Since the year 1905 when D.C. Corbin first foresaw his fortune
with the development of the “Big Showing” on Coal Mountain,
numerous mining interests have worked the mountain extracting coal:
Consolidated Mining & Smelting (CM&S), Hillcrest-Mohawk
Collieries, Byron Creek Collieries, Esso Resources and the current
mine operator CP’s Fording Coal Limited.
Fording/Tech Cominco remains hard at work on the mountain,
digging out 2.5 million tonnes of mid-volatile bituminous coal in
the year 2001. Scooped up by a pair of colossal O&K RH200
shovels and loaded onto fleets of 218 tonne and 136 tonne Komatsu
Haulpak dump trucks, the coal is carried to 3.2 million tonne/year
processing plant where it is weighed, washed and loaded into
112-car trains for delivery to either Roberts Bank or Thunder Bay
Terminals on Lake Superior.
Ref:
http://www.crowsnest-highway.ca/cgi-bin/citypage.pl?city=SPARWOOD#9
From the cache site, look SE to see what remains of Coal
Mountain. Those tall peaks in the background were not visible from
here in the past.
To reach the cache:
From Cranbrook, follow Hwy 3 past Sparwood and turn right at the
Coal Creek Collieries sign: 49 40.276 N 114 46.732 W
Continue on the paved road for approx. 20 km as it follows
Michel Creek. At 49 31.917N 114 42.745W turn left onto a dirt
road.
Park here and walk (the cache is not far), or drive up the short
hill and park. The cache is at the far end of the pond.
Cache contents: Logbook, pencil, misc. sundry items and Geo-Coin
#1104