1

Duncan Woods discovered the Mascot Fraction, staked by George Cahill in 1898-1900.
Duncan Woods had a tenacious character; he was one of those "hard-luck miners" who struck gold with the discovery of the Mascot Fraction at the turn of the 20th Century, yet due to a 30-year feud with the General Superintendent of the Daly Reduction Company/Nickel Plate Mine, Gomer P. Jones, the Mascot Fraction only reached its potential when, at the age of 80, Woods sold the Mascot claim and neighbouring claims to a Vancouver business group in 1933.
Woods' insistent attitude towards Jones and the Daly Reduction Co. was resolute as his seller's contract stipulated that the Mascot Fraction could not be resold to a larger company within the region and it should be immediately developed. The Hedley Mascot Gold Mines Ltd was formed with a $50 million dollar line of credit secured; jobs for hundreds of men were available. The town of Hedley was once again thriving!
Duncan Woods didn't fare so well in his sale of the Mascot; he was appointed as a director and with only escrow stocks. Unfortunately, Woods didn't live long enough to enjoy the mines success. Old Dunc died in a care facility one hour east of Hedley a few years after the sale.
By 1937 a maze of stairs, skips and catwalks would take the mine workers to and from the mine offices, cookhouse, bunkhouse, blacksmith shop, to the tram station, and most importantly, to the mine portal. The structures were built from a hodgepodge of materials that resulted in a stunning visual of various roof pitches, platforms, three & two-story buildings, all woven together by 900 stairs - it was a daily game of "snakes and ladders"! The Mascot was to become one of the most stunning mining operations built entirely on the side of a mountain. At 5,000 feet above the town of Hedley, the townsfolk were in awe of the construction.
Once operational, men would work in shifts around the clock; over 130 men claimed the Mascot maze their home, while others would return to their families at the Nickelplate townsite. The men from Hedley would ride in the empty ore-skip on a tramline down the mountainside to 20 Mile Creek and follow the footpath back to Hedley town.
After the minerals were extracted from the tunneled mountain, the mine site was abandoned, left to deteriorate, and to become a relic in the skyline of Hedley. By the 1990's the British Columbia Ministry of Mines deemed it a safety risk and planned to burn the site down; fortunately the town of Hedley along with Bill Barlee from the Ministry of Small Business Tourism and Culture, intervened and in 1995, steps were taken to preserve the site as a Provincial Heritage resource.
The buildings were stabilized and rehabilitated over an eight-year period, and in 2004, the site opened for summer tours to the Mascot Mine, operated and maintained by the Upper Similkameen Indian Band. Every summer, hundreds of visitors take the day trip to the Mascot Mine. Nowadays, the mine site takes only an hour to reach from the town of Hedley via the Nickel Plate Road; however once there, it takes a tenacious spirit to descend the maze of more than 599 stairs!

2

Panorama View of Hedley Townsite, in the Similkameen Valley ca.1940
20th Century, Circa 1940
Hedley, British Columbia