Historical Notes (excerpts only)

Boundary Falls:

The remnants of industrial activities at Boundary Falls are at two sites, the falls and creek below it as far as the mouth of Kerr Creek, and the smelter site and town on the west side of the creek above the falls.  As early as 1860 placer gold was taken from Boundary Creek below the falls, and in 1865 the builders of the Dewdney Trail followed the Creek to the Falls before heading east over the hills.  Some of the first production in the district, of gold and silver from veins, came from the American Boy claim less than a mile northeast of Boundary Falls in 1892.  In the same year a stamp mill was built near Boundary Falls (Brock, 1903, P.135).  Thus the Boundary Falls is the centre of some of the earliest mining activity in the district.

Notes by Ted McArthur Jr. prepared a few years ago describe Boundary Falls as follows: 

 "In the early 1890's a store and headquarters as the open hills provided feed for the horses, even through the winters, also it was the nearest point of entry to the newly discovered mining camps at Greenwood, Deadwood, Long Lake, Phoenix and Eholt.  One of the first gold mills in the Province was operated for a short time without success.  As there were no wagon roads, every part of the mill was brought in by pack horses.  Naturally the mill had its limitations. One of the earliest settlers was Bob Kerr who had a ranch near the town.  He was given the contract to haul ore to the mill but when the owners could get no gold from the ore they claimed that the gold was lost through cracks in the wagon box~~"   

This mill referred to in the Annual Report of the Minister of Mines for 1892 as follows:

"The Spokane and Great Northern Mining Company ~~ erected as small stamp mill at the falls on Boundary Creek, for the purpose of testing their ore"

The full publication can be purchased from the Greenwood Museum