Stories from Dick Lake number three
“The Diamond Mine”
Our son at the time was much too young to partake in some of the adventures at Dick Lake. Three cute little girls ages 5,7 and eight loved going on adventures with their dad.
Many locations around little lake bore names like Jaclyns Jump, Patties Plateau James Bay and Lake Katherine. At the far end, was a stream of fast-moving water draining into the lake. It took a 10 minute climb to arrive at the source, … Lake Katherine. This was actually a beaver pond held in place by a magnificent beaver dam. The beavers were very active here and easily observed. To the left of what we referred to as this Grandpa Falls was a large plateau of mostly bare granite rock. They were very many veins of quartz running through it. I explained to the girls that these were diamonds.
We arranged a trip to the diamond mine the next morning. The excitement was palpable. They each brought a hammer a screwdriver and a plastic pail. We also brought along lunch.
We boarded a little aluminum boat and headed up the lake. They were so excited, I cannot count the number of terms are number of times I heard “we’re going to be rich!!”. There were many discussions about what they would do with all of their newfound cash.
We arrived at the base of Grandpa Falls and made our way up to the top, crossed the Beaverdam and then climbed up to Patty’s Plateau… site of the diamond mine.
Within a very short time, each of them discovered great sources of diamonds. All three would hammer their screwdrivers to free up the diamonds. It wasn’t long before they each had a pail full. The ease of obtaining these diamonds allowed them to be very choosey about which diamonds they kept.
We all believed we now had a very valuable cache of quality gems.
We celebrated our new riches by having lunch and further exploring the area for future excursions.
We made it back to the cottage safely. They were extremely excited and explained the adventures in detail to their mom… and also addressed what they planned to do with her newfound wealth.
As usually happens, once the excitement died down, they went off to swim, fish, or build forts.
I honestly can’t remember when they became aware that their treasures were not really diamonds. I do know that none of them were angry with me and greatly appreciated their ventures with their father.