Voigt Camp & Cemetary Letter Box
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Down Below You've seen the Cemetary & Camp - We thought it only appropriate to specially mark this area with a letterbox & one of Gearhedd's Beautiful Stamps.
Park at the listed Coordinates, to your left is a Road.
Go up the Road to the Curve
At the Curve, in front of you (off the road) is a “Big” Fallen Tree
Go to the tree
Right Beyond the tree is a Post with writing on it – Go to the Post
Look Straight Ahead of you, up the hill a bit is a Big Ponderosa with a Stump behind it.
½ way between the post and the Ponderosa is a “split” old log – go to the log
Now standing at the split log, facing the ponderosa with the post at your back your look about 40 feet to your right.
There is a “tree root”, go to the tree root and uncover the Cache covered in bark and sticks
Below is an excerpt from an article in the Similkameen Paper -
(The Voights of Copper Mountain, Oct 6, 2009)In the 1910 report of the Minister of Mines for BC it was reported “Copper Mountain has been extensively prospected by the BC Copper Company and that the camp has progressed little since it was reported by Mr. Robertson in 1901. At the Mountain and at Voights Camp work continues by means of diamond drilling, open cuts, trenching, tunnelling and shallow shafts”.
An immigrant from Europe, the industrious Emil F. Voight had first located the “Centre Star” claim on Copper Mountain soon after his arrival in Princeton in October 1898. Mineral Claim Records also show that his wife Mary, between the years 1903 to 1909, filed many claims under her own name on Copper Mountain, which in 1906 included the “Duke” claim on March 17th and the “Blue Bird” claim on June 1st. Meanwhile, without a railway to transport the mined ore out of the Similkameen, others that had speculated on future riches had lost interest in their claims and it was Emil Voight who collected title to the most valuable of these and was soon acclaimed “King of Copper Mountain”. In 1909 things started to alter as the Vancouver Victoria and Eastern Railway (Great Northern) pushed its way up the Valley towards Princeton.
At various times a number of Companies took options on the Voight properties, but no purchases were affected. It was common knowledge that Emil Voight was offered large sums for the claims, but cash offers never seemed to equal the demands. Time and time again he rejected purchase offers from the large corporations such as Granby which wanted the Voight properties to complete their own hold on the then known ore deposits on Copper Mountain, but it wasn’t to be and the family dreams were never realized.
On September 14th, 1925, aged 55, Mary Voight passed away. Succumbing to a flu epidemic, her husband died two years later on April 5th, 1927, aged 70, and it was soon after that the Granby Mining Company acquired the properties at their own price.
Thirteen kilometres from Highway #3 up today’s Copper Mountain Road and a few yards from the southern summit of Wolfe Creek hill is a newly restored fenced plot enclosing three graves. A short distance from the former site of Voight’s Camp lay Emil F. Voight and Mary A. Voight and between these two graves is the final resting place of their son Victor.
The Similkameen Spotlight, May 15th, 1914, reported “Victor M. Voight passed away at the hospital on May 14th, following an appendicitis operation. He was 26 years old and had only been sick a day or two. The death came as shock to all as he had a powerful physique and was a well-known athlete.” Victor Lake, a small lake between Voight’s Camp and Copper Mountain is so called in memory of the son.
Meanwhile, difficulties surrounding the ore treatment had been solved, during 1914 Pardoe Wilson surveyed a railway branch line from Princeton to Copper Mountain and in 1916 a power contract was arranged with the West Kootenay Power Company. Financing necessitated the formation of a new Company, the Canada Copper Corporation, which controlled and financed the new organization.
The first initiative to restore the Voights’ gravesite came two years ago from local veterinary Doctor Alan Gill, when he approached the Princeton Museum with the offer of his help. In the summer of 2009, of his own generosity, local rancher Brian Ferguson donated, and arranged the erection of, fencing to protect the grave site and subsequently Similco Mines have donated staff time to clear the immediate area of the excess deadwood and brush that had collected over time. Currently the Princeton Museum awaits a manufactured commemorative plaque, which will be erected on site in November 2009.
One final footnote, just outside the fenced area is a long and heaped pile of weathered earth and rocks; it lies alongside and parallel to the left hand grave. Although not documented, it is said that buried below is Emil Voight’s former trusty steed. There is no note of the horse’s name in the records!
Additional Hints
(Decrypt)
Svany – A 49 21.483 J 120 28.881