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Minto was a mining company town on the Bridge River that was flooded and mostly abandoned after a flood in the 1950s. It had been a "self-supporting centre" during the World War II relocation and internment of Japanese Canadians. The town was fully submerged by a diversion of the Bridge River by the Terzaghi Dam into Seton Lake, via a tunnel through Mission Mountain. This diversion formed Carpenter Lake. When water levels are low in late fall and winter, the remains of Minto emerge from the lake and people can explore what is left of the town, namely its street grid as nearly all structures and foundations are gone. During the summer, it provides a good spot to launch canoe/kayak or just take in the view. A very small Burning Man-type event, the Cascadia Burn, takes place every summer at this spot.
Minto City, often called just Minto, sometimes Minto Mines, Minto Mine, Skumakum, or "land of plenty", was a gold mining town in the Bridge River Valley of British Columbia from 1930 to 1936, located at the confluence of that river with Gun Creek, one of its larger tributaries. The mine prospect was never much successful although a model townsite was built by promoter "Big Bill" Davidson, who imported soil to build a specially-built rodeo ground and baseball diamond on the rocky site. The larger mine of Bralorne was nearby. The mine shut down in 1936 due to productivity issues, but restarted in 1940. The valley has since been significantly altered when most of the vestiges of the town were inundated by the waters of the Carpenter Lake reservoir following completion of the Bridge River Power Project. In 1941, around two dozens of Japanese Canadian families were relocated to Minto Mine, and ordered to live in the empty miners' houses due to the impacts of the war.
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An interesting place to walk or drive around, a curious fusion of old-time mining town and modern updating. Many of the buildings have a temporary Western boom town kind of feel to them, but without the grand facade seen in Western movies. Rundown houses with tin roofs are interspersed with freshly painted houses sporting bold colours. The old Pioneer Mines headquarters captures this spirit well, with its gleaming white exterior and fresh artwork inside that blends with but doesn't hide its faded past.
Bradian is an old "suburb" of Bralorne, established as a mining town in the 1930s and abandoned when a nearby mine closed in 1971. A Chinese real estate group purchased the town for just under $1 million in 2015. Many of the abandoned houses are still there, in remarkably good condition.
Learn about the Bridge River Valley with displays on the history of the valley, its mines and the towns. Outside is a collection of restored old equipment from the mines and Bralorne's past.
Has hiking and biking trails within the park.