School trip to Beaverdell

The children have been pen-palling with the children from the small town of Beaverdell which has a junior class the same size as ours.  Beaverdell used to be a prosperous town due to the discovery of silver in the mountains nearby in 1897.  The mine continued to produce silver ore continuously for over 90 years until it was closed in 1990.
Now, it is a shadow of it's former self with a population of ex-miners and their families with nothing to do and no-where to go.  It sits on the side of Highway 33 and is the only town between Kelowna and Grand Forks... a distance of 82 miles!
So, off we went on our school trip having been warned about what we might find, and more importantly the social problems encountered by many of the children.  But, we all had a great time, the Big White children were so excited to see grass and flowers (little things!) that they didn't notice the junk yards and litter.  They all went for a long walk that ended with a ball game and a barbecue ...something that is still impossible up at Big White due to the 3 feet of snow that we still have!  The children were delightful and were great hosts, a good day had by all.