Excerpt of letter from Norman Leslie of Winnipeg MB to Linda Butler 29 Dec 2000

Leslies and Durants shared an island near Herb Lake.

Panning for Gold - When I was a young fellow I wanted a bicycle.  Gold at that time was $35.00 an ounce and a C.C.M. (1) bike could be bought for $35.00.  I was at Herb Lake on my holidays from school.  Pete Durand gave me a bag of high grade ore from the Apex Property (near Brady's Point). Dad (Roy Leslie) had a mortar and pestle and a pan, so I worked away at the job most of the summer. (2).  I thought I had quite a bit of gold, so I took what I had panned to the mine and asked the assayer (I believe his name was McDermitt ?) to refine it for me but  I was disheartened when I only got a little button back.  I don't think that the total weight was an ounce of gold.  I forget how much there was but I still have the button of gold; I was so disappointed I never did sell it.

Bill Marshall - Bill had a sawing machine and we wanted him to come and cut some wood for us.  He was fishing at that time and the season was over, but he had been celebrating for some time.  He still had some nets in the water and had to get them out, so he sent a fellow named Pratt, who had fished for him that winter with a dog team, and we pulled the nets out.  The dogs seemed very hungry and gobbled up a lot of the fish, especially the tullibees.  There was very little chewing on these fish as they had been in the nets for some time. 

In a few days, Bill and Scotty Anderson came and cut the wood. (Scotty was staying with Bill.)  Mother gave them coffee and something to eat and she put some rum in Scotty's coffee.  There wasn't a drop left in the cup when he was finished.  I asked him when he started to drink and he said he was four.  His Dad was an official in Scotland and they held meetings at his house.  When the men left, Scotty would drain all the glasses.  Scotty must have had a good education because I asked him a lot of questions and he always had the answer, but he would always start with "I presume", when he answered.  He went with Bill and Sam (the dog) to the (Wekusko) Falls when Stan Major started his sawmill there. Bill always talked to Sam as if he was a person, and I think Sam understood everything he said.

Rex Mine:  The Rex had a fire and was closed for some years before it became the Laguna.

NOTES:
1. Canada Cycle and Motor Co.
2.  The gold bearing rock was crushed in the steel mortar by pounding it with the steel pestle.  When the rock was pulverized, it was washed (shaken) in a gold pan.  The particles of gold are heavier than other rock, so the gold would settle at the bottom on the pan.