Ho! for the Koksilah

By mid-1905, the incredibly rich copper strike on Mount Sicker which had sparked three mines, two townsites, two smelters, a railway, a tramline and a deepsea shipping port, had peaked. Although the mines continued to give diminished returns, the principal operators began casting about for another source of income.

The exciting rumours of a rich silver strike on the Koksilah River, specifically in the Kinsol Valley, set their hopes soaring.

Koksilah River silver never came close to achieving the size and scope of the activity on Mount Sicker but, for five years, it kept prospectors hoping and hopping. 

The story of the Cowichan Valley’s second mining boom in this week’s BC Chronicles.

******

PHOTO:  For a few short years the Lenora Mine, as was the neighbouring Tyee Mine, fabulously rich. But, by 1905, the bloom was off the rose for Mount Sicker. —BC Archives