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Betts Cove
1960
Bett's Cove, NL

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The Betts Cove mine lay eight miles south of Tilt Cove and exemplified all that is romantic in mining. It turned men into millionaires and was worked by a German baron before passing into oblivion within about a dozen or so years of its discovery.

Men began mining at Betts Cove in 1875 and in the following year the Betts Cove Mining Company had installed Newfoundland's first ore smelters. By 1878, about one half of the 2000 people of Betts Cove were Newfoundlander's while the remaining people originated from Germany, Nova Scotia, Cornwall, California, France, and Australia. Betts Cove facilities included three churches, a hospital, school, foundry, telegraph office, mineral assay lab and sundry stores.

In May 1883, following the removable of some copper-rich mine pillars, the inevitable happened, a landslide off Betts Cove hill fell on the mine roof collapsing it. The landslide also took with it buildings and machinery.

Miraculously, no injuries resulted, but for Betts Cove, the cave in signaled doom. By 1884, the town's population plummeted to only 40 miners. A drop in copper prices forced operations to suspend and in 1886 the mine's last ore shipment left for Swansea, Wales.

This was essentially the end of Betts Cove. However, in recent years the area has been reevaluated for its mining potential and has gained international fame in the scientific community, as its rocks are a kind rarely exposed on land. Every year, scores of geologists inspect the cove for a time, and make its hills sound again with the ringing of hammers.

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Steam powered cable hoist
1960
Bett's Cove, NL

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Mine shaft
1960
Bett's Cove, NL

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Ventilation Shaft
1960
Bett's Cove, NL

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Tramway
1960
Bett's Cove, NL

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Structure Remains
1960
Bett's Cove, NL

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The foundation wall of the hospital. Other Betts Cove facilities included three churches, school, foundry, telegraph office, sundry stores, and two resident policemen. In 1887 after the close of the mining operations a visiting missionary found only two families surrounded by deteriorating tramways, churches and houses, with all useful and intact buildings being transported by water to the now booming Little Bay copper mine which was owned by the Newfoundland Consolidated Copper company.

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Core Storage Bins
1956
Bett's Cove, NL