The rebirth of Corbinthe Byron Creek Collieries story

"A brief history of previous mining activity on Coal Mountain, near Corbin, British Columbia, is followed by a description of the steps leading up to the resumption of mining in /974 by Byron Creek Collieries. New developments, including a preparation plant, a rail spur and a totally enclosed facility, as well as operating techniques, are also discussed. IntroductionThe Corbin Mine of Byron Creek Collieries Limited is located in southeastern British Columbia, approximately 110 air miles southwest of Calgary (Fig. I), 15 miles south of Highway 3 via a newly constructed provincial road (Fig. 2). Development of the area began on July 30, 1905, when D.C. Corbin, a prominent businessman from the northwestern U.S., and his associate E.J . Robert s, first visited the site of Coal Mountain on horseback. Coal was in great demand by railways and other industrial users, so the Corbin Coal and Coke Co. , after acquiring 15,000 acres of land in the area , began to develop a mine.F.J. Roberts was responsible for the construction of the 14-mile rail spur, the Eastern British Columbia Railway, which joined the mine to the CPR main line at the McGillivray Loop. Rail access to the mine and its developing community, Corbin, B.C., was completed in September 1908, the same year that the first underground mine began production.The Corbin Coal and Coke Co. operated six mines on Coal Mountain (Fig. 3), and production from 1908 to 1930 inclusive totalled 2,337,800 tons. This production was allocated to the mines as shown in Table 1. No.3, 4 and 6 mines were operated intermittently from 1931 to 1935."