Introduction

Railways Criss-cross the Kootenays

The New Players

Busy Beehive Ovens

Introduction

From 1898 to the early 1980’s, much coal produced in British Columbia’s Elk Valley was converted into coke and sold primarily to smelters in BC and the northwestern United States. This very hot-burning substance was used to smelt ores containing gold, copper, silver, lead, zinc and other minerals. The ores were brought from mines in the Kootenays, first by wagon or boat, and later by rail, to the smelters.^1,2

"Kimberley, Sullivan Mine Smelter, 1954" BCARS I-27687

The Elk Valley coalfields, Kootenay mineral deposits and connecting freight routes developed together, each benefiting the other. The production of metals depended on ready supplies of coke and railways and barges able to handle the heavy freight. Each industry also depended on markets for steel rails, copper telegraph wires and myriad other items produced from Kootenay ore.

For a time, the high prices paid for these minerals justified the high cost of opening new mines and building new coke ovens, smelters and rail lines. These operations were expensive to maintain however, and as demand for Kootenay ore declined, only the strongest competitors endured.

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