katchewan River the sand has given quite a profitable gold return, but no reef-mining has been attempted. There is now, however, a scheme afloat to treat the river sands on a large scale, and if the right men and the right machinery be employed there should be a good return for the money invested. Though it is true that dredging conditions in Canada are not the same as in New Zealand, there is not such a discrepancy as to excuse the fact that, whereas on the New Zealand streams the gravels can be treated profitably at 3 cents a cubic yard, in Canada double that amount seldom provides a profit.

Taking into consideration the unpleasant reminder that of the gold production of Canada only about a quarter is mined,-as opposed to washed,—and that the value of that quarter is only about $5,000,000, it will be seen that, at present, Canada is not a great gold-mining country. But, as has been said, the northern portion of the Dominion, except in a few isolated districts, has been scarcely scratched, and in many cases not even traveled by a white man, and there undoubtedly are fair chances of Canada one day becoming one of the world's large producers. It must not be forgotten that Dr. Rae found specimens of free gold to the northwest of Hudson Bay, and that Mr. A. P. Low, the Arctic explorer, now the Director of the Canadian Geological Survey, reports "large areas of undisturbed Tertiary sands and clays in the northern part of Baffin Island." He concludes that these would be favorable to the accumulation of gold deposits if the precious metal occurs in the underlying Laurentian and Huronian rocks."

THE SILVER OUTPUT,-COBALT AND EARLIER VENTURES.

Silver-mining in the Dominion has had many ups and downs, the "ups" now enjoying their second innings in the fabulous riches of Cobalt. The first good innings was in the days of what was known as the Thunder Bay, or Port Arthur, silver district. There the claims have long lain idle, though there is talk of refloating some of them. While the values lasted the district was as much of a wonder as Cobalt is now. Most of the miners at Cobalt have never heard of Silver Islet, the star mine of the Port Arthur District, and those who remember it would prefer to forget. This remarkable little mine, first worked (1868) by a Montreal syndicate, but afterward operated by capitalists in New York and Detroit, pro

duced over $3,000,000 worth of ore, of which about two-thirds was taken from one bonanza deposit. A great many mines were opened up. and a few of them paid dividends for a short time, but in almost every case the same calamity occurred,-namely, the rich values persisted in remaining on or near the surface, and the claims to-day, with one or two exceptions, lie covered with undergrowth, rotting in a wilderness.

Before the discovery of Cobalt, practically all the silver production in Canada of the last few years had been from British Columbia, and had amounted to only about $2,000,000 annually, but confident predictions place the 1907 output for Cobalt alone at $10,000,000, although more than double that amount will have to be shipped if a reasonable dividend is to be paid on the immense capitalization of the field.

On the future of Cobalt depends, to a large extent, the future of the great Huronian belt already mentioned. If the veins and the values are permanent or practically so, this hitherto almost unknown portion of the Dominion is destined to be the greatest silver producing belt on the continent. Even if the values average a depth of only 100 feet the wealth extracted will be enormous. It is on really reliable authority that the writer is able to state that three mines alone have blocked out, among them, nearly $20,000,000 above the sixty-foot level.

But, after all, the permanency of the veins. and values forms the paramount question, and it is useless to deny that not only are the opinions of geologists against this permanency, but that experience in similar mineral deposits in the Lake of the Woods, Lake Superior, and Sturgeon Lake districts,--all in the same formation, proves that the values do not continue far below the actual Huronian, which lies unconformably within a basin of older rocks.

VALUABLE COPPER AND NICKEL DEPOSITS.

Professor Van Hise, the well-known United States scientist, voiced the opinion. of many geologists when he stated his belief in the probability of the silver mines of the Western States developing in depth into copper mines. His prophecy is being fulfilled, not only in the United States, but in British Columbia, where many of the mines that were started for silver and gold are now treating those metals simply as by-products. Though copper has been mined for a great number of years in the eastern townships of

Quebec, where it is mostly treated for sulphuric acid, and on the north shore of Lake Huron, it is only since the mines of British Columbia came into being that Canada has taken rank as a large copper producer. In 1894 the total production of copper in that province was considerably less than 500,000 rounds; ten years later the output amounted to nearly 40,000,000 pounds! This is a poor showing, of course, compared to the production of the United States, which is not far short of 1,000,000,000 pounds, but it is at least a good commencement of what promises to be a permanent and profitable industry. Large deposits of copper have lately been discovered in southern Yukon, not far from a railway and almost adjoining a coal-field. Officers of the Geological Survey who have examined the area speak very highly of its prospects.

There seems little doubt that, as the country is developed by railways, other large cop per deposits will be discovered, especially in what is known as the Chibougamau District, in the northern portion of Quebec.

In contradistinction to the mines of southern British Columbia, which were started for gold and silver and found copper, are the wonderful mines of Sudbury, Ont., that were started for copper and found nickel. Probably more mines are discovered by chance than by systematic prospecting, and the romance that generally appertains to the discovery certainly clings to the finding of pyrrhotite in Sudbury. Lost in the forest, a resident of Sudbury was found, in the morning, seated on an outcrop of ore that subsequently proved to be the foundation of the largest nickel-mining industry in the world.

An English firm obtained control of the mines, but succeeded in bungling the management in an incredibly foolish manner, and it was not until American engineers directed operations that profits began to accrue. 1889 Canada produced less than 1,000,000 pounds of nickel; the production, last year, was probably in the region of 15,000,000 pounds, of which about 90 per cent. finds its way across the border. So far as human foresight can tell, there seems no mineral in

of economic smelting has as yet been discovered, or, perhaps one should say, has yet been made publicly known, for a group of New York capitalists claim to have the right of an invention that is, by the electrolytic process, to expel the titanium from the iron at a rate that will compete with the reduction of ordinary magnetic ores. Be this as it may, ilmenite has not, so far, been treated profitably on a large scale, and, at the present day, the titaniferous deposits of Quebec are of little value.

The second reason for the neglect of some of the large iron-ore deposits is their location. It is well known that large portions of the Labrador peninsula,-called Ungava on the Dominion maps, contain huge deposits of magnetite and hematite that lend themselves to easy smelting. Some years ago a Philadelphia syndicate engaged the present Director of the Canadian Geological Survey to report on the iron deposits of the Nastapoka Islands cf Hudson Bay. Mr. Low reported finding practically unlimited quantities of good ore, but considered that the situation was such as to render profitable mining out of the question. Of the Labrador deposits the same remark may be made to-day, but it is practically certain that a time will come when the immense iron resources of this peninsula,

else in the world, will constitute a real factor in the Canadian mining industry.

In an endeavor to estimate the iron-ore rescurces of the world Professor Tornebohm, cf Sweden, gives a list of countries that may be expected to produce 1,000,000,000 tons or more. In this list Canada does not appear, but is, presumably, included in one item: "Austria-Hungary, and other countries." In criticising this estimate, John Birkinbine, of Philadelphia, late of the United States Geological Survey, assumes that the Swedish professor's calculations are based on the "limited exploitation of Canadian iron ores instead of on the researches made by the Canadian Geological Survey."

VARIED MINERAL RESOURCES. No notes on the mineral industry of Canada would be quite complete without a reference to the mining of mica. Although the mica production of Canada is second only to that of India, the total value of the output scarcely realizes $150,000. For many years to come Canada must play second fiddle to India as regards mica production, owing to the entirely different conditions under which the mineral is wr ked. In the Dominion shafts have to be sunk, machinery must be erected, high wages have to be paid, and

the wages average from 2 to 4 cents a day, according as to whether the laborer be a woman or a man, there are open-cuts instead of shafts, the tools employed are of the simplest, and no attempt is made to work deeper than the hardness of the rock permits without blasting.

Although only the most important economic minerals have been discussed in these notes, it would be unfair to deny passing mention to the mining of zinc in British Columbia, the possibility of large finds of platinum and mercury in that province, and the enormous deposits of phosphates lying to the north of Ottawa. These last were once mined on a large scale, but the finding of large areas of equally rich fertilizers in Florida and Tennessee that could be economically quarried naturally ruined the industry. It is believed, however, that the Florida rock is nearing exhaustion, and it is admitted by Mr. W. R. Ingalls, editor of the Mineral Industry of the United States, that the Tennessee rock limit is in sight. The price of phosphate has, for some years, been of an upward tendency. The mineral production of Canada in pro

portion to its population is, compared with other large countries such as the United States and Australia, small. Whereas Australia provides about $25 for every member of its population, and the United States about $20, the Canadian output is only equal to about $10 per head. But it is scarcely fair to consider the figures in the light of to-day. What Canada needs is railways and railways. Its government and the public fully realize the necessity, and railways are being built as fast as the scarcity of labor and the inclement winter months allow. The discovery of Cobalt was directly due to the building of the Timiskaming Railway. The Grand Trunk Pacific will undoubtedly open up new mineral areas, principally in coal. The Lake St. John branch of the Great Northern Railway is tapping an area of Huronian rocks in the Chibougamau District that are known to contain gold, silver, and copper. Very little prophetic cunning is needed to predict that in a few years the mineral output of the Dominion of Canada will be a large factor in the world's production, and that the larger proportion of the output will be coal, iron, and copper..