Mascot Mine

Useful Information

Location:	At Hedley, tours start from Snaza'ist Visitor Centre, on Highway 3. 303km from Vancouver, 382km from Seattle, 398km from Spokane.
Open:	JAN to JUN Sat, Sun 10, 13. JUL to AUG daily 9, 12, 15. SEP to DEC Sat, Sun 10, 13. [2006]
Fee:	Adults CAD 35, Children (10-18) CAD 27.50, Children (0-10) not allowed, Seniors (65+) CAD 27.50. Groups (15+): Adults CAD , Children (10-18) CAD . Plus tax. [2006]
Classification:	Gold Mine
Light:	electric.
Dimension:
Guided tours:	D=4h.
Bibliography:
Address:	Mascot Mine, 5800 Highway 3, PO Box 20, Hedley, B.C. V0X 1K0, Tel: 1-888-799-8733, +1-250-292-8733, Fax: +1-250-292-8753. E-mail:
Last update:	$Date: 2008/07/01 20:17:14 $

History


1897		first gold discovered in Hedley.
1930s		mine opened.
1949		mine closed.
1990		bought by the NDP government for $740,000.
1995		redeveloped by the Upper Similkameen Indian Band.
2003		provincial grant of $303,000.
20-JUL-2004		opened to the public.

Description

Mascot Mine is located high above the village of Hedley at the steep walls of the Similkameen Valley. To get there is a little tricky, so the tours start at the Snaza'ist Visitor Centre, the former Hedley Elementary School, on Highway 3. The building has been converted into an interpretive centre with gift shop and ticket ofice.

Buses bring the visitors up Nickle Plate Road and through a gate at Nickle Plate Mine to a staging area located 1625m asl. A wooden stairway goes down 500 stairs to the mine buildings, with various landings and bench seating for rests along the way. The view is breathtaking, and there are various stops, for example the Dry Room, where miners started and ended their shifts with a shower and change of clothes. The main level is the 4,800 Foot Level (1,480m asl), where the first tunnel was driven into the hillside. From the Main Portal a tunnel with narrow-gauge railway tracks goes into the mountain about one kilometer. A maze of tunnels, sub-levels, chutes and raises follows. On the surface there are numerous buildings, including the Mine Office, Ore Bin, Blacksmith Shop, Compressor Shed and the Aerial Tramway. The tramway was used to haul the material up to the mine during the 1930s.

The mine was abandoned already in 1949, the buildings were stripped of their equipment and abandoned. Over the years they became dangerous, and so in the early 1990s there were plans to burn them down. Bill Barlee, South Okanagan historian and mining buff, and British Columbiašs Minister of Tourism at that time, saw the potential tourism opportunity. The NDP government bought the Mascot Mine property for $740,000. The Upper Similkameen Indian Band (USIB) got involved in 1995. They started to restore the buildings until they could be opened as an outdoor mining museum.

Mascot Mine

Useful Information

History

Description

See also