The Ellsmere group was located in the Galena Creek watershed about 2 kilometres from Ferguson Creek.
Property rocks consist of interbedded limestone and calcareous schists which strike 310 degrees and dip vertically. The ore occurs in a bed of pure white marble which lies between schist on the south and blue limestone on the north. The ore minerals are galena, sphalerite and pyrite and occur as replacements of limestone varying from a few centimetres to 1 metre in width. The replacement along the south wall is persistent, extending almost without break for 800 metre, but averaging only 7 to 10 centimetres in width. Replacement lenses of ore also occur through the body of limestone but are small and infrequent. A sample across a 38-centimetre highly mineralized section assayed 0.69 gram per tonne gold, 65.14 grams per tonne silver, 31.19 per cent lead and 1.3 per cent zinc (Minister of Mines Annual Report 1924, page 212).
There are five major bands of limestone in the area which are known locally as the Black Warrior, Silver Leaf, Ellsmere Ledge, Horne Ledge and Surprise limestone. These bands are part of the Lower Cambrian Badshot Formation, repeated by folding and interlayered with schist and phyllites of the Cambrian to Devonian Index Formation, Lardeau Group.
Development started on the Ellsmere property in 1899 and by 1928 development consisted of a lower tunnel, 76 metres in length along the vein; a 12-metre tunnel on about the same level; an 18-metre tunnel about 90 metres higher; and number of small opencuts. The Ellsmere group of four claims consisted of the Gold Hill Nos. 1-4, none of them Crown-granted. Mr. F. Hillman of Ferguson was the owner.
From 1958 to 1960, J. Main of Ferguson did some repairs to the trail and workings in order to aid in property examination.
The area was largely inactive until 1980s when a number of the old working came into the possession of Jack and Eric Denny through purchase or staking. The two rehabilitated many of the access trails and workings in the area of Galena Creek and to the east (to Marsh Adam Creek) and north. Some of the historically documented mineral occurrences were found and examined during this period but the mineralization was examined more as a whole than as individual showings. The following summarizes the ownership of and general work done in and around the property in question.
The Dennys commissioned geologist Gordon Turner to investigate the "Horne Ledge" and the Ellsmere zones and the first report on the area was written. In 1985, the large claim group was optioned briefly to Nakusp Resources Ltd. who did claim staking, mapping, collected 86 rock and 64 soil samples, excavated 18 metres of trench and conducted an electromagnetic survey. They referred to their project as the Silver Horn. In 1987 and 1988, the property was under option to Golden Range Resources Ltd. who conducted 150 kilometres of airborne VLF-EM resistivity and magnetic surveys and, geological mapping and sampling throughout their Black Warrior (082KNW110) and Silver Leaf groups (08KNW204), unsuccessfully attempting to relocate the latter's workings. The property reverted to the Dennys in 1989. In 1991, the property was optioned to Jopec Resources Ltd. who conducted mapping and collected 30 samples. Jopec examined the Ellsmere zone and workings at this time (Assessment Report 22917).
In 2007, Roca Mines Inc. optioned the Ellsmere and Horne (MINFILE 082KNW207) claims and completed a program of soil sampling. The following year two drill holes, totalling 437, were completed on the claims. Drill hole ES08-01 yielded 0.80 per cent lead and 0.57 per cent zinc over 7.77 metres, including 7.39 per cent lead and 5.57 per cent zinc over 0.62 metre (Fingler, J. (2010-01-25): Technical Report on the Kootenay Arc Property).
Also during 2006 through 2009, Mineral Mountain Resources Ltd. completed programs of prospecting, geochemical (soil, silt, talus fines and rock) sampling and an airborne geophysical survey on the area as the Kootenay Arc property.
