Mt. Sicker
| Mount Sicker | |
|---|---|
| Highest point | |
| Elevation | 723 m (2,372 ft) |
| Coordinates | 48°52′N 123°45′W / 48.867°N 123.750°WCoordinates: 48°52′N 123°45′W / 48.867°N 123.750°W |
| Geography | |
| Location | British Columbia, Canada |
Mount Sicker is a small mountain on Vancouver Island, British Columbia, Canada. It is near Crofton, Chemainus and Duncan.
In the autumn of 1895, three American prospectors—F.L. Sullivan, T. McKay and Henry Buzzard—discovered traces of copper, gold and silver on Mount Sicker and staked their claims. The following spring, they began prospecting and digging a shaft until August, when a forest fire devastated the western face of Mount Sicker. The prospectors fled the site, and their cabin and gear were destroyed in the fire.
The fire was, however, a mixed blessing. When Harry Smith, their new partner, returned in the spring of 1897, the burned area revealed a 30-foot-wide (9.1 m) outcropping of copper at the mountain's 1,400-foot level (430 m). The new strike was named Lenora, after Smith's daughter.
When news of the discovery became public, a staking rush ensued and within weeks the entire mountain, base to summit, was staked.
By 1900, the townsite of Lenora was established and lots were sold -- $75 for corner lots and $50 for inside lots, with 1/3 payable in cash and the remainder payable in three and six months.
Throughout the first decade of the 1900s, Mount Sicker was the source of a number of mines—including the Lenora nearest the base of the mountain, the Tyee further uphill and the Richard III still further up the mountain—that would extract copper and send it to the Crofton smelter before being shipped across the world. The two main mines were the Lenora and the Tyee. One mine used an aerial tramway to ship the ore over the mountain to Stratford's Crossing on the E and N Railway. The other mine was served by the Leonora and Mt. Sicker Railway to Crofton. When the smelter closed in 1908, the mountain lost its importance to the economy.
The Lenora mine operated between 1898 and 1903 (when it became embroiled in litigation) and in 1907. The Tyee mine was worked intermittently between 1901 and 1909, while the Richard III mine operated between 1903 and 1907. During this time, the three mines reportedly produced 1,107 kilograms of gold, 22,955 kilograms of silver and 9,180 tonnes of copper from 229,000 tonnes of ore extracted largely by hand. The sites have been operated intermittently since 1909.
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Wikipedia