Category: Mines & Mining

After spending a couple of hours exploring the old concentrator for the Venus silver mine, I felt the need for something different, so drove half a mile and went for a steep hike above the 1970s Venus workings, towards some Dall sheep and mountain goats that could be seen...

Regular readers here have seen many photos of the old mill for the Venus silver mine over the years, and I decided on the spur of the moment on May 13th to show you much more of it. And “more” turned out to be much more – there are...

I’m sure that you’ve all heard some of the quotes that say that when you get older, you’ll regret the things you didn’t do more than the things you did do. The list of things I didn’t do seems quite small, so I’m okay with that, but a couple...

One of the biggest challenges that most museums have is visibility. How do you get your museum to stand out among the clutter of life, or even among other museums? That, however, is not a problem for the Britannia Mine Museum. Anyone who drives the spectacular Sea to Sky...

Yesterday was supposed to be an at-home day. No, really, it was – I was just going out for groceries! After putting a few bags of food in the trunk, I decided to go a few miles and get photos of some highway signs for my files, like this...

The Vault, deep in Pooley Canyon on the south side of Montana Mountain, is the toughest mine I’ve ever managed to get into, and I’ve been wanting to get back in for a very long time. Some Whitehorse friends want me to take them in (having tried unsuccessfully to...

Lately I’ve mostly been going to places that are too extreme to take my dog, and I feel bad about that, so a few days ago, Monty and I did a little adventure in our 4×4, to Montana Mountain at Carcross. We had a gorgeous day for wandering, and...

On Thursday, I went on the most difficult hike yet this year, to the ruins of the historic Inspiration Point gold mine high in the White Pass north of Skagway. I visited the site twice a dozen years ago, and have been itching to get back for a long...

Today is the 20th anniversary of one of the blackest days in the history of the Canadian North, and in Canadian labour history. On September 18, 1992, an explosion at the Giant gold mine at Yellowknife, Northwest Territories killed 9 men – it turned out to be not an...

Yesterday was our day to explore Dawson City. I start the day with a 3-hour tour of the goldfields and the town and then the afternoon is free so everyone can see and do whatever interests them. We had gorgeous weather so began with a drive up the Midnight...