Pueblo
The Pueblo Mine is located near the junction of the Fish Lake Road and the Copper Haul Road in the area of the current Icy Waters fish farm. It was a "wet" mine that required constant pumping, which was expensive due to all the wood that was required to keep the boilers running constantly. The constant seepage of water (2500 litres/minute) and the fractured rock in the area probably contributed to the major accident in 1917 that effectively ended operations. Even so, the Pueblo Mine was one of the biggest early producers in the Copper Belt. It produced 85% of the ore shipped before 1920. Its ore went out on the Copper Mines Branch, which was built north to service it.
The original Pueblo mineral claim was quickly surrounded by others that were part of the same operation. The map below shows the outline of these claims. There was another claim, the Blue Bell (not shown), that covered much of Pueblo No. 5
Chronology
- 1899: 7 July, staked by H.E. Porter after whom Porter Creek is named; development work started
- 1899: claims consolidated with surrounding claims by British America Corporation
- 1901: 235 feet (72 m) of sinking and drifting completed
- 1901: British America Corporation went into receivership
- 1901–1905: no development work due to low price of copper, especially 1904–05
- 1906: purchased for $10,000 at receivership sale by Byron White of Spokane WA
- 1907: open pits and surface working; 70-ft (21 m) shaft with drifts, one of 120 ft (37 m)
- 1907: lots of ore ready for shipping
- 1908–1909: Pueblo claims totaled 450 acres (182 ha)
- 1909: Yukon Pueblo Mines Limited sold the property to Atlas Mining Company
- 1910–1911: ten Pueblo claims totaled 720 acres (219 ha); test samples sent to Crofton, BC
- 1910: new camp built onsite for 80 miners; machinery installed, big light plant in operation; big home built for manager
- 1910: shipped one train/day of ore on the Copper Mines Branch destined for smelter at Tacoma WA.
- 1910: 18 November, without explanation, mine shut down and abandoned; buildings boarded up; not even a watchman left behind
- 1912: Pueblo claims merged with others up and down the Copper Belt (LeRoi, War Eagle, Grafter, Best Chance, Valerie) under the Atlas Mining Company
- 1912: 12,000 tons (10.9M kg) of ore shipped by mid-July; new 2000-ft (610 m) shaft sunk through a rich ore body
- 1912: new ore bins installed to load 20 tons (18,000 kg) in 10 minutes, and new machinery installed to increase production to 1500–2000 tons/day (1.4M–1.8M kg), more than the railway could handle
- 1913: production continued into January with live steam fed through the mine ore cars to thaw the ore so it could be dumped into railway ore cars
- 1913: most southbound freight on the railway to Skagway was ore from the Pueblo mine
- 1914: keeping the boilers operating required 3000 cords of wood per year
- 1914: mine operated June–October shipping ore six days/week, 238 tons/day (216K kg) despite low copper prices
- 1914: two people killed in explosion while sinking shaft to 400-ft (122 m) level; three people later died from falling down shafts after being hit on head by blunt instruments(?!)
- 1914: October, operations suspended and pumps turned off; mine filled with water
- 1916: spring, water pumped out and mine went back into operation employing 150 men
- 1916: two train crew died when scalded by steam from locomotive wrecked during accident on the mine property
- 1917: 21 March, massive cave-in trapped nine miners; three miners were rescued after three days of continuous drilling of an 85-ft (26 m) rescue drift but the other six miners were never found; mine was allowed to fill with water
- 1917: 2–3 April, board of investigation into the accident produced this transcript of some of the testimony that includes technical details of the mine and rescue efforts
- 1917: June, water was pumped out and some bagged ore removed, and then the mine closed down again
- 1918–1920: buildings torn down and machinery removed
- 1926: ownership passed to the Richmond Yukon Mining Company owned by John White, son of Byron White who had purchased the mine in 1906
- 1926–1927: diamond drilling north of the original mine area was promising but never resulted in any more mining activity
- 1929–1930: two shipments went out after pumping out and de-icing the mine; unclear how that was done
- 1936: Noranda Mines considered re-opening the Pueblo Mine but nothing ever came of that
- 1942: bunkhouse moved into Whitehorse in 8-ft (2.4 m) sections and reassembled as Whitehorse Inn's first annex; demolished in 1979 to make way for the CIBC on the northeast corner of Main and Second.
- 1947: diamond drilling took place in the area
- 1967: mine site was partially filled in when the Copper Haul Road was extended to the War Eagle area
- 1970: geochemical soil sampling conducted in the area for New Imperial Mines
Access
The Pueblo area is easily accessible by the Fish Lake Road in any season. It is located near the junction with the Copper Haul Road at about kilometre 3.2 on the Fish Lake Road. You can park in the McIntyre Marsh parking lot, which is just to the south of the junction of the Fish Lake and Copper Haul roads. This is east of POI 1 and south of POI 2 shown on the map below.
Points of interest
The map below shows some points of interest (POIs) in the Pueblo area. The table that follows gives more info for each POI.
| POI | Description | Location | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | wye on the Copper Mines Branch | 60.72158 -135.17596 490400 6731789 |
The Copper Mines Branch railway spur headed northwest across what is now McIntyre Marsh and then looped around northeast to the area near POI 4. In 1910, the McIntyre Marsh area was a lot drier and was the location of a railway wye for turning locomotives around. Presumably after dropping a cut of cars on a siding further north at the mine site, the locomotive would back around the cars on the main and turn itself around on the wye so it could lead the cars going south. If you stand on Fish Lake Road north of POI 1, you may be able to see traces of wye in the marsh. See photos below. The reason the marsh is so wet today is due to changes in water flows of McIntyre and Porter Creeks after installation of hydro power plants in the 1950s. |
| 2 | Pueblo cairn | 60.72246 -135.17480 490463 6731887 |
This cairn with plaque commemorates the 1917 cave-in. While you're here, see nearby POI 12. |
| 3 | side pit | 60.72397 -135.17533 490435 6732055 |
This is one of many excavations that appeared in and around the main Pueblo mine area in the hunt for copper. The main Pueblo mine site was to the west where Icy Waters is today. |
| 4 | underground kiln? | 60.72476 -135.17557 490422 6732143 |
If you climb to the top of this small hill just to the west of the road, you will find a pit in the top. If you then very carefully climb down the west side of this hill (it's very steep and overgrown), you will find a hole (adit) in the side of the hill and see some sort of oven or kiln inside a little cavern, which WARNING you should not enter. The hole on top the hill is probably the chimney hole for the kiln underneath. Any ideas of what this was for? No, it's not a smelter; copper ore by the ton was shipped out for smelting. Maybe the assay office for testing? |
| 5 | waste rock | 60.72623 -135.17477 490466 6732307 |
The main mine site was where Icy Waters is today and covered a fairly large area wtih buildings, stationary equipment (e.g., boilers), and loading facilities. A lot of the waste rock ended up at this POI. The waste rock was covered in somewhat when New Imperial Mines built the Copper Haul Road north to the War Eagle area in the 1960s. |
| 6 | route of planned railway extension | 60.72925 -135.17207 490614 6732643 |
The Copper Mines Branch railway spur extended north only as far as Pueblo (see map). However, its route was surveyed as far north as War Eagle. That surveyed route took it up this ravine (not to be confused with Porter Creek, which diverges and flows northeast). The route up the ravine might seem strange because it is quite deep. However, the approach south of POI 5 is not extreme. The exit farther north near POI 11 isn't impossible but it would have been steep and required considerable work to make it practical for a railway line. See also POI 15 |
| 7 | Copper Haul Road | 60.72816 -135.17423 490496 6732522 |
The Copper Haul Road extends north to the War Eagle area. Farther north, it passes through a rock cut that must have been blasted to reduce the grade for ore trucks hauling ore south from War Eagle in the late 1960s. Immediately to the west of this POI is a deep machine-dug trench blocking a trail that leads to POI 8. |
| 8 | collapsed adit | 60.72680 -135.18084 490135 6732371 |
This collapsed adit is in the Pueblo 2 mineral claim. A trail from POI 7 leads right to it. |
| 9 | adit | 60.72817 -135.17869 490253 6732524 |
There is an adit here that appears to be very well preserved but WARNING do not enter it. The trees growing directly in front indicate that no one has worked on this for many (100+?) years. There is a trail between POI 8 and this point. You may find several trenching sites on the north side of the trail between the two POIs. This location is in the Sandon mineral claim, not part of Pueblo. |
| 10 | adit, trenching, cabin | 60.72849 -135.17788 490297 6732559 |
There is an old cabin here right next to a steep adit. There is other trenching and a shallow horizontal adit not far away. WARNING: Do not enter either adit. This location is on the border of the Sandon and main Pueblo mineral claims. This area is sometimes referred to as "Gulch" or "Dry Gulch." However, it's not in the Dry Gulch claim, which straddles the Copper Haul Road north of the main Pueblo claim (see map) and includes POI 11. |
| 11 | excavation | 60.73156 -135.17357 490533 6732901 |
This small excavation just to the east of the Copper Haul Road is in the Dry Gulch claim area. See also POI 16. |
| 12 | adit or underground shelter | 60.72273 -135.17541 490430 6731917 |
This may have been an adit or some kind of underground shelter. It is quite close to POI 2. |
| 13 | underground shelter with metal roofing | 60.72558 -135.17422 490496 6732234 |
Possibly the explosive storage area for the mine. To get to this location, find where Porter Creek flows under the road and then head east down the right-hand (south) side of the creek. There is a faint, overgrown path where you may find railway ties in the ground. This is the old railbed of the Pueblo runout track at the northern end of the Copper Mines Branch. See also POI 15. |
| 14 | open adit in creek bank | 60.72618 -135.17248 490591 6732301 |
This open adit is quite impressive from the outside. It is not, however, very deep. You'll have to climb up above the level of the creek bottom to get to it. |
| 15 | end of rail | 60.72661 -135.17233 490599 6732349 |
This is the extreme north end of the Copper Mines Branch of the White Pass and Yukon Railway, just past POI 13 and POI 14. The original plan for this spur was an extension up past POI 6 to War Eagle. However, activity at War Eagle in the early 1900s was insufficient to justify this. Instead, the rail past the Puebelo mine continued down the south side of Porter Creek to provide runout space for loading cars at the mine. The line sloped up slightly at this point probably to an end-of-track buffer to keep cars from running off the end. All that is left today is timber cribbing and one rail bent to provide the up-slope. |
| 16 | exploration pit | 60.73106 -135.17784 490300 6732845 |
This is a small exploration pit slightly outside the Pueblo claims and just inside the Dry Gulch mineral claims. Once copper had been found in the Pueblo area, the search continued for more in the general vicinity. This pit and POI 11 are probably the result of that search. There are others. |
Downloads
| POIs for GPS | map for GPS |
|---|---|
| file of POIs in GPS format for this project and all others in the Whitehorse Copper Belt that you can download | GPS map for this project that you can download |
Photos and more info
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POI 1. Area of the wye looking south from the Fish Lake Road. See also next photo. |
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POI 1. Area of the wye looking south from the Fish Lake Road showing approximate track layout for the wye. Compare with previous photo without the overlay. |
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POI 2. Plaque on the cairn commemorating the 1917 cave-in |
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Wire-bound wooden water pipes north of POI 3. |
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POI 4. Chimney (?) hole on top of kiln mound |
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POI 4. Entrance (adit) to the kiln. This is on the west side of the kiln mound, at the bottom of a steep, overgrown descent. |
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POI 4. Insde the kiln mound |
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POI 5. Looking north to the pile of waste rock in the centre of the photo. The Copper Haul Road to the War Eagle area goes up the left side of the rock pile and through the distant gap in the trees. |
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POI 5. Looking south from the top of the waste rock pile. |
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POI 9. The adit. Lots of old trees growing up in front make getting a good photo difficult. |
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POI 9. This adit and tunnel are very well preserved. Even so, you should not go in. Most other ones have collapsed. |
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POI 10. Cabin right next to the steep adit |
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POI 10. Steep adit that goes down quite steeply. You should not attempt to enter. |
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POI 10. Trenching adjacent to the steep adit has its own shallow adit at the top (north) end. The area is quite overgrown. |
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POI 10. Shallow adit at the north end of trenching. |
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POI 12. Adit or underground shelter in behind the Pueblo cairn. |
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POI 13. Underground shelter with metal roofing, blocked. Probably the explosive storage area. |
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POI 14. Open adit in the south bank of Porter Creek. Impressive, but not very deep. |
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POI 15. North end of the Copper Mines Branch looking east. You can see how the rail was bent to slope up at the end so cars would not roll off. |
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POI 15. Only one rail left on the timber cribbing that provided the upslope at the end of the line. Looking west from what was the end of the line. |
TimmiT History Exploration Notebook