In 1880, James P. Howley "obtained possession of the mummified body of a Red Indian boy, found in Dark Tickle near Pilley’s Island" from a Jabez Tilley of Sops Arm; the body was exhibited in St. John's and then donated to the St. John’s Museum.

[1] Distant from the best fishing grounds further out the Bay, no settlement was recorded at Pilley's Island until the opening of a pyrite mine in 1887.

Some of these families had earlier come to the western part of the Bay to work a copper mine at Tilt Cove.

In the 1860s, Captain Philip Cleary staked a mineral claim at Bumblebee Bight, hoping to develop a copper mine, though the island's orebody was chiefly pyrite.

In 1885, Maine and Lewis Mills of New Brunswick bought the claim and the next year the company began mining.

The ore which it yields, iron pyrites, is more abundant than formerly and preparations are being made for larger shipments this year.

[5]Forest fires in 1896 destroyed the Court House, the Methodist Church and the Salvation Army Barracks; thirty-five families were rendered homeless.

The mine closed permanently in 1908 when it was discovered that a large fault had displaced the main ore body.