Above Video: From the 1970’s CBC series ‘The Northerners’ with host Bob Switzer, remarkable footage of early gold and silver miners in the Stewart area, Anyox and Kitsault.
Stewart, B.C. is a small town tucked at the head of the Portland Canal District, in British-Columbia. The town was once as large as 10,000 people before the First World War yet now holds less than 500 permanent residents. This is largely due to the fact that the town once had an active mining industry. That is no longer the case today. This article looks to outline the mining activities that occurred in and around Stewart, B.C. in the past.
Exploration in the area began in 1898, when a group of 68 prospectors travelled to the area in search of placer gold deposits. Evidence suggests, however, that the Nass River Indians knew the area at the head of the Portland Canal well before this and referred to it as Skam-A-Kounst, meaning safe place. They would travel to this area as a retreat from the harassment of the coastal Hiadas.
Here, they would hunt birds and pick wild berries. In 1896, Captain D. Gilliard arrive in the area, exploring the area on behalf of the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers.