Prospecting

There were no mineral deposits of any sort ever located in the Narrow Hills, despite any rumors of gold.

In the 1930’s, two men from Codette dug shafts near a place called, "Deadman’s Camp". It was named that in memory of a trapper who had committed suicide there. It was located on McDougal Creek. The men found "Diorite",a rock that is usually associated with gold. As a result of this they found themselves very eagerly searching for the precious metal. Their shafts yielded nothing, however.

A few years later, Les Lee and Jack Forrester, of Choiceland, made several adventure-packed expeditions into the hills. One of them was in 1940, in search of black sand, otherwise known as "magnite" deposits, which had been noted two years prior by some fire fighters in the Bear Hills. Black sand is also often associated with gold. The men spent about a month exploring on foot. They used a dip needle to try and locate the sand. They were forced to live on a diet of rabbit for two weeks after their supplies ran out. Their efforts did not prove to be any more successful. Several other expeditions were made by Lee, Forrester and others, each proving just as fruitless as the others.