Discovery Day Celebrates Mines Designation

(from the Squamish Times, May 16, 1989)

	Hundreds of people enjoyed a special Discovery Day at Britannia Beach Saturday as the Britannia mines and concentrator received official designated as a national historic site.
	Officials on hand for the occasion included Dr. Charles Humphries of the Historic Sites and Monument Board of Canada, Britannia Beach Historical Society president Robert Spencer, Municipal Affairs Minister Rita Johnson and Capilano-Howe Sound MP Mary Collins. Unable to attend due to the funeral of former Social Credit Highways Minister Alex Fraser were Capilano-Howe Sound MLA John Reynolds and Forests Minister Tom Water land, who grew up in Britannia Beach. In a letter from Waterland read by Emily Browning Vischer, the daughter of former mill manager C.P. Browning, the Forests Minister said: "I just remember the warmth of the people who lived here. They created a very special community. That essence is preserved by making this a national historic site." Collins said the designation of the site was a particular tribute to the hard work of Marilyn Mullen, executive director of the B.C. Museum of Mining. Laurier Lapierre, president of the Britannia Beach Community Assoc. for the past six years, said: "This designation pleases us all and reminds people (especially those who ask where Britannia Beach is) that in five years we will have cruise ships and restaurants here. Whistler will have Britannia Beach to contend with."	MAGICAL MORRIS MEN Performing their age-old traditional folk dance at Saturday's Discovery Day in Britannia are the Vancouver Morris Men. The Morris dancing tradition is said to be derived from pre-Christian rituals, and was originally done to celebrate the coming of spring. Here the men entertain the crowd with the Bledington Stick Dance.
	The text of the plaque dedicated Saturday reads, in part: "For almost 70 years the Britannia mines were an important producer of copper ore and during the 1920s and 1930s duly constituted one of the largest mining operations in Canada. By 1912 both mill and mine towns had been established to house men and families of a permanently racially-mixed work force that numbered over 1,000 in 1929. The mine closed in 1974. Named Copper Queen for 1989 was Jamie Robertson."

Hundreds of people enjoyed a special Discovery Day at Britannia Beach Saturday as the Britannia mines and concentrator received official designated as a national historic site.

Officials on hand for the occasion included Dr. Charles Humphries of the Historic Sites and Monument Board of Canada, Britannia Beach Historical Society president Robert Spencer, Municipal Affairs Minister Rita Johnson and Capilano-Howe Sound MP Mary Collins. Unable to attend due to the funeral of former Social Credit Highways Minister Alex Fraser were Capilano-Howe Sound MLA John Reynolds and Forests Minister Tom Water land, who grew up in Britannia Beach.

In a letter from Waterland read by Emily Browning Vischer, the daughter of former mill manager C.P. Browning, the Forests Minister said: "I just remember the warmth of the people who lived here. They created a very special community. That essence is preserved by making this a national historic site." Collins said the designation of the site was a particular tribute to the hard work of Marilyn Mullen, executive director of the B.C. Museum of Mining.

Laurier Lapierre, president of the Britannia Beach Community Assoc. for the past six years, said: "This designation pleases us all and reminds people (especially those who ask where Britannia Beach is) that in five years we will have cruise ships and restaurants here. Whistler will have Britannia Beach to contend with."

MAGICAL MORRIS MEN

Performing their age-old traditional folk dance at Saturday's Discovery Day in Britannia are the Vancouver Morris Men. The Morris dancing tradition is said to be derived from pre-Christian rituals, and was originally done to celebrate the coming of spring. Here the men entertain the crowd with the Bledington Stick Dance.

The text of the plaque dedicated Saturday reads, in part: "For almost 70 years the Britannia mines were an important producer of copper ore and during the 1920s and 1930s duly constituted one of the largest mining operations in Canada. By 1912 both mill and mine towns had been established to house men and families of a permanently racially-mixed work force that numbered over 1,000 in 1929. The mine closed in 1974. Named Copper Queen for 1989 was Jamie Robertson."