Gold and Other Stories as Told to Berry Richards: Prospecting and Mining in Northern Saskatchewan

From Foreword, Page viii: 

"In the middle 1970s Berry Richards of Prince Albert, Saskatchewan, recorded on audio tapes interviews with prospectors, miners, geologists, businessmen, and government officials who could recall impressions, facts, fancies, and, above all, stories about the activities of prospectors and miners in northern Saskatchewan."

Author's Overview, Page xi:

"Mineral exploration and development in Canada has been mainly a hit-and-miss operation, and Saskatchewan is no exception. It is a pursuit that is guided by so much that is unpredictable — the changing demand for one metal over another, the willingness of the public to "take a chance", the discovery of an orebody in a new area, and the state of the economy. Gold and silver are known as the precious metals, because they are scarce, and therefore expensive, and because they are resistant to wear. They are the prizes that invariably excite the prospector, and bring him into an area. It is no accident then that, while today the Flin Flon area is a producer of copper and zinc, it was the discovery of gold in the Beaver [Amisk] Lake area on the Saskatchewan side in 1913 that started the mining. While Uranium City is known today as a producer of uranium, it was again the discovery of gold in the area in 1934 that initiated the activity there. There is so much that is fortuitous in the history of mineral exploration that the reader should not expect to be presented with a smooth running account. It will be found to be somewhat erratic, and not particularly chronological. All the activity described herein took place in the Canadian or Precambrian Shield, in rocks up to 3 billion years old, or in the recent gravels and sands of the North Saskatchewan River off the Shield."

This publication is available through UofC's Digital Collections here