Shamrock (‘Red Paddy’) gold-silver occurrence, Kettle River, Vernon Mining Division, British Columbia, Canadai

Regional Level Types
Shamrock (‘Red Paddy’) gold-silver occurrence	Occurrence
Kettle River	- not defined -
Vernon Mining Division	Division
British Columbia	Province
Canada	Country

Giles Peatfield comments on History:
There is no really good reference for the location of the occurrence. Warren and Thompson (1945), describing antimony minerals from British Columbia and Yukon, said of the “Red Paddy” property “So far as we know there is no official description of the property, which is situated near the headwaters of the Kettle River, Greenwood Mining Division.” In fact, this area is within what is now known as the Vernon Mining Division. The best one can do is quote Brock (1903), who wrote that “On the Shamrock claim, situated on Kettle River, at the base of Monashee mountain, two small parallel quartz veins have been uncovered.” There is no British Columbia Minister of Mines reference for either the “Red Paddy” or “Shamrock” claim. The connection between Shamrock and Red Paddy is tenuous but plausible; Red Paddy appears to have been a local character, who had some sort of establishment at a place called “Paddy’s Crossing” on the Kettle River – see Robertson (1902). It is likely that Red Paddy was an Irishman, and thus the name Shamrock for his claim is certainly possible. Exhaustive searches of the British Columbia Minister of Mines reports, and of two Geological Survey of Canada Open Files (Okulitch, 1969; Read, 1969), have not come up with an occurrence that can be definitely equated with the “Red Paddy”. Search of the Canadian Census records for 1901 failed to find David Whitley; there were several Irish silver miners named Patrick listed, but these did not seem to be from the area in question.
The exact location of the claim, under either of the names which appeared in the contemporary literature, has been lost and the names themselves are, unfortunately, only of purely speculative connection to “Red Paddy”. This must remain an enigma; the mineralized material is indeed real, but exactly where it came from is unknown.
Giles Peatfield Comments on the Minerals Reported:
Boulangerite: This mineral from the “Red Paddy” claim was originally thought to be jamesonite – see Brock (1902, 1903) and Hoffmann (1901). However, Warren and Thompson (1945), following the research of Berry (1940) reported that nearly all the previously identified “jamesonites” from British Columbia and Yukon were in fact boulangerite, and with regard to this specific locality noted that “The specimen studied consisted of boulangerite and quartz. The boulangerite has a fibrous habit and the average specific gravity [is] 6.12. A spectrographic analysis showed essential Pb, Sb, and traces of Fe, As, Sn, Ag, Bi, Au.” This specific gravity is somewhat low compared to theoretical boulangerite (Palache, Berman and Frondel, 1944), but considerably higher than the value for theoretical jamesonite. It is not clear, although it is implied, that the material was confirmed by x-ray analysis. The Pacific Museum of Earth at the University of British Columbia has a collection of three specimens (#1936) labelled as boulangerite. These were donated by the well-known mining engineer and geologist Franc Joubin and described as coming from the “Red Paddy” property. This is probably the material studied by Warren and Thompson (1945), which they determined to be boulangerite.
Gold: Brock (1903), writing about the Shamrock claim material, noted that “Free gold occurs in the jamesonite amid the quartz, and in the cavities left by the oxidation of sulphides, flakes of gold are quite plentiful. One specimen of the jamesonite obtained, holds a nugget of gold as large as a pea.” Hoffmann (1901) reported that “Fine specimens of a fibrous massive jamesonite have been obtained by Mr. R. W. Brock, at the David Whitley or Red Paddy claim, at the head of Kettle river, Yale district, in the Province of British Columbia, where it occurs, with native gold, in a gangue of white translucent quartz.” This is almost certainly the same material as described by Brock.
Hematite: Brock (1902) mentioned that in material from the area, examined by [Dr. G. C] Hoffman of the Geological Survey of Canada, small metallic grains proved to be “. . . pyrrhotite and specular iron.” Unfortunately, it is not completely clear in Brock’s report if this particular specimen was from the “Red Paddy” claim or from elsewhere in the immediate area.
Jamesonite?: Reported originally by Hoffmann (1901). This identification, quoting Hoffmann, was repeated by Johnston (1915) and by Traill (1970, 1983), notwithstanding that Warren and Thompson (1945) had determined that the material from this locality is actually boulangerite – see note above.
Limonite: See the comment above regarding gold. Limonite is clearly visible on the specimens in the Pacific Museum of Earth collection for the locality.
Pyrrhotite: See comment above for hematite.
Quartz: Common vein material, noted by all investigators. Clearly recognizable in the Pacific Museum of Earth photo, #1936.

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References