| Directions: 122.5 km west of Smithers on Highway
16 and just before crossing the bridge at Kitseguecla Village, turn
left (east) on the Kitseguecla Forest Service Road. Watch for a
gravel pit on the left side less than one kilometre from the highway.
There are two roads through the gravel pit, ignore the first and
choose the second rather hidden road that passes to the right of
the pit and a large
berm.
You
will be
able to drive about 7 kilometres in 4WD and park. Walk up the
main road about one hour to a "Y" (see photo). Keep left
and it will take about one more hour to reach the townsite. |
|
Features: The Western Tungsten
minesite was first staked in 1911 and developed in 1914. The mine
shut down
until 1929, and again re-opened in 1951 during the Korean war. Notice
the row of fallen down houses on the left of the road. A school was
built in the 1950s and a taxi brought groceries to the townsite from
town every day , all year round. The large pipes on site were part
of a 1600 hp hydroelectric plant that supplied electricity and telephone.
You can see where a tramway climbed the hill to the north. Ore was
loaded on a narrow gauge railroad that crossed high across the ridge
to an aerial tramway that extended down to a loading dock on the
Skeena River. At the time, it was the longest gravity-powered aerial
tramway
in
Canada. |
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