Very cool! The Sandon area has been pretty high on my bucket list for whenever I make it back to Canada again, and your photos have given it another bump up!
Builds 2002 HZJ76 Build
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- #82
Wait til you see the Sandon pics!
I will try to post them tomorrow...
JDM Journeys
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Looks like such a fun trip! Keep the pics coming!
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- #84
Just across the creek from where we were camped is the initial processing plant for the mine. Unfortunately the tower(s) for the cable tram system they used to bring the ore buckets down (and the workers would ride UP in) has long since collapsed, but some of the original structure is still there. You can see in the background where part of the old tram tower was, then as the buckets went around they would dump the ore into the waiting bins.
Towards the front of the plant:
Inside looking in from the large opening above:
As the crushed ore came out, it would travel down a large trough to another holding bin, and then travel by train to Kaslo for final refinement on the old K&O rail line.
Now how in the world would they get all that ore to run nicely down that large trough?? I was wondering the same thing... it is not all that steep
Towards the front of the plant:
Inside looking in from the large opening above:
As the crushed ore came out, it would travel down a large trough to another holding bin, and then travel by train to Kaslo for final refinement on the old K&O rail line.
Now how in the world would they get all that ore to run nicely down that large trough?? I was wondering the same thing... it is not all that steep
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- #85
Enter water pressure! By setting up pipe from a collection point higher up the mountain, by the time the water gets to the plant you have a hefty amount of water pressure at the plant. For example, for every foot of vertical drop down the pipe, gravity creates approximately 0.43 psi. So lets just say for an easy example, the water source is 1000ft above the plant, you would have approximately 430psi water pressure at the end. Case in point - see the below pics of the piping they used, and the fact they had to concrete the pipe to hold it in place when they turned the pipe back towards the plant, not to mention how many flange bolts they used!
I don't want to even imagine how long it would have taken to rivet forge all that pipe:
I don't want to even imagine how long it would have taken to rivet forge all that pipe:
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- #86
Down at the bottom of the plant, the final collection bin before it would be loaded into rail cars to Kaslo....
Now here is where it got really interesting for me... At the bottom, there is an old generator to provide power to the plant, and the engine to run the generator is MASSIVE. One of the fellows on the team with us is a steam engineer and thought it might be an old steam engine, but that did not make sense to me as there were no high pressure water piping or a large boiler around. I confess I had to look this up when I got home to find out the info on this:
So upon return I googled FAIRBANKS MORSE engines, and lo and behold, we were looking at an 1893 or beyond Kerosene 2-stroke diesel engine (It couldn't use actual diesel until the patent ran out on the fuel in 1911)
They would start this engine with compressed air (controls in the last picture). The airbox you can see was folded down due to snow load and time, the exhaust pipes they had go into the ground.... somewhere??? The air intake was under the crankcase and into the bottom of the cylinder through a port. No valves. Ingenious in 1893! Apparently these engines would produce ~60HP/cylinder, but the torque would be enormous.
How did they get it there? It would have to be in pieces and assembled on site. The flywheel alone is around 12000LBS. Check it out online for more info... there is even a web page of one in Oregon running... pretty KEWL.
Now here is where it got really interesting for me... At the bottom, there is an old generator to provide power to the plant, and the engine to run the generator is MASSIVE. One of the fellows on the team with us is a steam engineer and thought it might be an old steam engine, but that did not make sense to me as there were no high pressure water piping or a large boiler around. I confess I had to look this up when I got home to find out the info on this:
So upon return I googled FAIRBANKS MORSE engines, and lo and behold, we were looking at an 1893 or beyond Kerosene 2-stroke diesel engine (It couldn't use actual diesel until the patent ran out on the fuel in 1911)
They would start this engine with compressed air (controls in the last picture). The airbox you can see was folded down due to snow load and time, the exhaust pipes they had go into the ground.... somewhere??? The air intake was under the crankcase and into the bottom of the cylinder through a port. No valves. Ingenious in 1893! Apparently these engines would produce ~60HP/cylinder, but the torque would be enormous.
How did they get it there? It would have to be in pieces and assembled on site. The flywheel alone is around 12000LBS. Check it out online for more info... there is even a web page of one in Oregon running... pretty KEWL.
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- #87
3rd day in, we decided to head down the mountain from Cody into Sandon to spend a few hours exploring the historic town. The town during the boom had around 5000 people, 2 churches, 42 saloons and over a hundred establishments where a miner could acquire some *ahem* "female companionship" - lol. I am not kidding! Sorta shows where the priorities were... lol.
A collection of electric trollies from the late forties and fifties that the fellow in the picture remembers riding on in Vancouver as a kid.
There is a museum on site with a lot of artifacts from the area, and some old equipment outside laying around.
I am pretty sure it was a "JOY" to the miners that they did not have to manually shovel the ore into the carts....
My wife and couldn't resist - lol (this is where you are supposed to go "awwwwe")
An interesting V-Twin compressor...
A collection of electric trollies from the late forties and fifties that the fellow in the picture remembers riding on in Vancouver as a kid.
There is a museum on site with a lot of artifacts from the area, and some old equipment outside laying around.
I am pretty sure it was a "JOY" to the miners that they did not have to manually shovel the ore into the carts....
My wife and couldn't resist - lol (this is where you are supposed to go "awwwwe")
An interesting V-Twin compressor...
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- #88
There was also an early 1900's steam engine and coal car on site
There was a BLACKSTONE 8 cylinder Turbo Diesel engine sitting there, likely from the power plant (backup Diesel generator). This is an more modern motor from around the mid 1900's
Any thoughts on what the heck this would be?? Any plates or marking on it were illegible and it was not self propelling... I still haven't figured it out yet... lol
There was a BLACKSTONE 8 cylinder Turbo Diesel engine sitting there, likely from the power plant (backup Diesel generator). This is an more modern motor from around the mid 1900's
Any thoughts on what the heck this would be?? Any plates or marking on it were illegible and it was not self propelling... I still haven't figured it out yet... lol
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- #89
Now this is what I probably found the most fascinating, I mean - the museum was need and all, but the power station that exists in the town has been providing power since 1897. And when I say that it has been providing power since 1897, I mean it literally has NEVER BEEN SHUT DOWN!! It has run, non-stop, for 124 years!!! 
Much like the water pressure line for the mine processing plant up Mt Cody, they bring water down an 8in pipe from around 700-800ft above, and release it against a peloton wheel to drive the generator wheel
The same family has run this plant since 1897. Hal currently looks after it and he is 3rd generation (sorry for the pun) looking after this power house.
Inside the same powerhouse was a HUGE horizontal twin cylinder air compressor that would provide air supply to the mine, and it was powered by a FAIRBANKS MORSE diesel via a massive belt. Currently beltless and unused since the mine shutdown. Here are 2 pics of the compressor only (I could not back up enough to get it all in one shot the !@#$* thing was so big
In a smaller room, there is a GM diesel backup compressor, and a newer BLACKSTONE diesel backup generator if they ever need to shut down the main generator
Much like the water pressure line for the mine processing plant up Mt Cody, they bring water down an 8in pipe from around 700-800ft above, and release it against a peloton wheel to drive the generator wheelThe same family has run this plant since 1897. Hal currently looks after it and he is 3rd generation (sorry for the pun) looking after this power house.
Inside the same powerhouse was a HUGE horizontal twin cylinder air compressor that would provide air supply to the mine, and it was powered by a FAIRBANKS MORSE diesel via a massive belt. Currently beltless and unused since the mine shutdown. Here are 2 pics of the compressor only (I could not back up enough to get it all in one shot the !@#$* thing was so big
In a smaller room, there is a GM diesel backup compressor, and a newer BLACKSTONE diesel backup generator if they ever need to shut down the main generator
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- #90
The blackstone (could fit another pic in the last post)
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- #91
We managed to explore up the eastern side of the mountains from Sandon to find an old un-collapsed mine. One the way up we found what appeared to us to be where they probably stored their explosives
We found an old crusher in the area as well
I think it is great these guys paid the extra for the "improved" one!
We found an old crusher in the area as well
I think it is great these guys paid the extra for the "improved" one!
That's a semi-portable Ingersoll Rand gas-driven air compressor, I came across an almost identical one last winter here in Montana:
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- #93
Higher up the mountain we came across an
Thank you!! I was headscratching on it for a while, and it makes sense now that I see one more complete! That seems more reasonable than the "first-ever-kids-attempt-at-building-a-go-cart" theory I was building... lol
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- #94
Further up the mountain from the crusher and the "bunker" we came across the first open (not caved in) mine site entrance could access on our ATV's.
I only went in about 300ft because I did not have proper boots, and the water was getting too deep, and others were waiting for me...
On the way back out...
Down by our camp there is another building known as the assayers office
Next up I will post pics of the Trout Lake area portion of the trip, where a book "Circle of Silver" covers alot of the mines in the area around there...
I only went in about 300ft because I did not have proper boots, and the water was getting too deep, and others were waiting for me...
On the way back out...
Down by our camp there is another building known as the assayers office
Next up I will post pics of the Trout Lake area portion of the trip, where a book "Circle of Silver" covers alot of the mines in the area around there...
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- #95
After about a week or so, we packed up camp to head up through Nakusp to Trout Lake and camp there for the other half of our trip. But before we leave Mt Cody, I almost forgot about the (un)natural anomaly we came across on the way to where we found the old prospectors cabin:
We were trying to decide if we should go for a swim or not because we did not want to come out glowing or anything, but the lure of maybe obtaining some super powers was pretty strong. In the end we decided to err on the side of caution (and the fact that the water was pretty darn COLD... lol
Ok, ONWARD we sojourned, and found a great spot for us to setup camp right on the beach at Trout Lake.
We were trying to decide if we should go for a swim or not because we did not want to come out glowing or anything, but the lure of maybe obtaining some super powers was pretty strong. In the end we decided to err on the side of caution (and the fact that the water was pretty darn COLD... lol
Ok, ONWARD we sojourned, and found a great spot for us to setup camp right on the beach at Trout Lake.
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- #96
We wasted little time before getting out on some of our familiar trails checking out some nice higher alpine routes in the area. I would say around 80% of the trails you can do in a cruiser, but when you have an ATV they are quicker and you don't have to worry about all the love marks gained with bushwacking. We headed up through an old forest fire region to get up into the beautiful vistas:
Up top, the views are amazing...
There is unfortunately some smoke in the area from the many fires still burning...
A view back down to Trout Lake where we were camped
Up top, the views are amazing...
There is unfortunately some smoke in the area from the many fires still burning...
A view back down to Trout Lake where we were camped
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- #97
Next day we tried to get up to the Silvercup mine, only we were greeted with a nice big phat juicy washout only a couple of km's in... 
A couple of fellers in the crew had gold fever and were looking for anything that might be in the sediment on the bedrock... lol
It's a shame we could not get up to the silvercup, there are a lot of neat pictures I could have grabbed from there as this was another huge tram type mine where they would use ore buckets to send the ore down and the miners would ride up to work. Up top the remains of the old cookhouse and old wood stove for cooking is still there.
With that route closed to us, we decided to check out my friends claim in the area. We hiked down to the Lardeau Creek at his claim
My friend is also a rescue diver, and had used his skills to dredge out below these falls and was able to retrieve a fair bit of gold. The water is so cold (glacier fed) that he was only able to go for 20mins at a time then had to warm up - this was WITH a cold water dive suit!
A couple of fellers in the crew had gold fever and were looking for anything that might be in the sediment on the bedrock... lol
It's a shame we could not get up to the silvercup, there are a lot of neat pictures I could have grabbed from there as this was another huge tram type mine where they would use ore buckets to send the ore down and the miners would ride up to work. Up top the remains of the old cookhouse and old wood stove for cooking is still there.
With that route closed to us, we decided to check out my friends claim in the area. We hiked down to the Lardeau Creek at his claim
My friend is also a rescue diver, and had used his skills to dredge out below these falls and was able to retrieve a fair bit of gold. The water is so cold (glacier fed) that he was only able to go for 20mins at a time then had to warm up - this was WITH a cold water dive suit!
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- #98
In the area past Ferguson there is a helicopter ski lodge called CMH. We usually head up that way every fall and bug the maintenance folks looking after the place. After asking for permission to go up and look that their collection area for their water supply to their own peloton wheel powerhouse (much smaller version of the Sandon one) we were told the quick hot weather in June wrecked their collection pond, the dam they setup was undercut and they are no longer generating power... so we HAD to check this out. Their plan is to engineer something this year and hopefully put it in next summer, so this year they are running solely on diesel generated power.
We headed up the mountain and this is what we found:
From in front:
The water behind the dam would (normally) build up and flow through the (above) left side on the spillway and flow over a fine grate that would allow water through, but block even sand from getting through:
The water that dropped through the grate would then be collected into a holding tank and empty through the collection pipe that heads down the mountain to the peloton wheelhouse and generator for the lodge.
We headed up the mountain and this is what we found:
From in front:
The water behind the dam would (normally) build up and flow through the (above) left side on the spillway and flow over a fine grate that would allow water through, but block even sand from getting through:
The water that dropped through the grate would then be collected into a holding tank and empty through the collection pipe that heads down the mountain to the peloton wheelhouse and generator for the lodge.
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- #99
Another view of the dam from behind:
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- #100
Next day we decided our newest expedition member may have what it takes to head up to the historic Triune Mine, this is a pretty tough trail, and requires some experience and finesse getting up successfully on a quad. This is one of the trails I would not take my Land Cruiser on as it is just too narrow, and has some challenging off-camber spots that can be challenging even on an ATV...
Picture of the mine up on the mountain from about 1/4 of the way up the trail:
About 1/2 way up our newest member almost rolled his ATV... thankfully it did not roll back down over him after he jumped off, but came back down onto all 4's. I had this 6th sense I should stop and check on how he was doing and I caught the ATV up in the air, him jumping off, and the ATV coming back down rather than flipping over backwards. Sorry, I set my brakes and ran back down to make sure he was alright rather than taking photos. I did ask him if he would do it again so I could video it, but he just scowled at me for some reason!!
From then on, there was a couple of areas he had me run his ATV over rather than risk a mishap... which I totally understood and did for him... I had to stop here around this bolder to move another (smaller) boulder before we could all continue. It took all 4 of us to move it out of the way... again... picture is after... sorry. But you CAN see the boulder off to the right that we had to move out of the way...
We're nearly there! In the following picture straight up from the fellow in the picture's shoulder/elbow from his right arm you can see the mine entrance. On the knoll at the far left, you can just make out the bleached timbers of the top tower of the tram they had setup here. It was a 3 tower tram with 1.3km of cable each way.
To add some scale, there are two ATV's on the last leg of trail heading up the mountain in this picture... can you find waldo(s)?
A view back down the valley we just came up:
Picture of the mine up on the mountain from about 1/4 of the way up the trail:
About 1/2 way up our newest member almost rolled his ATV... thankfully it did not roll back down over him after he jumped off, but came back down onto all 4's. I had this 6th sense I should stop and check on how he was doing and I caught the ATV up in the air, him jumping off, and the ATV coming back down rather than flipping over backwards. Sorry, I set my brakes and ran back down to make sure he was alright rather than taking photos. I did ask him if he would do it again so I could video it, but he just scowled at me for some reason!!
From then on, there was a couple of areas he had me run his ATV over rather than risk a mishap... which I totally understood and did for him... I had to stop here around this bolder to move another (smaller) boulder before we could all continue. It took all 4 of us to move it out of the way... again... picture is after... sorry. But you CAN see the boulder off to the right that we had to move out of the way...
We're nearly there! In the following picture straight up from the fellow in the picture's shoulder/elbow from his right arm you can see the mine entrance. On the knoll at the far left, you can just make out the bleached timbers of the top tower of the tram they had setup here. It was a 3 tower tram with 1.3km of cable each way.
To add some scale, there are two ATV's on the last leg of trail heading up the mountain in this picture... can you find waldo(s)?
A view back down the valley we just came up:
