Erie - BC, Canada
Posted by: 
T0SHEA
N 49° 11.190 W 117° 20.149
11U E 475529 N 5448242
Though the townsite was laid out in 1893, it remained empty until the discovery of gold on nearby Whiskey Creek and Rest Creek. The longest lived mines were the Arlington and Relief claims.
Waymark Code: WMG33W
Location: British Columbia, Canada
Date Posted: 01/06/2013
Views: 8
When the Fort Sheppard & Nelson railway was built in 1893, several townsites were laid out along its route and railway stations erected, Erie being among them. By 1896 the area was being prospected and in 1897 several claims had been staked and were being worked. By the 1900s, the town boasted two hotels, the Erie and the Mersey(which operated until the 1940s), two general stores(one with a drug store), a post office, a school, the railway station and a population of about 200. In 1899 there were 50 people living in the town and by 1903 there were 200. The town never got much bigger after that.
Though two of the mines, the Arlington and Relief claims, by then amalgamated into one, operated into the 1950s, shipping ore to the nearby Trail Smelter, most didn't last long. Mining activity in the area continued until WWI, then ceased until 1927. By 1934 there were again about 200 people in the area, but with the final closing of the last mine in the 1950s, Erie faded away.
Today, though there are still residents in the area, Erie is just a suburb of Salmo. Erie, the mining camp, is now completely gone. Along the highway are signs indicating Erie Lake and Erie Creek, but there is no sign for Erie, the town.
The default picture pretty much sums up what Erie, the mining camp, looks like now.