Historical Hedley--AME BC AND THE HEDLEY HERITAGE MUSEUM SOCIETY

摘要

As many readers of Mineral Exploration may know, the connection between AME BC and the village of Hedley, B.C., lies in Robert Rist Hedley, M.E., the first President of AME BC (then named the Vancouver Mining Club and subsequently the Vancouver Chamber of Mines) in 1912, and for whom Camp Hedley was named at the turn of the 20th century. From 1897 to 1907, R.R. Hedley was superintendent and technical manager of the Hall Mining and Smelting Co. Ltd. in Nelson, B.C. During this time, he grubstaked many of the prospectors staking claims on the mountains surrounding Snaza'ist, the "striped rock place," as Hedley was known to the Similkameen people.Hedley is located in the southern interior of B.C., in the south Okanagan region known as the Similkameen Valley, 38 kilometres east of Princeton on the Crowsnest Highway. The village is nestled in a canyon, bordered by the Stemwinder and Nickel Plate mountains to the north, and by the SimilkameenRiver to the south. In its boom years, Hedley was a town of about 1,000 residents with five hotels, a bank, a daily newspaper and many thriving businesses. Now, it is a retirement destination, and a favourite of fishermen, hikers and mining history buffs; a village of 325, including the residents of the neighbouring Chuchuwaya #2 Reserve.