Tours of the Hedley Mascot Mine were discontinued indefinitely a couple of years ago.
Image Credit: SUBMITTED /Snaza'ist Centre
October 04, 2020 - 12:00 PM
PENTICTON - Mine tours to the fabled Hedley Mascot mine site in the Similkameen Valley have been closed until further notice, but a YouTube video about the historic site is becoming popular online.
The Upper Similkameen Indian Band began conducting tours out of the Snaza’ist Discovery Centre in Hedley in 2004, but for the last three seasons have ceased operations.
Snaza’ist Discovery Centre would only say this week the mine and tours are closed for the time being.
The mine is reputed to have produced seven tons of gold between 1936 and 1949, built into the mountainside 5,000 feet above Hedley.
Credit: Exploring Abandoned Mines
Exploring Abandoned Mines tour of Mascot Mine
It was originally discovered by prospector Duncan Woods, who held onto the property for several decades before selling it to a group of investors in 1933.
The site was rehabilitated in the 1990s after then Minister of Tourism Bill Barlee stepped in and preserved the site as a provincial heritage resource.
There are more than 67 kilometres of tunnels dug into the mountain, and the wood frame buildings remain an incredible sight to tourists and motorists driving Highway 3 between Keremeos and Princeton.
Exploring Abandoned Mines produced the YouTube video that provides viewers with an idea of what they might see, should the tours reopen sometime in the future.
— This story was corrected at 12:15 p.m. Tuesday, July 23, 2019, to say the Mascot Mine tour was operated by the Upper Similkameen Indian Band.
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