Industry - Mining: The Smelter
Texada Island Heritage Society
.................................................................................
THE VAN ANDA SMELTER
By 1896 Ed Blewett had purchased the Cornell,
Copper Queen and Little Billie mineral claims and, with partner
Harry Treat, had incorporated the Van Anda Copper and Gold Company.
Within a year 300 tons of (silver, copper, gold) ore were
shipped as ballast from the company’s
400-foot wharf in Van Anda Bay to a smelter in Swansea, Wales, for
processing. The expense of shipping overseas sparked a plan to build
a local smelter on site.
Unfortunately their first smelter furnace
blew up in 1898 and, the following year, the wharf collapsed in a
southeast gale. Undaunted, it was rebuilt and a new furnace arrived
from Vancouver. A huge timber frame building was constructed.
Measuring 107 by 35.5 feet, it contained the furnace, engine
and boiler shed. A
carpenter’s
shop, blacksmith and assay office were added later.
In 1903 the smelter shut down and the furnace
was shipped to Ladysmith.
It re-opened in 1910 with a
“new oil-burning process”
and continued operations until 1919 when the mines closed
For years the old building sat silent until
it became the site of a crushing mill which produced fine white
marble limestone for stucco.
This
“Whiterock Mill”
coated Van Anda in clouds of dust until the buildings were
again abandoned and eventually bulldozed and burned in the 1970’s.
.................................................................................
|