Minto City

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. The community was originally known as Mento's Landing, after C. R. Mento, who had the sternwheel ferry Minto built in 1900. The name gradually changed to Minto Landing and then Minto.

The Minto Mine operated from 1934 to 1940 during which over 2130 metres of underground work was done, and a total of 80,650 tonnes (88,900 tons) of ore grading 6.8 grams of gold and 19.9 grams of silver per tonne was produced, totalling of gold and of silver, of copper and of lead. By the opening of World War II, the combination of poor mineral showings and most men going away to war brought the Minto mine to a standstill.

Since Canada declared war on Japan, all Japanese Canadians over the age of 16 were forced to register with the B. C. Security Commission (BCSC), despite the fact that majority of them were naturalized Canadians. The internment of Japanese Canadians was initiated from fears of Japanese forces after the attack on Pearl Harbor in 1941. In December 1941, Canada created the security zone, which entailed the removal of all Japanese Canadians within 100 miles of the west coast. Men between the ages of 18 and 45 were the first ones to relocate in order to build road camps in the interior of the province. By September 30, 1942, all Japanese Canadian were forced out of homes, and the government took away all properties previously owned by families, aside from goods they brought to the internment sites such as food, canned goods, tea, dishes, pots, and pans. Family groups who had wealth were allowed to leave the Protected Area before the deadline of April 1, 1942, to become part of the self supporting families that could live and work in these selected internment sites. During the war, approximately 25 families moved into some empty houses, while others were sold off at a low price by the government.