ODDS ‘N’ SODS — Alaskan town a boost to Canadian mines

The story of Hyder, Alaska, has no doubt been told many times, but for such a small, isolated village, it is a wonder that tales could be told of it at all.

Hyder is at the head of the Portland Canal, on the southern tip of the Alaskan Panhandle. It is surrounded by the rugged Coast Rage Mountains and the inland arm of the Pacific Ocean. A mile distant, on the other side of the Canadian border, lies its sister village of Stewart, B.C.

Hyder is accessible by local coastal boat service or by the road that connects Stewart to the northern highway system of British Columbia.

The town’s most striking feature is a vast glacier drainage basin, which feeds the Salmon River and flows from an outlet, at Hyder, into the Portland Canal. The Salmon River at Hyder is enclosed by mountainous rock dykes that were built to protect the settlement from seasonal glacial discharges. Such discharges were monstrous, and one in the 1930s wiped out the entire village. In my time, these dykes protected a dozen buildings and 100 or so residents.

There is no visible industry in Hyder, but the town has catered to mining developments in the rugged hinterland to the north.

The first mining operation near Hyder was the Premier mine. From the 1920s to the 1950s, millions of ounces of gold and silver were extracted from this operation, which was situated about 20 miles from Hyder, on the slope of the Coast Range Mountains.

Hyder became a supply centre and support base for casual needs. The main concentrate dock and the ore tramline were situated at the village’s shoreline.

Small gold deposits were infrequently discovered on Texas Creek and in the Tide Lake flats, and these contributed to the commerce of the community.

However, Hyder boomed with the discovery and development of the huge Granduc copper mine, which flourished from the 1950s to 1970s.

The Granduc mine was in British Columbia, about 30 miles north of Hyder, in the heart of a vast glacierfield. Access to the remote site was through fixed-wing aircraft or helicopters, which were based in Hyder.

Transportation to the project soon evolved into tractor-train traffic over some of the most rugged terrain in North America. Freight was hauled by truck from Stewart through Hyder and over the old Premier mine road (which runs through the Salmon River Valley) to the top of the Salmon glacier.

“Cat trains,” the name given to supply caravans hauled by Caterpillar tractors, began to traverse the tortuous route. The convoys scaled the Salmon glacier, then crossed the Chicomen and Frank Mackie glaciers, before a risky and frightening descent into the Leduc River Valley. Ascending the Leduc glacier, the final leg of the journey, was breathtaking.

It’s no wonder that crews at the mine greatly appreciated every opportunity for a brief sojourn at the Hyder pub for an evening of relaxation and hilarity. These occasions were rare indeed. Hyder was welcoming, and provided miners with the sort of hospitality that can only be found in these isolated northern communities. When road access to the Tide Lake flats was finally completed, Hyder became a much-favored drop-off point for weary workers.

Suffice it to say that Hyder, a little patch of U.S. soil, became a vital link in the chain of events and developments that both stimulated and sustained two tremendous mining ventures in the hinterlands of Canada.

— The author, a retired mining engineer, resides in Vancouver, B.C.