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448          THE CHICAGO RECORD'S
Columbia, on the other side of the mountains. I should imagine, therefore, that there is considerable gold in  -. I the Rocky mountains.' "Dr. Dawson, who made geological explorations in the upper Yukon region, testified as follows: 'With regard to the gold on the Liard river, which is a tributary of the Mackenzie, I may state further that remunerative bars have been worked east of the country down toward the Mackenzie. The whole appearance of this country leads to the belief that important mineral deposits will be found in it, besides those placer mines. There are large quantities of quartz ledges along the rivers in many places on the Liard river; half the river gravel is composed of quartz and the whole country is full of quartz veins, some of which are likely to yield valuable minerals.'
"Q. 'Is it a gold-bearing quartz?'
"A. 'Yes, because we find gold in the bars, though not, so far as I have discovered, in the loose quartz. In fact, the whole country at the headwaters of the Liard and running across to the Yukon forms part of the metalliferous belt which runs from Mexico to Alaska and includes a great area of that country, which is as likely to be rich in minerals as any portion of that metalliferous belt. We should remember that in British Columbia and on the headwaters of the Yukon we have from I,200 to I,300 miles of that metalliferous belt of the west coast. This is almost precisely the same length of that belt contained in the United States, and I think there is every reason to believe that eventually it will be found susceptible of an equal development from a mining point of view. From circumstances to which I need not now refer, it has so far been more developed in the United States than on this side of the line,'
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