Mining History in Hedley Traditional Geocache
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Bring good shoes, water & beware of rattlesnakes - This was the longest 200 meters of my life from the bottom!
From Website - www.hedleymuseum.ca
The Nickel Plate Mine
Gold was found on Nickel Plate Mountain in 1898. The ore was rich but it had to be extracted from the host rock by crushing and chemical treatment.
By 1903, men were digging the first of 120 kilometres of tunnels into the mountain and building a tramway and a 40 stamp mill. Men climbed the mountain each day to go to work until a second town for 200 persons was built on the mountain top. Nickel Plate operated as an underground mine until 1955. The average price of gold over those years had been about $40 per ounce. Houses, rail tracks and the mill machinery were removed. The mine was reopened in 1986 and worked for ten years as an open pit mine.
The Mascot Mine
A rival mine with a dramatic history dug into the mountainside high above the valley, driving 67 kilometres of tunnels between 1935 and 1949. These mine buildings still cling to the cliff and have been repaired by the Upper Similkameen Indian Band so that visitors may safely explore them and walk into the mine portal to experience a spectacular special effects tour. You may also visit the Snaza’ist Interpretive Center. Tours will commence May 1. They take 4.5 hours. Be sure to confirm ahead.
Approximately 2,500,000 troy ounces (77,760 kilograms/86 tons) of gold were produced from Hedley’s mines between 1904 and 1996.Using the price of gold from January, 2010 of $1090 USD per troy ounce, the present day value would be about $2,725,000,000.
Life in Hedley
People have lived in the Similkameen River valley for 7000 years. First Nations people mined and traded ochre and chert. Hedley Town was built in the middle of Indian land.
At its peak, Hedley and the town on the mountain had about 1000 residents, five hotels, and everything else needed in a frontier mining town. Over the years floods, rock falls and fires have consumed parts of the town, but much remains to be explored. We have provided a film set and extras for Malone, The Pledge, and The Andromeda Strain.
We celebrate Stamp Mill Day on the first Saturday in May. We still live with deer in our gardens and bears on our porches. And sometimes we wonder if there is still gold waiting up in the clouds.
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