Riondel, British Columbia

The Ktunaxa showed Archibald McDonald of the Hudson's Bay Company the huge lead outcrop in 1844. However, the estimated 966 kilometres (600 mi) to the mouth of the Columbia River made the deposits worthless. By the 1880s, railroads advancing across the US, and steamboats travelling up the rivers into BC, would change the economics.

In 1882, Robert Evan (Bob) Sproule staked four claims along the Riondel Peninsula, which included the Bluebell mine. In 1884, Sproule sold an interest in the mine to Dr. Wilbur A. Hendryx, but forfeited an interest to George Jennings Ainsworth to settle a partner's debt. In 1886, Sproule was hanged for murdering Thomas Hammill over a years earlier claim dispute. At this time, on buying out the Ainsworth interests, the mine ownership passed wholly to Hendryx's Kootenay Mining and Smelting Company (KM&S). The settlement was known as Hendryx or Hendryx Camp. When the ineffective Pilot Bay smelter closed in 1896, the Hendryx settlement was renamed the Blue Bell Camp.

In 1905, the Canadian Metal Company purchased the mine. The next year, the steamboat hulks containing dormitories were replaced by married men's cottages and single men's bunkhouses. In 1907, the settlement was renamed Riondel after Count Edouard Riondel, the company president and French banker. Often mispronounced, the correct way is Ree-on-del with accent very slightly on the first syllable. The concentrator, operational from 1908, proved effective. When new pumping equipment failed to keep pace with flooding at the lower levels, the mine was abandoned in 1921.

In 1924, engineer and entrepreneur, S.S. Fowler, with partner B.L. Eastman, obtained some financial backing from Canadian Pacific Railway’s Consolidated Mining and Smelting (CM&S) subsidiary to reopen the operation. Able to sufficiently dewater the mine, extraction resumed. After concentrating the zinc-rich lead ore using a methodology determined by the limited electricity supply, the product went to the Trail smelter. To raise further capital, the venture was incorporated in 1929 as the Blue Bell Mines Limited, but the October stock market crash financially ruined the partners.

The major creditor, CM&S assumed ownership, leaving the mine idle until after World War II. The Riondel population, formerly stable at around 70 people, dropped to 22 by 1943. Beginning in 1950, the mine and the settlement were refurbished at a cost of $1.3 million, including a new smelter. Hydroelectricity plants across the lake on the Kootenay River replaced local generators for the electricity supply. The mine operated from 1952 until exhausted in 1971. Having supported a population of 300, it was the longest active mine in the province. The site was abandoned four years later.[1][2]

Most employees departed, but many older ones stayed. Riondel became a popular retirement community, at one time having more seniors per capita than any other postal code in Canada.

Today Riondel is a tidy village with streets, a lakeside campground, beach, community centre, playground, cable TV system, 9-hole golf course, grocery and liquor store, cafe, and pub. In April 2006, Telus connected Riondel with dial-up internet.

• Community of Riondel
• Kootenay Lake Region

• Bluebell Memories by A. Terry Turner
• A Recollection of Moments: Riondel 1907-2007 by Wendy M E Scott