About
Stewart was established in 1905 and named after the Stewart brothers who were early prospectors in the area. Stewart's boom happened in 1910 with the illusions of gold, furs and riches. during the depression, Stewart lost it's vitality and the population dropped.In the early 1900's, steamships transported passengers and goods into Stewart long before there were any roads. The railway was the only other means of transportation that was used. In 1906, the HMS Discovery from Seattle brought the first gold rush pioneers into Stewart. To explore the history of Stewart further, visit the Stewart Museum.
The Premier Mine opened in the 1920's and was the largest gold mine in North America until its closure in 1952. Highway 37A was built in the 1950's with the Nass River Bridge being built in 1972. These major accomplishments brought in the tourist industry as well as several logging operations.
Development began on the Granduc Mine in the 1960's and it opened in 1969 which saw the population grow to 1500. After 9 years of producing copper ore, the mine shut down in 1978 due to low copper prices. Canada Wide Mines then took over and saw another boom.
Westmin Mines started operations on the old Silback - Premier property. A Mill was built and open pit mining and an underground mining operation began in March of 1989. Westmin entered into a joint venture with Tenejon in 1991 and then undertook its underground operation at Premier once again until April 1996. At this time Westmin was closed due to lack of reserves.
The years following were spent proving up the reserves but too little too late as the price of gold fell dramatically.