Lynnmour's Methane Treatment

Ever wondered what that fenced off stack like structure was. You know, the one situated just up the embankment, close to the end of the gauntlet. If I told you it was the Methane Elimination Facility would you know why?


A little history.
From the mid-1960's to 1987 there was an active garbage dump in Lynnmour. Premier Street was the access and the reason why there is a slightly raised entry and slightly lower exit to the park from this point. This was where the weight scale was originally located.

Before the garbage dump this area was a flood plain of Lynn Creek. The topography was the Aurborlynn neighbourhood slope on the west side of Lynn Creek and the Upper bluff where the cemetery sits to the east. Everything in between was fairly flat. Of coarse, the perfect spot for a dump.

These images were taken in 1963 seemingly before the dump evolved. But from this time forward it moved fast and furious to becoming the blight of the North Shore. In a 1970 Development Study, the Inter-River Area was described as follows: "The area contains the City and District Cemetery, gravel pits, the North Shore sanitary fill and garbage disposal and some residential development.... The garbage disposal operation has caused pollution of the Lynn Creek. The area is scarred by the B.C. Hydro 1200 K.V. power line which occupies a cleared right of way 300 feet wide" (1). In this same study it talked about the how the smell was becoming less as the dump continued to stretch north. It was from this movement that the park began to evolve.

By the mid-1980's it had become the topography we see now. Steep slopes up from Lynn Creek almost to the level of the cemetery. In 1984 a new study, the Central Inter-River Background Study, stated "the future of the landfill is currently under study.... Under completion of the landfill, the site will need to undergo a period of decomposition of materials and site regeneration. This necessitates limited use of the site as open space" (2).

In this same study, "Premier Park recreational areas south of the landfill be upgraded in accordance with an overall site plan" and this becomes Inter River Park.

In December 1987, North Vancouver District Newsletter, reads the following:

Landfill Closure Ahead of Schedule
Good news for District
residents...
The Premier Street Landfill will be closed for good next year
as promised. In fact it will be discontinued in March or April, several
months sooner than expected.(3)

So when you walk the gauntlet, looking up the slopes and noticing the odd
plastic bags sticking out of the earth, think of the tons of material that made
up those tiered fields and why we have a Methane Treatment area tucked away in a
little fenced area to the north.

Just for further interest...
There was a garbage dump in North Vancouver prior to this one. These images are from the District archives and they show a landfile at 17th St. and Rufus.

The image notes say that this "site was later filled from material from the cut [highway] to build Rufus Park."

1. 2.2.2 Inter River Area. A Development Study of the Land Between Lynn Creek & Indian Arm in the District of North Vancouver British Columbia. Aug. 1970
2. Public Services. Central Inter-River Background Study. April 1984.
3. Landfill Closure Ahead of Schedule. North Vancouver District Newsletter. December 1987.