For many years we have been quietly hiking to the top of Coal Hill and Sugarloaf Hill in the area to the southwest of Kamloops.    There are trails to the top of both, though there are some fences here and there to be avoided.   Access routes have changed hands and they are changing again with the start of the Ajax Mine.

In 1888 the Guerin family mined coal off the flanks of Coal Hill and Iron Mask Hill. In the 1890's iron, copper, and gold were found and the Python group explored, laid claims, and mined the north and west slopes of the area. Adjacent to these hills, the Pothook Mine (now the Afton site) yielded copper and gold. By 1913 H. Wallender headed a consortium that brought electricity and development to the hillside. 75 men worked at the mines, a hotel was built, a small school, and homes were added until a disastrous fire in 1914. Development slowed, but additional claims by the Python Group and later the Makaoo Group sunk shafts and hauled ore out of the hills.
For 25 years, no mining has taken place, the shafts have mostly been filled in, although evidence of excavation is everywhere on the north and western sides, and a few older homesteads remain in the area of Galaxy Lake. Only the names remain – Coal Hill, Wallender Lake, Guerin Creek, Copperhead Drive, and Makaoo Lake.

When Afton Mine opened in 1978, the grasslands, pastures, and forests of the area was transformed into an open pit, waste piles, and tailing ponds.    When the pit operations closed down in 1991, a second upper pit was excavated above Jacko Lake.   Some land reclamation has taken place.   The view from the top of Sugarloaf shows the tailings ponds, Hughes Lake and the mine properties.   As the newly expanded mine opens the area will continue to be transformed.  

The proposed Ajax Mine will move closer to town, on the south side of Coal Hill. We hiked to the top this fall to ensure we could enjoy the view of the grasslands, meadows, hills, and forests before the excavations begin.

What will be landscape of the grasslands and hills south of town look like in two years?