Chapter 4

COAL MINING in

The single most dangerous action you can take on this tour is failing to pay attention while travelling on the route. Do NOT read the following chapter while actively moving by vehicle, car, foot, bike, or boat. NANAIMO COAL MINING Driving Tour

Simon Priest, local resident and student of history

DANGER: Do not enter coal mines (abandoned or active) without special permission and training to go underground. For this tour, stay on marked trails and roadways. “Lost” or unknown mine openings can be covered with wood that has rotted or vegetation that has overgrown the gap. One wrong step off the beaten path and you could end up at the bottom of a deep shaft. Stay out of mines, remain alert!

As recently as 1969, two boys exploring a mine tunnel near Harewood, decided to sleep there overnight without telling anyone where they had gone. Thought to be lost forever, their bodies were discovered in 1980 as they had died in their sleep from breathing deadly gases that had accumulated in the mine!

Sedimentary layers including black coal

GEOLOGY: Sedimentary rocks are formed by the deposition of materials that are later fused together under pressure. If the deposited materials are mostly sand, then sandstone results from pressure. If these materials are mostly coral, then limestone can result. Small pebbles are pressed into concrete-like conglomerate. Mud makes shale. Deposited animal or plant matter forms coal under heavy pressure.

The Nanaimo Basin (lowlands between the surrounding half circle of mountains) has all of these layers in varying combinations. All of these were believed to be formed underwater about 65 - 85 million years ago. The materials were washed out by rivers into the deeper waters and compressed under the weight of that water and layers on top to form rock. As waters receded, and this sedimentary rock was pushed up by geological forces, it became dry land. In some places near Nanaimo, seams or layers of black coal can easily be seen in between the other sedimentary layers. The discovery and sharing of this exposed coal on the surface led to Nanaimo’s mining growth during the last half of the nineteen century.

MINING: The extraction of coal was conducted through surface and/or underground mining. Surface mining involved open-pit stripping of layers (removing overburden above to get to the coal below). In Nanaimo, this approach was used first, where coal was obviously seen at the surface. After removing the maximum coal possible, or encountering too much overburden to remove safely or profitably, the head miner would then decide to go underground. Either a shaft would be dug vertically, or a drift would go horizontally into a hill side, or an angular slope would descend toward an exploratory pocket.

Underground workers would remove all the coal in the layer sandwiched between other layers of sandstone and conglomerate. Since large unsupported gaps would be created by this method, early mines would collapse. Later methods saw the use of pillars and posts to reinforce the gap. Pillars of coal would be left in place or timber posts were added with additional wood to support the ceiling layer. When the farthest limit of a mine was reached, due to ventilation or economic shortcomings, the workers would retreat; removing the pillars behind them and the tunnel may or may not have collapsed.

Normally workers would chip away at the front face of underground operations using hand tools such as pick and shovels. To accelerate their efforts, holes were drilled into the active face and explosives were used to shatter the coal and facilitate its easy removal by hand. Temporary rail beds were built into tunnels to move coal from the face to the shaft by shuttle cars. Raising the coal up the shaft and out of the mine would be accomplished with skip elevators suspended from cables that ran over a large pulley (headframe) to a winch powered first by animals and later by steam from water boiled with fired coal.

Horse-drawn coal cart and “pit pony” in underground mine, circa 1890s

COAL: For Nanaimo, coal is an important sedimentary rock, composed of carbon with some impurities (hydrogen, sulfur, nitrogen). In the presence of oxygen (forming 20% of the air we breathe), the carbon in coal will burn to produce heat and carbon dioxide. The heat is extremely useful for creating steam to generate electricity and for industrial manufacturing of iron and steel. Carbon dioxide is a greenhouse gas that contributes to climate destabilization and the overall warming of the planet. Nevertheless, coal is a fossil fuel commodity that the world continues to mine and exploit despite its obvious impacts.

While coal types range from anthracite (90%+ carbon), through bituminous (70-90% carbon), to lignite (50-70% carbon), all three types are present on Island. However, coal works in Nanaimo, Wellington, Comox (to the north), and Extension (to the south) mined bituminous coal, with low moisture content and high volatility (from vaporized hydrocarbons), making it perfect for industrial use.

Bituminous Coal

Nanaimo coal was mined from three distinct layers or strata, which did not overlap or intersect. These were named for the locations of the initial surface mines: the Newcastle Seam, the Douglas Seam, and the Wellington Seam. While roughly horizontal, these seams were folded by the earth’s pressure to look like a potato chip underground. Most seams were on a slight slant, so they reached the surface at some point as an exposed seam or outcrop. The distances of sedimentary layers between coal seams were fairly regular. The diagram below shows approximate spacing for initial operations on Newcastle Island. Note that the average thickness of a coal seam meant that workers could not stand upright in the mine.

…The [Newcastle] seam occurs 244 metres to 305 metres above the Wellington Seam and on average 18.3 metres below the Douglas Seam. The seam has the most restricted distribution of the three producing seams in the Nanaimo Coalfield…. The seam occurs in the area underlying Newcastle and Protection

Islands, beneath the town [of] Nanaimo, and is thought to extend towards south Wellington….

The seam averages 0.9 to 1.2 metres in thickness where worked but thicknesses range from 0.5 to 2.4 metres. The seam is high volatile bituminous with lower carbon and higher oxygen and ash contents than the Wellington and Douglas seams. The coal has mainly been sold as steam coal. The seam is underlain by flaggy or shaly sandstone and overlain by sandy shale to fine conglomerate….

Mineable coal was worked from the Brechin mine to the No. 1 mine for a distance of approximately 2 miles along strike and for about one mile down dip. The seam extends beneath Newcastle and Protection

Islands and for some distance seaward. The strata generally strike northwest to northeast and dip shallowly predominantly to the northeast and southeast…. The Douglas Seam (20 metres above the

Newcastle Seam) outcrops at the Brechin mine but has not been worked.

At the Protection mine the Douglas Seam is approximately 1.5 metres thick under a hard faulted roof rock.

Below this seam is the 1.2 metre thick Newcastle Seam. Both seams were mined out under the

Northumberland Channel at this mine....

MINFILE No. 092GSW045, Record Summary for the Brechin Mine (#9) on Newcastle Island

From the Ministry of Energy, Mines, and Petroleum Resources, government http://minfile.gov.bc.ca/Summary.aspx?minfilno=092GSW045 (retrieved February 25, 2019).

The Industrial Terminology of Coal Mining

TERMINOLOGY: Please get familiar with the above diagram, because you will see some sites on this tour where these industrial terms are frequently used:

• Strip mine – open pit where coal and its covering layer of overburdened rock was scraped away. • Coal mine – location where coal was removed through a vertical shaft, horizontal drift or angular slope dug into the ground. • Tunnel or level – location where a piece of the mine extended away from its shaft, drift or slope and into the seam or layer of coal. • Pillar or post – location where pillars of coal were left in place or wooden posts were added to reinforce tunnels or levels and prevent their collapse from the weight of the rock above. • Ventilation – location where a minor shaft, slope or drift was added to provide air circulation in the tunnels or levels below ground. • Front face – location where the coal was being broken up, sometimes with explosives, and removed by workers using individual shuttle cars or a connected chain of cars. • Sump – location where coal was stored temporarily at the bottom of a shaft or slope before being extracted by rail cars or a skip (elevator). • Headframe – location where a structure of wood, steel, or reinforced concrete, was used to suspend and support a pulley for a cable running between the winch and skip. • Tipple – a sorting facility, where ore was tipped into, rock was screened out, and then the remaining coal was sifted on the basis of size for delivery into rail carriages. • Colliery – location where coal was mined (from one or more mines) and processed by crushing and/or washing with water before transport by railway and ocean-going ship.

Rough map of Nanaimo’s coal mining regions (shapes approximate underground workings).

TIMELINE: The historical timeline of coal mining in Nanaimo can be traced through several periods, each corresponding to a geographic region. As shown on the above map, exploration proceeded generally south along two routes: the combined Douglas + Newcastle seams and the singular Wellington seam. Aside from several minor players, two strong influences arose as major competitors in the Nanaimo coal mining market and they changed names over the years as shown in the timeline below. One operated mostly in the Douglas and Newcastle seams, while the other operated mostly in the Wellington seam.

The first began as the Hudson’s Bay Company (HB), who established the Douglas and Newcastle operations. They mined under the title of Nanaimo Coal Company (NC) from 1854. After their initial land leases expired by 1859, they sold to the Vancouver Coal Mining & Land Company (VCML) and shortly afterwards they reorganized as the New Vancouver Coal Mining & Land Company (NVCM). By 1918, they had sold their interests to the Western Fuel Company (WFC), which later updated its title to Canadian Western Fuel Corporation (CWFC) in 1918 and to the Western Fuel Corporation of (WFCC) in 1921. Although, this alphabet soup can be confusing, all these companies worked in the same regions, mostly within the same mines, and on the same two seams.

Robert Dunsmuir and his son, James

The second involved the Dunsmuir family. Father, (RD), was credited with discovering coal beside Diver Lake, north of Nanaimo. He established the Wellington mines and founded Dunsmuir, Diggle & Company (DDC) with investors from the Royal Navy, who were experts in transporting coal to San Francisco and other markets. By 1883, he had bought out his DDC partners to form Robert Dunsmuir & Sons (RDS). Around 1899, when Wellington area mines were starting to underperform, but the Wellington Brand was still strong, one son, , formed the Wellington Colliery Company (WCC). The other son, Alexander Dunsmuir, was in charge of shipping coal to American markets. By 1900, the Wellington mines were depleted, its infrastructure was moved to the Extension mines, and this coal was shipped from Oyster Harbour in Ladysmith. The company renamed as Canadian Collieries (Dunsmuir) Limited (CCD) in 1910.

Eventually, the CCD bought out the WFC resources and cemented a majority monopoly on coal mining. Entering World War II, oil from California displaced coal as the preferred military fuel and mining ceased. Most mines had closed by the mid-1960s from decreased coal requests and increased oil abundance.

Timeline of Nanaimo coal mining regions with changing ownership

Coal mines evolved within the surrounding regions and across varying dates. Note that many new mining regions chose to adapt “Wellington” into their names: South Wellington, North Wellington, East Wellington, West Wellington, and even Nanoose-Wellington! This was because both the coal seam and initial colliery called Wellington had a good reputation for high quality coal. A map showing the exact mine locations (various Wellingtons) and connecting railways can be found at the end of this chapter. This is followed by a table listing each mine and its other names, years active, owners and operators.

NANAIMO (Douglas + Newcastle seams): After being shown coal outcroppings on the shoreline by Chief Che-wech-i-kan (Coal Tyee), the Hudson’s Bay Company (HBC) began mining with its No. 1 pit (1852-1857) and No. 3 pit (1857-1861), both near the Bastion in what is now downtown Nanaimo. A succession of companies (noted earlier as VCML, NVCM, WFC, CWFC, and WFCC) owned and operated the Old Douglas Mine. They named the Douglas seam after , the first governor of the BC colony at that time. The sank the Park Head slope (1855), Old Douglas shaft (1862-1866), and followed this with the New Douglas/ mines (1874-1886) located on the high ridge south of downtown. Lastly, they sank the high performing Esplanade No. 1 Shaft (1881-1938) beside the indigenous reserve. All of these mines were connected by tunnels underground or by topside transportation of railways, roads, and shipping. Coal was shipped from tidewater wharves at Cameron Island in .

HAREWOOD / JINGLE POT / WAKESIAH (Wellington seam): The Vancouver Coal & Land Company (VCL) launched the Harewood Slope (1864-1874), operated by Harwood Coal Company, the near the end of what is now Harewood Mines Road. T.A. Bulkley took over for three years (1874-1877) and built an aerial tramway down this road and Albert Street to the Cameron Island coal wharves in downtown Nanaimo. This short lived enterprise was taken over a decade later by the VCML and their successor, NVCM, added Harewood Shaft (1891-1923). They also connected a railway along today’s Nanaimo Parkway/Highway #19 easement to join their main lines at Chase River. After two decades of closure, James Biggs took coal from the Harewood Mines and renamed them Furnace Portal Mine (1945-1951).

Jingle Pot Mine was initially named for the noise made by ratting a stone in a pot, to signal raising or lowering of the skip or elevator. This trio of mines was sunk (1907-1917) by the Vancouver-Nanaimo Coal Mining Company Ltd. (VNCM). The British Columbia Coal Mining Company Ltd. (BCCM) took over for a couple of years and then abandoned the mines. During this period of dormancy (1918-1930), the WFC/CWFC/WFCC sank shafts next door at the Wakesiah Colliery, underneath the present university, high school, and sports fields (today, the university uses one of the flooded mine shafts as a heat exchange system to regulate the temperature for one of its larger buildings). After a decade of neglect, the VNCM came back to work the Jingle Pot Mines again from 1930 to 1945 with a series of several different operators. The last was G. Lewis at what he renamed the Lewis Mine.

WELLINGTON / NORTH FIELD (Wellington seam): The coal discovered at Diver Lake by Robert Dunsmuir (see earlier story) was eventually determined to come from a new and higher quality seam named Wellington (for the British Duke, who defeated Napoleon at Waterloo). Under his own name, Dunsmuir mined an open pit beside Diver Lake. This was converted to No. 5 Shaft after his successive companies (DDC and RDS) dug Old Slope and Shaft Nos. 1 through 6 (1882-1900). They ran coal down to by horse drawn cart, tramway, and eventually a narrow gauge railway that looped around the lake and branched off to each nearby shafts. Two wharves loaded ships bound for San Francisco. The New VCMLC sank and operated the Northfield No. 1 shaft near the golf course (1889-1895) and a pair of North Field No. 2 shafts (1889-1914). CCD later acquired these, mined them by recovering coal pillars left behind (1936-1941), and used each to drain or ventilate their Wellington mining operations. An exclusive chapter (20) describes the Wellington walking tour near stop #13 on this driving tour.

NEWCASTLE (Douglas + Newcastle seams): Concurrent to their Nanaimo operations, the HBC/NC was aware of coal on Newcastle Island, but had their hands full with the many small mines in Nanaimo proper. Their successor, VCML, extracted small amounts of coal from a Newcastle pit mine (1874-1876), thus naming the Newcastle seam, and sank the Fitzwilliam Slope (1874-1881) into both seams. The NVCM opened the Protection Island shaft (1890-1938) that connected tunnels beneath the harbour waters to the rest of their Nanaimo underground workings. They also sank a shaft at Kanaka Bay on Newcastle Island, but access to shipping was inconvenient, so this later served as the airshaft for the Protection Island mine. They added the Northfield No. 4 (1888-1904), beside Departure Bay Ferry Terminal, and it later became Brechin (1904-1914) under the WFC. These mines connected to the island mines by tunnels under the water and shipped coal directly from wharves adjacent to their operations.

EAST WELLINGTON (Wellington seam): Originally, the land was a large farm run by the Westwood family (Westwood Lake named for them). They (I) hand dug coal in a small pit for their own use (1878-1882). Robert Chandler (Ch) of San Francisco, and later the East Wellington Colliery (EWC), expanded this into No. 1 and No 2. and the East Wellington Mines. Little is known of these operations, since records have long since been lost. A railway ran past these mines along today’s Maxey Road and the Millstone River Valley to reach Departure Bay near the ferry terminal. After two years of dormancy, RDS took control (1895-1896) to recover leftover coal. A separate operation of the East Wellington Mine (1920-1928) by the East Wellington Coal Company Colliery (EWCC) concluded the short term lives of these mines.

SOUTH WELLINGTON (Douglas + Newcastle seams): This collection of mines began independently with their own separate stories in efforts to purchase lands and coal mine around the E&N Railway land grant “owned” by the Dunsmuir monopoly. Wingate started the early pit mines in 1878 and Chandler tried his hand here in 1879 before turning his attention to East Wellington. That same year, DDC acquired his mineral rights and worked the puts until 1882. CCD took over and sank the Nos. 5 (1919-1927) and 10 shafts (1937-1951), each located at opposite ends of Beck Lake. CCD operate these from 1918 to 1952.

South Wellington Coal Mines (SWCM) opened a South Wellington pit (1907-1909) on the Fiddick’s land, but soon sold it to PCCM. They put Richard Fiddick in charge (1909-1917) and he dug a slope mine that has kept his name to this day. PCCM operated Fiddick’s mine on and off from 1909 to 1939.

James Beck established the Alexandria pit (1879-1882). RDS took it over for the next decade (1891- 1898) and turned it into a slope mine. His Union Colliery Company (UCC) from Cumberland and the Wellington Colliery Company (WCC) of Extension each owned it for a year or so, before CCD took over.

John Arbuthnot, founder of the Pacific Coast Coal Company (PCCM), opened the Round Island Slope Mine (1920-1928), and PCCM managed it, through a variety of operators (1928-1959). The first of these were the Richardson Brothers and so it has been commonly known as the Richardson Slope Mine ever since, even thought it has held alternate names: Ida Clara (Richardson spouse), Clifford, and Big Flame.

PCCM’s jewel in the crown was Morden Mine (1912-1921). The PCCM built a railway from their South Wellington mines, through Morden Colliery, to a wharf at Boat Harbour. From 1921 to 1930, a number of other operators attempted to mine Morden, but with limited success. Considerable ruins remain at this historical park and it is a major stop (#22) on this tour, plus has its own chapter (11) walking tour.

Toward the end of its tenure in the Nanaimo coal industry, CCD also operated the Bright Mine (1950- 1953) near the airport. Granby Consolidated Mining, Smelting, and Power (GCMSP) ran a sophisticated mining village for Granby Mine (1917-1932), also near the airport. After two decades of closure, the GCMSP attempted to revitalize the mine (1952-1953), but the low value of coal made this very difficult. These latter efforts were late entries into the coal mining game and did not last long by local standards.

SOUTH FIELD (Douglas + Newcastle seams): Early exploration by the VCML began with expansion in to the coal fields south of the city with South Field Nos. 1, 2, 4, and 5 (1882-1901). No. 3 began as a pit (1886-1894) and proved so valuable that operations were enlarged to a below ground mine by the NVCM. The WFC/CWFC/WFCC opened the shafts of Reserve Mine (1910-1939) on indigenous lands. A new line linked the mine via the Chase River railways to the established wharves in Nanaimo Harbour.

EXTENSION (Wellington seam): Extension was initially named Wellington Extension, because a continuation of the Wellington seam was long sought after and difficult to find, since Mount Benson (1000+ metres, 3000+’ high) lay in the way. The name was shortened when a post office opened and couldn’t fit the full name on its sign. The Dunsmuirs owned all mineral rights through a railway grant.

The main Extension mines (Nos. 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, and the connecting tunnels) were owned and operated by RDS, WCC, and CCD successively (1895-1931). In the early years, the records briefly show the E&N Railway (E&N) and Union Colliery Company (UCC) as owners, but these were owned by the Dunsmuirs.

CCD sank several deep shafts on the southern ridge, Nos. 1, 2, 3, 4 (further south), and 5, and connected them with a surface railway system. CCD also built a tunnel to link all these mines underground, complete with electric cars running back and forth. Toward the end of their production, they dug several satellite mines: No. 4 shafts expanded beside the main road to Extension, Wellington No. 8 shaft (AKA Lewis & Wilson, 1926-1928, 1941-1946), Timberlands (1951-1957), White Rapids (1944-1950) by the , and Extension Prospect (1940-1947) on the northern ridge. A distinctive chapter (5) describes the Extension village walking tour near stop #29 on this driving tour.

OTHERS: Dunsmuir’s companies eventually acquired the assets of their competition and ultimately operated most mines in all three coal seams. As Dunsmuir started to enjoy a monopoly on Nanaimo coal mining, a few small companies operated much to his irritation. Dunsmuir’s companies already held the land, timber, and mineral rights to a fifth of , due to the land grant obtained from the government while building the E&N Railway. However, by leveraging settlers’ rights, these smaller companies were able to buy land from homesteaders and gain access to underlying coal seams through their mineral rights. This allowed them to set up their own mining inside supposed Dunsmuir territory.

While several minor mines may have been started near Wellington, South Wellington, and Extension (see table at end of this chapter), James Dunsmuir’s interests quickly bought out the ones that showed promised via CCD. Some more notable exceptions included West Wellington and Nanoose-Wellington.

The West Wellington Mine was on an early claim staked by landowner William P. Brannan (nearby Brannan Lake was named for his farm). D. Jordan operated the first pit (called Jordan Mine) for a year (1895-1896) and the West Wellington Coal Company Limited turned this into a slope mine (1896-1897) over the next year before abandoning it. They built a 10 kilometre (6 mile) long aerial tramway to their shipping wharves on Nanoose Bay. CCD bought the mine thirty years later and built a rail spur to it. R.H. Chambers ran it for three years (1928-1931) as the Little Ash Mine. Not only were mines named for a loved one or oneself, but also for the properties of the mined coal: Big Flame, Blue Flame, Little Ash, etc.

The Nanoose-Wellington Mine had a succession of interesting names. Located beside Nanoose Bay in the village of (north of Nanaimo), it began as Nanoose Mine under the Nanoose Colliery Company Ltd. (NCC, 1916-1921). When the Nanoose-Wellington Collieries Company Ltd. (NWC, 1921- 1926) took over, it changed its name to the Lantzville Mine (for Fraser Lantz, the operating director) and the village kept the name. The CCD ran it for one year (1926-1927) and then for another year (1927- 1928), an unknown operator renamed it the Diamond Jubilee Mine for Canada’s 60th anniversary. Jack Challoner took it over from 1929 to 1941 and folks simply knew it as Jack’s Mine (an earlier operator was Jack Grant, so it was also referred to as both Jack’s and Grant’s Mine during his time). It spent its final year (1942-1943) as Lila’s Mine under the ownership of Nanoose Collieries Company Limited (NNC).

After each of these major mines closed down, dozens of small and independent operators rushed in to extract the supporting coal pillars or work through the leftover tailing piles to recover valuable coal. Many lasted only a few years in these recovery operations. The last one finished by 1965 in Wellington. A 1970s attempt failed to remove coal from Wolfe Mountain (on shoulder of Benson outside Nanaimo).

Pollution from burning coal was an unfortunate cost of powering Nanaimo mines

NEGATIVES: Burning coal damages the natural environment. The need for water, to make steam to drive turbines and generate electricity, can mean that local water sources are prematurely depleted. Sulfur, a common impurity released when coal burns in the air, is the cause of acid rain. As sulfur dioxide, it combines with moisture in the air to form sulfuric acid. When this falls as rain, water sources are further acidified. Carbon also burns in air to make carbon dioxide. The extremely high production of carbon dioxide, on par with the combustion of other petroleum products like oil and gas, is the primary human contribution (40%) to climate destabilization and irreversible planetary warming.

Coal mining can have similar environmental impacts and has damaged the health of many mine workers. Run off from collieries (coal processing areas usually beside the mines) will contaminate nearby water sources and change their acidity. This in turn can kill plant and animals living there. Methane, a more enduring greenhouse gas than carbon dioxide, is released during coal removal. Historically known as “coalbed gas,” this was the cause of many unexpected explosions, when dynamite was being used to break up the coal face. In mines around the world (not in Nanaimo) inextinguishable fires are known to continue burning (Burning Mountain in Australia, not a volcano, has been on fire for 6,000 years)!

Headframe damaged from an underground explosion venting out of the shaft opening

Breathing in coal dust day after day caused many mine workers to contract and die from “black lung” disease (named for turning the healthy pink lung into a black one discovered during autopsy). Over the early century of mining in Nanaimo, poor records were kept. However, we know that more than 2000 workers were physically injured from daily work activities and at least 200 died from wall failures, roof collapses, explosions, and suffocations. Untold numbers suffered from noise induced hearing losses.

Some of the unknown impurities in coal at the time were toxic (mercury, arsenic, selenium, and heavy metals), while others were radioactive (uranium and thorium). Workers exposed to these elements over a long period of time, ran the risks of becoming ill. So far, citizen occupants of houses built atop the old coal processing operation sites and coal mines in Nanaimo have not shown any adverse health impacts.

Finally, abandoned coal mines will eventually subside. Subsidence is the collapse of upper layers into the cavity created by removing coal. Sometimes, the tunnels flood when a lake or seawater drains into them. The Abyss, a giant crack in the conglomerate rock, was caused when an earthquake collapsed the Harewood Mine tunnels underneath. At least one house disappeared into a sink hole at the Wellington Colliery. Visitors often wonder: does the future have more in store for the houses around Nanaimo?

The tour route THE TOUR & ROUTE

The first part of this tour is little more than sites and stories. The coal mining history took place over one and a half centuries ago and little tangible evidence remains other than records. The second part has a more recent history of 70-100 years and some ruins and/or artifacts can be viewed along the way.

START beside the parking lot at the corner of Cavan Street and Victoria Road in downtown Nanaimo.

Thin coal seam in the strata behind the parking lot (cement block caps Park Head slope entrance)

1. Coal: Heavily sought after in the 1850s, the demand for coal brought mining to Nanaimo until the 1950s. The city you see today was built on an industrial history. The back wall of the parking lot, shows an exposed coal seam among other sedimentary rock layers. The cement block covers the slope entrance known as Park Head mine. It descended on an angle, following the decline of the coal seam, and removing extra rock so a human could fit inside, until it reached a wider part of the seam called Douglas (for the governor at that time). Other slopes (#31) and shafts (#36) were sunk on the ridge uphill from here to reach the ongoing Douglas seam.

Look across Victoria Street and Nicol Street to imagine what was once an early mine operated by the Hudson’s Bay Company (HB). The HB was the first European organization to mine coal in Nanaimo (refer to #8 for a description of coal’s discovery and the role of indigenous people). The HB was given exclusive rights to all coal reserves on the island, leased until 1859.

One of the “free-miners” (able to operate their own claims, but working to support the HB) was a young man called Robert Dunsmuir from Scotland, where his family had worked in the coal mines. In 1852, Dunsmuir arrived in Nanaimo after working as a coal miner for a year in (now at the north end of Vancouver Island). After a few years in the “Level- free Workings,” he convinced the HB to further explore a coal seam that was previously thought to be used up. By 1855, he was supervising his own small, but successful HB mining operation.

HBC Map of 1860 Nanaimo coal mining showing the location of the “Level-free Workings”

After the exclusive rights and lease agreement expired for the HBC in 1859, they sold their remaining mines in the Nanaimo centre to the Vancouver Coal Company (later the Vancouver Coal Mining and Land Company) by late 1862. Other mining companies established mines, such as the Harewood Coal Company (HCC) operating in the hills outside of town (#33). Dunsmuir worked as a mining superintendent for both companies and became an expert in coal business.

In 1869, Dunsmuir was fishing in Diver Lake (about 5 kilometres northwest of Nanaimo centre) and he discovered an exposed coal seam (#13). He staked his own claim running from the lake to Departure Bay (#10) and formed his own company: Dunsmuir, Diggle & Company (DDC). He envisioned not just coal extraction, but also the need to transport it to market. He called the area Wellington, after the 1st Duke of Wellington, and built a railway to the water. Within 5 years, this Wellington Colliery was producing 40% of the high quality coal on Vancouver Island.

Dunsmuir became a coal baron. He was one of the founders of the and Nanaimo or E&N Railway that allowed him to transport coal in bigger ships from Victoria to San Francisco. When coal was discovered in the Comox region (100 kilometres north of Nanaimo), he extended the railway from Wellington to Courtenay. Eventually, he moved to the capital of Victoria, built on the hill, and entered politics. He died while in office at the age of 63.

His son, James, founded coal mining in Extension (10 kilometers south of Nanaimo), built Hatley Castle in Victoria, also entered into politics, and became the Premier of British Columbia (BC) for two years and the Lieutenant Governor of BC for three years. His father, Robert Dunsmuir was arguably one of the most influential and colourful characters in Nanaimo’s coal mining history.

Typical coal mining operations in downtown Nanaimo

Drive along Cavan Street, away from Victoria, and turn right on Albert Street to pass #2.

Ardoon overlooking Victoria Crescent in downtown Nanaimo during a rare winter’s snow

2. Ardoon: At the corner of Albert Street and Wallace Street stood the second house of Robert Dunsmuir. Ardoon is a portmanteau of Ard and Doon. Ard refers to a lofty height or high promontory overlooking a valley. Doon is the name of a loch/lake, river and valley near Ayrshire, south of Glasgow, Scotland. The Dunsmuirs hailed from Ayrshire and another historic Ardoon House can be found above the Dunaskin Ironworks in the Doon Valley. The ironworks managers lived in Ardoon and Dunsmuir’s grandfather and father operated coal mines nearby. One can reasonably assume that the name left a favourable impression on Robert Dunsmuir.

He built his own manager’s house here in order to supervise mining operations one block to the east (#1) and those in downtown (#3). His first build was wooden in 1858, but this burned down in 1872, and so this second build was from brick in 1873. He left for Victoria politics around 1882, leaving coal mining to his son, James. Ardoon must have made a favourable impression on James as well, because he also named his house in Wellington (#14) by the exact same title!

Continue on Albert Street as it becomes Commercial Street. Go straight across Terminal Avenue at the traffic lights to reach #3 in the middle of downtown Nanaimo.

The first log cabin on Victoria Road, circa 1860s, and early Nanaimo housing in 1886 (Bastion at far left).

3. Log Cabin & Pit Mines: When Dunsmuir first came to Nanaimo and worked underground, he lived in a small log cabin (on Front Street) near the Bastion (HBC fort), with his spouse and children (including first son, James Dunsmuir, who later followed in his father’s footsteps). Later housing was wooden houses on what is now Bastion Street as shown in the photo above.

Several small pit and slope mines were dotted about the downtown area, including the No. 1 pit (on Wharf Street) operated by HBC and supervised by Dunsmuir. The No. 2 pit was on Cameron Island, but ran out quickly. The No. 3 pit was located where the Federal office buildings and Pacifica Tower are located today.

The coal in this area was concentrated in small pockets and did not give easy access to the bigger seams, therefore, the pit operations in the downtown core were brief and unprofitable compared with later slope and shaft mines on the outskirts of the downtown core.

After crossing Bastion Street, continuing on Commercial Street, bear right on Church Street, then turn left on Front Street, near the 100 year coal monument, to pass #4.

Coal Wharfs in Nanaimo Harbour behind the Bastion

4. Coal Wharfs: The first coal wharfs for Nanaimo’s coal mining operations were built on the edge of the Inner Harbour. A network of railways brought coal here from a variety of collieries and mines for transport by ship to local and distant markets. Later progress turned this area into the steamship terminal for passenger transit to Vancouver and into today’s condominium tower.

Bend left from Front Street into Comox Road at #5.

Inside a slope mine, note the timbers supporting the tunnel entrance

5. Unnamed Slopes: By now you will have noticed that the downtown core of Nanaimo is built atop a significant hill. The sides of this hill were strip mined and several shafts were sunk outside of it. At this particular location, several unnamed slope mines were inserted under the hill at an angle in order to attempt easier access to the deeper seams of coal.

The top coal layer, the Douglas Seam, was mined outward under the harbour waters. Workers reported muddy leakage and hearing the ships passing above them! Eventually, these slopes and the shafts went deeper to access the Newcastle Seam.

Turn right on Terminal Avenue across the Pearson Bridge over the Millstone River. Then bear right onto Stewart Avenue following the Trans-Canada Highway toward the Departure Bay Ferry Terminal. This route passes three points of interest: #6, #7, and #8.

Protection Island Mine.

6. Protection Island: A small shaft operated at the southern tip of Protection Island near Gallows Point from 1890 to 1938. It was owned by The New Vancouver Coal Company (later Western Fuel) and is famous for a couple of disasters. In 1913, the Oscar, caught fire and exploded while trying to shelter near Gallows Point during a winter storm. It was laden with dynamite transported from Victoria. The blast damaged the mine structures, flooded some of the underwater tunnels, and blew out windows and bricks of many Nanaimo buildings across the harbour. No one died as a result and only one eye injury was recorded. Five years later, workers were being lowered aboard a wooden skip into the main shaft. The three year old cable snapped (likely corroded by exposure to the salt air during transport from England). The skip fell about 200 metres and all 16 died leaving 42 orphans!

Protection Island Mine.

Coal carriages were initially pulled from mine to wharf by steam donkeys and later locomotives

7. Jingle Pot Wharf: Unable to use Departure Bay (#10, owned by DDC) or Nanaimo Harbour (#4, owned by VCMLC), the New East Wellington and Jingle Pot Collieries transported their coal down a new railway (built in 1883 beside Townsite Road) to their wharf between the end of Townsite Road and Cypress Street. This was later extended to Departure bay, when they were bought out by Dunsmuir’s companies. Steam donkeys (common in logging, portable winches powered by small steam engines) were initially used to pull coal carriages, before locomotives became common. Jingle Pot is a very unique title. For an explanation of its naming and history, see Jingle Pot Mine (#19).

Newcastle Island Mine

8. Newcastle Island Mine: Across the narrow channel from Nanaimo lies Newcastle Island. This was the original discovery site of this exposed coal seam. The Newcastle open pit (1874-1876) was quickly followed by Fitzwilliam slope (1874-1881) and a small shaft at Kanaka Bay. This soon became an air shaft for the Protection Island mines running underground and underwater.

In 1849, Chief Che-wech-i-kan (later nicknamed Coal Tyee) saw a blacksmith in Fort Camosack (now capital Victoria) heating his forge with coal from Fort Rupert (now Port Hardy). Chief Che- wech-i-kan shared his familiarity of places with “black stones” and brought a canoe full of coal when he visited Victoria a year later. The Hudson’s Bay Company (HB) sent agent Joseph McKay to prospect coal mining at Colviletown (now Nanaimo) in 1852. Surface seams of coal produced sufficiently large quantities (several tons in one day) that this first mine started a year later and produced over a hundred tons on one particular day! The contribution of indigenous people to Nanaimo’s growth and prosperity was exceptional. Beyond selflessly sharing the location of this natural resource, the Snuneymuxw people labored in the mines and maintained an ongoing and important relationship with the HB and the coal industries that followed. Without their hard work, Nanaimo would not have been built on coal, nor become the success it is today.

At the traffic light before the ferry terminal entrance, turn right onto Zorchin Road to reach the boat launching ramp and pause for #9.

The Brechin Mine situated on the point across from Newcastle Island

9. Mines and Wharves: The Fitzwilliam Mine, directly across the water, was one of the slopes on Newcastle Island. It ran 3 Km under Newcastle Passage and Nanaimo Harbour following the Newcastle Seam. It was also the site of two of Nanaimo’s initial mine fatalities. In 1874, one worker died from a tunnel collapse, while three others died in the firedamp (methane gas) explosion of 1876.

On this site, the Northfield No. 4 (1888-1904), later renamed the Brechin Mine (1904-1941) sloped under the water to access both the Newcastle and Douglas Seams. No railways were necessary here as coal was loaded directly from the mines onto ships docked at their wharves.

Three other wharfs were established on the south side of Departure Bay. The first, the East Wellington Wharf, was located where the current ferry docks stands. It transferred coal to ships from a railway running from East Wellington and New East Wellington (#17 & #18) to here. The second, Northfield Wharf, was located to the right (east) of the ferry terminal. It received coal from the Northfield Mines (#11 & #12) via a railway along Northfield Road and then down switchbacks near Brechin Road (you will be driving up this road on the way to the next stop).

The third, Wellington South Wharf, was located to the left (west) of the present day ferry vehicle ramps. This wharf was not connected by railway to the South Wellington coal area (#21). Instead “South” referred to its location south of the Wellington Colliery’s North Wharf (#10). James Dunsmiur who owned the Wellington Colliery built a railway to Departure Bay and his north wharf, but then he connected a branch line from that railway at the eastern tip of Long Lake in a mostly straight line to here. This branch railway has since been covered by a golf course and several housing developments as have most of the original railway lines.

Leave the area via Zorchin Road and go straight ahead and uphill on Brechin Road. At the top of the hill, turn right on Estevan Road at the first traffic lights and merge right onto Departure Bay Road. Follow this downhill to Departure Bay and #10.

Coal loading at the North Wharf in Departure Bay

10. Departure Bay: Departure Bay was the site of the Wellington Colliery’s North Wharf from 1871. This was used for the transport of coal from Dunsmuir’s mines in Wellington. In 1883, he built a railway from his Wellington Colliery (# 13-16), along the south shore of Long Lake, and along Sherwood Drive (now housing division) to reach this wharf. The pier burned down in 1900 and all that remains today is the raised ground under the pilings that is visible at low tide.

In order to manufacture and supply explosives to the mining companies, the Hamilton Powder Company built a factory nearby in 1892. Explosions were common; two were memorable. In 1896, a teamster was carrying 180 kilograms (400 pounds) of nitroglycerin in a horse drawn wagon. After he crossed bumpy railway tracks, his cargo exploded leaving a 15 metre (50’) diameter and 2 metre (6’) deep crater with no sign of him or his wagon. House windows were shattered 1.5 kilometres (1 mile) away, grazing cows were stunned, and trees were uprooted.

In 1903, a dozen workers died in an explosion of black powder and dynamite that destroyed a pair of warehouses. The explosion was so powerful that it wrapped a rail around a tree and 3 kilometres away, citizens of Nanaimo thought there had been another underground disaster.

Rail wrapped around tree from explosion of the Hamilton Powder Company,

Continue uphill on Departure Bay Road (avoid turning onto Hammond Bay Road). As you pass Neyland Road, #11 was located between here and the golf course.

Departing for Nanaimo from Esquimalt Harbour (near Victoria).

11. Northfield Mine No. 1 Shaft: Nothing remains of this mine today. It was initially a shaft to mine a coal pocket from 1889 to 1895. After that Robert Dunsmuir’s company added a slope to enter the eastern edge of the Wellington Seam at the “north field.” Toward the end of its life, this opening was used to pump water out of the Wellington Mines. A branch railway connected this shaft, along Neyland Road, to the main railway line near Departure Bay Road.

The only significant railroad remaining on the island is the E&N Railway (crossed on the next leg of this tour). In the days when trains were the preferred mode of transport, a railway was proposed to link Vancouver Island to the rest of British Columbia. Vancouver Island had just joined the BC colony in 1866 and BC joined Canada in 1871. An initial route was proposed and accepted in 1873 from Yellowhead Pass near Jasper, through to Williams Lake, and then down Bute Inlet, across Sonora and Quadra Islands, and onto Vancouver Island near Campbell River.

The railway would then have easily proceeded down island to Victoria, the new BC capital. However, powerful seats of power insisted they not be bypassed in Vancouver and/or New Westminster and the (CPR) Company was shy about building a railway when they already had a successful steamer service from Vancouver to Nanaimo and Victoria. Delays and political squabbles caused BC to threaten withdrawal from Canadian Confederation.

The government decided to build a railway from the CPR steamer docks in Nanaimo to the naval yard in Esquimalt near Victoria in 1874. Robert Dunsmuir, now active in politics, lobbied for the development of the Nanaimo and Esquimalt or E&N Railway. As part of the deal, he secured the land grant of over 300,000 hectares (741,000 acres), along with the accompanying mineral and timber rights, and an equivalent cash grant of $750,000. The land grant amounted to about 10% of lands on Vancouver Island and this doubled in later years with a rail extension to Courtenay.

Construction began in 1884 and finished in 1886 with Canada’s first Prime Minister, Sir John A. MacDonald, driving the last spike near Shawnigan Lake. Hours later, he and Robert Dunsmuir toasted the event with whisky, 200 metres underground in the Nanaimo No.1 Esplanade (#35).

Within the next year, Dunsmuir extended the E&N tracks from Nanaimo to his mining interests in nearby Wellington. A year later, the E&N was extended from Esquimalt to nearby Victoria. Dunsmuir sold his shares to the CPR, but kept all timber and mineral rights. Branch lines were added to in 1911 and in 1912. By 1914, tracks reached their limit in Courtenay. Extension to Campbell River was preempted by the outbreak of World War I.

Turn left on Norwell and go straight cross the Island Highway and the E&N Railway tracks following Bowen Road. Turn right on Whitney Road to the T-junction with Rosstown Road.

Working the front face of the coal mine with hand tools

12. Northfield No.2 Shaft: The main shaft into the north field of the Wellington Seam was once just ahead at the T-junction. A pair of mine shafts descended from here to a deep pocket under the Wellington Mines (#13). No houses will be built on the land directly ahead, because of the high subsidence risk. Two seams were hollowed out underground with one close to the surface here.

Turn right on Rosstown Road and right on Pleasant Terrace to reach the T-junction with Labieux Road. Turn left on Labieux to pass the biggest of Dunsmuir’s Wellington Mines (#13) at Diver Lake Park. STOP AT THE PARK FOR A WHILE AND ENJOY THE WALKING TOUR OF WELLINGTON TOWN (see Chapter 20).

The Wellington Mine (BETTER PIC?)______

13. Wellington Mine and No. 5 Shaft: In 1869, while fishing on Diver Lake, Robert Dunsmuir discovered an outcropping of exposed coal. The No. 5 pit (1868-1874) was dug across the street and several accompanying shafts followed nearby. These dropped into the Wellington coal seam and eventually connected to the Northfield Mines (#12). Dunsmuir named his mine after military hero Arthur Wellesley, the first Duke of Wellington, who defeated Napoleon at the 1815 Battle of Waterloo and served as British Prime Minister for two terms. After being converted into a shaft by 1874, the No. 5 operated until 1900. It was the scene of a large explosion in 1888 that killed 68 workers. Coal pilings from the mine have been revitalized as Diver Lake Park behind the houses and beside the water. A plaque lists the names of those killed on the job.

At the time of “Coal was King,” the town of Wellington (located on the far side of Diver’s Lake) was the second largest city on Vancouver Island. Smaller than Victoria (the capital), but larger than Nanaimo, Wellington had a population of greater than 5,000 in 1889. By 1900, these mines closed and the population dwindled to less than 100 people. After a fire in 1899, the remaining company buildings were dismantled and taken by railway to Ladysmith (south of Nanaimo) for reassembling there around 1900. Ladysmith was the port for coal from the Extension Colliery.

Wellington was famous for a number of miner’s strikes about pay and working conditions. In 1876, workers received a wage cut, so they were on strike until their pay was reinstated. The next year, they struck over dangerous mining conditions and a much needed pay increase. After six months of bloody conflict, during which strikers were evicted and arrested by the militia brought in to enforce the laws and manage the crisis, workers received their pay increase, but their dangerous working conditions remain unchanged. A decade of accidents followed that claimed over 150 lives. By 1887, a lengthy mine fire culminated in a massive explosion that killed a dozen workers. The third strike followed asking for a pay increase, better working conditions, and 8 hour shifts. It was resolved after 18 months with very little change.

The 6th Regiment (Duke of Connaught’s Own Rifles) camped at the Nanaimo E&N Railway Station in the summer of 1913

BIG STRIKE AND MILITIA ROLES IN STRIKE BREAKING ______see Military Folder

Merge into and then continue straight ahead on Jingle Pot Road to pass the site of Ardoon (#14).

The original Wellington Hotel

14. Ardoon again: Jingle Pot Road was once the main dirt track going from the Wellington Mines to the Jingle Pot Mines (#19). Robert’s son, James Dunsmuir, lived here from 1876 to 1888, and then left for politics in Victoria. The third child, but the first born in Canada and the first son, James followed in his father’s footsteps. He supervised mines here, developed his own mines in Extension, built a castle in Victoria and became a successful politician. He named this home after his father’s (#2). After the E&N Railway was completed, the town moved closer to the tracks on Wellington Road along the ridge between here and Long Lake. After coal ran out, mining slowed, and a fire raged through town, Dunsmuir moved the entire city to Ladysmith.

Bend right into Boban Drive (avoid turning onto Old Slope Place, which used to go to the Old Slope Mine #15), bend left, and turn left on Mostar Road. Then, turn left onto the Nanaimo Parkway and pass points of interest from #15, at the corner, to #20, at Vancouver Island University (VIU).

North Wellington Mines (really No. 5) Switch with other? ______?????

15. North and West Wellington Mines and the original Old Slope: The intersection of Mostar Road and the Nanaimo Parkway was once a collection of several slopes and shafts. Most notable was the Old Slope Mine (1872-1888). After the pit mine at Diver Lake, this was Dunsuir’s first access point to the underground coal seam. Once he received financing and formed DDC in 1874, several shafts (Nos. 1 through 6) were dropped near here. These were concentrated on the far side of the Nanaimo Parkway and along the Parkway.

Some minor players started other mines in the area. The West Wellington Mines, also known as Jordan Mine (1895-1897) and Little Ash Mine (1928-1931), were connected to Nanoose Bay via an aerial tramway carrying buckets of coal to the ships docked there. The North Wellington Mines, better known as Old No. 9 (a late, 1942-1943 addition to Dunsmuir’s collection) was originally dug as the Adit Mine (1920-1932). Both were absorbed by CCD.

Workers on their way into the mine

16. Wellington No. 4 Shaft: This shaft is sealed underneath the road surface at the first left bend in the Parkway.

Children, working in the hand sorting of coal ore, were being groomed for underground work as adults.

17. Chandler Mine No. 2 Shaft: ______Behind the tourist information centre, the Chandler Mine dropped its No. 2 Shaft. (Number 6?) Chandler interrupted East Wellington Mines efforts to remove all the coal in the Wellington Seam. Therefore, the East Wellington Mine was operated on both sides of the Chandler Mine.

East Wellington Mine operated by Pacific Coast Coal Mines

18. East Wellington Mine: This is the continuation of earlier East Wellington mines that were interrupted by the Chandler Mine (#17). One shaft and one slope were sunk near Cathers Lake on the right side of the Parkway, in order to access the remainder of the Wellington Seam..

Workers aside coal cars outside Jingle Pot Mine

19. Jingle Pot Mine: This is clearly the most interestingly name for a mine and its corresponding main road from here to Wellington City. Jingle Pot comes from the signal used to raise the skip through the shaft. When all workers were on board, they shook a teapot with a pebble inside to get the Jingle Pot sound. Four shafts were engineered on the left side of the Parkway after the intersection with Jingle Pot Road.

Map of coal mine workings below the Wakesiah Colliery (now VIU).

20. Wakesiah Colliery: The Canadian Western Fuel Company opened this short lived mine with two shafts. It operated only from 1918 to 1930. The coal processing area is now the grounds of Vancouver Island University. One original building is still in use by industrial trades and one of the two shafts is being used as a heat pump to offset the costs of powering a campus building.

Continue on the Nanaimo Parkway and go over two underpasses (Nanaimo Lakes and Harewood Mines) that will be part of the later tour. Avoid the exit to downtown Nanaimo, by keeping right and merging with the Trans-Canada Highway heading south toward Victoria. Avoid the exit to Duke Point Ferry by getting out of the right lanes, then take the second exit right onto Minetown Road and continue straight ahead, as it turns into Scotchtown Road, to stop before the E&N Railway.

Tipple for Fiddick and Richard’s/Richardson slopes in South Wellington.

21. South Wellington: Stop before the railroad crossing and take a look around. On this site, the “Black Track” Mines and South Wellington Canadian Colliery began operations as early as 1884. These were nicknamed “Black Track” because all the dirt roads and railway beds were surfaced in discarded coal. Slope No. 5 began at the railway crossing and descended into the Douglas Seam. It was started in 1917 and was abandoned in 1928, but its slope was used as the primary place to bring coal to the surface for several nearby mines that connected to it by side tunnels.

South (direction you will be starting next) from this railroad crossing, were two mines beside the E&N Railway tracks: South Wellington No. 10 Slope and Overlap Seam Mine Shaft. Both mines extended under the Trans-Canada Highway as far as the Nanaimo River. Over 13 years, started in 1938 and closed in 1952, these produced more coal than any other South Wellington Mine.

Many more slopes were located along the tracks to the north (direction you have come from): Alexandria Mine, Richardson Mine, Pacific Coast Colliery Mines, Fiddick Mine and Colliery, and Southfield Slope No. 2. All of these descended on an angle under the Trans-Canada Highway and into the Douglas Seam. Further away was the Reserve Mine on the way to Duke Point.

Many of these mines were connected and operated at different times with water from the new mine pumped into empty space in the old mine. All of these slope mines had poor ventilation due to the absence of sufficient air shafts and so workers suffocated. In addition, spontaneous combustion of coal caused some lasting fires and a few explosions that claimed numerous lives.

The Reserve Mine operated from 1910 to 1930 and practiced retreat mining in its final days. It had the largest pillar supported tunnels of any local mine, so workers could stand up. When it closed and the pumps shut down, the mine’s tunnels flooded with water from the Nanaimo River. The mine was briefly pumped out and mined for a few years after 1934, where workers sequentially removed the supporting pillars of coal as the mine collapsed behind their retreat.

The Fiddick Mine and Colliery was operated by Pacific Coast Coal Mines and lost 19 souls to a drowning accident resulting from an explosion in 1915. It was created within the railway land grant zone under a legislation loophole. The 1904 Settlers Rights Act allowed homesteaders to claim title to the land they were living on, including timber and mineral rights, if they could show sustained occupation and substantial improvement of the property. The Dunsmuirs (owners of the land grant zone, 30 kilometres ??? wide on either side of the E&N Railway, lost a court battle and received compensatory lands north of their Wellington Colliery. The settlers had their land.

Slope entrance at South Wellington (Pacific Coast Coal Mines).

John Arbuthnot (far right) at the entrance to a slope mine in South Wellington, circa 1908.

Not long after, John Arbuthnot, a former mayor of Winnipeg, struck rewarding deals with these new land owners to mine under their properties. He started most of the mines in the South Wellington area that were not under Dunsmuir’s control. He started the first colliery here in 1907, formed the Pacific Coast Coal Mines (PCCM), and was keen to displace the Dunsmuir interests. Their railway from here to Boat Harbour (#23) via Morden Mines (#22) had to pass under the E&N Railway, because Dunsmuir refused them permission to cross or bridge it.

While working underground in the Fiddick Mine, David Nellest was breaking up the working face of a coal tunnel with light explosives designed to shatter the coal and make its removal easier than by hand tools. Unfortunately, the explosion broke through to the nearby abandoned Southfield Mine, which had been flooded earlier to make working the Fiddick Mine possible. The ensuing flood rapidly filled the tunnels and killed 19 workers as they rushed to escape.

A week earlier, the regular mine inspector had remarked how wet the tunnel walls appeared in the Fiddick Mine and was told that this moisture was due to the overhead marshlands and Beck’s Lake (visible behind the farm in the distance from the railroad crossing). The inspector asked how close they were to the neighbouring flooded mines, but maps drawn to different scales mistakenly indicated many safe metres apart, while the separating wall was actually less than a metre thick! Owners of Fiddicks Mine were tried and acquitted of manslaughter.

Without crossing the E&N Railway, turn left onto Dick Avenue, as it becomes Morden Road, then go straight across the Trans-Canada Highway following Morden Road. Go to the parking lot at the end of Morden Road with its view of the Morden Mine’s cement tipple or headframe.

STOP HERE FOR A WHILE AND ENJOY THE WALKING TOUR OF MORDEN MINE (see Chapter 11).

Morden Colliery composed of the mine (under the concrete framehead) with a tipple (coal cleaning and sorting structure) on the right and coal fired boilers in powerhouse on the left.

22. Morden Mine and Colliery: This colliery was operated by the Pacific Coast Coal Mines (PCCM) and opened in 1912. Upon locating the major seam, the mine was immediately shut down by the Miner’s Strike of 1913. The shafts flooded with water seeping in from the nearby Nanaimo River. During the shutdown, the mine was retrofitted with state of the art facilities, including the concrete tipple you see today, making this one of the most advanced mines in Canada.

The headframe is the A-shaped, reinforced concrete structure that supported a pulley at the top that lowered and raised a skip (wooden cage elevator) inside the mine shaft, while suspended on a cable that ran over the pulley and down to a winch in the powerhouse. When a skip full of coal was hoisted to the top of the headframe, the skip was “tipped” and its contents, up to a ton of coal, were poured into the nearby “tipple” or sorting facility. The coal was then sifted into different sizes and dropped directly into the rail carriages underneath the tipple.

Operations here were extremely modern, built of fire-proof concrete and run by electricity generated from a coal fired boiler. However, with the capacity to extract and process up to 1500 tons/shift (with 2 or 3 shifts/day), it operated at or below 200 tons/shift due to the poor quality of coal found underground at the eastern limit of the Douglas Seam. Nevertheless, a small town surrounded the mines. Boarding houses, 14 miner’s cottages, and colliery structures dotted the landscape. Take the brief walk in a clockwise circle around the fenced off tipple to view the interpreted ruins of some buildings. Other miners lived in nearby South Wellington. Unable to access Nanaimo Harbour, due to the monopoly of other companies, sorted coal was transported by a new railway to the nearest water, Boat Harbour (#23). Today, this grade is a six kilometer trail from Morden, via the area known as Cedar, to Hemer Provincial Park. However, a bridge is still being built over the Nanaimo River and the last portion is blocked on private land.

Boat Harbour Wharf for Pacific Coast Coal Mines in 1909

Boat Harbour Wharf for Pacific Coast Coal Mines in 1916

23. Boat Harbour: Although this site is not directly on the tour, it is an important place to discuss, because it grew out of the need to circumvent the blockade that Nanaimo mining companies had on railway transportation through to Nanaimo Harbour. The Dunsmuir Family used Departure Bay north of Nanaimo Harbour for shipping their coal from mines in Wellington. They also used Oyster Bay in Ladysmith to the south for coal from their collieries in South Wellington and Extension. The Pacific Coast Coal Mines operated Fiddick Mines and Colliery in South Wellington and operated Morden Colliery here. They had to build a new railway east, through Cedar Valley farmlands, to Boat Harbour in order to get their coal to market. As noted above, the railway grade has been conserved as a beautiful hiking trail through forest and farmlands.

The PCCM invested considerable funds in developing a modern transfer facility at Boat Harbour. They built several bunkers that could temporarily hold up to 5000 tons of coal each. Coal was dumped into the bunkers from the rail cars. A one metre wide rubber conveyor belt was used to move coal from the bunkers to the ships. It could vary its height to handle any type of ship under any level of tide. An optional coal washing structure was also added with water supplied from Holden Lake. The first coal was shipped out of Boat Harbour bound for the USA in 1909.

PCCM fully expected the Morden Mine and Colliery to produce abundant coal. However, the coal was sparse and of poor quality. The mine closed in 1921, with a brief and disappointing attempt to pump out flooded tunnels and restart in 1930. Cave-ins and rock insecurity led to its eventual abandonment, but a resilient concrete headframe was preserved in a provincial park.

From the Morden parking lot, reverse your route along Morden Road back to the Trans-Canada Highway and turn left. Then turn right at the next major exit onto Nanaimo River Road and twist uphill to cross the E&N Railway. Continue to follow Nanaimo River Road until you reach a sharp right turn at White Rapids Road. Stop near this intersection for #24 & #25.

Granby mining town, circa 1930s

24. Bright and Granby Mines: These mines are located downstream at Cassidy, under the Trans- Canada Highway, just north of the Nanaimo Airport. Granby Mines Nos. 1 through 7 tapped the Wellington Seam from 1917 to 1953. The nearby Bright Mine started in 1950, but closed by 1953. The coal seam was extremely thick here: up to 15 metres deep, however, falling prices due to lessening demand meant that an estimated million tons still remains underground here.

This recreation hall became the Cassidy Inn after Granby closed (1914-1990s).

Granby was a planned industrial town established in 1918 to mine the Douglas coal seam. The Granby Consolidated Mining, Smelting and Power Company built a model town for the miners and their families on 100 acres between the Nanaimo and Haslam Rivers. The settlement had 50 houses on paved streets and treed boulevards with lawns, gardens, piped water, electric power, street lamps, and sewers. It boasted a theatre, recreation club, boarding houses, hotels, and a large department store. By 1936, the mine had closed and the town buildings and contents were auctioned off to the highest bidders in Nanaimo and Ladysmith. The forest regenerated and housing developments were added decades ago to form Cassidy today.

Last coal load from Bright Mine

25. White Rapids Mine: Located upstream, on this side of the Nanaimo River, the White Rapids Mine (also known as the Berkley Mine) was started in 1954 and was the last major mine to close in the region due to a decreasing demand for coal by 1955. Its combined shaft/slope entrance was originally located beside a white water rapid on the Nanaimo River. On the other side of the river are the multiple slopes of Extension No. 8 and the Blue Flame Timberland Colliery.

Turn sharp right onto White Rapids Road and almost to a left turn at Godfrey Road. Stop just before this intersection for #26, #27, and #28.

Extension Mine Shaft No. 4

26. Extension Mine No. 4: Four shafts were located here on either side of White Rapids Road between Nanaimo River Road and Godfrey Road. Three were for ventilation and one was the hoisting shaft that was used to raise and lower coal and workers into the Wellington Seam.

The naming of Extension (#26-30) is an interesting story. Robert Dunsmuir was always on the lookout for new coal mining opportunities. Understanding the geology of this region, he speculated that the Wellington Seam must continue beyond the ridge running from Mount Benson (tallest hill around) toward the Nanaimo River estuary. He dispatched a number of employees to prospect the areas near the Nanaimo River. One of these prospectors, Ephraim Hodgson, was credited with the discovery of the “extension” of the Wellington Seam.

The legend recounts that the local individual with knowledge of the coal was Hodgson’s distant neighbour: Louis Stark. Stark was a homesteader of African heritage, who had fled the USA during its Civil War. Stark shared his knowledge with Hodgson, who is said to have then murdered Stark by pushing him off a cliff. Days later, Hodgson told Dunsmuir about the coal find and collected a hefty finder’s fee. Due to his E&N Railway land grant, Dunsmuir already owned the land and mineral rights under it. He quickly established Wellington Extension.

Extension Mines ______BETTER PIC? Other rail yard???

27. Extension Mine No. 2: Under the distant hill to the west, the massive Extension Mine No. 2 lies just beneath the surface. Numerous shafts and a few slopes dot the landscape and penetrate the Wellington Seam. In 1901, seventeen workers were killed in an explosion and fire deep under No. 2 and the mine had to be purposefully flooded in order to extinguish the fire. Eight years later, this scenario was repeated with 32 lives lost due to explosions and subsequent fires.

Wellington Extension was later shortened to just Extension. James Dunsmuir, Robert’s son, ran the Extension mines and founded Ladysmith, named in honour of the British ending the siege of Ladysmith in South Africa around the turn of that century. James also named that city’s streets after key generals in the Second Boer War. As you continue along Godfrey Road, you will notice the old railway grade beside it. Coal was transported from Extension along here on a specially built railway to Oyster Bay in Ladysmith, rather than to Nanaimo. The Vancouver Coal Mining and Land Company had refused permission for Dunsmuir’s coal to cross their land. Years earlier, the Dunsmuirs had refused the VCMLC from crossing their lands with competition coal. This “tit-for-tat” conflict persisted among competing coal companies throughout the coal boom.

STOP HERE FOR A WHILE AND ENJOY THE WALKING TOUR OF EXTENSION VILLAGE (see Chapter 5).

Damages in the aftermath of a fire set by rioters during the Miner’s Strike of 1913

28. Extension Mine No. 1 and No. 3: In the south village, Extension Mine No. 1 was located in front of Extension Mine No. 3. For No. 1, several slopes under the ridge and into the Wellington Seam were located to the southwest of Extension village and from the Colliery site where you now stand. For No.3, these slopes were located behind the ridge: Deerhome, Vancouver, Old No.1, Chambers and Beban Mines, with Fontana’s Shaft nearby. Within the hillside, far underground, an electric train connected Extension Mines Nos. 1, 2, and 3. During the Miner’s Strike of 1913, the trains, tracks, buildings and other infrastructure were burned and demolished by a riot mob of workers. They also looted and destroyed the cottages of all strikebreakers. Seeking recognition and unionization, they were on strike for 18 months: the longest in BC’s history.

Turn left onto Godfrey Road and then go straight ahead on Bramley Road into Extension Village. Turn right on John Street and stop at the T-junction with Extension Road (main road leading out of the village) in order to visit the Extension Miners Community Park for #29 and #30.

______#5?

29. Extension Colliery & No. 5: The colliery here opened in 1899 and tapped the Wellington Seam via Mine Nos. 1 through 5, all connected underground. Closing by 1937, these were restarted several times, but only for very brief periods before permanently closing again. The interpretive information signs in the community park are excellent. Take the time to explore the grounds.

Two railways served the Extension Colliery without connecting to one another. The southern one followed Godfrey Road, crossed the Nanaimo River between White Rapids and Cassidy, and then paralleled the E&N Railway near present day Nanaimo Airport. The northern one followed Extension Road and cut high across the eastern hills to South Wellington near Morden Colliery.

Extension Tipple ______REPLACE?

30. Coal Slag Dump / Mount Bickerton: The discarded coal of low quality (mixed with other rock) was piled high in the coal slag dump called Mount Bickerton. This can be viewed from further up either Bramley or Extension Roads and it really looked like a mountain in this valley.

As you continue along Extension Road, notice the old railway grade that crosses it. This railway used to run from Extension to South Wellington and a collection of mines near Morden Colliery.

Follow Extension Road out of the village, past Godfrey and White Rapids, all the way back to Nanaimo. After crossing the E&N Railway and passing under the Nanaimo Parkway, turn left onto the Trans- Canada Highway. After crossing the bridge over Chase River and a railroad spur, turn left on Old Victoria Road. Stop at a large dirt pullout area1.25 kilometres from the highway.

1931 billboard in support of local coal industries located near the new Douglas Mine

31. New Douglas Mine: Originally mining the Douglas Seam and sometimes the Newcastle Seam below it, the old Douglas Mine (#36) was located further up Victoria Road. Here was the New Douglas Mine or the Chase River Mine with shafts near the Trans-Canada Highway above you and the Douglas Slope beside the Chase River below you. ______

Continue on Old Victoria Road and turn left across the E&N Railway onto Seventh Street. After long straight Seventh Street starts to bend left, stop at a gravel pullout opposite Brookfield Drive.

Bridge across the spillway for the first lake’s dam

32. Lower Colliery Dams: The trail on your right leads a short distance in to Colliery Dam Park. A series of four dams, built in 1910 by the Western Fuel Company (WFC), held back the Chase River and formed it into four small lakes. This water supply was used by the WFC to wash coal at their Harewood Colliery. Eventually, this abundant water was used to supply a few miners’ cottages near the colliery and later to provide water to most of the houses in South Harwood.

Hiking trails encircle the lower two lakes and a side trail follows the Chase River upstream and under a large culvert beneath the Nanaimo parkway to reach Chase River Falls (#34) below the third lake. A larger water fall is also located at the end of the spillway below the first lake.

Continue on Seventh Street as it becomes Harewood Mines Road and passes under the Nanaimo Parkway. Stop on the wide gravel shoulder under the transmission power lines.

Five kilometer long tramline from Harewood Mines to Nanaimo Harbour

33. Harewood Mines: Under the hills to your south, four brief periods of mining took place. First, before he was his own boss, Robert Dunsmuir was hired to open the Harewood Mine by 1875. The owners were Alfred Benson (Mount Benson named for him) and Douglas Lascelles (seventh son of the Earl of Harewood in the UK, for whom the mine was named). The Harewood Mining Company strip mined the surface until 1894 and then suspended operations for eight years.

Second, the Vancouver Coal Company reopened the mines in 1902 and sunk a shaft at the base of the hill beside the pond that remains. After a brief success underground they closed the mine again in 1904. Third, after 13 years of dormancy, the Western Fuel Company dug a slope from the side of the hill and successfully removed almost a million tons of coal over six years, before shutting down in 1923. Fourth, after 22 years of inactivity, several companies began working the side of the ridge. In 1945, The Furnace Portal Mine widened a ventilation airway into a slope and worked this area until 1951. During its final years, the area was known as Biggs Mine.

What made this mine especially interesting was its method of coal transport to the Nanaimo Harbour. The Harewood Ridge area was too rugged for road or rail construction and the mine railway owners in between would never have given permission for a railway to cross, tunnel under or bridge over their existing tracks. Therefore, a 5 kilometre long aerial tramline was built from the mines to the harbour. Four legged towers of varying heights were constructed every ten or so metres apart and a cable running over pulleys was supported by a crossbeam on top of the tower (much like a skiing chairlift today). Approximately 200 ore buckets were suspended from the cable and a steam engine moved these along at about 15 kilometres per hour. Each bucket carried about 200 pounds of coal and made the round trip circuit in about 40 minutes.

Today, a honeycomb of mine tunnels is about 100 metres below the surface of this ridge. After the world’s second largest earthquake in Alaska (9.2 magnitude in 1964), a section of the mine collapsed and the ground above cracked. The tsunami from that earthquake damaged and Port Alberni, where the wave washed away 55 houses and damaged 375! Here, the Abyss is a giant fissure located about a 15 minute hike uphill (1 km) on the Trans-Canada Trail and/or Extension Ridge Trail that starts and follows the power lines here, then climbs uphill steeply.

The Abyss.

The slope entrance for Harewood Mines (it runs underneath the Abyss).

Continue on Harewood Mines Road through the forest to turn sharp right onto Nanaimo Lakes Road back toward the city. After passing under the power lines again, stop at the gravel shoulder near the water.

Chase River Falls between the third lake and foot tunnel underpass below the parkway

34. Upper Colliery Dams: These are the third and fourth lakes in the colliery dam system. The third lake is currently being used as a drinking water reservoir. To view Chase River Falls, hike in from the next parking lot and follow upstream from the second lake and through the large culvert under the Nanaimo Parkway. Return the same way and explore other trails around the lakes.

Continue on Nanaimo Lakes Road and go under the Nanaimo Parkway again and pass the Colliery Dam Park (#32) once more (trails from these parking lots would lead into the dam from this other side). After Nanaimo Lakes Road becomes Harewood Road, turn right on Fourth Street, which becomes Albert Street. Turn right on Milton Street, cross the E&N Railway and cross the Trans-Canada Highway (Nicol Street) to stop at the end of Milton Street by the rail yards.

Nanaimo No. 1 Esplanade Mine: site of Nanaimo’s worst tragedy.

35. Nanaimo No. 1 Esplanade: Three shafts were sunk here in 1883 for what became the most productive and dangerous mine in Nanaimo’s history. By the time it closed in 1918, this mine had produced 18 million tons of coal from the Newcastle Seam that descended to half a kilometer below sea level and extended several kilometers out under the estuary and harbour, well beyond Newcastle and Protection Islands. At its peak, the mine employed over a thousand workers and more than a hundred horses and mules. Animals were used before steam power.

At 5:55 in the late afternoon of May 3, 1887, an explosion took the lives of 150 workers. The nearby plaque describes the accident and possible causes. It also lists the names of European workers and the payroll numbers of the Chinese workers (assigning numbers to non-Europeans was common practice back then). From the evening shift, only seven workers emerged alive!

Reverse your route on Milton, cross the Trans-Canada Highway (Nicol Street)and turn right on Victoria Road past #36 to end the tour at the corner of Cavan Street by the coal seam parking lot.

Workers outside one of the Old Douglas Mine shafts

36. Old Douglas Mine: As mentioned at the start of this tour (#1), several shafts of the Old Douglas Mine were dropped along either side of Victoria Road so as to access the Douglas Seam under this ridge south of downtown Nanaimo. ______

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MINER COTTAGES AS YOU DRIVE THROUGH THESE AREAS

Map of main mine locations with major railway lines.

List of all historic coal mines in the Nanaimo region with years of activity and owner/operators.