Apr 06, 2019 — GREENWOOD, BC (BG)

A summary of the local mining camps operating in and around Greenwood in 1900, from the "Greenwood Mercantile Review":_[1]

"Greenwood is and will continue to be the commercial as well as the mining and manufacturing centre of all this great district, with lumbering interests enough alone to create a city and mineral wealth sufficient to create an empire. Now look to the hundreds of mines in this district all producing, and the thousands of miners at work. Then imagine if you can the smelters and mills and the army of labor required to reduce this vast amount of ore from the mines."

There are two excellent summaries of the mining camps situated around Greenwood, and we have combined these descriptions here. The "Greenwood Mercantile Review" in October 1900 gave summaries of 14 local mining camps. In December 1898, the Boundary Creek Times_[1] also covered the camps, adding a few additional camps and describing the overall region:

"The Boundary Creek Mining district (popularly, although not officially so called), embraces that portion of the province of British Columbia included between the North Fork of Kettle river on the east, the Main Kettle river on the west, the international boundary on the south, and extending northward about twenty miles, in all some four hundred square miles of territory, drained by the Kettle river and its numerous tributaries."

CAMP MCKINNEY: A little south of west some 40 miles from Greenwood, Camp McKinney is a gold proposition carrying some silver, and is the principal camp. Cariboo, a mine in the Camp McKinney district, is the principal producer and this mine has paid large dividends.

CANYON CREEK: Another very fine mineral belt is located about 30 miles up the main river from Rock Creek and about 25 miles from Greenwood at Canyon Creek. The ore here is principally gold bearing quartz and some fine assays have been received from this district.

CENTRAL CAMP: Then to the south of Wellington Camp, about 10 miles from Greenwood we come to Central Camp. The present producers here are the Lincoln and City of Paris.

COPPER CAMP: Coming farther east from Canyon Creek the mines begin to develop copper, and located some seven miles from Greenwood, at the head of Copper Creek, is what is known as Copper Camp. There are quite a number of promising claims in this camp, but very little work has been done. The King Solomen probably being the most developed, while the promises are that several of the other claims will be pushed in the near future. The Copper claim is one of the oldest and most developed in the camp. West Copper Camp is situated 9 miles northwest of Greenwood, with the Bryant group and Golden Treasure claims.

DEADWOOD CAMP: Coming on east from Copper Camp we come to Deadwood Camp, laying only from one to three miles west of Greenwood. It is reached by wagon road. Here is located the famous Mother Lode mine, the best developed claim in this camp. Also the Sunset and Crown Silver, all copper claims and producers. The Morrison, the Buckharn, the Great Hopes, the Marguerite and the D.H. and Gold Bug group will be producers as soon, as the British Columbia Copper Co. Ltd., Smelter is completed. Also active are the Hidden Treasure and Sunset mines. In South Deadwood camp are the Iva Lenore, Emerald and Herbert Spencer claims.

GRAHAM'S CAMP: Situated 1-1/2 miles north of Kettle River and about 10 miles south west of Greenwood. Work in this camp is focused on two claims: the Bruce group of four claims, and the Potter-Palmer group of five claims. The later was showing some of the richest copper ore yet found in the district.

KIMBERLY CAMP: To the north of Providence and Skylark Camps is Kimberly Camp, some seven or eight miles up Boundary Creek from Greenwood, accessible by wagon road. There is a large number of claims in this camp, and the mines all have large bodies of low grade copper ore.

LONG LAKE CAMP: North of Greenwood six to eight miles, there is located what is known as the Long Lake Camp, reached by wagon road. Long Lake is a body of water about 2-1/2 miles long and a half-mile broad, and is 1,000 feet higher than Greenwood. It is enclosed on both sides by lofty mountains, reaching an altitude of nearly 2,000 feet above the lake. On these mountains are located the claims that form Long Lake camp. This camp was discovered in the Spring of 1895, since which time considerable work has been done. Here milling and concentrating gold ore is found. The best known claim there is the Jewel, which is developed to a depth of 300 feet, has a large quantity of ore blocked out ready for the mill. Claims include the Jewel and Dinero Grande, Enterprise, Anchor, Ethiopia, North Star, Gold Drop, Silent Friend, Roderick Dhu, Lake View, Alice, C.O.D., Amanda, and Electric.

PASS CREEK CAMP: Eight miles north-easterly from Greenwood lies Pass Creek camp. Here a large number of claims have been located. Claims are many, including the Minnie, No. 3, and Side Hill Star.

PHOENIX CAMP: South of Summit Camp and east of Greenwood five miles is Phoenix Camp. Here are located the Miner-Graves group including the Old Ironsides Knob Hill, Victoria, Grey Eagle, also the Dominion Copper Co.'s group, the most important claims of which are the Brooklyn, Stemwinder, Idaho and Rawhide; and the Snowshoe, Gold Drop and War Eagle, each owned by a separate Co. And there are other promising claims in this camp which we have not space to mention. The Ironsides and Knob Hill are smelting 600 tons of ore per day. (In the Boundary Creek Times summary of camps, these claims are all listed as being the Greenwood Camp.)

Canadian Pacific Railway Map, c. 1897

PROVIDENCE AND SKYLARK CAMPS: These camps lay on the eastern slope of Boundary Creek, the veins being of small high-grade silver, and gold leads. Skylark camp adjoins Greenwood on the east and south-east, and embraces about eight square 'miles of territory. The principal developed claim in this camp is the Skylark, about 1-1/2 miles east of Greenwood, and reached by a wagon road. The claim was located in July, 1893, bonded to the Spokane and Great Northern company, who went to work shortly afterwards and during the winter of 1893-94 shipped about 100 tons to the smelters.

Providence camp lies adjacent to Greenwood, the claims lying on both sides of Boundary creek, and extending northward a mile or so above the town. The Anaconda group was properly situated in this camp

SMITH'S CAMP: Coming nearer to the City from Central Camp, we come to Smith's Camp, three miles south, which is a very fine group consisting of the Republic, the Nonsuch and the Last Chance, which have large bodies of ore nearly ready for the smelter.

SUMMIT CAMP: About Eight miles to the northeast of Long Lake Camp is Summit Camp, reached by wagon road. The best known claim there is the B. C, which is at this time sending out to the Trail smelter 150 tons of high grade copper ore per day.

WELLINGTON CAMP: Going east from Phoenix Camp we come to Wellington Camp, which is eight miles east of Greenwood. Here we find high grade gold copper ore, with several promising claims and three properties shipping: the Golden Crown, the Winnipeg and the Athelstan about 12 cars of ore per week.

WEST FORK COUNTY: Coming east and north from Camp McKinney to a distance some 30 miles from Greenwood is what is known as the West Fork County, which is practically under developed. There are a large number of very fine prospects in this section. Many of them have a considerable amount of development work done and some of them have shafts sunk to a depth of 100 feet.

The Smelter Operations

BRITISH COLUMBIA COPPER CO., LTD. SMELTER: The Smelter is now under construction and waiting for machinery that is expected to arrive at any time. We are informed from good authority that the furnaces will be blown in by the 1st or 15th of December this year.

The Mother lode mine alone has 100,000,000 tons of ore blocked out above the 200 foot level. This mine is owned by the British Columbia Copper Co., Ltd. and the smelter spoken of above is being built by this company and is located practically in the City of Greenwood.

STANDARD COPPER CO.'S PYRITIC SMELTER: This Smelter is being erected three miles south of town. It will also be completed and receiving ore by about Dec. 15th, 1900. There are two other prospective smelters spoken of that people who are on the inside inform us that there is no question but will be built and receiving ore within six months from date, and as all the many camps surrounding Greenwood needs to make them not only producers, but large dividend payers is smelting facilities, and as there is enough ore in sight to keep the two smelters nearly completed as well as the two proposed ones running for an indefinite time there is no question but the proposed ones will be a reality in the time mentioned.

FOOTNOTES:

[1] The Greenwood Mercantile Review, Supplement to The Greenwood Times — October 31, 1900, pp. 5-8

[2] Boundary Creek Times — December 24, 1898, p. 13

(Both editions excerpted and slightly edited.)