3-085-880 - The Print Collector/Heritage Images

Gold in British Columbia: Smelter at Trail, 1898. 'Much has been written during recent months concerning the vast auriferous wealth which has been brought to light in British Columbia. That province has an area of 385,300 square miles, or more than three times the size of the United Kingdom...The development of the mines has been retarded in the past by the lack of smelting works, but this want has been to a large extent overcome by the erection of such works at Pilot Bay, which alone have turned out about 300 tons of bullion per month. There is another smelter at Nelson, and matting works at Trail, while the owners of other properties are building concentrators and constructing tramways to handle the large output. In the treatment of ores by smelters it requires on a general average 12 tons of coke to treat 88 tons of ore. The coke and the ore must be brought together at some convenient point where smelters can be erected. It is, of course, easier and cheaper to haul 12 tons of coke so as to treat 88 tons of ore on the spot than it is to carry the latter a great distance to be treated by 12 tons of coke. One great collateral advantage is that a variety of ores are being discovered, highly suitable for fluxing.' From "Illustrated London News", 1898.