UNIQUE DESIGNATION
ritannia
a national historic site

{T’S OFFICIAL. We have a unique national historical
treasure right in our own back yard.

A Feb. 18 announcement by
Capilano MP Mary Collins,
designating the Britannia Mines
concentrating mill complex a na-
tional historic site, makes the
Britannia copper mince site the only
mine in the country declared to be
of national heritage significance.

The mine joins the North Van-
couver St. Paul's Indian Catholic
Church, the St. Roche, Fort
Langley and the Steveston Cannery
as a national historic site in the
region.

In March of last year, the
Britannia Beach Historical Society,
the governing body of the B.C.
Museum of Mining, assembled a
submission to the Historic Sites
and Monuments Board of Canada
to lobby for national historic site
designation.

“We sent it all to Ottawa and it
was taken on by a staff historian
who grew up in North Vancouver.
The board met in the fall and
made the decision,’’ said museum
curator Susan Green. ;

Green suid she was delighted by
the board's choice.

“The designation is a very great
honor. There aren’t many national
historic sites in the west. Most na-
tional historic sites are pretty
buildings. This is unusual because
it is a technological site. It gives
the museum recognition and it
gives us credibility when we go
looking for funds to build the
museum,’’ Green said.’

The recognition means the socie-
ty has an incentive to pursue talks
with government and private sector
sources to negotiate a cost-sharing
arrangement to transform the ex-
isting Britannia museum into a
mining museum of national status.

“It is quite something -to
achieve. We were competing with
all of the mines working in the
Canadian Shield who are trying for
the same status,” said Marilyn

By MICHAEL HECKER

News Reporter

Mullan, executive director of the
B.C. Muscum of Mining. ‘We had
to prove that this region is equally
important on a national level."’

Said Dr. Charles Humphries,
B.C. member of the federal His-
toric Sites and Monuments Board:
“For the moment, it’s the only
mining and mill site declared as a
national monument in the coun-
try.”

“The designation is a
very great honor. There
aren’t many national
historic sites in the
west. ’”

—B.C. Museum of Mining
curator Susan Green

However, national historic site
designation doesn’t automatically
move the mine beyond the point
of simply receiving an official pla-
que from Ottawa.

But said Humphries: “If they
didn't have the national designa-
tion, they wouldn't be in any posi-
tion to. go to the federal gov-
ernment for cost sharing, because
the mine wouldn't be seen as being
of any national significance. With
the designation, a door remains
open for cost sharing.”

The society initially raised
$40,000 and received $80,000 from
the federal Museums Assistance
Program for a conceptual planning
and development study for the

“museum. The society acquired the

Britannia Mine property from the
mine’s last owner, Anaconda Min-
ing Co., in 1986 and currently

works with a $300,000 per annum
budget.

From the first ore shipments out
of the site in 1904 to the last in
1974, the concentrating mill and
mine churned out more than
62,000,000 tons of copper ore and
over 6,000,000 tons of copper con-
centrate under a series of Britannia
mining operation owners.

More than 60,000 pcople were
employed over the 70-year com-
mercial lifespan of the operation
and many died at the hands of
nature in avalanche and flood
disasters in the area, From 1925 to
1930, the mill was well-known
worldwide as the largest copper
producer in the British Com-
monwealth.

The mill remains the last stan-
ding gravity-fed ore concentrator
on the continent accessible to the
public. The mili was built on a 45
degree slope, taking advantage of
the mountainous terrain to con-
serve power and reduce pump
maintenance costs,

Looking 25 years down the
road, Green said historical society
plans for the site include seeing
half of the mill restored to original
working condition and half of it
set up as a display area featuring
Canadian mining history. The
village surrounding the mine would
be restored and would incorporate
social history displays. Commer-
cial development would make up a
third component for the area and
might include stores, restaurants,
and bed and breakfast accom-
modations.

This year will see a flurry of
special celebrations as the society
marks the 100th anniversary of the
copper ore body discovery in 1888.

Museum opening day, May 14,
has been dubbed Discovery Day
and will include free public admis-
sion, special guests, a mine rescue,
miner’s sports competitions, games
of the 1880s, the crowning of a
Copper Queen, a mining film fes-
tival and more.

S

LIVING & DINING
EXP. MARCH 14, 1988

ECIAL
OFFER

ROOM

39 - Sundas, March 6, 1988 - North Shore News

paisa Mien

NEWS photo Nell Lucente
B.C. MUSEUM of Mining curator Susan Green surveys the scene at the
Britannia Beach mine site. The museum is celebrating the 100th anniver-
sary of the copper ore discovery in the area and is also celebrating the re-
cent recognition of the mine as a national historic site.

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