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File Created: 15-Aug-1986 by Gary R. Foye (GRF)
Last Edit:  10-Sep-2009 by George Owsiacki (GO)

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NMI
Name WILLIAMS CREEK, BLACK JACK, FOREST ROSE, SAN JUAN, FIRST OF MAY, DEVLIN BENCH, HURDY Mining Division Cariboo
BCGS Map 093H003
Status Past Producer NTS Map 093H04E
Latitude 053º 03' 44'' UTM 10 (NAD 83)
Longitude 121º 31' 21'' Northing 5880213
Easting 599010
Commodities Gold Deposit Types C02 : Buried-channel placers
C01 : Surficial placers
Tectonic Belt Omineca Terrane Barkerville
Capsule Geology

Placer gold deposits of the Quesnel Highland region, including the former rich producers of the Barkerville Camp, have accounted for a large proportion of British Columbia's alluvial gold production. With the exception of a few producers in the Wingdam area, which are underlain by Upper Triassic sediments correlative with the Nicola Group, almost all the deposits are underlain by the Upper Proterozoic to Lower Paleozoic Snowshoe Group. These predominantly metasedimentary rocks have been metamorphosed to greenschist facies.

Placer gold deposits in the region are generally found in relatively young Pleistocene gravels. The morphology and mineral associations of the gold suggests that it was derived locally, the most obvious sources are the numerous auriferous veins in the Downey succession of the Snowshoe Group.

In 1861, rich strikes were made on Williams Creek. Williams Creek was one of the richest placer producing creeks in the Barkerville area. Several properties were located along the creek over a distance of about six kilometres. A rich pay-streak occurred on bedrock in a buried channel and there was at least one interglacial pay-streak. Most of the production was probably by hydraulicking but there was also a considerable amount of drift mining done especially during the early days. Almost continuous recorded production from 1874-1940 totalled 2,659,983 grams gold (Bulletin 28).

"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).

Bibliography
EMPR AR 1874-4,5; 1876-418,419; 1879-237; 1881-391,392; 1883-401; 1884-417; 1885-487; 1886-195; 1888-291; 1889-273; 1890-360; 1891-560; 1893-1037,1087; 1895-656,657,661; 1896-506; 1897-465; 470,471; 1898-975,977,979; 1899-621,622,626,628; 1900-731,737; 1901-952,959,962; 1902-63,97,104,116; 1903-61; 1904-42; 1906-39; 1907-38; 1908-41; 1909-43; 1910-42; 1912-49; 1914-53,60; 1918-145; 1926-167; 1932-102; 1939-105; 1940-91; 1943-82; 1944-77; 1949-241; 1953-175; 1954-169; 1955-83; 1956-139; 1957-74; 1958-79; 1959-147; 1960-122; 1961-130; 1962-138; 1966-255
EMPR BULL *28, pp. 7,20,31; 38; 47
EMPR EXPL 1989-147-169
EMPR FIELDWORK 1988, pp. 377-385; 1990, pp. 331-356; 1992, pp. 463-473
EMPR PF (Map of Claims on Williams Creek, 1896; Letter and Report on Williams Creek exploration results by E.B. DeGolia,1938; Erberich, G., 1974, British Columbia's frustrating "Gold Hole"; Holland, S., 1974, Report on Williams Creek "Gold Hole" story)
GSC MAP 1424A
GSC MEM 149, pp. 122-125
GSC OF 844
Placer Dome File

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