The Past

Businesses
Churches
Communities
Community Services
Entertainment
Ethnic Groups
Geography
Heritage Homes
Industries
 ~ Brickyard
 ~ Coal Mine
 ~ ~ Coal Mines in the 1950s
 ~ Creamery
 ~ Columbia Flouring Mill
 ~ Poleyards
 ~ Sawmlls
Organizations
People
Schools
Transportation

Museum page

The Enderby Coal Mine

In the early years there was a vision of Enderby as the major industrial city of British Columbia. Its population was expected to double or treble in a year and Enderby was to become so important as to "divert most trans-continental traffic through the Valley." With new rail lines "one envisages a time when the Valley will be in the direct line of great streams of traffic flowing North and South and East and West." Enderby and district was to become "a substantial hinterland to balance and supplement" the "far flung maritime empire" of the coastal cities.

This vision probably influenced city fathers to incorporate as a city rather than a district municipality and it attracted the attention of men whose stars were rising - men who later became senior executives, an MLA, a supreme court justice and premier of B.C.

On March 1, 1905, the day of incorporation, Enderby was supported by a brick yard, a flour mill and a new sawmill. These made it a flourishing town.

What gave Enderby the potential to "put on city clothes and adopt city ways" was the coal - "hundreds of thousands of tons of it" - which may lie under the Cliff  from Grindrod to the Shuswap River.

George Weir who lived near Mara found a piece of coal float at the foot of a side hill seven miles north of Enderby. He began prospecting and found an exposure farther up the hill.

It is speculated that Weir took samples to Henry W. Harvey a local merchant, real estate dealer and postmaster. Harvey led the acquisition of land, the digging of an initial tunnel and the establishment of a company.

Several months before the company was established, Harvey and partners took up the land and let a contract to Tom Johnston and Joe Swallow to run a 100-foot tunnel on the vein. Coal samples were displayed in town. The Edenograph reported in November, 1904 an application had been made to purchase 8,000 acres "and the deal with the government for title of the land is virtually closed." The newspaper went on: "At $10 an acre, this land will cost Mr. Harvey and partners $80,000, so some idea can be gained of the magnitude of the undertaking." No doubt statements like this built the vision of an industrial city although the article also said "up to the present, everything in connection with the company is in the prospective stages, but soon an organization will be affected, and the capital raised to finance the scheme."

A month later, H.M. Walker, editor of The Edenograph, wrote of the coal fields in his last editorial of 1904: "These must be further proven to justify them being classed as a real and permanent source of productiveness and revenue. But this is sure: the Enderby Coal & Development Co., has a strong 8 to 10 foot seam of good coal exposed, the company has secured 8,000 acres of coal land, and has ample capital at its command to thoroughly prospect the ground, with the assurance of a practical mining engineer that a large body of coal will undoubtedly be opened up."

In fact The Enderby Coal Mining Company was not even incorporated when Walker wrote his editorial. It was years later that the company, thanks to bureaucratic procedures, acquired title to 135 acres;  its shareholders never contributed more than $18,000.

On December 19, 1904, Harvey and 11 others established the Enderby Coal Syndicate to develop the coal. Following were syndicate members or directors of the company:

George Weir: the original discoverer of the coal formations.
Henry W. Harvey: a well-known merchant and postmaster of Enderby for many years
George Heggie: manager of the Stepney Ranch and later the manager at Vernon of the Land and Agricultural Company of Canada (better known as the "Belgian Syndicate.") In the early 1930s he was an MLA.
George McCormick, M. Carlin and F.H. Hale:   prominent lumbermen and sawmill proprietors
F.L. Buckley: manager of the A.R. Rogers sawmill in Enderby and became managing director of a large concern at the coast.
P. Burns: a well-known multi-millionaire meat packer of Calgary.
C.W. Fowle: a member of the House of Commons
G.E. McCarter, Wm Irwin and T. Kilpatrick: solicitor, purchasing agent and superintendent of the CPR. Kilpatrick became general manager of the PGE.
F.W. Padmore: manager of the CPR hotel at Sicamous.
S.F. Tolmie: Dominion Lifestock Commissioner. He became minister of agriculture at Ottawa and then Premier of British Columbia
Dennis Murphy, company solicitor:  a leading barrister of the upper country who became a judge of the Supreme Court of British Columbia.

The syndicate partners agreed to acquire coal locations made by other persons and to incorporate Enderby Coal Mines Ltd. Each partner other than George Weir was to contribute $1,000. They were to acquire from others the rights to coal locations near their discovery and upon incorporation, each member was to transfer to the company his rights to coal lands as well as rights acquired from others.

The company was to have capital of $250,000 in shares of one dollar each. One hundred sixty thousand shares were given to the syndicate for the transfer of coal rights and cash. Each member was to receive 10,000 shares. Persons who transferred coal rights were to each receive 500 shares out of the 160,000. The balance were held in trust.

The Enderby Coal Mines Limited was incorporated January 23, 1905. An escrow agreement was dated March 20, 1905.

Preliminary work had been done at the site, a tunnel having been run to cross-cut the coal seam. Directors decided at their first meeting to continue this work.

"In the course of driving this tunnel we cut through about 16 feet of coal, interspersed with bands of clay; we had then driven some 60 or 70 feet; and, finding that the coal seam had been completely cut through we deemed it advisable to stop work, and await expert opinion," Harvey, company president, reported at the first general meeting.

For the next three years the company searched for the seam which would prove the Enderby coal field. Alexander Sharpe, mining engineer to Calgary millionaire Patrick Burns, inspected the site in June, 1905 and recommended prospecting in Logan's Gulch. His report encouraged the vision of an industrial city based on coal:

"The coal measures, very probably, have a southern outcrop just north of the town of Enderby, and extend north to a point near Geo. Weir's ranch, while the width of the coal area extends from east to west across the Spallumcheen Valley, and rests on the schists and granite mountains of either side. The central part of the coal basin has in course of ages been eroded and worked away to its present level by the Spallumcheen River, leaving the more elevated and stronger portion attached to the igneous mountains of either side of the Valley, especially on the east, and between Geo. Weir's ranch and a point near the town of Enderby, having an area of four to five miles, Logan's Gulch being the central and deepest part of the coal area remaining.

"There is only one coal seam exposed, which is near the top of Weir's Gulch, and at an elevation of about eleven hundred feet above the valley. This seam is fully six feet in thickness, with several small seams of clay running through it. The coal area at this exposure is limited, being a portion of an upper coal seam which in former ages extended across the valley, but is now eroded down.

"I have already mentioned that Logan's Gulch is the central and deepest part of the coal area left. Although there is no coal exposure here, I think the chances of finding one or more seams very good. Coal markings are very frequent, and the coal formation good. I would recommend some prospecting in this Gulch, even with a diamond drill if need be, ...."

Sharpe had samples analyzed and reported it compared favourably with other "well-known coal upon the market" and showed good coking qualities.

Following Sharpe's recommendation the company set out to prospect Logan's Gulch but found it did not have possession of the land. It took several months to obtain possession and complete a road. After constructing a 432-foot flume, 5,000 cubic yards of gravel was removed to expose the bedrock.

"No coal seams were discovered," Harvey told shareholders. "We then sent for Mr. Sharpe ... and his verbal report ... was that ... he was convinced that the seams were there, and that it would be necessary to obtain a diamond drill to locate them."

Unable to find a contractor,  the company purchased a drill and had the seller send an expert to supervise. His incompetence cost the company time and money.

A "drill operator and mining engineer of experience", W.H. Wall of Nanaimo, was then contracted to operate the drill at $4.00 per foot. Two holes showed indications of coal but failed to find the seam. "It appeared probable that with additions to the plant, to enable us to reach greater depth, the coal seam would be tapped by the drilling of another hole still further east," said Harvey." The winter coming on, however, and our funds being almost exhausted, nothing further could be attempted at that time."

On the advice of Wall the company started a 300-foot tunnel back at Coal Gulch. To finance this the company offered members 10,000 treasury shares at 20 cents per share of which 7,150 were taken.

About 60 feet in the seam "was encountered, having top and bottom lines well defined, and the coal being of excellent quality." Unfortunately, the seam turned south and descended sharply and could have been followed only by sinking. As this would have been costly, it was decided to start another tunnel at a lower point. This tunnel cut through small seams and then Mr. Wall recommended an uptake towards the upper tunnel.

"This was done," said Harvey, "and the roof of the seam was found, but no coal, thus demonstrating that we were at a spot where a fault had occurred in the strata. As it was now late in the season, and we had not only expended all the funds in our possession, but had also incurred heavy liabilities, it was decided to stop all work forthwith."

Mr. Sharpe was called back. He advised no further work on the tunnels at Coal Gulch and recommended searching Logan's gulch for "the point of contact of the conglomerate rock and the vegetable shales" and then he would locate a site for another bore-hole. Two experienced men were sent out but weather conditions forced giving up the search.

The record is unclear as to the company's acquisition of coal rights in the federal railway belt. In April 1908, Harvey told shareholders the government had changed regulations to permit leasing of coal lands only,   but as negotiations had started earlier the company could purchase 640 acres. To pay the first installment of $1,120 the company borrowed $575.

"This decision places the company in a very favourable position, as they now have the right, on payment of the remaining three instalments of the purchase money, to a title in fee simple of the lands; whereas under the new regulations there would have been no security of tenure, and a heavy rental would have been demanded," explained Harvey. The company eventually acquired title to 135 acres.

By the general meeting in April, 1908 the company was experiencing financial difficulties. Harvey explained:

"At the time the funds became exhausted we were daily expecting to make a strike at Coal Gulch. We were reluctant ... to stop the progress of the work, especially as it was felt that if the expected discovery were made it would enable them to dispose of the treasury stock ... and thus place the company in possession of ample funds .... Legal proceedings were taken by three of the men who had worked at Coal Gulch for recovery of wages due them, judgment was obtained, and the Sheriff was placed in charge of the company's plant. The total of these judgments only amounts to $526.75, and, owing to the fact that such material is not in demand in this district, it is not likely that it would realize this amount in a forced sale; while its estimated value is not less that $1,800.00. It is therefore very important that these judgments should be satisfied, and the plant released, without delay.

"In view of the fact that the company's application for purchase of lands has been accepted by the government, and that the opinions of the mining experts who have examined the property are so favourable, your directors would recommend that treasury stock should immediately be placed upon the market, and the proceeds devoted, in the first place, to the liquidation of the company's liabilities, and in the second place to the prosecution of such further development work as may be advised by competent authority. "

Harvey also reported directors decided to raise $7,500 by the sale of debentures to pay off existing liabilities and carry on further prospecting. The mortgage was registered on May 15, 1908 with F.L. Buckley of Enderby, trustee for the debenture holders. A total of $1,600 was raised in debentures sold to eight shareholders, all members of the original syndicate.

In the fall of 1908 Harvey negotiated with Chas. Bienemann of England for an option to work the property for six months and then purchase it. This deal, subject to the assent of F.L. Buckley, trustee of the debenture holders, was approved unanimously by the four shareholders present at an extraordinary meeting on November 16, 1908. On March 1, 1909 five directors met in Enderby to raise the money for the second payment on purchase of coal lands from the government. About $1,300 was past due. The secretary was authorized to instruct the company's solicitor to make sight drafts for $110 each from certain stockholders. There is no indication the money was raised.

There were no further meetings of The Enderby Coal Mines Limited. There were internal difficulties in the management of the company, one director left Enderby and several others died.

At this point The Enderby Coal Miles Limited was stagnant, and its story should have ended. On February 22, 1914 the Registrar of Joint Stock Companies dissolved the company. No returns had been made since June 22, 1908.

But visions don't die by the action of a bureaucrat in Victoria. While the members of the Enderby Coal Syndicate either died or left to pursue their careers, one man, with intimate knowledge of the company and a strong belief in the Enderby coal fields, stayed to keep the vision alive.

"But I cannot get it out of my head that the coal is there --- hundreds of thousands of tons of it," Graham Rosoman, Enderby's city clerk, wrote almost 25 years later.

At the first meeting of directors on Feb. 17, 1905, Rosoman was appointed auditor, six weeks before he became city clerk. In August of the same year he was appointed secretary-treasurer at a salary of $30 per month, a post he held until his resignation on April 10, 1908. Directors expressed "their thanks for his energetic services in the interests of the Company." A month after he resigned, Rosoman purchased five shares in the company.

It appears the company was forgotten for almost 10 years. During the summer of 1918, R.G. Harvey, a real estate agent in Vancouver, placed before clients a report written by Rosoman and wanted to know "a price at which your people would part with the property, or such other proposition as they may make towards the development of same."

Rosoman also wrote to Geo. Heggie, a former director, who replied he was pleased to learn "there may be something after all come out of the wreck of our old Enderby Coal Mines and I congratulate you on having such a good memory....As one of the debenture holders I greatly appreciate the trouble you are taking in this matter and trust that your efforts to resuscitate interest in the Enderby Coal Fields will eventually be rewarded in some tangible way and that in the meantime your 'pro bono publico' spirit may not be over taxed."

Two months later the controller of the federal Department of the Interior wrote that the full purchase price appeared to have been paid on the company's land but a patent had not been issued, owing to the fact the land had not been surveyed. It was intended that the land be surveyed as soon as a surveyor was in the district. Two years later, in August 1920. Heggie forwarded a cheque for $30.50 to complete the purchase. "I think... that as soon as the patent has been issued the company will be reorganized, so as to be in a position either to negotiate a transfer or to operate the property," said Rosoman at the time.

That fall Rosoman prepared an information package for I.C. Charlesworth, of Mara, "an English colliery owner who at that time was inquiring about the company's operations, thinking he might be able to interest his Old Country associates in the Enderby field. The package included a copy of a prospectus never used and extracts from the company's minute book. The report of Mining Engineer Sharpe was included along with Harvey's reports to shareholders at three general meetings.

There was more correspondence in 1923 between Rosoman and Buckley and Geo. P. Hale, another original syndicate member. Rosoman still believed in the Enderby coal fields: "There is no doubt whatever that this proposition can be developed into an industry of outstanding importance if only it is capitalized on a large enough scale. There is little doubt that Mr. Sharpe's view of the field is entirely correct, namely, that the original find was just the remnant of the upper portion of the field, which had in the course of ages been eroded by the flow of a large, powerful river, and that the great body of the coal --- several beds of it, interlaid with strata of other material --- lies lower down. On the occasion of his last visit, when he inspected the cores from the company's drilling operations I was informed he said that we had drilled through more coal than we had been aware of, but that these were the thin, upper layers which often lie above the main beds, and that if we had drilled to greater depth --- or, better and more easily --- had chosen a lower site for the drilling operations, we should have struck the main body of coal."

It appears that during the 1920s Rosoman, under the title "Acting Secretary, Enderby Coal Mines Ltd." filed coal mining returns with the federal government.

Other people in Enderby shared Rosoman's vision. Early in 1926, The Vancouver Daily Province published an article saying "Some years ago a coal deposit was discovered near Enderby, but the quality was not sufficiently satisfactory to warrant its development." Enderby's reply, a two-page letter, signed by Mayor Chas. Hawkins included a copy of Sharpe's report:

"Mr. Sharpe, when here, stated that there was, at that time, no coal being mined on the mainland of British Columbia of such a quality, the nearest which could be compared with it being that found on Vancouver Island and at Banff, Alta.

"The development of our coal lands has been for years past one of our great hopes in connection with the development of this section of the North Okanagan; and now comes your Mr. Haggen with all the authority he wields as one of the leading mining men of British Columbia, and the "Daily Province" with all its prestige as our leading newspaper, and deals us a knock-out blow."

Bureaucratic procedures and inactivity allowed the old company to maintain its interest in the coal fields. The Kamloops Land Registry Office was notified of the grant, but it was never presented for registration. Said Rosoman:

"Probably the fact of non-registration accounts for the further fact --- and it seems to be a fact --- that the property has not been assessed, taxed and sold for non-payment of taxes. I think the procedure on the part of the Land Registry Office is, on registration of Grant, to notify the assessor and collector of the district in which the property is situated, and this leads to the placing of the property on the assessment roll and subsequent issue of tax demands."

By 1930, a syndicate member, S.F. Tolmie, had become premier of British Columbia and still owned more than 30,000 shares. A letter to him from Mrs. Elinor E. Harvey, widow of the company president, probably initiated a survey of the Enderby coal fields by a geologist with the federal department of mines.

Dr. C.E. Cairnes visited the area in 1930 and was sent back in 1931 for a closer inspection. Rosoman was excited and nervous:

"In the circumstances --- Dr. Cairnes' being sent here a second time, with instructions to give special consideration to this coal proposition --- it is clear that we have now come to the parting of the ways regarding Enderby coal. His opinion will be conclusive. His report will be on file at Ottawa and available to the public, and eventually it will be included in the official publications of the department.

"If the report is favourable, it will enormously increase the chances of our interesting capital and getting the mine opened and into operation. If it is unfavourable, it will be of no use our attempting anything further --- the proposition will be absolutely killed, and the only thing to do will be to forget all about it.

While waiting for Dr. Cairnes' report Rosoman was busy with "the seasonal increase in the office work and the exceptional conditions prevailing in civic affairs - unemployment problems, threatened loss of government grants, &c." However, he did write at least one prospective buyer, collect from debenture holders the expenses associated with Dr. Cairnes' visit, and write several letters to Heggie in Vernon. Rosoman contributed toward the expenses:

"As for myself, I would not think for one instant of bombarding anyone with letters as I did you (about Dr. Cairnes and the importance of getting him to visit the mine and of furnishing him with suitable assistance) and then not being prepared to back up the assault with a little cold cash. So I shall chip in with the rest of them.

"It seemed to me --- this by way of extenuation --- when I heard of Dr. Cairnes' intended visit to the Valley, that it was an opportunity which should not be missed of obtaining a present-day, authoritative report on the prospect. The old company and its records were getting to be so much a matter of "ancient history" that it was becoming doubtful whether we should ever be able to interest anyone in the proposition unless we had something of more recent date than Sharpe's report, &c., to show them."

We do not have Dr. Cairnes' report but we do know how Heggie and Rosoman reacted to it.

Heggie who had supported and encouraged Rosoman through the years had had enough: "... I have neither the means nor the desire to delve into those mountains for a commodity which an expert geologist like Dr. Cairnes tells us cannot be found in sufficient volume to justify the cost of going after."

A man named Bousfield had found coal on his property at the foot of the mountain and this reinforced Rosoman's belief in the Enderby coal fields. He answer Dr. Cairnes' report with three-page letter to Heggie, dated May 27, 1932:

"As you will no doubt remember, the great trouble with the old company's operations was that they were from the first carried on at too high a point. The recommendation of the experts was always to "try lower down". Even the drilling was too high, and the last advice was that they should drill at a lower point. We were given to understand that the small seams encountered in drilling indicated the presence of larger seams lower down.

"Well, here is Bousfield at the lowest possible point --- practically at the foot of the mountain and on a level with the nearby farms and the road which serves them (so he tells me) --- with a thirty-two inch seam. The presence of such a seam bears out the statements of the engineers. Sir A. Stepney's engineer, if you remember, said the whole mountain was underlaid with coal --- "millions of tons of it"! Doubtless, below Bousfield's present seam there are others, larger ones, and, finally, the main seam."

The two last letters, answering inquiries, show Rosoman never lost his faith. At the end of 1935 he wrote: "In spite of some people's adverse opinions, I believe the coal is there, and that it can be got at quite easily by going after it in the right place and in the right way." His last written words on Enderby coal were in 1942: "While nothing conclusive was arrived at by the late company, we Enderby people do think the indications are good enough to warrant further investigation."

Art Powell
Enderby Museum 1989

At some point Rosoman must have realized he would never see coal stimulating the growth of Enderby. The company's minute book, multiple copies of minutes and reports and Rosoman's correspondence were placed in a vault in the basement of city hall. This vault is now used by the Enderby and District Museum Society to store archival material. The records of the Enderby Coal Mine can still be found in the vault.