Barry Lake region site of previous staking rush

The current staking rush taking place in Barry, Souart and other townships in the region near Senneterre, Que., is not the first time gold-seekers have been attracted to the region.

The first reported gold discovery was made on the southern shore of Rouleau Lake in 1935. This initial showing, described as a wide, mineralized, carbonate zone, was trenched and sampled; however, assay results were generally low, and the area saw little activity until the 1940s. In the summer of 1947, The Northern Miner caught wind of a gold discovery, “carrying earmarks of considerable interest,” on the northern shore of Rouleau Lake, about 80 miles northeast of Senneterre.

The Honsberger-Stee find, as it became known, was made on claims which covered the original South shore discovery of 1935. But the North shore discovery was far more encouraging, returning grab samples assaying more than 0.5 oz. gold per ton. Heavy panning of free gold was reported, although no visible gold was noted in the outcrop.

The prospectors staked more claims, and others joined the rush, including Conwest Exploration. By September of that year, The Miner made its first site visit to the region, and noted that “a lot of gold has been found so far, when compared with the small amount of work completed.”

Additional showings within the greenstone belt had been discovered at this point, with exploration spreading into a number of townships (Urban, Souart, Barry, Bailly, Carpiquet, Lacroix) near, or east and west of, the original showing.

By this point, a sizable number of companies were working in the region, including Conwest, Noranda Mines, Cuvier Mines, Quebec Smelting, Macho River Gold Mines and Pioneer Gold Mines of British Columbia.

Most of the work was focused on quartz veins or mineralized shear zones. On some of the early showings, the shears were described as containing a network of quartz-filled cross fractures, “well-mineralized” and with substantial amounts of tourmaline.

In the view of prospectors of that time, the shears were the more worthwhile target as the veins were often found to be small and discontinuous. At the time of The Miner’s visit, Quebec Smelting was considered the most advanced in exploration. The company’s East showing, on the Macho River, was considered the best, having a definite shearing with heavy chalcopyrite and pyrrhotite mineralization. Grab samples assayed up to 9.8 oz., and a sample taken across 7 ft. averaged 0.61 oz.

Quebec Smelting’s West (or Penache River) showing also returned encouraging results, including a grab sample than ran 0.94 oz., and sampling that returned an assay of 0.25 oz. across 7 ft. Two drill rigs were on the property at the time, but results of this work were not published. Although a number of companies had planned to drill in the winter of 1947 on a few properties in this region, as well as in the Surprise Lake region situated some 35 miles beyond the Barry Lake-Macho River district, no results were published by The Miner.

In February, 1948, details were made public of surface trenching on the Honsberger-Stee claims at Rouleau Lake. Gold values were found to be on the low side. The original showing made on the southern side of Rouleau Lake was also re-opened and sampled but gave disappointing results.

Another exploration boom is taking place in the Barry Lake-Macho River district, and with the benefit of modern exploration techniques, this work may lead to discoveries of economic interest that would more than justify the interest shown by the district’s first prospectors.