The hostrocks of the Steamboat Mountain occurrence are reported to consist of a series of interbedded quartzites and argillites of the Permian to Jurassic Hozameen Complex. These are cut by a diorite porphyry dike from 1.4 to 2.4 metres wide that is exposed along strike for 107 metres. It is sparingly mineralized with pyrite and chalcopyrite. A quartz lens exposed in a crosscut is 2 metres (at its greatest width) by 7 metres long and hosts, along with the surrounding hostrock, pyrite and chalcopyrite.

Two tunnels were driven in, or shortly before, 1911; the upper is 19 metres long and the lower is 37 metres long, not including a 5.5-metre crosscut on the quartz lens.

In 1910, reports that gold occurred in a free state in the dike set off a rush of several hundred prospectors to the area. Charles Camsell of the Geological Survey of Canada visited the property in 1911 and samples taken at that time proved barren in gold (GSC Summary Report 1911, page 121). When the claims of this significant gold discovery proved to be fraudulent, the resulting "evil effects of the Steamboat Mountain fiasco" shook the confidence of prospectors in this region for years after. Three new townsites were apparently quickly abandoned.