During Sandon's heyday over 300 mines were in operation within Sandon's vicinity. It took both rail lines to handle the shipments of ore going out and supplies for the mines coming in. Entire forests were consumed in order to supply the timber necessary for the operation of the mines.
The majority of the mines and camps were located above the 5,000 foot elevation. Since 1892, over 35 billion dollars (in today's value) of silver, lead and zinc have been produced from the Sandon area mines. This exceeds the value of the 3 major gold rushes- California, the Cariboo and the Klondike- combined!