Springtime at the gold mine?

Many miners in more southern parts are getting itchy for the sounds of gold-laden gravels sliding around in their gold pans as the snows are rapidly melting (or have already melted). But the winter isn't so quick to give up on Holloway Bar as it's located in the most northerly part of British Columbia - just south of the province's border with the Yukon Territory. Scott made the first mine trip of the year this past weekend to check out the snow levels and plan a snow-clearing expedition in the next couple of weeks.

He snapped a few pictures while he was there...

The drive from Watson Lake to Holloway Bar takes Scott through last summer's "fire zone" - the highway was closed off and on for a good part of last summer due to a forest fire. It burnt itself out last fall, helped by cooler fall weather and the arrival of the winter snows, but it looks like a barren landscape right now. But, once the weather warms up and the snow melts a bit more, local plants like the Fireweed (which, incidentally, is the Yukon's territorial flower) will take over and by mid-summer, these hills will be covered with purple...

You can't just drive down the mine road this time of the year - there's still snow that's at least a meter deep. This isn't your fluffy powder snow - it's compacted and compressed and hard to clear. But it's easily traveled on if you're prepared - with snowshoes or cross-country skis.

When you take a good look around camp, everything seems a lot smaller - but then again, you're standing at least a half a man's height above the ground. From the looks of the snow on everything, it'll have to be shoveled off so that when the spring melt arrives in full force, it won't do too much damage to everything. Snow, even compact snow, is not that heavy in its frozen state - but add a little meltwater and the weight increases significantly, causing roofs to collapse and parts to bend or break. Preventive maintenance is the key here - a couple-day trip in March or April can save a lot of repair work in May or June when the snow finally has melted.

Here's base camp. There's just too much snow here to even think about "pushing the season" to get an early start on the summer 2011 mining season. But, Scott, with a little help from a father and son team living in nearby Jade City, managed to get the snow knocked off some of the more vulnerable buildings on this trip - but it will probably take another day trip to finish the job and another month or more of warm spring days before the McDame Creek ground is thawed enough to give up any of its coarse placer gold and other hidden riches...

So, it'll be a while yet in the northern gold fields... Usually the snow has melted enough by late May or early June to start the big job of getting camp set up for another gold mining adventure. That's a big job in itself - but it's an important one, and one that must be done to survive and be comfortable in the northern wilderness.

We'll see you later in the spring for what we're hoping will be a banner year in the history of The Holloway Bar Placer Mine...