Pilot Bay Smelter Remains

Something curious can be seen from the Kootenay Lake (BC) Ferry, there on the east shore and a bit south from the of line of travel. Down at lake level. It appears something industrial once occupied the site, but clearly long ago. There’s not much left but it looks real old. This is the Pilot Bay Smelter, or rather what remains, marked today by an orange patch of ground and a couple smokestacks.

There were many things here before and we’ll touch on that soon enough. Research tells us the endeavour was seemingly doomed from the start and the plant didn’t last long. After encountering problem after problem it abruptly closed. Construction spanned 1891-1895 and it cost a quarter million dollars (then money), yet after opening operated for less than a year.

Today, we’re out in the wilds of the East Kootenay region of British Columbia and there’s mining history to explore. Yeaaaah!

The grounds are rather barren and that orange material a mix of stuff from operations spilled, discarded or left over and used as fill. Slag, various ores and waste rock, blended into a heterogeneous mix.

Bits of metalwork are scattered about, but outside a couple larger pieces, it’s mostly nut and bolt sized. We could see a couple substantial pieces submerged in the lake, all rusted and unidentifiable. The outlines of a few foundations can be found and the odd timber, but the only recognizable bits are the two stacks.

The plant comprised a concentrator, roaster, smelter building, powerplant, ore storage and loading areas, assay lab plus offices. Smelting involves more than simply melting the ore to separate metals and instead a complex heat and chemical process. Metallic minerals straight out of the ground are typically not in a usable form until smelted to separate bonded elements (sulphur in the case of these ores).

The smokestacks are clearly visible in old photos and it’s odd how they survived when everything else got demolished or hauled away. One is sort of hidden in the trees today and partly toppled. A perimeter fence keeps people away and it would appear the stack is pretty unstable. Bricks scattered about suggest they fall unexpectedly and that’s bad.

The second is more out in the open and in contrast looks fairly solid and intact, save for a crumbling cap. It seems amazing that after this long anything remains but I guess they were built well.

A cribbed rock wharf once existed lake side but it’s long gone.

A town sprung up in support of the Pilot Bay Smelter and once located a little south of the plant. There were stores, hotels, a school…all the usual stuff…plus many homes and at peak population close to a thousand folks lived here. Old photos show it a happening place, but it wouldn’t last.

It’s said two hundred men were employed at the smelter.

After the Pilot Bay Smelter closed, many folks left and the population quickly declined. A sawmill from about the same time also provided employment for locals but it too similarly short-lived. Now nice lakefront homes and cabins built in more recent times occupy the site.

Ore for the Pilot Bay Smelter came by barge and processed material shipped out the same way. Vintage photos from when the plant operated show many scows tied up at the old rock wharf.

Kootenay Lake is huge and in the old days a literal water highway. Now it’s mostly recreational craft, plus the Osprey 2000 and MV Balfour on the ferry run (longest free ride in the world @35-40 minutes). They’re a vital link in the highway’s system and the only way across the lake.

The storied Bluebell, a little to the north and in the community of Riondel supplied the Pilot Bay Smelter. Mostly. That mine was in production from the mid-1890s to early 1970s, sometimes intermittently, and in that time they extracted almost five million tonnes of ore. Some of the workings went under the lake and that’s a terrifying picture. “A large volume of water enters the lower workings of the mine” BC Ministry of Mines – bring your swim trunks!

The Bluebell extracted material worth something between one and two a billion dollars (Cad) in today’s prices. Cha-ching! Silver: 221,011,383 grams, lead: 233,800,528 kilos and almost the same amount of zinc – that’s serious stuff!

The Bluebell deposit was already well known long before commercial mining. Pioneers used the ore to fashion bullets and it was that pure. As a sidebar, this author’s old-man worked at the mine underground, about the time operations wound down, and our home very near the ferry landing at Kootenay Bay. Behind the old gas station and in some dilapidated cabin (still standing today).

The main ores at the Bluebell were comprised of galena (silver + lead) and sphalerite (zinc). Modest amounts of copper and cadmium plus minor gold values were also found. It’s a common mix for the region and most mines had a similar mineral profile. Cadmium is the odd one out here and not always typical of the area.

About a dozen other mines in the region also sent in smaller trial run quantities of ore to Pilot Bay for smelting.

The plant had difficulty processing these complex ores and only the Galena (so Silver and Lead) elements were extracted. Basically the rest got tossed aside and forgotten of. Starting in the late 1940s some twenty six hundred tonnes of mixed material (hundreds of truckloads) were recovered and hauled away by a private individual. Most comprised the discarded zinc component, but included a fair amount of lead and silver too.

We’re not sure the state of the smelter buildings at that point but suspect they were already gone, or mostly so. It’s said this firm not only reclaimed ore on land, but discarded material dumped into the lake via a dredge. It’s estimated more than ten times that is still down there.

While the nature of the ores doomed the plant there were no doubt other factors in play. The remote location suggests shipping in and out was costly. Inbound ore, finished products outbound or materials like coal and coke brought in to run the plant, all travelled by barge or boat.

Competition from a rival smelter in nearby Nelson must be considered and it came online just after Pilot Bay. They had rail service and overall much easier access, even for mines that had to barge material part way. As a sidebar – later the big smelter in Trail took all the business and it still exists to this day.

A couple attempts were made to restart Pilot Bay plant after closing, in some capacity but none made a go of it. The bank got involved, some firm attempted to use it as concentrator, but mostly it stood idle. In about 1905 some reduction machinery was removed and shipped up to the Bluebell Mine for use there. Concentrated ore helped save on both shipping and smelting costs.

The trail then goes cold and no mention is made of what became of he plant, or plant remains in the ensuing years. No photos of that period have turned up either except for some showing it in the 1970s where it looked much as it does today. Likely everything got salvaged eventually and over time it all vanished.

In any case, all that’s remains of the Pilot Bay Smelter are these bits of infrastructure, a scar on the land and ghosts. It’s a footnote in BC’s mining history and what’s left a silent reminder of the past much different from today. The are went from gritty industrial, in a gorgeous mountain setting, to a recreational paradise.

Know more (new tab): Pilot Bay Smelter (East Kootenay BC).

They’re saying…

”…Chris & Connie do an amazing job on studying their subject matter.” Rik Barry (Time Air Historical Society).

Nearby…
Historic Pilot Bay Lighthouse.

BC Things…
Old Slocan Highway by the Lake.
Windsor Hotel Trout Lake.
A Tour of Sandon BC.

If you wish more information on what’s seen here, don’t hesitate to: contact us!

Date of Adventure: May, 2023.
Location(s): Pilot Bay, BC.
Article references and thanks: BC Ministry of Mines, BC Geographical Names Office and Dale for hosting us.

Remains of the Pilot Bay Smelter seen from the Osprey 2000.

This first smokestack is in poor condition.

The second is more intact.

The plant dates back to the 1890s – the cap is crumbling a bit.