Already heavily in debt, the company was turned
down by normal financing channels and turned to
the government, which was carrying $20 million of
Cassiar’s debt from a previous loan, The government,
unfortunately also strapped for cash, concluded that
the mine was not a good risk, and declined, knowing
that the community was doomed unless the operation
could be sold to a new investor.

To date no white knight has come forward. A
provincial commission has set up shop to help the
Miners and their families relocate, the federal
government's unemployment insurance agents are in
town, the mine equipment is being moved out and
reclamation work begins on the massive ore pits.

The following history of Cassiar was assembled
by writers Jim Jutson and Robin Brunet and
appeared in the January-February issue of Mining in
British Columbia, a periodical published by the
Mining Association of B.C.

For centuries, the Native people of B.C.’s remote
northwestern corner had known there was something
magical about the mountain that would eventually
be named McDame. On the north slope of the moun-
tain, a yellowish-white "fluff" could be seen that was
unlike any other substance they knew, Sheep would
bed down for protection from the cold winter nights,
and birds would use it build their nests that could
withstand the heat of fires.

But when the first prospectors came to Cassiar in
the 1870's, they were not interested in the "wooly
hill" to the north but were seeking gold in the
region's plentiful lakes, rivers and creeks. The
prospectors had seen the prominent green band of
serpentine rock slanting across the face of the moun-
tain, but instead, put all their energy into panning
for gold. Through the 1870s and ’80s, fortunes were
made and lost in the area. Perhaps the most exciting
story of the day was the discovery of a 72-ounce solid
gold nugget, the largest ever recorded in British
Columbia. when the gold seemed to be exhausted,
the prospectors grew frustrated and eventually left.

It would not be for another 40 years that activity
in the area again was recorded. Prospector Antone
Money explored McDame and noticed veinlets of
asbestos where the schist and serpentine rock met.
He peeled away some of the fibres from the green
rock and alter wrote, "Although transportation
seemed far away from this isolated corner of wilder-
ness, this could be an important discovery.”

He was right on both counts. Twenty-eight more
years elapsed before the importance of his discovery
was noted, and modern mining techniques, and
particularly, transportation routes, (such as the
Alaska Highway and the Watson Lake airport, both
built during the Second World War) had advanced
enough to begin a serious re-evaluation of the site.

Prospectors Richard Victor Sittler and Hiram

GERALD MITCHELL, agent
COLE PETROLEUMS (B.C.) LTD.

Agents for
ESSO PETROLEUM CANADA

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Esso Petroleum Canada will spend $3.5 million
to upgrade the Terrace facility.
Esso Imperial Oil — building to ensure the future of
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Terrace, B.C. V8G 1L9
Tel: 635-6366 Fax: 635-2624

20 B.C. Mining Week/ Terrace Review — February 28, 1992