A Passion for Gold

The 1864 gold rush in the south eastern corner of B.C. brought prospectors and other fortune hunters by the thousands to the Wildhorse Creek.

The town of Fisherville was established and was, for a time, the largest community in the region. Legend has it that when a resident was digging a hole on his property, he found a fist-sized nugget, which inspired him to dismantle his house and dig beneath the foundations in order to find more gold-which he did.

When his neighbours heard of the discovery, they followed suit, but instead of taking the time to dismantle their homes and businesses, they elected instead to use the more expedient method of burning them down. The whole town was razed in the flush of gold fever, and though it is said that there was more gold found in the Wildhorse Creek during its heyday than was found in the entire California gold rush, all the records went up in smoke with the town’s government building so we will never know for sure.

What we do know, however, is that the rush continued for several decades before dwindling down to a few active claims, but the old timers say that the mother lode is still there, waiting to be discovered.

Jacob is one of three principals (including his brother, Val) of Great Eagle Resources Ltd., which has a placer mining operation on approximately nine hectares along the Wildhorse Creek near Cranbrook, B.C.

He is a fourth-generation gold hunter; his father, Jim, acquired the property in 1984, but low gold prices and a hundred years’ worth of detritus in the creek bed held immediate success at bay.

Early reports on the property indicated that there was placer and hard rock mining potential, but Jim died before he could see his dreams of tracking down the elusive vein that continues to feed the Wildhorse Creek. However, his son is certain that they’ll have a handle on it by the end of this year’s season.

“We’re coming to some interesting fault lines,” said Jacob. “Faulting’s a big thing in hard rock mining but also in placer mining. It’s also showing some Sullivan-type (the high-producing mine that was in operation in Kimberley, B.C. for over 100 years) aspects to it in the deposit zone. I do know that there’s a feeder in there and we’ve been getting some very interesting gold from that-a lot more crystalline gold than I thought.”

In order to find the gold, Jacob has to take history as well as geology into account. He’s done his homework on the property and the surrounding claims and he knows which areas were the most productive-at least as far as the limited paper trails show.

There are also physical clues that point to the “X” that marks the spot above a huge treasure chest. There is, however, the crystalline rather than placered gold, of course, which indicates that the source is close by. But there are some unexplored nooks and crannies on this land that was overrun by gold hunters more than a century ago.

The area Jacob works shows the effects of the mining operations in the 1800s. Huge boulders that were dislodged from the mountain by powerful water cannons still rest on the valley floor. The process literally washed down whole faces of the surrounding mountains, and while some gold was discovered in the glacial mantle, the miners also unwittingly buried the gold-bearing channels under tons of waste rock.

“We have maybe two months of work and then we’re past the hydraulics and then we’re into the original valley floor,” said Jacob, “and it’s virgin-it’s never been worked. So we drilled that, and there’s pay gravel right down to the clay layer. That clay layer has nothing in it, but below the clay is the channel gravel, and that’s the original channel. So the drilling results are really good. I know it’s there-it’s just a matter of getting to it.”

Jacob spends almost as much time exploring history as he does the hidden channels of the Wildhorse. He and his brother have found some of the best-preserved workings of Chinese miners in the area, as well as a number of adits and shafts, including one filled with pay dirt that was left to block access from one end to the next.

He’s also found a number of historic artefacts that have given him pause: pistols, bullets, shoes and various other items of clothing.

“There are a lot of buried bodies up with the hydraulics,” he said. “Especially the Chinese workers who would have been up among the rocks. A big chunk of gravel on the hillside could cave in and then a big turret of water would come down and catch them.”

The historically high gold prices allow Jacob the option of exploring on some of his other holdings, including the nearby Palmer Bar Creek property. While he’s had some findings there, the anomalous structure of the area means that he’s likely reached that property’s potential. The deposit is the result of a glacial melt depositing material on the surface, so while there have been good gold showings from the grassroots down to about 50 cm, below that there has been next to nothing.

And, so, the Wildhorse will remain the primary target for at least the next number of years. If Jacob is successful in chasing down the feeder-and he has every reason to believe he will be-he’ll look at either doing the work himself or optioning off the property to a junior.

The hunt is the primary draw; the returns just help to pay for the passion. For now, the key to success is hidden in the Wildhorse Creek’s channels.

“Basically, we’re just in a situation where we’re headed into production and we’ll keep going until we run out of gold or we bottom out,” said Jacob.