Corbin is a

ghost town Ghost Town(s) or Ghosttown may refer to: * Ghost town, a town that has been abandoned Film and television * Ghost Town (1936 film), ''Ghost Town'' (1936 film), an American Western film by Harry L. Fraser * Ghost Town (1956 film), ''Ghost Town'' ...

British Columbia British Columbia (commonly abbreviated as BC) is the westernmost province of Canada, situated between the Pacific Ocean and the Rocky Mountains. It has a diverse geography, with rugged landscapes that include rocky coastlines, sandy beaches, ...

Canada Canada is a country in North America. Its ten provinces and three territories extend from the Atlantic Ocean to the Pacific Ocean and northward into the Arctic Ocean, covering over , making it the world's second-largest country by tot ...

. It was a coal mining community located at the foot of Coal Mountain (elev. 6835 feet; 2083 metres), south of the

Crowsnest Pass Crowsnest Pass (sometimes referred to as Crow's Nest Pass, french: link=no, col du Nid-de-Corbeau) is a low mountain pass across the Continental Divide of the Canadian Rockies on the Alberta–British Columbia border. Geography The pass i ...

in the southern

Canadian Rockies The Canadian Rockies (french: Rocheuses canadiennes) or Canadian Rocky Mountains, comprising both the Alberta Rockies and the British Columbian Rockies, is the Canadian segment of the North American Rocky Mountains. It is the easternmost part ...

. Daniel Chase Corbin, president of

Nelson and Fort Sheppard Railway The Nelson and Fort Sheppard Railway (N&FS) is a historic railway that operated in the West Kootenay region of southern British Columbia. The railway's name derived from a misspelling of Fort Shepherd, a former Hudson's Bay Company fort, on the west ...

, founded Corbin in 1905. Three years after later he saw a very thick seam of

bituminous coal Bituminous coal, or black coal, is a type of coal containing a tar-like substance called bitumen or asphalt. Its coloration can be black or sometimes dark brown; often there are well-defined bands of bright and dull material within the seams. It ...

exposed at the base of Coal Mountain & founded Coal and Coke Company. The town was built at an elevation of 5060 feet (1542 metres),MacKay, B.R. 1931a. Corbin Coal Field. Geological Survey of Canada, Summary Report, 1930, Part A, p. 154A-179A. and at one time it boasted a population of 600. It had its own railway, a company store, and a hotel, but it was isolated. No roads connected it to the outside, and there was no electricity or plumbing. Winters were harsh and living conditions were poor. The workers unionized in 1910. Between 1905 and 1935 the coal at Corbin was worked at a succession of six mines, of which five were underground mines (the No. 1, 2, 4, 5, and 6 Mines) and one (the No. 3 Mine) was an

open pit Open-pit mining, also known as open-cast or open-cut mining and in larger contexts mega-mining, is a surface mining technique of extracting rock or minerals from the earth from an open-air pit, sometimes known as a borrow. This form of mining ...

. Two seams, called the Mammoth Seam and the Upper Seam, were worked. They lay in complexly folded and faulted strataMacKay, B.R., 1931b. Corbin area, Kootenay District, British Columbia. Geological Survey of Canada, Map 279A. of the

Mist Mountain Formation The Mist Mountain Formation is a geologic formation of latest Jurassic to earliest Cretaceous age in the Western Canada Sedimentary Basin that is present in the southern and central Canadian Rockies. It was named for outcrops along the western ...

in the

Kootenay Group The Kootenay Group, originally called the Kootenay Formation, is a geologic unit of latest Jurassic to earliest Cretaceous age in the Western Canada Sedimentary Basin that is present in the southern and central Canadian Rockies and foothills. I ...

. Due to the structural complexity, the seam thicknesses were quite variable, with the Mammoth Seam reaching a maximum of about 450 feet (137 metres). Most of the coal mined at that time was sold to the

Canadian Pacific Railway The Canadian Pacific Railway (french: Chemin de fer Canadien Pacifique) , also known simply as CPR or Canadian Pacific and formerly as CP Rail (1968–1996), is a Canadian Class I railway incorporated in 1881. The railway is owned by Canadi ...

, commercial centers in

Washington Washington commonly refers to: * Washington (state), United States * Washington, D.C., the capital of the United States ** A metonym for the federal government of the United States ** Washington metropolitan area, the metropolitan area centered on ...

and

Oregon Oregon () is a U.S. state, state in the Pacific Northwest region of the Western United States. The Columbia River delineates much of Oregon's northern boundary with Washington (state), Washington, while the Snake River delineates much of it ...

, and copper mines in south-central British Columbia. A major strike that began in January of 1935 turned violent in April. The mine closed on May 7 and the town was abandoned. The mine was operated by a different company for a few years during

World War II World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposin ...

to supply the smelter at

Trail A trail, also known as a path or track, is an unpaved lane or small road usually passing through a natural area. In the United Kingdom and the Republic of Ireland, a path or footpath is the preferred term for a pedestrian or hiking trail. Th ...

, but most of the workers traveled from elsewhere in the region and the town was not revived. Byron Creek Collieries opened a large open-pit mine at Corbin in 1972, but again most of the workers traveled from elsewhere. The mine was bought and sold several times until it was acquired by Teck Resources Ltd. in 2008, at which time it became known as the Coal Mountain Operations. Its coal reserves were mined out by the end of 2018, and work transitioned to

mine reclamation Mine reclamation is the process of modifying land that has been mined to ecologically functional or economically usable state. Although the process of mine reclamation occurs once mining is completed, the planning of mine reclamation activiti ...

activities.British Columbia coal industry overview, 2018, British Columbia Ministry of Energy, Mines and Petroleum Resources, British Columbia Geological Survey, Information Circular 2019-02, p. 3 and 7. The old townsite remains popular for camping and outdoor recreation.

References

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