The region is underlain by an assemblage of sedimentary rocks consisting mainly of continental margin and shelf facies rocks. This assemblage was deposited on and to the west of the ancestral North American craton. These sedimentary rocks, for the most part typical miogeoclinal facies, range in age from Hadrynian to Upper Cretaceous. Structurally these rocks are part of the Foreland Thrust and Fold Belt of the North American Cordillera.

The Dawn showing is located on the Bowron River which, apart from the incision of the river itself, is an area of very poor bedrock exposure. It is probable that rocks exposed in the Bowron River belong to the Lower Cambrian Gog Group. The showing consists of pyritic quartz-siderite stringers in schistose limestone which is interbedded with argillite. The stringers are both conformable with bedding and crosscutting. A sample taken from a 7.6 centimetre wide stringer assayed 1.37 grams per tonne gold (Annual Report 1935).