When many of the first non-First Nations people came to the North Island in the late 1800s, they were attracted by the offer of preemptions of land. If a man or a family (rarely a woman) would come and clear the land, build a house and live on it, they would get title to the property. This was the government’s way of encouraging people loyal to the British Empire to populate the hinterland of coastal BC.
Homesteaders found that it was difficult to make a living farming in the North Island’s coastal rainforest, and in order to make money many people turned to prospecting.
In the late 1800s, the government would test mineral samples (assays) for free, and so boat-loads of local men would venture off into the great unknown for days or weeks at a time, looking for evidence of precious metals.
Residents of Quatsino seemed to be particularly adept at finding these deposits. One of these successes was the discovery of copper in an area by Elk Lake (now known as Benson Lake) in about 1897 by George Nordstrom. A claim was laid called the “Old Sport Mine” in an area about 500m south of the river on the lake.
In the early 1900s some surface work was likely done on the claim. The mine used diamond drills to a depth of about 400 feet. They ran a water-driven generator plant, and had a camp for about 30 employees.
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| Coast Copper Mine - Photo by Ben Leeson 191- Vancouver Public Library |
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| Coast Copper Mine - Photo by Ben Leeson 1915 Vancouver Public Library |
In 1916 mining giant Cominco purchased Old Sport and a number of other claims in the area. They started the work of constructing underground shafts to mine below the surface. They changed the name of the original Old Sport Claim to Coast Copper.
To get supplies to the mine materials would be offloaded from the Coastal Steamships in Port Alice at Jeune Landing, driven to Alice Lake, boated across the lake, taken by pack horse to Kathleen Lake, boated across the lake, and then again taken by pack horse to Elk (Benson) Lake.
Many local men worked at the mine up until the 1930s, when the Great Depression halted production.
In the 1960s mining in the area was reactivated. The main minerals produced were magnetite, chalcopyrite and local bornite. The mine produced iron, copper, gold and silver. During a ten year production run more than 2.5 million tonnes were mined from the site. Many of the tailings were dumped into Benson Lake.
About every ten years a new company expresses interest in the site. In the late 1960s it was Quatsino Copper Gold, in the 1970s Alice Lake Minerals, in the 1980s Taywin Resources, in the 1990s Noranda Inc. The claim has been for sale again in recent years as a part of the Merry Widow Group.
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Article in the North Island Gazette:
https://news.google.com/newspapers?nid=1185&dat=19720706&id=INBaAAAAIBAJ&sjid=w4ADAAAAIBAJ&pg=6960,1671799&hl=en
Photos show one of the old mine shafts from the Coast Copper claim in the area by Chris Halliday www.250explorer.com .
Interesting...As a youth of 17, I worked at the mine in the summer of 1965. The nearest town was Port Macneil, and road access was via logging roads...dodging logging trucks all the way...to get to 'civilization'...at Campbell River....and down to Nanaimo or Victoria. We used to go swimming in Benson Lake, a short walk from the camp.
ReplyDeleteGreat articles, I was raised at Englewood and Beaver Cove. I worked at Benson Lake in 1970/1971. Whar I remember was the sun didn't come up until 11:00 am and disapeared at 1:00 pm. It seemed to be always cold there even in summer and incredibly wet in the winter.
ReplyDeleteMy father Francis Arthur Jones worked at Benson lake mine from 1963.
ReplyDeleteI have his original union card and several photos of the mine.
Hi Vincent - we would love to share some of your photos of the mine if you are interested!
DeleteHello,
DeleteIs your name Heather and you are writing the story of your family's history in relation to their life in Strandby many years ago?I'm interested because my family roots go back to the other side of the northern tip of Vancouver Island - Cape Scott and the danish settlers there.
I'm not sure if I have the right person. If so, please reply to me.
Best regards,
Debra
Hi Heather - I am the author of this website, my name is Brenda. I'm not sure who was looking for information on Strandby.
DeleteI worked at Benson Lake Mine through late fall of 1968 through spring of 1969. Came across this article and found it interesting.
ReplyDeleteSorry I meant to add my name to the unknown article
ReplyDeleteRon Barnes
Hi there I worked for Cominco at Benson Lake in 1966. My friend Richard managed the warehouse. He had his friend Henry fudge the records so I appeared to be 18 and old enough to work there. I was in fact 17 and it was my first "real" job. It's been a long time so most names are forgotten but here is who I do remember. Joe Rossini was the machine shop foreman and owned a little weekend shack in Port MacNeil with Scotty McNulty. I worked on the surface crew with Blackie Lamoureux, a fellow named and another named Dick. The carpenter was an old Polish gentleman named Tony. A very nice fellow who loved his liquor. Every payday he would complain about the size of his cheque and Parenteau our foreman would laugh and tell him to show up every day like the rest of us. All in all a decent place to work. We worked hard but they fed us well, paid us reasonably and the bosses were pretty good.
ReplyDeleteHello,
DeleteI worked as an underground trammer and miner 1964/65. Cominco were good bosses and it prepared me well for later working life.
I think I met scotty McNulty. Bobcat was also a character there.
I believe he was Bulgarian. B.C.
Hi there , my name is Hans Pech . I workt 1967 in the maschine shop . The only name i can remember is Joe Rossini .I still have some photos from my time working there . If anybody has pictures , please send them to me at my Email adress . Thank you
ReplyDeleteI worked at the mine and lived in the mining camp bunkhouses for about a year in late 1969. I was the new kill mechanic, taking over from a Chinese guy who was leaving. Joe Rossini was my boss in the maintenance crew. He had an assistant named Armand, can't recall his surname. Pat was an older millwright living in the camp, he had his own car there! There was a blacksmith living in the trailer camp, he may have been Polish. I had several Swiss friends, Max and another who worked all the hours he could, saving to buy a chalet back home in Switzerland, eventually. I looked after all the mill machinery, oiling and doing maintenance to pumps, conveyors, jaw crusher and ball Mills as required. I met a draft dodger from US named Tom Bomba at some point, great guy. Played table tennis in the recreation hall where the miners would play poker every payday, all night. Great food in canteen. Cooked the trout I caught in the lake.
DeleteGood Times, wish I could recall more names.
Edit. That should read Mill Mechanic!
ReplyDeleteIn 1967 I worked for Empire Development until it closed in August. Empire was only 1.5 miles from Cominco's Benson Lake . Might you have any information or photos from Empire?
ReplyDeleteMy photos are only of Benson Lake mining camp. Not many either as cameras were not everyday items like they are today.
DeletePeter g.
I worked at Benson Lake in the summer & fall of 1969. I was a beltman, cleaning up below the rollers on the conveyor belt that hoisted muck from the mine, up the incline to the surface. After a few weeks I was promoted to the operator - controlled the flow of ore / waste onto the belt by means of a pneumatic ram which opened & closed the chute. Belt load was measured by an ammeter showing the load on the electric motors. We were taken into & out of the mine by diesel Land Rovers. One driver was a young black man named Walter. Foreman's name was Rudy, last name not recalled. Lived in two-story dormatories with two-man rooms. "Bull cook" cleaned & straightened the rooms every day. The cafeteria was large and provided great variety of excellent chow, 3 meals a day. Room and board were $2.75 a day deducted from your paycheck. Left in Nov of that year to make more money in a mine near Keremeos. Should have staye at Benson Lake. - Gary, Abilene, TX
ReplyDelete