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Granby Consolidated Mining, Smelting & Power Company, Limited^[1] (also known as Granby Consolidated Mining & Smelting Company^[2], Granby Copper^[2] & Granby Mining Company Ltd^[3] was a publicly traded company that owned and operated the Phoenix Mine in the community of Phoenix in the Boundary Country region of British Columbia, Canada^[4] in the early and mid 20th century.

Formation

In 1896 S.H.C. Miner, a rubber footwear manufacturer from Granby, Quebec,and mining promoter J.P. Graves (of Knob Hill Mining Company) and A.L. Little (of Old Ironsides) , formed the Miner-Graves Syndicate. In 1899, they incorporated The Granby Consolidated Mining and Smelting Company, Limited and, in 1901, consolidated under The Granby Consolidated Mining, Smelting and Power Company, Limited. ^[5] at the Knob Hill annual meeting. It was founded after an agreement was reached by the directors of Knob Hill, Ironsides, Grey Eagle and Granby Smelter Company. The company was formed with $15,000,000, of which $2,900,000 was held in Treasury stock.^[6]

Phoenix Mine

Granby operated the Phoenix Mine, which comprised both an underground mine and open pit mine. The underground operation utilzed square-set mining method, but by 1901 had converted to an open stope and pillar method with considerable cost savings. The operation maintained a completely unsupported "show stope" which with dimensions of 80 feet (24 m) high, 105 feet (32 m) wide, and 400 feet (122 m) long. In 1903 the mine operated three small steam shovels to work in the surface operations producing half of the mines production, this made up one of the earliest attempts at open pit mining in British Columbia.^[3] The mine reopened in 1959 and closed in 1976.^[5]

Legacy

The company name lends itself to the self dumping Granby car, that originated at the Phoenix mine. Based on a wooden car, the Granby was first introduced in 1905 when in the Granby car in its present form was first introduced in 1905 when twenty 10-ton steel cars were built for use on the main haulage levels.^[3]

• The Granby River is named for the company.^[7] Granby Provincial Park, flanking that river's upper reaches, was named for the river.^[8]
• The name of Granisle, British Columbia, a former mining town on Babine Lake, also derives from that of the company via its subsidiary Granisle Copper Ltd.^[9]
• Granby Point, Granby Bay and the Granby Peninsula near Anyox on Observatory Inlet are named for the company.^[10][11][12]

References