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53-628: In 1894, Keremeos rancher, J.L. Coulthard, in partnership with Edgar Dewdney , staked three claims on what became known as Nickel Plate Mountain, but allowed the claims to lapse. In 1897, C. Johnston and Albert Jacobsen staked the Copper Cleft and the Mound claims for their sponsor, W.Y. Williams, manager of the Granby mines at Phoenix , and Peter Scott staked the Rollo for Robert R. Hedley, manager of

106-635: A 61-metre (200 ft) tunnel through the Mascot claim , without paying compensation. After years of marginal profitability, operations ceased in 1931. In 1933, the South American Development Company subsidiary, Kelowna Exploration (KelEx), purchased the property. A $ 250,000 rehabilitation was undertaken before the 1935 reopening. A new hook up drew on the West Kootenay Power grid, and fed back surplus power from

159-544: A green historic marker provides an eastward viewpoint of the straight scar of the former tramway route down the face of Nickel Plate Mountain. Not clearly visible are looping rolls of rusting cable high up on the mountain. Keremeos Keremeos ( / k ɛr ə ˈ m iː ə s / ) is a village in the Southern Interior of British Columbia , Canada. The name originated from the Similkameen dialect of

212-598: A massive multi-piered stone arch bridge just below the Saint Anthony Falls . The bridge ceased to be used as a railroad bridge in 1978, becoming a pedestrian river crossing with excellent views of the falls and of the lock system. The mainline headed northwest from the Twin Cities, across North Dakota and eastern Montana. The line then crossed the Rocky Mountains at Marias Pass. It then followed

265-974: A route to California that rivaled the Southern Pacific Railroad 's route between Oregon and California. The GN route was further inland than the SP route and ran south from the Columbia River in Oregon. The GN connected with the Western Pacific at Bieber, California ; the Western Pacific connected with the Atchison, Topeka, and Santa Fe in Stockton, California , and together the three railroads (GN, WP, and ATSF) competed with Southern Pacific for traffic between California and

318-657: A small line between St. Paul and Minneapolis . He named the locomotive he ran for himself and the William Crooks would be the first locomotive of the Great Northern Railway. J.J. Hill convinced New York banker John S. Kennedy , Norman Kittson (a wealthy fur trader friend), Donald Smith (a Hudson's Bay Company executive), George Stephen (Smith's cousin and president of the Bank of Montreal ), and others to invest $ 5.5 million in purchasing

371-547: A small settlement on top of the mountain, but needed a more efficient means to bring in supplies, and transport out ore. By yearend 1900, aided by a $ 4,000 provincial grant, he had constructed a wagon road to Penticton , from where the Canadian Pacific Railway lake ferries linked to the CP rail network. After his death that November, his estate assumed control. In 1903, the estate obtained a provincial charter for

424-747: A superior alternative to both services offered by GNR. The Great Northern energetically promoted settlement along its lines in North Dakota and Montana, especially by Germans and Scandinavians from Europe. The Great Northern bought its lands from the federal government – it received no land grants – and resold them to farmers one by one. It operated agencies in Germany and Scandinavia that promoted its lands, and brought families over at low cost, building special colonist cars to transport immigrant families. The rapidly increasing settlement in North Dakota's Red River Valley along

477-576: A tourist attraction. GN constructed stations at East Glacier and West Glacier entries to the park, stone and timber lodges at the entries, and other inns and lodges throughout the Park. Many of the structures have been listed on the National Register of Historic Places due to unique construction, location, and the beauty of the surrounding regions. In 1931, the GN also developed the "Inside Gateway",

530-592: The 2021 census , religious groups in Keremeos included: Keremeos' main industries are horticulture , agriculture , ranching , and wine making , among others. Fruit stands are also a major component of the local economy, making it the self-titled "fruit stand capital of Canada ." All sorts of soft fruits, apples, cherries, peaches and vegetables are grown in the South Similkameen's dry warm climate, and vineyards and wineries are quickly being added as

583-560: The Burlington Northern Railroad , which merged in 1996 with the Atchison, Topeka and Santa Fe Railway to form the Burlington Northern and Santa Fe Railway . The Great Northern was built in stages, slowly creating profitable lines, before extending the road further into undeveloped Western territories. In a series of the earliest public relations campaigns, contests were held to promote interest in

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636-588: The Empire Builder today, running it over the old Great Northern's Northern Transcon north of St. Paul. The GN had commuter service in the Minneapolis area running between Great Northern Depot and Hutchinson. In 1951 the company owned 844 locomotives, including 568 steam, 261 diesel-electric and 15 all-electric, as well 822 passenger-train cars and 43.897 freight-train cars. The Great Northern had numerous paint scheme variations and color changes over

689-472: The Flathead River and then Kootenai River to Bonners Ferry, Idaho , south to Sandpoint, Idaho , west to Newport, Washington , and then to Spokane, Washington . The company town and extensive railroad facility of Hillyard, Washington was named after James J. Hill and briefly manufactured the R Class 2-8-8-2 around 1927 which was the largest steam locomotive in the world at the time. From there

742-706: The Libby Dam on the Kootenai River in the late 1960s. The United States Army Corps of Engineers built a new route through the Salish Mountains, including the 7-mile-long (11 km) Flathead Tunnel , second-longest in the United States, to relocate the tracks away from the Kootenai River. This route opened in 1970. The surviving portions of the older routes (from Columbia Falls to Kalispell and Stryker to Eureka), were operated by Watco as

795-646: The Mission Mountain Railroad until April 1, 2020, when BNSF (GN's modern successor) took back control of the Kalispell to Columbia Falls section. The Great Northern mainline crossed the continental divide through Marias Pass, the lowest crossing of the Rockies south of the Canada–US border. Here, the mainline forms the southern border of Glacier National Park , which the GN promoted heavily as

848-623: The Okanagan language word "Keremeyeus" meaning "creek which cuts its way through the flats" referring to Keremeos Creek which flows down from the Upper Benchlands to the Similkameen River that flows past the village. With K Mountain as a backdrop, Keremeos is a community whose "Wild West" looks date back to 1909 when the postmaster of the now-abandoned community of Upper Keremeos, Mr. George Kirby, purchased land alongside

901-695: The Pacific Northwest . With a terminus at Superior, Wisconsin, the Great Northern was able to provide transportation from the Pacific to the Atlantic by taking advantage of the shorter distance to Duluth from the ocean, as compared to Chicago. Between 1891 and 1917 GNR built a number of railway branch lines across the border with Canada. These lines were built to provide service to the city of New Westminster, Victoria (via ferry connection) and

954-679: The Spokane, Portland and Seattle Railway , merged to form the Burlington Northern Railroad . The BN operated until 1996 when it merged with the Atchison, Topeka and Santa Fe Railway to form the Burlington Northern and Santa Fe Railway. GN operated various passenger trains, but the Empire Builder was their premier passenger train. It was named in honor of James J. Hill, known as the "Empire Builder." Amtrak still operates

1007-583: The 732nd Railroad Operating Battalion (ROB). They were one of two spearhead ROBs. The 732nd operated in support of the Patton's 3rd Armored Division crossing into Germany with them. The Officers of the 732nd were all previous employees of the Great Northern. On March 2, 1970, the Great Northern, together with the Northern Pacific Railway , the Chicago, Burlington and Quincy Railroad and

1060-683: The Cascade Mountains, set railroad construction standards in the Mesabi Range, and supervised the construction of the Oregon Trunk Line. He then became the chief engineer of the Panama Canal . The logo of the railroad, a Rocky Mountain goat , was based on a goat William Kenney , one of the railroad's presidents, had used to haul newspapers as a boy. Locomotives and passenger cars were repaired and overhauled at

1113-470: The Corona Corporation, with subsequent restructuring. Nickel Plate production reached 4,000 tons daily, but by 1996, the mine was exhausted and operations ceased. In 1987, Candorado Mines began reworking the former tailings for missed gold. This intermittent activity, which continued for nearly a decade, generated insufficient profit. Just before the western outskirts of Hedley, a pullout with

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1166-597: The Daly Reduction Company (DRC) to build and operate a concentrator and conveyance infrastructure, the DRC becoming the YMC's only asset. At the southeastern edge of Hedley Camp, the components of the DRC 200-ton daily capacity concentrator were powered by a 5-kilometre (3 mi) water flume, sourced from an upstream dam on the creek. Also built that year, the tramway delivered ore to the tipple , which gravity fed

1219-906: The Hall Mines smelter at Nelson . Meanwhile, Constantine H. Arundel and Frances E.R. Woolaston, on finding surface traces of gold ore, staked the Bulldog, the Sunnyside, the Copperfield, the Iron Duke, the Horsefly, the Exchange Fraction, and the Nickel Plate. The subsequent gold rush led to registered claims covering almost the whole mountain by the end of 1898. The mountain base tent settlement on Twenty Mile (Hedley) Creek

1272-698: The Hedley Gold Mining Co. (HGM), geological surveys located additional deposits. HGM electrified the mill, by redirecting most of the waterflow. The 1909 opening of the VV&;E line through Hedley to Princeton provided a source for cheap coal. In 1911, the laying of track through the VV&E tunnel at Princeton created a short direct link to the Coalmont deposits. HGM installed three new coal-fired boilers to power an electric generator for use during periods of inadequate waterflow. By 1912, production

1325-723: The Mesabi Iron Range in Minnesota and its rail lines. The Great Northern began large-scale shipment of ore to the steel mills of the Midwest. The railroad's best-known engineer was John Frank Stevens , who served from 1889 to 1903. Stevens was acclaimed for his 1889 exploration of Marias Pass in Montana and determined its practicability for a railroad. Stevens was an efficient administrator with remarkable technical skills and imagination. He discovered Stevens Pass through

1378-496: The Minnesota border between 1871 and 1890 was a major example of large-scale "bonanza" farming. During World War II, the Army moved its Military Railway Service (MRS) headquarters to Fort Snelling , Minnesota. The MRS worked collaboratively with commercial railroading in the U.S. The Great Northern sponsored the 704th Grand Railroad Division. It was the second Grand Division that the Army stood up. The Great Northern also sponsored

1431-590: The Similkameen River in anticipation of the V.V. & E. Railway passing through the area. Eventually the Great Northern Railway from the US built a branch line up to Hedley and other businesses soon followed. Keremeos was incorporated in 1956. The geography of the Keremeos area ranges from cottonwood groves along the river, to dense orchards and farms, to desert-like landscapes along

1484-511: The StPM&;M, Montana Central Railway , and other rail lines to the Great Northern. The Great Northern had branches that ran north to the Canada–US border in Minnesota, North Dakota, and Montana. It also had branches that ran to Superior, Wisconsin , and Butte, Montana , connecting with the iron range of Minnesota and copper mines of Montana. In 1898 Hill purchased control of large parts of

1537-435: The bases of the surrounding mountains, up to alpine peaks and plateaux on top. In the 2021 Census of Population conducted by Statistics Canada , Keremeos had a population of 1,608 living in 809 of its 852 total private dwellings, a change of 7.1% from its 2016 population of 1,502. With a land area of 2.09 km (0.81 sq mi), it had a population density of 769.4/km (1,992.7/sq mi) in 2021. According to

1590-464: The concentrator. The two-stage tramway, which moved loaded ore gondolas from the mine, 0.5 kilometres (0.3 mi) vertically above, comprised a 3.0-kilometre (10,000 ft) narrow gauge track, reputed to have been the longest example in the world. Pelton impact water wheels powered the rock pulverizers , and air compressors that supplied a hoist and rock drills within the mine. A Cassel water wheel powered an alternating current generator that supplied

1643-517: The dam, until winter damage destroyed the dam that year. Co-operation with HMG led to connected shafts allowing cross-ventilation and improved drainage. On completion in 1937, the current access road was shared with HMG, replacing the latter's previous deteriorated route. HMG abandoned operations in 1949, and KelEx in 1955. In 1971, the descendants of the two companies merged to become the Mascot Nickel Plate Mines, consolidating

Nickel Plate Mine - Misplaced Pages Continue

1696-417: The entire mountain under one owner. In 1978, after no activity, the name became Mascot Gold Mines (MGM). In 1987, MGM demolished the buildings and facilities from the former small Nickel Plate settlement, and built a new processing plant. The next year, open-pit mining commenced. To finance the $ 10 million project and pursue interests farther afield, MGM amalgamated with several smaller mining companies to form

1749-684: The gold output to Penticton for shipping by a circuitous route to the Everett smelter. When the Vancouver, Victoria and Eastern Railway (VV&E) rail head reached Keremeos that July, the journey was halved by exclusively using the Great Northern Railway (GN) network. In 1909, believing the best ore depleted, the Daly estate sold the operation for $ 760,000 to U.S. Steel subsidiary, the Exploration Syndicate of New York. Reorganized as

1802-531: The mainline crossed the Cascade Mountains through the Cascade Tunnel under Stevens Pass , reaching Seattle, Washington , in 1893, with the driving of the last spike at Scenic, Washington, on January 6, 1893. The Great Northern electrified Steven's Pass and briefly owned the electric Spokane and Inland Empire Railway . The deadliest avalanche in US history swept two Great Northern trains off

1855-417: The mine's electric locomotives. After testing, production began in 1904. An air-operated hoist hauled two-ton cars from the mine to the surface, where they were emptied into 12-ton gondolas . Electric locomotives hauled the gondolas 2.4 kilometres (1.5 mi) to a 200-ton storage hopper , which supplied the tramway gondolas. The tramway was two-staged, because 2.5-centimetre (1 in)-diameter steel cable

1908-477: The new city of Vancouver. The first line was built between 1891 and 1893 providing a connection between Seattle and New Westminster. This line crossed at Blaine, passed through Cloverdale and terminated in Brownsville. In 1903 GNR constructed a line running from Cloverdale to Port Guichon (Present day Ladner, BC ). A ferry service from the port provided service to Victoria and Vancouver Island. In 1909 this line

1961-703: The north. The nearest major airport with international flights is Kelowna International Airport . Keremeos historically had a train station, though no tracks remain in the Similkameen Valley with either the Great Northern Railway or the Kettle Valley Railway . Schools in Keremeos' vicinity include Cawston primary school, Penticton Secondary School , Princess Margaret Secondary School , Osoyoos, Princeton, and Similkameen Elementary Secondary School . Great Northern Railway (U.S.) The Great Northern Railway ( reporting mark GN )

2014-584: The railroad and the ranchlands along its route. Fred J. Adams used promotional incentives such as feed and seed donations to farmers getting started along the line. Contests were all-inclusive, from the largest farm animals to the largest freight carload capacity, and were promoted heavily to immigrants and newcomers from the East. The very first predecessor railroad to the company was the St. Paul and Pacific Railroad owned by William Crooks . He had gone bankrupt running

2067-401: The railroad right-of-way. In Kalispell, Montana the original Great Northern grade from 1892 has been converted into a trail. The trail starts in Kila, MT, and goes to Kalispell Montana, travelling through downtown, right past the Kalispell Depot. The section of rails from Kila to West Kalispell was taken out in the early 1900s, while the section from downtown to where the current end of rail is,

2120-478: The railroad. On March 13, 1878, the road's creditors formally signed an agreement transferring their bonds and control of the railroad to J.J. Hill's investment group. On September 18, 1889, Hill changed the name of the Minneapolis and St. Cloud Railway (a railroad which existed primarily on paper, but which held very extensive land grants throughout the Midwest and Pacific Northwest) to the Great Northern Railway. On February 1, 1890, he consolidated his ownership of

2173-436: The resulting dirt to fill in the east end of False Creek. In 1915, on this infill, the GNR opened Union Station, the terminus of its rail line in Vancouver. Its service to Vancouver and Victoria experienced competition from a partnership between Northern Pacific and Canadian Pacific. This competing service terminated at Pacific Station in Downtown Vancouver and from there offered direct steamship service to Victoria, thus offering

Nickel Plate Mine - Misplaced Pages Continue

2226-418: The shops in St. Paul, Minnesota , while the shops at nearby St. Cloud were dedicated to freight cars beginning in 1890. In 1892, a new shop site was established five miles west of Spokane , Washington in Hillyard (named after James Hill) to serve the western half of the GN system. The mainline began at Saint Paul, Minnesota, heading west along the Mississippi River bluffs, crossing the river to Minneapolis on

2279-417: The tracks at Wellington, Washington by the Cascade Tunnel killing 96 people. The mainline west of Marias Pass has been relocated twice. The original route over Haskell Pass , via Kalispell and Marion , Montana, was replaced in 1904 by a more circuitous but flatter route via Whitefish and Eureka , joining the Kootenai River at Rexford, Montana . A further reroute was necessitated by the construction of

2332-489: The valley's wine-growing potential is being recognized. Attractions include the Keremeos Grist Mill . Keremeos has a semi-arid climate ( Köppen BSk ) with cool but short winters and hot, dry summers. Precipitation is low at 323 millimetres (13 in) and evenly distributed throughout the year. Keremeos is served by public transit in the South Okanagan-Similkameen Transit System along Route 50 thrice weekly year round. Buses go as far as Coalmont, British Columbia to

2385-408: The west and Penticton in the East, with connections on BC Transit to Kelowna and Osoyoos . The thrice-weekly public transit service is the only intercity transportation available to residents after Greyhound terminated their services along the Hope, British Columbia -Penticton corridor on June 1, 2019. The nearest airport with scheduled flights is the Penticton Regional Airport 41 km to

2438-405: The years, but Rocky the goat was consistently featured. In addition to the Stone Arch Bridge, parts of the railway have been turned into pedestrian and bicycle trails. In Minnesota, the Cedar Lake Trail is built in areas that were formerly railroad yards for the Great Northern Railway and the Minneapolis and St. Louis Railway . Also in Minnesota, the Dakota Rail Trail is built on 26.5 miles of

2491-413: Was an American Class I railroad . Running from Saint Paul, Minnesota , to Seattle , Washington , it was the creation of 19th-century railroad entrepreneur James J. Hill and was developed from the Saint Paul & Pacific Railroad . The Great Northern's route was the northernmost transcontinental railroad route in the U.S. In 1970, the Great Northern Railway merged with three other railroads to form

2544-420: Was called Hedley camp, after Robert R. Hedley. In 1899, Marcus Daly bought the Arundel and Woolaston claims for $ 60,000. Daly arranged for an initial 35- horse packtrain to carry supplies 40 kilometres (25 mi) across the mountain range from Fairview . Daly bought almost all the claims on the mountain, which he consolidated as Nickel Plate mine, incorporated as the Yale Mining Company (YMC). He established

2597-442: Was extended from Cloverdale to Huntingdon. Service from Blaine to New Westminster was redirected in 1909 over a new line past White Rock, across Mud Bay, through Annieville and on to Brownsville. After a new railway bridge was completed across the Fraser River from Brownsville to New Westminster the GNR extended its railway line to Vancouver. Between 1910 and 1913 GNR excavated the Grandview Cut to give it access to False Creek and used

2650-428: Was over 200 tons daily. In 1917, the leaching process was abandoned. To address the unreliable water supply from the creek, a run-of-river hydroelectricity dam was opened on the Similkameen River in 1915. However, the river proved as problematic as the creek during winter freezing or chunks of ice battering and damaging the dam, leading to closures during 1920 and 1925. In 1920, HGM gained government permission to cut

2703-429: Was reduced to accommodate a tailings pond . To access a separate part of its property, DRC approached Duncan Woods, owner of the small Mascot claim that year. However, Woods rejected the offer to tunnel through and mine his claim. When DRC had the properties resurveyed, the Mascot claim shrank to only 7 hectares (17 acres). By summer 1907, the Daly mill was processing about 115 tons of ore daily. Armed guards escorted

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2756-444: Was taken out in 2021. Further west, the Iron Goat Trail in Washington follows the late 19th-century route of the Great Northern Railway through the Cascades and gets its name from the railway's logo. The Spokane and Inland Empire Railroad that James J. Hill purchased in 1929 became a bicycle path between Spokane, Wa and Coeur d'Alene, Id. and Spokane, Wa. and Pullman, Wa. Appearances in popular culture: The Great Northern

2809-450: Was unavailable in lengths greater than one mile. Following the contours of the terrain, the junction was dog legged, where cars were manually transferred between the two cable sets. At the centre of each section of single track was a short double-track passing configuration. Any supplies would be carried by the empty ascending gondolas. The dried final product was shipped in sacks to the Tacoma smelter. The Chuchuwayha Indian Reserve No. 2

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