Here is a brief history of Bedwell Sound and the development of our famous Bedwell Trail road over the last 150 years including where Bedwell received its name. There is also a new photo gallery showcasing historical pictures of the area to give you a feel of what it used to be like.
Coming up from Tofino in 1856, a botonist named John Buttle was responsible for performing the first survey of the Bedwell Area when it was only known as Bear River (or “Oinimitis” in the First Nations Nuu-chah-nulth Language). Today the large Buttle Lake in the center of Vancouver Island still retains his name. It was from Buttle’s initial survey that gold was found in the Bedwell Valley. Captain Richards later charted the area of Clayoquot Sound in 1861 and was responsible for bestowing the name Bedwell, for Edward Parker Bedwell- second master of the HMS Plumper, on Bedwell Sound and Bedwell River.
By the early 1860’s the gold rush was on and ‘Bear City’ began. In this little mining township at the head of Bedwell Sound you were able to stop in for groceries, stay at a flophouse, and even stop by the local madam’s. Bear city was later named Port Hughes once a post office was formed in Bear City. By 1865 Chinese placer miners had entered the scene and the gold mining in the Bedwell River was going strong.
1887 Charley Riley and Mr. Cameron in Britain visited the Bedwell for the express purpose of investigating the Chinese operations. ‘50 chinese’ were ‘erecting dams, sluices and watersheds in 4 places 5-12 miles up from the mouth of the river.’ In 1899 Chinese placer miners finally left the area due to superstitious circumstances brought about by the ‘sudden death of one of their number’.
Mining was booming! And in 1898 Port Hughes had a hotel built by Moses McGregor, which was considered a ‘comoditious building that would not be out of place in a city.’
In 1899 Joe Drinkwater, a resident of the Alberni area, was challenged by the explorer Rev. William Bolton to attempt the impossible by traveling from Tofino by boat to Bear River and traveling overland up the Bear River following ‘You Creek’ to ‘Bear Pass’, across Great Central Lake back to Port Alberni. Joe, a rugged man willing to take on the challenge left Tofino by canoe and headed into Bedwell. It was on this trek that Drinkwater set claims of copper and gold along Big Interior Mountain. Drinkwater also named the beautiful falls he came across (the highest waterfall in Canada) after his wife ‘Della” who often visited Joe in the following years while he worked his mining claims.
The Drinkwater claims were purchased by a group of investors including the 9th Earl of Denbigh in 1912 who by 1913 were able to traverse the Alberni-Bedwell trail after building a landing at Bedwell Sound and a wagon road to You Creek including 25 bridges. It was hoped production capacity would reach 1000 tons per day extracting one ounce per ton. Construction was halted due to the First World War and later inhibited by the establishment of Strathcona Provincial Park.
War broke out in 1914, and the Bedwell miners left all materials and equipment behind. The investors had spent $40,000 on the Bedwell project (mainly on roads and construction). Not much remained the following year to show for this expense when an engineer returned to assess the operation.
Prospectors returned to the Bedwell Valley in 1938, which resulted in discoveries of gold bearing veins on Bedwell River and later more discoveries up Drinkwater Creek.
In 1939 a new road was built by Bart Ward with the aid of a joint federal-provincial program for new mine development. New investment entered the picture and the constructions of two major bridges were completed. Bart completed 2 ½ miles with good progress when the Second World War broke out. The two mines were put into production. However, in December of 1942 the federal government placed restrictions on labor for mining and operations and the mines were again shut down. The mines in that year produced 6000 ounces of gold.
After the Second World War, there was talk of building a hotel and a house of prostitution near the penny creek claim sites but all that was developed was a large shed.
In 1967 the Bedwell River road extended to deep water at the head of Bedwell sound to the point previously known as Port Hughes.
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Posted by: Term Paper | February 16, 2010 at 09:31 PM