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Stewart, British Columbia, Canada
The neighboring communities of Stewart, BC and Hyder, Alaska are nestled at the head of Portland Canal, a 90-mile-long ocean fjord which forms a natural boundary between Canada and Alaska.
Surrounded by steeply-sloped coastal mountains, the Stewart-Hyder area is one of immense natural beauty. The 38-mile road joining Stewart with Cassiar Highway 37 is one of the most spectacular in the north.
History
Gold, the magic word that lured men into the farthest reaches of our country, was again responsible for the initial development of Stewart. In 1898 a small band of miners and settlers were lured to the region. The promised Eldorado never materialized then, but in later years gold, silver, and copper became the mainstay of this beautiful little community.
In 1905, Stewart was named for its first postmaster and settler Robert M. Stewart.
By 1910, Stewart was a boom town with a population of 10,000. But dreams of building permanent port facilities at the terminus of a transcontinental railroad never materialized. With the war years and economic strife, Stewart-Hyder fell into economic doldrums, only to be briefly revived with the opening of the fabulously rich Premier gold and silver mine, which ultimately closed in 1950 when the price of metals fell.
Then in the late 1950s, Granduc Mining Co. drove the world's largest one-end tunnel 11 miles to the Leduc Copper ore body. Completed in 1968 and closed in 1984.
Stewart is a community proud of its past and looking forward to an exciting future in mining and tourism.
