The Lucky jim Gold Mine

 

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Double click on the above map to enlarge it to see the Lucky Jim Mine site location, as circled in red, on the Granite Bay Road.

The Lucky Jim Gold Mine site was entrusted to the Quadra Island community in 2008 by its owner to restore as an historic site for all to enjoy. It is a magical place to visit, as it holds such an exciting piece of local and national history. The mine operated from 1909 to 1911.

Here is one of the main shafts of the mine, now safely grilled-over, and behind stands the huge old steam engine, last used in 1911.

In the years soon after the great gold rush to the Klondike in 1898, a rush which was largely funneled through Vancouver Island’s city of Victoria and all passed north along Canada’s west coast, any mention of ‘gold’ anywhere in the world would start great interest in government and business people. Nothing developed empty land as quickly and as dramatically as a gold rush. Towns and cities spring up overnight, roads were built feverishly. People caught the fever and shouted “Gold! Gold! ” , and great things happened quickly.

In 1908, while the Klondike was still a dramatically booming goldfield in Canada’s north, a payable gold seam was discovered in hard rock near Granite Bay, on Quadra Island. “Gold! Gold!”  and the Lucky Jim Gold Mine was born. The owners of the mine brought people south from Sointula Island, a colony of Finns, to build the Lucky Jim mine buildings and work the mine. The remains of their log cabins are still visible today at the mine site. They dove-tailed their log joints in the cabins in a certain way.

They tunnelled down into the granite and then made horizontal drifts out from the main shafts. They used the railway line and steam locomotive already there for logging, to haul their ore the short distance of a half-mile to Granite Bay where the weekly steamship visit allowed them to ship the ore south to Ladysmith for processing. Granite Bay was once the hub of Quadra and of this whole small region. They shipped their ore south to Ladysmith where it was crushed and smelted.

At first the miners used hammers and chisels to mine the rock, but soon progressed to using a huge steam engine to power pneumatic drills. The great steam engine also pumped air down to the miners to breathe, and pumped the water up from the shafts and drifts to keep the mine from flooding with underground water.

Today the great flywheel and other parts of the huge steam engine which powered the Lucky Jim Mine over 100 years ago stand silent and moss-covered for all to enjoy.

The great steam engine still stands at the site today and is a rare piece of history. The mine did not last long, due to flooding and to a drop in the gold price, and closed in 1911. Near the remains of the steam engine today you can see the two main shafts of the mine, which have been recently professionally grilled over as a public safety measure.

To access the Lucky Jim Mine Historic Site drive north from Heriot Bay, about seven miles, to Granite Bay Road on the left. Drive down Granite Bay Road for about five miles until you come to a dirt road coming in on your right and an old steel boiler sitting beside the road with Mine ⇒ written on it.

The old steam engine boiler now sits beside the Granite Bay Road and points the way to the Lucky Jim Goldmine Historic Site, a few minutes walk away.

Here you can park, because right on that intersection, blending perfectly with the deep green forest, sit various remains of the miners’ log cabins built in 1909. There’s what seems to be bunk-houses, and a large cook-house/dining room there if you look very closely into the mossy forest from the roadside. Now you can walk along the side-road 100 meters to a driveway off to the left and follow this private driveway a short distance to the trail on you left. From here it is two minutes’ walk to the mine site and steam engine. There are small signs beside the road and driveway to help guide you to the mine.

Please do not remove anything such as mine tailings, rocks, or relics from this site, so that others may enjoy this magic spot as you do.

Above, some local children help to touch-up the directions on the old boiler, September 2017.

Below is one of the directional rocks leading you to the mine shafts, near the old boiler. GPS co-ordinates, and the next directional rock in the line is at:  N50 ° 12.435’,  W125°16.843’.