Yreka mine yields riches at Comstock Mountain on Quatsino Sound

This article originally appeared in the North Island Gazette November 28, 2013.

Yreka is located on Quatsino Sound, across Neurotsis Inlet from Port Alice. It is in the traditional territory of the Quatsino First Nation, and in the 1800s was home to the Koskimo tribe.

In the late 1800s, local prospectors combed the area around Quatsino Sound looking for precious metals. During this era it was not uncommon for a group of men to venture out and forge through the bush for days, collecting ore samples. At the time the BC Government would provide free assay services (analysis) and tell the prospectors what their samples contained.

Local prospectors first discovered copper and gold in the area in 1898. 

The Yreka Copper Company was established in 1902, and registered 16 mining claims. It is not clear why the company chose the name Yreka, but perhaps it was to capitalize on some of the good luck associated with the gold rush in Yreka, California, where miners had struck it rich in 1851.



The initial Yreka mine on the North Island saw a camp built at 1050 ft. elevation. Approximately $300,000 was initially invested in the operation. In addition to bunkhouses and a cookhouse/dining hall, the company built a store, blacksmith shop, sawmill, post office, and mining office for the 60 or so men who worked at the mine. The mining operation included ore bunkers and a wharf. The mine itself had both a surface quarry and three shafts, the deepest of which approached 800 ft. Arial trams ran up and down the steep mountainside from the mine to the beach. A winding road with numerous switchbacks also allowed vehicles to access the site.

Electricity for the drills was generated by a water wheel, and operations would shut down when the creek went dry in the summer.

The initial mine operated until 1904, and then closed.



In 1916/17, following a rise in copper prices, entrepreneurs Clark and Silverman optioned the claim, and a new tram system was installed. From 1902 to 1917 the mine produced 3,752 tons of ore, containing 59 oz of gold, 4245 oz of silver, and 174,642 pounds of copper. During the war, the ore was not considered to be of high value, and the company defaulted. It tried to resume activities in 1919, however the option was surrendered in 1929.

In 1951 a new owner, the Noranda Mining Co. began construction of a new mine site. They completed over 30,000 ft of drilling, but in 1956 a landslide destroyed much of their work and efforts ceased temporarily.

Comstock Mountain was only officially given its name in 1959, although the mountain had been known by this name to locals for many years, as this was the name of one of the Yreka Copper Company’s mining claims.

Mining briefly resumed from 1964 to 1967 by a partnership of Noranda and the Mitsubishi Co. Production during this period was 156,586 tons, which included 1,545 oz gold, 141,629 oz silver, and 8,502,517 pounds of copper.

In the 1970s a string of successive owners continued to map, drill, and survey the claim.

In 1980 there were rumours in the North Island Gazette that the mining would reopen on the mountain, and an adjacent claim was listed for sale recently on BC mining websites. Despite (or perhaps due to) extensive analysis of the area, some geologists believe the claims explored to date are only offshoots of a more valuable seam in the area which has not yet been discovered.

North Island Coal Mining at Suquash

This article originally appeared in the North Island Gazette February 8, 2006.
How to best exploit the coal deposits at Suquash have been a burning question on the North Island for over 175 years.
Suquash is located midway between Port Hardy and Port McNeill, on the banks of Queen Charlotte Strait.  It takes its name from the Kwakwala language, meaning "the place where seal meat is cut into strips."  It is believed, therefore, that this area was once used as a harvesting station for seals by local First Nations.
In 1835 the Husdon's Bay Company became aware of coal deposits on Northern Vancouver Island when First Nations visiting Fort McLaughlin at Bella Bella saw the white people burning coal. Coal was referred to in Chinook as "khale-stone," meaning black stone. They told the Hudson's Bay Company employees that they knew of a place where they could find more black stone, at a place known to them as Suquash.
With the advent of the steamship the HBC required additional coal for their fleet of trading vessels.  For a period of time coal was brought from England as ballast in ships, but it soon became obvious with the advent of additional trading in the Pacific and the start of the California gold rush that stocks of coal would be in high demand on the Pacific Coast.
In the 1840s the HBC began to explore local coal reserves, and the first mine developed on Vancouver Island was at Suquash, starting as early as 1846. In its first days surface coal was collected by First Nations and brought out to HBC ships by the canoe-full.
By 1849 the HBC's Fort Rupert had been constructed in what is today known as Beaver Harbour.  In 1850, 32 miners, mostly experienced Scottish miners, were brought in from the coal fields in England and Scotland.
Coal was visible on the surface at Suquash, and the HBC thought that an underground mine would yield large deposits.  Unfortunately when the miners began to sink shafts they  found coal which was of poor quality, mixed heavily with sandstone and shale.
The HBC also had difficulty with their miners.  Frustrated with serving as indentured labour for a number of years, and without the promise of earning the expected commissions based on the output of their coal production, many HBC labourers deserted to pursue their fortunes in the California gold rush.  Some felt that the company did not provide adequate protection against the hostile First Nations people.  The British and Scottish miners were also not used to surface mining, which they found beneath their station as experienced colliers.

Suquash in the 1920s.

Between 1849 and 1850 approximately 11,000 tonnes of coal were extracted from the Suquash coal field. When a better quality deposit was found at Nanaimo in the 1850s, the HBC abandoned its coal mining efforts at Suquash and moved its equipment and miners further South.
From 1908 to 1914, and then again from 1920 to 1922, another venture, Pacific Coast Coal Mines Ltd., commercially mined coal at Suquash. The total production during these years was 23,600 tonnes.
Tunnels were drilled under the ocean, and community sprang up, including bunkhouses for miners and a beautiful mine manager's house with a two story river rock fireplace.  By 1932 the mine was abandoned, and the remaining equipment was auctioned off.  The remaining shafts were filled with water, a common practice in coal mining, to prevent the explosion of gasses which naturally accumulate underground.
Suquash Collieries Ltd. dewatered some of the shafts and workings at the site in 1952.  They opted not to proceed with production.
In 1974 BC Hydro continued exploratory drilling in the area, however they determined that it would not be economical to proceed with an underground mine.
Recent re-analysis indicates that the site does not hold promise as a potential coal mine, due to the dirty nature of the coal and the thinness of the seams.  However, coal bed methane reserves at the site have been examined by some energy companies, and could once again generate interest in industrial development at this historic site, now in the form of fracking for methane gas.

Minister served the spiritual needs of the North Island

The article originally appeared in the North Island Gazette October 18, 2006.
More than one hundred years ago one man brought vision, compassion, and healing to the BC coast.
John Antle was born in Harbour Grace, Newfoundland, in 1865.  His family were fishermen and sealers, and John spent his early years on and about the coastal waters.
When Antle was 17 he left home and taught school was studying to become a clergyman.  He studied at Queen's Theological College and in 1892 Antle was ordained into the priesthood with the Church of England.  He served the Church of England for five years in Newfoundland before travelling to Washington State.
While in Washington Antle petitioned the church to look at establishing a mission that would help the lumbermen of the Puget Sound area, but his request was denied.
Antle moved to Vancouver in 1899 and became the first rector of the Fairview Parish.  He oversaw the construction of Trinity Church.

Rev. John Antle

While Antle was in Vancouver he sponsored a boy's club, and they built a 14 foot sailboat in his back yard called the Laverock.  In 1891 the steamship Cassiar arrived in Vancouver with the bodies of four men aboard who had died in industrial accidents, without access to adequate medical treatment.  Antle's passion for assisting the people of the rural areas of the coast was rekindled.  He applied for and received a $100 grant from the church to look at the issue.
With a few supplies, Antle and his nine year old son set out in the Laverock to explore the coast.   They travelled to Alert Bay, stopping at various homesteads and settlements along the coast.  Antle compiled a summary of the needs of coastal communities, homesteaders, and transient workers.
When he returned, Antle managed to convince the Church of England to invest in a vessel that could be used to provide medical and spiritual assistance to the people of the coast, and the Columbia Coast Missionary Society was born.  The vessel Columbia was commissioned in 1905, and the 'Missionary Society of the Church of England in Canada' donated $2000 toward the completion of a 65 ft vessel.  The Columbia provided emergency room services, medical consultation, served as a dispensary, and included a chapel and a library.

The Columbia

Shortly after the Columbia assumed its duties, the society was able to show the depth of need on the BC Coast for basic medical services.  The mission was moved to establish a hospital at Rock Bay (just North of Ripple Rock) in 1906.
A second hospital was added on Texada Island, at the site of a large copper mine.  In 1909 Antle was a key figure in the establishment of another hospital, St. George's Hospital in Alert Bay.
Antle was trained as an anesthetist, and added this to his duties of ship's captain, writer, chaplain, boat cook, and founder/administrator of the Society.
The mission played an important role in the lives of early pioneers on the North Island.  Both directly, and through the ongoing activities of the mission, Antle saved many lives and nourished the souls of many people who were living a difficult existence.
The mission went on to build the Columbia II in 1910 and eventually added another vessel to its fleet, the Rendezvous.
The Columbia III plied the waters of coastal BC for the society from 1955 until 1968, when float planes started to replace boats as the most efficient way of responding to medical emergencies.
Antle retired in 1936, and at that time the assets of the mission included: three hospitals, five churches, two native missions, and two ships.  Antle was persuaded to return briefly to service during WWII, serving in a parish on Mayne Island.
In 1948 Antle, who had always retained his passion for sailing, left Vancouver on his sailboat Reverie for a trip to the West Indies.  Unfortunately bad weather and health problems caused him to give up his trip in San Francisco.   Antle died December 3, 1949.  His funeral service was held on-board the Columbia, and he was buried at sea at Manson's Deep, just off of Bowen Island.