Britannia Mine, Howe Sound, British Columbia

In 1888, Alexander Forbes , a Scottish doctor shot a deer in the Howe Sound area. The deer's hooves exposed mineralised rock below the moss.

This proved to be one of the largest deposits of copper in the world. The Britannia Mining and Smelting Company was formed and shipped its first ore to the Crofton Smelter on Vancouver Island in 1904.

Pictured here is the inside of Mill No 3, the ore entered at the top and was crushed as it descended to the ground level.

The Britannia Mine had many trials and tribulations with rock and snow slides destroying the mining camp and killing 56 men, women and children. A flood killed 37. Although Britannia was isolated with the only communications by ship, the town had libraries, clubrooms, swimming pools, tennis courts and a roller skating rink.

By 1929 the Britannia was the largest copper producer in the British Empire. It also extracted zinc, gold, silver and cadmium.

The mine boomed during the war years, and then fortunes fluctuated with copper prices. It closed in 1974, and has been turned into a National Historic Site.