Native mercury is reported to have been found in the gravels of the Kicking Horse River valley in the vicinity of Field. Five samples of gravel were collected from the flood gravels within 3 kilometres of Field, and when panned, a trace of mercury was found in three out of the five samples. Native mercury was also found in panned gravels "from the edge of the river a few hundred feet below the bridge, opposite Field Station, from a depth of about 60 centimetres below the surface, where the high water had cut down to about that depth". A considerable amount of work was done in an attempt to locate the source of the mercury, but without results (Geological Survey of Canada Memoir 55, pages 235, 236).