Mineral Exploration is the official publication of the Association of Mineral Exploration British Columbia.
Issue link: http://digital.canadawide.com/i/428696
1932: Axel Elmsted at Big Onion. Photograph : Cour te sy Tony L'Orsa W I N T E R 2 0 1 4 107 The brothers also worked on, and then optioned, their Lone Star claim southwest of Lake Kathlyn. The option was soon dropped and Duncan Jennings left the claim "with a resolve never to return to pound a drill." In 1917, he joined the army and returned unharmed the next year, and he was soon prospecting again with "Pop" Smith and George Ballard. He and Ballard shipped five tons of ore from the Canyon Group but, Duncan Jennings wrote, "This is no poor man's country in the mining game," as he experienced the costs of putting a small mine into production and shipping the ore. SOME "DAMNED GOOD ORE" Axel Elmsted (Mount Elmsted) was born in Jutland, Denmark. He came to Canada as a young man and arrived up here in 1913. He and Tommy Haigh discovered the Big Onion copper-molybdenum pros- pect on Astlais Mountain east of Smithers in 1917. They had noticed rusty rocks associated with the deposit from the Grand Trunk Pacific Railway where they were working. He and Haigh drove two short adits into the mountain in the early 1920s. Haigh lost interest about 1928 and Ben Mueller stepped in as partner. Elmsted and Mueller did about 400 feet of underground work during the winter of 1929–30, all with handheld drill steel. Subsequent work revealed that the Big Onion is a large, low-grade copper deposit. It is still being explored. Elmsted also leased the Little Joe mine in 1938 and shipped out six tons of "damned good ore" by packhorse. He probably worked on every mining prospect known in the Babine range over his long career, as well as some on Hudson Bay Mountain. He was known to have said that, if he had to start all over, he would go prospecting again. We have had a glimpse into the lives of a few of our old timers. Most of their stories and some of their names have been lost, but here and there something has survived. Let's tip our hats to all of them. Better yet, have a drink in their honour when you next have a chance. • TRANS NORTH HELICOPTERS CHARTER SERVICES P.O. BOX 8, 115 RANGE RD. ALASKA HIGHWAY, MI. 918 WHITEHORSE YUKON Y1A 5X9 TEL: (867) 668-2177 FAX: (867) 668-3420 Serving northwestern Canada since 1967 www.tntaheli.com Trans North 10/27/04 11:19 AM Page 1 Westcoast.indd 1 2/7/11 2:00:09