“That is so,” admitted the geologist. “The navvy, in making his excavations, has blundered upon immense treasure. Thus the greatest asbestos deposits of the world were brought to light because a track for the Quebec Central Railway happened to be blasted through them. Then take the case of Cobalt, now the premier silver camp. Although only a few miles from one of the earliest routes of travel in the country, and although only a few miles from a silver-lead deposit that has been known for a hundred and fifty years, Cobalt was discovered less than eight years ago, and then only because a railway chanced to be cut through a rich vein. It was a railway excavation, too, that revealed the Sudbury nickel deposits. Still, you must not run away with the idea that all the laurels have been won by the navvy. To mention only one of the ‘finds’ made by our staff, it was an officer of the survey who discovered the rich corundum deposit extending in a belt one hundred miles long. Yet that discovery serves, equally with those of the navvy, to illustrate the unprospected nature of Canada—even of those parts of Canada that have been populated for a considerable period. For that corundum was found in a district that had long been settled.
“What a field for explorers is that Laurentian plateau! It is not possible for the most pessimistic person to fear that Nature has, by a strange coincidence, concentrated all the mineral wealth in the only part that is populated—that southern fringe which, though still only imperfectly prospected, has yielded over four hundred million tons of iron ore, nearly five thousand million pounds of copper, and immense quantities of silver and the other minerals I have mentioned. The explorations of the geological survey have shown that, scattered over the whole area, are patches of all the various formations that go to make up the pre-Cambrian; while practically every mineral that occurs in the south has been noted by explorers in the north. It is therefore quite safe to assume that, in the great northern areas as yet unattacked by the pick of the prospector, are vast stores of minerals that will come to light when the country is opened up.”
I told Mr. Brock that, although he had dealt with only three of the geological provinces shared by Canada with the States, he had said enough to convince me that the Dominion possessed adequate mineral wealth to support its high destiny.
“Still,” said Mr. Brock, “there is more to be told; and this very imperfect survey of our mineral resources must not be broken off in the middle. I now come to the fourth geological province, which it is convenient to name the Interior Plain. It embraces Alberta and the bulk of Manitoba and Saskatchewan, extending across the border into the Dakotas. It is pre-eminently an agricultural country, and is notably deficient in metallic minerals, as might be expected, because it is underlain with a thick blanket of almost undisturbed cretaceous and tertiary sediment. Gold dredging is carried on in the sands and gravels of the North Saskatchewan River below Edmonton; gypsum is mined in Manitoba; salt occurs in that province and in the lower Athabasca region; but with those exceptions, and materials used in the building trades, the mineral production of the Interior Plain is almost entirely confined to fuels, which, however, are very important. Natural gas over a wide area and under great pressure has been tapped, and there is every indication of a large oil field in, at any rate, the northern portion of Alberta, while some oil has been encountered in the south-west. The lower cretaceous sandstones along the Athabasca River, where they come to the surface, are for miles saturated with bitumen. These tar sands will probably average twelve per cent. in maltha, or asphaltum. Mr. R. G. McConnell saw tar sands occupying about one thousand square miles, which, taking the thickness at his estimate of 150 feet, would represent nearly five thousand million tons of bitumen. The lignites of the eastern plains are useful for local purposes, and beds more highly bitumenised are met with as the mountains are approached. Mr. D. B. Dowling has satisfied himself that there are 7,500 square miles of coal land in Saskatchewan, and nearly twenty thousand square miles in Alberta, and he credits explored parts of the last-named province with four hundred million tons of anthracite, forty-four thousand million tons of bituminous coal, and sixty thousand million tons of lignite.”
“And the story of Canada’s wealth is still unfinished?” I asked.
“The most impressive part,” replied Mr. Brock, “has still to come. We have now to consider the fifth geological province—the Cordilleran Belt. In Canada it has a length of 1,300 and a width of 400 miles, and it extends across the western States, through Mexico, and into South America. Its rocks range from the oldest to the youngest formations. Vulcanism and mountain-building processes have repeatedly been active in that province. The Cordilleran Belt is recognised as one of the greatest mining regions in the world, it being noted principally for its gold, silver, copper and lead. Of the well-nigh incalculable wealth of gold and other minerals in California and Mexico I need not remind you. And the riches of the Cordilleran Belt in the south afford a sure clue to its riches in the north. In Canada and Alaska the geological province is still for the most part unprospected. But here and there, as you know, the wealth has been tapped, and last year (1909) British Columbia alone yielded minerals to the value of nearly £5,000,000. So far the Yukon has practically produced nothing but placer gold, but it has produced about £25,000,000 worth of it. While partial development has taken place along the international boundary line, and while some of the main streams have been imperfectly prospected for placer gold, the greater part of the Canadian section of the Cordilleran Belt is as yet untouched. Probably not a fifth has been prospected at all, not a twentieth prospected in detail, and not one area, however small, completely tested. The Belt in Canada is not merely rich in gold, silver, copper, lead and zinc, but it has enormous resources of excellent coal, varying from lignites to anthracite. Only the coal areas in the southern portion of British Columbia, and a few small areas on the Telkwa and Nass rivers, and on the Yukon, are at present known, but Mr. D. B. Dowling estimates that the prospected fields represent, in the Yukon, thirty-two million tons of anthracite, and the same quantity of bituminous coal, and, in British Columbia, twenty million tons of the former, and 38,642 million tons of the latter. Then, too, great unprospected areas are known to contain, in places, coal formations, and no doubt they will, when explored, add greatly to the reserves I have just mentioned. So far, production has not kept pace with discovery; but a largely increased output may be expected in the near future, for those regions supply the best steaming and coking coals anywhere to be obtained in the West, and new railways will facilitate distribution. Only about one-fifth of Alaska has been explored, and lack of transportation facilities hinders development there; but already Alaska has a large production, which shows that the Cordilleran Belt maintains its highly mineralised character throughout its length.”
“And now, Mr. Brock,” I said, “there is another matter about which I should like you to express your views. How comes it that, when Canada possesses all this mineral wealth, the English people have, in the past, so often burnt their fingers in financing Canadian mines?”
“I am very glad,” replied Mr. Brock thoughtfully, “you have raised this question, which is of great importance. Not all have burnt their fingers, but there have been too many instances, some of them notorious. You are thinking mainly, I presume, about events that are rather more than fifteen years old—events which resulted, necessarily but most unfortunately, in deflecting British capital from Canada; though happily, thanks to the lapse of time and the logic of facts, the financial suspicion and sensitiveness then generated have passed away. Of course in those affairs there were deplorable elements for which Canada was in no way responsible. One name in particular will be present in both our minds; but, at this time of day, the personal side of the matter need not be recalled; and I will only say generally that we had nothing to do with the ludicrous over-capitalising of good properties, and the crippling process of establishing offices and staffs on a scale which, though undoubtedly princely and imposing, was, from the practical point of view, not merely superfluous but ineffective.
“Speaking generally,” continued Mr. Brock, “the causes of non-success are bad investment, bad management, and perhaps in some cases bad luck. There have not been many bad investments by mining companies that know what they are about, that employ experienced, technical men to look over the field and closely examine a property before purchase, and that move cautiously and intelligently, doing their developments step by step. It is quite common to see the investments made by men who are not sufficiently competent or experienced to form a sound judgment, or who do not carry out an adequate personal investigation before effecting their purchases. Sometimes it is very evident that knowledge and training were not the qualifications that led to their selection for such responsible work. It is by the merest chance if those investments turn out satisfactorily. Unfortunately, in every country, and in Canada as elsewhere, there are people ready to profit by such visitors. The knowing ones promptly take their mental measure, learn what financial backing they have, and very likely bait a trap for them.”
“In other words,” I could not forbear to observe, “the innocent Englishman falls among thieves.”