Hope for Fossickers.

“For the man not disposed to break new ground or go far from the beaten track, there is still abundance of room to do some good for himself,” states the leaflet on “Fossicking and Prospecting for Gold.” An average reader of that publication is fairly sure to feel the urge to look for “colour” some day in some of the streams indicated. Ponder on this passage:

“It is wonderful how large boulders in a stream will help in trapping gold. Right up the course of a gold-bearing stream, wherever these are seen, they should be removed. Sometimes a stout sapling lever will turn them over; at others a little explosive may be needed to effect the purpose, but most times the trouble is worth while going to. When a boulder has been shifted, all clay adhering to its lower sides should be carefully scraped off, or washed off. Then the hole from which the boulder has come, which may be several feet in depth, should be cleaned out, every particle of clay being saved and every crevice followed down, when it will be hard luck indeed if a pleasing return is not got.”

Of course the Mines Department does not restrict itself to the helping of the “small man.” Subsidies for prospecting deep levels for gold-quartz lodes down to a depth of not less than 1000ft., and for alluvial drift not less than 250ft., may be granted up to half the estimated cost of the work, but are not to exceed $10.000.