Kemano- Tramway

Kemano- M-K Construction Tramway, The “7”

There were 5 fully equipped mining camps for the construction of the tunnel alone,
one each at the 2600 ft, and 1600 ft level, of Mt DuBose,
One at Camp 5 at Kemano, for Powerhouse, and Tunnel exit,
one at Horetzky Creek, for the Horetzky Adit entry,
and then one at West Tahtsa Lake, for the Tunnel entry

Morrison-Knudsen constructed a 20 ton Cable Tramway, to the 2600 ft level up the side of Mt. DuBose,
just a few mtrs to the right of the powerhouse portal, if you standing in front of the portal opening.
Built at a 30 degree angle up the mountain face.
It was big enough to carry an International Harvester TD-24 crawler dozer!
These were huge bulldozers, with an inline 6 cylinder, 200hp diesel engine.
The world's largest tractors in 1952.
Spec sheet says it weighed 21 tons, bare!
so how they got it on a 20 ton tramway, is beyond me.
The tramway is impressive by itself, never mind the tunnels etc.

Photo from 1600 ft level, looking down Mt. DuBose, to the west

20 ton Tramway, (called the skip way) and Camp 5, the Main Kemano Townsite below
great photo, has a bit of everything in it.
the tramway brought all the men, material, etc
to build the Penstock tunnels, through the mountain.
The steel liners were hauled up the tramway,
then lowered down into the tunnels drilled out of the solid granite.

The photo above and below
shows the side of Mt. DuBose
the “7”, which is the construction tramway built from the powerhouse entry, up 2600 ft.
heading off to the right Horetzky Creek
Main Townsite, Camp 5, is visible bottom left, next to the Kemano River

the turquoise arrow points to the 1600 ft level of the tramway, and tunnel
The 2 Penstock tunnels drop from the 2600 ft level, then level off
where the arrow is pointing, then down to the powerhouse.
There was an Adit at the 1600 ft level.

The flat top part of the “7” is called the 2600 ft level.

When viewed from the valley, the Tramway and Camp, and Adit areas off of it, formed a perfect number 7.
Therefore the locals referred to it as the “7”

Here you can see the “7” in the background of these 2 photos,
from other areas on this site.

Mt Dubose- elevation 2144 meters

All photos courtesy Grant Walker, from his father, Thomas Raymond Walker's collection.
Some look like they came from a company newspaper, or company pamphlet,
I do not know if Thomas took these photos or not.
If they are copyright, contact me, and I will remove them asap.
I do not charge for viewing any of my pages, and my only interest is preserving history.

More Tramway pictures on this page Kemano- Klassen Photos ca 1953

©