The old workings of the three Pleasant Valley Coal mines (Nos. 1, 2 and 4 mines) occur over a 2-kilometre stretch along the south bank of the Tulameen River, 2.5 to 4.5 kilometres southwest of Princeton. The mines are in district Lots 232, 982 and 985.

This coal deposit lies in the centre of the Princeton Basin, a northerly trending half-graben superimposed on volcanics and sediments of the Upper Triassic Nicola Group. The basin is separated into a northern and southern area by the gentle, northwest-striking Rainbow Lake anticline. The southern area, in which this deposit occurs, is a structural depression with beds dipping 10 to 20 degrees south near Princeton, and gently east between Asp (China) Creek and the Tulameen River. South of Princeton are two major east-striking asymmetric anticlines with gentle to moderate southerly dips continuing to the south. On the western margin of the basin the strata dips approximately 50 degrees east. In the southern part of the basin two north to northwest plunging anticlines are present. The basin is bounded and cut in places by a number of approximately north to northeast-striking, westerly-dipping faults. The main faults are the Asp Creek fault and the Boundary fault.

This colliery is hosted in a sequence of sandstone, shale, waterlain rhyolite tephra (tuff) and coal, up to 2000 metres thick, comprising the Eocene Allenby Formation (Princeton Group). Two of the mines (Nos. 2 and 4 mines) are developed in the Princeton- Black-Blue Flame coal zone, the stratigraphically lowest and thickest of four significant coal-bearing zones in a 530-metre section in the Allenby Formation. Its thickness varies from 1.6 to 19.2 metres with approximately 9.1 metres of coal. The coal occurs in bands 7 centimetres to 5.5 metres thick, with interbeds of shaly coal, bentonite, sandstone and shale separating the individual seams. The Princeton-Black-Blue Flame coal zone was also mined at the Princeton Colliery (092HSE089), the Princeton-Tulameen mine (092HSE209), Tulameen Collieries (092HSE210), the Black mine (092HSE212) and the Blue Flame Colliery (092HSE216).

The overlying Pleasant Valley-Jackson coal zone was mined at the Pleasant Valley No. 1 mine, and the Taylor Burson (092HSE213) and Jackson (092HSE214) mines in the Bromley Vale area. It is best represented in the Bromley Vale area where it consists of two to three seams of variable thickness (approximately 1.8 metres of coal in total) in a 30-metre stratigraphic interval.

The seam developed in the Pleasant Valley Nos. 2 and 4 mines (No. 2 seam) strikes 050 degrees in the No. 4 mine, to the east, but then swings northwest to strike 110 degrees in the No. 2 mine, to the west. Dips range from 12 to 25 degrees south. The seam has been traced downdip in the two mines for 740 metres and along strike for 2100 metres. The deposit is displaced by four northerly striking faults in the No. 2 mine to the west. The seam is 0.9 to 1.8 metres thick, and tends to be thicker to the east in the No. 4 mine. Here, the seam is 1.73 to 1.83 metres thick and includes five clay bands totalling 10 to 18 centimetres in thickness (Minister of Mines Annual Report 1950, page 264). It is overlain by a competent shale and underlain by clay or sandstone.

The seam mined in the No. 1 mine (No. 1 seam) is stratigraphically 184 to 195 metres above the No. 2 seam, and strikes approximately 050 degrees, similar to the coal in the No. 4 mine below. The deposit dips 12 to 20 degrees south. The seam was mined over a dip length of 350 metres and a strike length of 700 metres. Clean coal occurs over a thickness of 0.9 to 1.4 metres. It is overlain by a fairly competent shale and underlain by interbedded dirty coal, shale and clay.

The coal is non-coking in character and ranges in rank from sub-bituminous C to sub-bituminous A. Two samples analyzed as follows:

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Sample 1 Sample 2

(per cent) (per cent)

Moisture 22.9 16.6

Volatile matter - 30.6

Fixed carbon - 41.9

Ash 13.3 10.9

Sulphur - 0.7

Calorific value 8110 9825

(B.T.U.'s per pound)

Ash Fusion Temp. 1145 Celsius -

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Sample 1 is a bulk sample from either the No. 1 or No. 2 mines (Bulletin 14, page 20). Sample 2 is a grab (?) sample taken from the No. 4 mine (Minister of Mines Annual Report 1949, page 300).

This colliery was opened up by Pleasant Valley Coal Mining Company Ltd., with the development of the No. 1 mine in 1928 and the No. 2 mine in 1929. The No. 1 mine was closed 1933. The company continued to produce coal from the No. 2 mine until 1937. The two mines produced 82,037 tonnes of coal between 1928 and 1937. Tulameen Collieries Ltd. opened up the No. 4 mine in 1947, after abandoning its operations across the Tulameen River in 1946 (Tulameen Collieries, 092HSE210). The company mined 99,821 tonnes of coal between 1947 and 1950. Total production from the three mines is 181,857 tonnes.