Mike W. bryant
Northern News Services
Yellowknife (Oct 03/01) - At the entrance, old relics from the city's early mining days dot the parking lot, and each building you enter captures a vignette of achievements made in the industry both past and present.
 Walt Humphries: 'What do we do with all this stuff?' |
The committee's momentum has been growing steadily since 1999, and members hope to open the first of five buildings on the mine site to the public by next spring.
"What we went from is a group that was trying to save stuff at Giant Mine to a group that said, 'What do we do with all this stuff?'" says renowned prospector and mining-history aficionado Walt Humphries.
"It's one of those things we'll be doing stage by stage. Next spring we're hoping to open the old commissary."
The committee's ultimate plan, as envisioned by Humphries, would be to have the North's mining history divided into historical components, from the Dene and Inuit cultures and the copper knives and stone tools they used before European explorers arrived, to the most recent developments in diamond and natural gas exploration technology.
All the buildings used were donated to the committee by Miramar Con, which now owns the mine, with approval from the Department of Indian and Northern Affairs.
The first building the committee hopes to open is the mine's original commissary, which lies at the bottom of the hill from the mine.
The entrance of the building will replicate what the commissary's interior looked like as it stood in the 1940s. The second half of the building will look like a typical mine geology exploration office of that era.
Other buildings and structures the committee hopes to restore include the A shaft and headframe, recreational centre, powerhouse and hoist room.
Until the museum is up and running, however, the committee must seek out funding anywhere it can find it. Its most recent scheme is to sell picture calenders of snapshots of the North's mining industry and the people who took part in it, from decades past.
They are also left with onerous task of sorting through years worth of old paperwork, piles of rusting equipment and other curiosities collected from mines and exploration camps throughout the North.
"I brought back a bunch of junk, really," says committee member Ryan Silke, referring to a recent expedition to Gordon Lake.
Yet even what others might consider old junk can offer an intriguing glimpse into early mining days, says Humphries.
"Back in the 30s almost everything was shipped up here," he says.
"Old cans, sauces, lots of Listerine bottles -- it was used as an antiseptic back then -- it gives you a view of what it was like in the 1930s and the 1940s."
