The years following the Second World War were not so kind to the Memorial Fort. … Maintenance was lacking, and the building was gradually falling into a state of disrepair.
“Paddy had some peculiarities, but he has a heart in him that is bigger than the average and as gentle and kind as a child’s.”19
“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
Jack Taynton was described as “a bit of a renegade.” His brother, Bill, was “soft spoken, loved flowers and displayed gentlemanly manners.” Both brothers, and their sons, ended up living or retiring alongside Windermere Lake in an area that became known as Tayntonville or Taynton Bay.
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 