Placer gold workings have been situated at a number of sites along Keithley Creek for 8 kilometres from its mouth. One of the main areas of activity was on the Kitchener claim located about two kilometres upstream from the mouth of the creek. A considerable amount of underground work was carried out on a bench situated over 30 metres above the creek. Around 1920, hydraulic operations largely replaced underground mining. The creek drains an area that is mainly underlain by Upper Proterozoic-Paleozoic Snowshoe Group metasedimentary rocks. For the period 1874 to 1945 there is a recorded production of 1,100,891 grams of gold.

"Data from the Cariboo mining district indicate that supergene leaching of gold dispersed within massive sulphides by Tertiary deep weathering followed by Cenozoic erosion is the most likely explanation for the occurrence of coarse gold nuggets in Quaternary sediments" (Exploration in British Columbia 1989, page 147).

In 1987, Placer Lease 29 was put into production on a joint venture basis and approximately 7600 cubic yards (5811 cubic metres) of pay gravels were washed to produce 118 ounces (3670 grams) of 800-900 fine raw gold (Assessment Report 21523). Noble Metal Group Inc. processed gravels in 1997 and 1998. In 1998, processing of 8994 cubic yards yielded 18,018 grams of gold (GCNL #212 (Nov.4), 1998).

Placer gold was first found near the mouth of Keithley Creek in July, 1860, by W.R. (Doc) Keithley, who, in October of that year, recorded a claim on his discovery of placer gold on the Cariboo River (then called the North Fork of the Quesnel River) about 12 miles upstream from Quesnel Forks. In October 1860, thirty to forty men were working on Keithley Creek (it is recorded in a letter to the Colonial Secretary from P.H. Nind, the Gold Commissioner at Williams Lake, that from 100 to 150 men had been at work on the creek earlier in the autumn), and George W. Weaver, William Haseltine, and four partners, calling themselves the Slide Company, were mining on their discovery claims just above Sebastopol Point. The tremendous new discoveries of placer on Antler, Cunningham, Williams, Lightning, and other creeks in 1861 and 1862 drew men away from Keithley Creek. The early placer activity on Keithley subsided rapidly and was overshadowed by the discoveries on other creeks to the north (see Bulletin 28 for a continued detailed history).