Topping's Trail
Name/Title
Topping's TrailEntry/Object ID
2022.133.01Tags
Mining History, Mining Industry, Biographies, Lead Mining, Smelting, Canadian Pacific, Gold Mining, Copper MiningScope and Content
Book, biography discussing the life and legacy of Colonel Eugene Sayre Topping and the founding of the town of Trail, British Columbia.Context
The book discusses how Colonel Eugene Sayre Topping invested in a mining steak in the Red Mountain area of British Columbia. There were already five steaks claimed by two other men who discovered the gold and copper, Joe Morris and Joe Bourgeois. According to the law in British Columbia at the time, only four of their five claims could be recorded in the Nelson Mine Recorder's Office. Eugene Topping, who was the deputy mining recorder agreed to pay the recording fees in return for the fifth claim. Topping and Frank Hanna purchased 343 acres at the mouth of Trail Creek on the Columbia River, hoping the claims on the neighbouring Red Mountain would be developed into paying mines, and make them wealthy through the sale of town lots. By 1895 the area, known as the Rossland mines proved to be very rich in gold/copper ore and the lots in the Trail Creek townsite sold quckly. In that same year Topping provided land for F.A. Heinze of Butte, Montana to build a smelter to treat the Rossland ores. The smelter was later purchased by the Canadian Pacific Railway in 1898 and expanded its production to include lead ores.With the success of the smelter, the small town of Trail grew. On June 14th, 1901 the City of Trail was incorporated. The book is broken down into chapters, they are as follows: 1. The Colonel Takes a Chance 2. A Town is Born 3. Trail is the Town Where Smelters Grow 4. Hard Times is the Cry of All 5. The Tide Begins to Turn 6. Triumph for the Colonel 7. Triumph for Town and SmelterCollection
Mining HistoryCataloged By
unknownCategory
Secondary Source