“The most interesting old-timer in the valley… [Ben Abel] was a tall, handsome man about sixty years old, with a long black beard which reached to his waist and which he always rolled up and tucked inside his shirt on leaving the settlement. It was his great pride.” 54
Bugaboos / n / a nemesis; a real or imagined obstacle that cannot be overcome; something that always causes failure or bad luck.
Associated Names: Named after the Red Line group of mines at the head of the creek. The Red Line (1898-c.1902) was also known as the McDonald Mines (1902), the Ptarmigan Mines (1903-1920s), and Selkirk Ptarmigan Mines Ltd (1958-1964?)
“There is no doubt that the mine will never be reopened again, and there is also no doubt that a great deal more money was spent on the property than ever its showing of ore warranted.” (Report to the Minister of Mines, 1915)
The Bunyan mining claim was located on the shoulder of a bluff about 300 feet above the bench lands below, and in 1920 it was decided that the best way to access the ore was to blow off the shoulder with one massive blast and turn the mine into something more resembling an open quarry.
In The Windermere 