Historic placer claims extend approximately 8.0 kilometres along Sowaqua Creek, extending up from the creek mouth on the Coquihalla River.

The creek flows through the Coquihalla Serpentine Belt which is comprised chiefly of serpentinite intersected by a number of large and small dikes, less regular masses of diorite and a few dikes of quartz porphyry.

In the 1920s, considerable surface sluicing was done with several opencuts and trenching along the low benches, which occur along Sowaqua Creek. Three or more shafts were sunk; the deepest was approximately 18 metres below the water level of Sowaqua Creek. This shaft consisted of an upper 3.6 metres of blue clay that carried gold values; the rest of the shaft comprised of well-sorted sands with angular small and coarse gravels. Values of gold and platinum were obtained from these gravels. Other shafts along the north bank of the creek also produced substantial gold. At this time, a small amount of placer gold was also produced from the Serpentine Lake area by Reward Mining Company.

These operations are reported to have yielded some $4400 in gold (approximately 7298 grams of gold) and $600 in platinum.

During 2008 through 2012, panning of gravels and blue clays from the creek’s north bank, above the junction with Fools Pass Creek to Montigny Creek, resulted in a number of small nuggets, 1 to 3 millimetres in size, a small amount of fine gold and one 2 millimetre platinum nugget (Assessment Report 32502). During 2011 through 2014, approximately 260 kilograms of sediment concentrates, taken from a plateau 40 to 50 metres above Montigny Creek, yielded numerous small flakes of gold, totalling 13.8 grams (Assessment Report 34519).