Corbin is a

ghost town A ghost town, deserted city, extinct town, or abandoned city is an abandoned settlement, usually one that contains substantial visible remaining buildings and infrastructure such as roads. A town often becomes a ghost town because the economi ...

British Columbia British Columbia is the westernmost Provinces and territories of Canada, province of Canada. Situated in the Pacific Northwest between the Pacific Ocean and the Rocky Mountains, the province has a diverse geography, with rugged landscapes that ...

Canada Canada is a country in North America. Its Provinces and territories of Canada, ten provinces and three territories extend from the Atlantic Ocean to the Pacific Ocean and northward into the Arctic Ocean, making it the world's List of coun ...

. 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, ) is a low mountain pass across the Continental Divide of the Canadian Rockies on the Alberta–British Columbia border. Geography The pass is located in southeast British Columbia an ...

in the southern

Canadian Rockies The Canadian Rockies () 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 of the Canadian Cordillera, w ...

. 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 wes ...

, 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 coal seam, ...

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 that extracts rock or minerals from the earth. Open-pit mines are used when deposits of commercially useful ore or ...

. 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 in the Kootenay Group. 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 () , 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 Canadian Pacific Kansas City, Canadian Pacific Ka ...

, commercial centers in

Washington Washington most commonly refers to: * George Washington (1732–1799), the first president of the United States * Washington (state), a state in the Pacific Northwest of the United States * Washington, D.C., the capital of the United States ** A ...

and

Oregon Oregon ( , ) is a U.S. state, state in the Pacific Northwest region of the United States. It is a part of the Western U.S., with the Columbia River delineating much of Oregon's northern boundary with Washington (state), Washington, while t ...

, 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 (1 September 1939 – 2 September 1945) was a World war, global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies of World War II, Allies and the Axis powers. World War II by country, Nearly all of the wo ...

to supply the smelter at

Trail A trail, also known as a path or track, is an unpaved lane or a small paved road (though it can also be a route along a navigable waterways) generally not intended for usage by motorized vehicles, usually passing through a natural area. Ho ...

, 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 restore it to an ecologically functional or economically usable state. Although the process of mine reclamation occurs once mining is complete, the planning of mine recl ...

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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