Gold was first found in the bed of the Bedwell River by the Vancouver Island Exploring Expedition party, led by John Buttle in 1865. When the report of the discovery reached the city of Victoria, a hundred stampeders rushed to the site in two chartered steamers, but, failing to find much gold, all returned to the capital to demand compensation for having been led astray by an erroneous government report. However, a group of Chinese immigrants (estimates range from 15 to 50 in number) didn’t give up, and found workable concentrations of gold in a boulder-strewn section of the river a few miles upstream.
Shortly before the turn of the century, copper magnetite skarn deposits were discovered in the vicinity of Penny Creek, a couple of miles above tidewater. There was considerable promotion of these showings, and a boom period soon developed. A townsite and a hotel were built at a place named Port Hughes, which was at the head of Bedwell Sound. The boom petered out when adits and shafts failed to develop significant deposits. Interest in the area revived a few years later when an English company, known as Ptarmigan Mines Ltd., introduced a proposal to develop a mine on the summit of Big Interior Mountain at the head of the valley. Seven miles of wagon-ready road had been completed, and material for the tram lines sat at the head of Bedwell Sound when the First World War broke out in 1914. The mine’s entire crew left to enlist, abandoning all the equipment and supplies that had been assembled on-site.
At the time, the boundaries for Strathcona Provincial Park were being extended to include the upper valley of the Bedwell River, with apparent disregard for the mine site. This was remedied, and mining activity resumed when an amendment to the Strathcona Park Act in 1918 permitted further mining in the park. The amendment facilitated more exploration, and the Crown granted prospects across the divide to the north, which later developed into the Westmin (now Boliden) operation.
The next boom at Bedwell River started in the fall of 1938, when two gold prospects, about seven miles inland, were discovered by Patrick McCrory and Sam Craig. These prospects were optioned to mining companies, which eventually brought them to production. The two small mines, the Musketeer and the Buccaneer, had to close for war conditions in 1942. With a short phase of renewed production after the war, the mines produced 12,000 oz. gold from 17,600 tons of ore by 1965.
In the early 1960s, R&P Metals carried out extensive drilling on the Big Interior-Ptarmigan property from a helicopter base at Great Central Lake. However, park legislation passed in 1865 discouraged plans to bring this property to production, so it remained idle.
During this period of the early 1950s and 60s, logging operations had rebuilt the road that travelled up the Bedwell River. The Sierra Club, an environmental protection group, advised the British Columbia government that the area had been destroyed by mining and logging. Acting on this advice, and on recommendations of the Wilderness Advisory Committee (formed to examine environment issues), the government took the Bedwell River area out of the park in 1987 and established a “recreational corridor” in which mining would be permitted in an area extending from the Bedwell River to the Westmin property at Buttle Lake. This proposal would have accommodated all the known mineral deposits of interest and, with a serviceable road up the valley, would have resulted in considerable activity in the area and probably the development of two or three important mines. It was not to be, however. The forces opposed to mining discovered that the area contained “park values” after all, and they proceeded to pressure the supposedly industry-friendly Social Credit government into putting the Bedwell River back into Strathcona Park as a Class A park, or protected area — a designation the Bedwell River area had never had before. The recreational corridor was just dropped.
There was still some interest in prospects outside of the park in the lower Bedwell River Valley and in the valley of the Ursus River tributary, to the east. In 1990, an item in the George Cross Newsletter reported that a consortium of junior companies, including PezGold Resources, had agreed to spend $800,000 exploring gold-bearing quartz veins in that area. It was too late, though. Falling gold prices and the election of the New Democratic Government government killed the proposal.
With the Bedwell River road partly washed out and all the bridges collapsed, limited access to the property was also an inhibiting factor to development. There was not even a trail up the Ursus River. There was a good possibility that this would be remedied, but this, too, was derailed by political forces. Pulp and paper giant MacMillan Bloedel had proposed building a road from the mouth of the Bedwell River to the Ursus, so as to gain access to their timber holdings in the otherwise inaccessible valley of upper Bulson Creek. This proposal was subject to review by a special committee. The Ursus Valley had been designated a “special management area” for the benefit of wildlife. The government had to establish that murrelets and elk would not be disturbed before development could proceed. Also, native groups had to be appeased. Then-premier Michael Harcourt had given them veto powers over any development in the area through the Clayoquot Sound Interim Measures Agreement. The Ahousaht Indian Band claimed the area through the Central Regional Board, a body that had jurisdiction over the area. The board also controlled mineral permits and claims near Bedwell but never gave anything the go-ahead.
In the meantime, the Western Canada Wilderness Committee made a base at Ahousaht and, together with members of the band, mounted a campaign to defeat the MacMillan Bloedel road proposal. They succeeded in doing so and, at the same time, contributed to a propaganda campaign that destroyed the company’s overseas markets. This led the paper company to capitulate and eventually sell its interests to Weyerhauser Ltd.
Will the proposal for a road up the Ursus be revived and carried out under the soon-to-be elected Liberal government of British Columbia? If it is, perhaps there is potential for another mining boom in the Bedwell River area. On the other hand, if a road cannot be built, mineral claims in the area will remain in limbo or be lost through attrition.
— The author resides in Tofino, B.C.
In April of 1980, I was looking for a Prospecting Partner through some contacts with the BC Ministry of Mines in Victoria, BC. A.Fraser Shepard suggested that I get in touch with Sam Craig of Tofino, and he gave me Sam’s phone number. I did phone him and he asked about my experience and training. Three days later I was at Sam and Arlene’s house. Sam had planned a helicopter trip for us up to the head-waters of the Ursus River N-E of Tofino. It was foggy for a couple of days and the Chopper couldn’t fly, so Sam decided we would drive to Kennedy Lake and take the Mac Millian Blodel workboat Water Taxi across, where he had a newer Ford p/u there that he had barged over. We drove up the main logging road stopping briefly at a small creek that Sam knew and we broke open some chunks of quartz in the shallow creek bed. Sam broke one and handed it to me to look at with my 10X power hand lens. Inside was a gold crystal that resembled a golf tee. Quite exciting to see first thing. We continued up the canyon to another creek and we walked a bit breaking rocks and I found one with Molybdenite. We drove on, turning off on a narrow logging road and climbing higher and higher, then we pulled into a little landing with an old 15 ft. travel trailer. Sam said we will spend the night and the chopper will pick us up in the morning. We ate dinner and got a nights sleep, awoke early the next day, had breakfast and we could hear the chopper coming from the west. It was a Bell Jet Ranger and there was a large floresant float bouy in the passengers seat. The quite young pilot said he found it drifting in the inlet. He figured that we had about 200 lbs. of gear and we took off. The fog was quite high up on the mountains, so the pilot decided that we would head back toward Tofino, go up the Bedwell River, then follow the Ursus River east to the head waters and below a knarly, steep, narrow, gorge. The chopper had large inflatable pontoon floats and landed us on a gravel bar, unloaded our gear and we thanked him and he flew down the river and took off. We could see lots of quartz in the matrix of rocks washed out of the canyon. We broke several open and inside was like a jewelry store,with chalcopyrite, galena, pyrite and sphalerite. We had to wade our gear across a shallow section between the gravel bar and the forest where we sat up our camp. We had only a 20′ X 20′ black plastic sheet for a shelter to travel light. First, we got 4 small logs to make an outline of our sleeping area and drove small stakes on each side to keep them in place. Then we cut spruce boughs and “shingled” them to be the base for our bed, then we cut these huge ferns and placed them on top of the boughs that made a very nice bed. There were lots of bear sign (hence the name “Ursus” River)Sam brought his pistol BUT forgot the bullets. I slept with my axe. We prospected upstream and looked up a creek to the south (Tranquil??) then worked our way up the high straight walled, deep water gorge. Sam said we could climb up to the top with our rock hammers, roots and hand holds that we can find. I forgot to mention that Sammy was a short statured thin man of 70+ yrs. of age, but wiry as heck. I’d guess it was at least 40 ft. to the level mossy flat above. Sam wanted to lead and have me stay close in case he knocked any rocks loose. (a nice thought, so I watched carefully).It was VERY hairy and scary at the same time. We made it safely and walked up the canyon, yet high above and no safe way down. After awhile Sam said we should head back and he will bring a chopper next time to get above the canyon that actually was opposite of Taylor River on the other side. We prospected for 4 overcast damp days and started the 3 day one way trek out. Then to cross the shallow but swift Bedwell River and hike to the Sound where his son in law would pick us up in his power boat. If we weren’t there within two days, they would call the Search and Rescue. When Sammy and I reached the Bedwell River we cut…