(from far left to right) The Hazelton and Telkwa area, 1915; Pacific Western Airlines
Junkers W 34 floatplane piloted by Doug Chappel bringing supplies; prospecting
on Brian Boru Peak of the Rocher Déboulé Range, 1955; group shot: posing at a
prospecting camp.
One or both may produce copper and
other metals again.
As it turned out, the big mines (except
for Granisle on Babine Lake) eluded
the first prospectors, although there
was a large molybdenum deposit almost
beneath their feet. Nearly all the mineral
showings they were working on around
Hudson Bay Mountain, including the
Duthie mine, were part of a single min-
eralizing system centred on what is now
known as the Davidson deposit, most of
which is hidden within the mountain. It
was not until the early 1960s, when molyb-
denum occurrences on the mountain
attracted the attention of Stew Wallace
(Climax Molybdenum Company) and
work continued on key claims optioned
from local prospectors Bill Yorke-Hardy,
Eddie Malkow, Hunter Simpson and Russ
McFarland, that the significance of the
deposit was recognized and the geological
picture started falling into place. A major
molybdenum resource has now been out-
lined at the Davidson deposit, only about
eight kilometres northwest of the town
of Smithers.
❏
Photographs : Government of British Columbia W I N T E R 2 0 1 4
103
