The Britannia Mine Museum

Jonathan's mom, Marilyn, is back visiting with us for the month of August. We've been keeping busy catching up and being tourists around town.

Last week we decided to head up to Whistler for the day and along the way we stopped at the Britannia Mine Museum in Britannia Beach. We were really glad we took the time to check it out because this museum is really great! They've recently renovated it and there is lots to see and do there.

The Britannia mine was once one of the largest copper mines in the world. Mill #3, the big white building you see on the side of the mountain, is one of the last remaining gravity-fed concentrator mills in North America.

Our little walker is always eager to check everything out 

One of the first kinds of drills they used to drill into the rock... I though it was a gun at first

A very large truck!

 Wandering through the outside exhibits 

The best part of the museum is the guided tour you can take. We thought it was just an underground train ride through the mine, but it was much more detailed than that and gave you a great picture of how the whole mine operated, from start to finish. 

This was the view from the entrance to the underground

Marilyn, sporting her stylish hard hat, ready for the tour 

Jonathan cannot be trusted with the camera 

The tour starts with a train ride into the underground mine... and it's chilly down there! After a few minutes on the train, you then get off and walk the rest of the tour.

Edison, sporting his hard hat

Our tour guide turned a couple of the drills on for us to demonstrate how they worked. I had to plug Edison's ears, which meant no one was plugging my ears... it was one of the loudest things I've ever heard in my life. My insides shook! Those poor miners must have gone deaf from listening to those things all day without any hearing protection. At one point our tour guide also turned all the lights out so that we could see how dark it was down there. She then lit a candle so that we could understand the kind of lighting the miners had to work with. This tour definitely gave me an appreciation for the miners! This job was no picnic.

One of the drills 

A machine that shovels the rock once it's been blasted

The outside of the mine. Our guide blew the whistle for us.... also one of the loudest things I've ever heard!

These are core samples, so they know where to drill

This is a picture of what the Britannia area looked like when it was a mining town. The mill you see in this photo burned down in 1921 and they re-built Mill #3 (the one that's still there today) right beside the old one.  

This is the remains of Mill #2 

The inside of Mill #3 (also known as the Concentrator) is unliveable! When the mill was in operation, the rocks that were blasted out of the mine would start at the top of this building and as they worked their way down, would get more and more refined (or concentrated) until by the time they reached the bottom the end product was a very fine copper powder that would then be sent to other areas to be smelted.

From the bottom of the mill, looking up, you can only see the first 3 levels of this building... there are 5 more levels above that you can't even see! It is equivalent of a 26-story building.

Track on the left, stairs on the right. The railing was only built when it became a museum... would not want to the the one climbing those bad boys! 

This was one of the rail cars used to take miners into the mine

Overall, this was such a fun experience and really educational as well. It sure did give me an appreciation for the men who worked there and their families!

Next stop: Whistler!