go, the evidences show these metal-filled seams go to an unknown depth. As far as explorations have been made in depths, they are found and may extend to the bottom of the entire crust. It will remain for shaft operations from the lowest levels to throw light on this important matter. In this district the "strikes" or directions of the fissures across the country are altogether determined by the course of the mountain ranges. In some places, owing to the irregularity at width, they wholly disappear in "pinch-outs," and in other places they are of great width, forming what are technically called "chutes." These "pinch-outs" are a puzzle to inexperienced mining men, and have, in this district, been the cause of much loss of money to many and of gain to others. Often when encountered, the properties have been thrown up as useless, only to be taken up by others extending the tunnels, and striking the metal again. Width at fissure is to some extent characteristic of locality and almost always of quality of ore, the narrower seams carrying the higher grades at metal. Around Ainsworth, for instance, the seams are of great width and the metal at lower grade; while, on Reco Mountain, the Reco, some seams are good enough and other seams are very narrow, and the metal is at the highest grade.
The great drawback at the district for some time was the lack of shipping facilities, but now, in the branches at the C. P. R., the Kaslo & Slocan Railway, and the very superior boats an the lakes bordering the district, in connection with the roads, the requirements of the district are very fully met.
The
district, too, is well supplied with business houses, furnishing every con- venience and accommodation for the settler that is possessed by older communities. The towns of Kaslo, Sandon, Three Forks, Ainsworth, New Denver, Silverton, Whitewater and Slocan, having from 200 to 2,000 of a population, have large stores carrying all necessary supplies, first-class hotels, water and light systems, and all other modern facilities for doing business.As intimated above, the Slocan is a typical mining district, Along the river banks and lake shores there are a few patches of land suitable for market gardening cattle ranching etc., but these are insignificant as compared with the distinctive mining aspects of the country as a whole. The history of the district shows that it is essentially the poor man's country. The largest property in the district, the Payne, was but a few years ago bought for a very small sum; and many other properties that may yet be paying properties can now be bought at a moderate price and worked by men of very moderate means. All work in the district is done on the tunnel system, there being no shafts of any importance. The mining industry in the Slocan has developed under many disadvantages. At first progress was slow, owing to lack of railway communication. After the advent of railways came the slump in the value of silver and lead. Next followed labor troubles, the consequences of which were felt for over a year; and next the refusal of the American smelter and refinery trust to handle the ores, and, being without Canadian facilities to treat it, another year of unsatisfactory results followed. In the face of all these difficulties, however, the industry has gone steadily on, until it is now one of the most important in the Canadian list. Values in all the Slocon properties are chiefly in silver and lead, varying from 300 ounces of the former and 70 per cent of lead to 50 ounces of silver and 10 per cent, of lead. It may be, however, noted that in nearly all properties, under a law of compensation, where the silver runs low the lead runs high, and vice versa, thus giving all properties, one way or the other, a paying output.
Although, as far as work has gone, the mines around Sandon, the centre of the district, have given the best results for the expenditure, it is difficult to even anticipate what the future may bring forth. Ground that has been for years walked over as unpromising has lately produced properties that are taking a high rank.