Their property at Black Lake covers 102 acres, and is described as being a mile long by 520 feet wide. The output is given as 300 tons, but I should doubt very much if it has yet reached this figure.
The ground here and in front of the Anglo-Canadian Company's land rises very rapidly, from the level of the Quebec Central Railway, until it attains a height of nearly 600 feet, being then about on a level with the Thetford mines. The great serpentine belt crosses both properties, and is bounded along its northern margin by quartzose granulite, separated from the serpentine by a narrow belt of soapstone. It is claimed for property of the Scottish Asbestos Company, that not less than three-quarters of it consists of the rock formation that seems to be the asbestos matrix.
This property is well laid out, and has a considerable number of dwellings already erected on it for the workpeople. It is also traversed by a good road leading down to the line of railway.
On a narrow strip of land, dividing the properties of the last two mentioned companies, is a small mine called the Frechette-Douville Mine, which (working the same seams of ore), was doing very well when I was there. The output of this is not large, but the quality was very good, and this in consequence is no doubt a very paying mine.
These are the only mines at present being worked at Black Lake, but from indications on other properties lying on the same line, there can be little doubt that other mines will presently be opened up in this locality. Capital is all that is wanting at present, but, as the demand for the mineral increases, the necessary capital for producing it in larger quantities will no doubt be forthcoming.
The companies working at Black Lake when I was last there were working at a great disadvantage as compared with those at Thetford, in the want of a station on the line. The Post Office arrangements were also of a very primitive character, nor was there any wire nearer than Thetford. All this, however, has been remedied, and there is now at Black Lake not only a station but also a post and telegraph office, in addition to many new houses for the accommodation of the workpeople.
The cost of mining, for the reasons already given, is, and must of necessity be, greater at Black Lake than at Thetford, and cannot be put at less than $28 a ton. After removal of the surface earth and rock, the proportion of refuse rock is about twenty-five tons to one of asbestos.