Ghost Town - Sandon, BC, Canada
On a sunny afternoon, let's take a walk through this popular ghost town destination of Sandon in British Columbia, Canada. It is set up very much like a museum by it's few inhabitants. It's a beautiful location, a great half day trip.
Sandon of the Silvery Slocan
This award winning documentary written, filmed and edited by Jonathan L. Oldroyd and narrated by Bill Booth and co-produced by the B.C. Provincial Educational Media Centre, follows the history of Sandon, capital of the Silvery Slocan in the heart of the Selkirk Mountains of British Columbia north of the City of Nelson and lying between New Denver and Kaslo on Highway 31A, was the heart of the silver boom in B.C. and now lies one of the most famous ghost towns of the West Kootenays.
Silver Rush, The Story of Sandon BC a British Columbia 1890's Ghost Town
is proud to show you one of our most favorite Ghost Towns.
Sandon is a Sliver Boom Ghost Town in British Columbia Canada.
One of the first Cities in BC to have electric Light ! Even today electricity is produce from the old power plant.
She still waits in the Mountains for the modern day prospector of Ghost towns to come and explore her wonderful and exciting History. Be enriched and seduced by this Grand old Lady of the silver mountains...
BcGhostTown.com
For more information, contact the Sandon Historical Society...
by mail: Sandon Historical Society, Box 52, New Denver, BC V0G 1S0
by phone: at the SHS Museum in Sandon (250) 358-7920
President (2009) Dan Nicholson (250) 358-7215
by e-mail: shs@slocanlake.com or sandonmuseum@netidea.com
Exploring Sandon B.C.
SUBSCRIBE:
Germain and I visited Sandon which lies up a valley between New Denver and Kaslo in the Kootenay mountains. The history of this bygone mining town is fascinating and so are the classic electric transit buses from the 50's!
Thanks for watching!
Video and editing by Luke Gibson. Follow me!
Instagram:
Facebook:
Twitter:
Tumblr photo blog:
Instrumental produced by Chuki
Historic Sandon, Ghost Town, BC, Canada
A ghost town with a story to tell, located in southern BC, Canada.
Janer B and I took a road trip through southern BC, Canada in May 2012. One of the places I always love to visit is Sandon, a historic mining town located in the Selkirk mountains, approximately 10km east of New Denver.
In 1891, vast deposits of galena ore were discovered here by Eli Carpenter and Jack Seaton. Swarms of prospectors from all over north America rushed in to the valley to stake their claims. In short order, Sandon came to be known as the Monte Carlo of the north, capital of the silvery Slocan. Upwards of five thousand people called Sandon home in the late 1800's. Today, the population numbers but a few hardy souls.
Due to the almost instant prosperity, Sandon quickly became a community with the most modern of conveniences. There were twenty nine hotels, twenty eight saloons, theatres and stores along with the factories and mills to process the ore; there was even a bowling alley and a cigar factory along with a school, hospital, curling rink and a sawmill. A number of churches did their best to police the predominantly male population, as they frolicked amongst certain ladies who were also attracted by ready cash.
Electricity was quickly supplementing candlelight and other forms of power and with their prosperity and abundant water, Sandonites saw no reason why they should miss out on this new state of the art power source. Sandon was the first settlement in British Columbia to become entirely electrified. Ample water supplied from high in the mountains was directed through pipework in to Pelton wheel turbines; over the years, eight separate hydro generating stations were built. Originating in 1897 the Silversmith station (in the video) was the finest generating station built in Sandon and continues to to supply A.C. power to the north American grid. The Silversmith Power and Light Corporation, based in New Denver, has an excellent description of the powerhouse and associated equipment here:
The danger of fire was ever present in Sandon as most of the buildings were made of wood and built back to back in the narrow valley. By 1897, countermeasures were in place to deal with fire in the event of an outbreak; a large fire hall was built and a number of fire-fighting sheds, containing hose reels, axes and buckets, etc., were erected at suitable locations in the community. The inevitable happened: on May 30th 1900, Spencer's opera house presented The Bitter Atonement. Just after midnight, fire was spotted in the adjoining lot and quickly spread. Despite the townsfolk's best efforts and that of the fire department, the downtown core was razed. Ironically, due to wind direction, the red light district escaped the blaze. The upper gulch was spared due to the detonation of a wagon load of dynamite, which created a fire break. Despite losses, which were estimated at $750,000, rebuilding proceeded apace. Destroyed buildings were rebuilt, although perhaps not to the original lavish standard, particularly in the case of the new Reco Hotel. The boom years were over however, as miners were enticed away to the Klondike and metal prices slumped; recent labour strife didn't help and the town never regained it's original size or vigour.
Ironically, despite the many benefits of numerous gushing mountain streams, including the new fangled hydroelectric power, it was water in combination with the giant tortuous flume, that finally undid the town. Since Sandon's inception, Carpenter and Sandon creeks flowed through and around the town and following incorporation in 1898, the council opted to contain their path on a route directly through town. Rectangular in cross section, the flume was basically a giant wooden pipe designed to tame the two creeks. Once built, the former stream beds were filled in and levelled adding inventory to a booming real estate market. After the 1900 fire the planked over flume was designated Main street and with it's restrictive size and plank road above, as well as a couple of twists and turns, became another accident waiting to happen. Annual spring thaw must have been an anxious time, especially if the run off was compounded with heavy rain. In 1933 a landslide upstream Sandon creek added considerably to the seasonal debris and quickly plugged the flume. Water was everywhere and when it finally subsided, left the settlement with washed out gullies and rocky debris all around. In 1955 the ageing flume plugged one more time and another major washout caused the thirty or so remaining residents to give up hope of rebuilding.
---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Music clip is: Forgotten Times. Purchased from jewelbeat.com, credited and used under licence. Proof of ownership and licence agreement can be provided, if necessary.
Sandon/Mines
These are some of the mines that are scattered over the Selkirk mountains near Sandon/New Denver/Kaslo/Slocan. Some of them are still producing ore,silver,and lead today.
Idaho Peak and Sandon Museum
Really cool views and a cool museum about an hour away from Nakusp. A truly glorious day. Peace to you.
Sandon BC - YOU ARE HERE - Hiking Sandon BC - WWW.BMIDD.COM
The City of Sandon lies in the Selkirk Mountain Range high in the heart of the Silver rich Slocan Valley.
Between 1895 and 1900, Sandon was home to over 5,000 people.
See and
Sandon, B.C.: Take a tour of this rural ghost town with a rich past
Founded in 1892, Sandon, B.C. was a thriving silver town. It was officially abandoned in 1962, but is still home to five residents.
Ghost Town of Sandon, BC - West Coast Escapes TV
This video has been brought to you by :
Sandon BC, the biggest silver rush of the 19th century!
West Coast Escapes takes you back a century to the Ghost town of Sandon, just an hour and a half from Nelson BC.
Sandon, BC, the ghost silver mining town
Ghost Town, BC, Canada.
Sandon, British Columbia - Exploring BC Part 3 - 2011
Part 3 of a road trip through the Kootenays and the Slocan region of B.C., this portion is the town of New Denver then up to the Idaho Peak lookout, on toward the old town site of Cody and what is left of its silver processing operation. Then to the old historic town of Sandon, made famous for its silver. All part of the Exploring B.C. series
For futher information about Sandon and its surrounding area check out the following links
and
Sandon Bus Lineup
Sandon, British Columbia lineup of city buses from the 30's-40's stored far away from the copper thieves.
Halloween 2017: Top 10 haunted places in Vancouver
None
Sandon, BC Power House
Considered as being one of the true classic ghost towns of west, Sandon is the focal point of B.C.’s famed Valley of the Ghosts.At one time boasting a population of 10,000, Sandon was the prime mineral (silver, lead and zinc) mining community in the valley, five miles off the main Highway 31A.An unusual feature of the town was that its main street was the boarded over flume of Carpenter Creek, eventually crushed and washed away by devastating floods. The last major flood was in 1955 and the town was essentially destroyed and never fully recovered again. Today, mangled piles of timber, once the main street, are still littered all over. Besides scores of hotels and saloons, the town once boasted a city hall building, opera house, library, community hall, post office, which closed in 1962, leaving Sandon a ghost town.In recent years, the town — which now has a permanent population of 15 residents —has made a slow recovery after receiving provincial heritage protection.Scores of old abandoned houses and buildings, as well as mine machinery and parts, are still visible everywhere in the valley, including many tucked in nearby woods.Today, visitors can also visit a well-stocked and fascinating private museum, a souvenir shop and the Tin Cup Cafe; all immensely popular with tourists and ghost towners. Submitted by: Johnnie Bachusky
The town of Sandon was born April 7, 1892 when J.M.Johnny Harris uncovered a fabulous vein of silver. He was born in Virginia and spent his early boyhood in the tobacco and cotton fields. Still only a boy, he left Virginia and wound up in Idaho in 1884 where he worked in the gold mines. He discovered he had a talent for selling real estate and opened an office. It was there a prospector from the North Country brought him a piece of ore shining with veins of silver. That was all it took for Johnny Harris to know where he must go-and he headed for the North Country. His goal was the outpost camp of New Denver, 35 miles up Slocan Lake. From there he started hiking up the Sandon River and reached the Carpenter Creek tributary and started digging. Almost at once, he discovered the vein of silver. The date was April 7, 1892. The city grew to a population of 3,000, the only city of any size in the otherwise unpopulated mountains. The town had much to offer its residents. Plush hotels, the Miner's Union Hall with a hardwood dance floor and stage for entertainment, two newspapers, two banks, drug stores, mercantile stores and the usual compliment of saloons. All was going well until May 3, 1900 when a fire was started by a lighted cigarette carelessly dropped into a wastebasket. The entire business section burned to the ground including all hotels, theaters, banks and stores. More than fifty buildings were destroyed. Sandon would never have been rebuilt had it not been for Johnny Harris who refused to let the town die. Even though the city had seen its best days, Harris kept it going by financing some slipping mines. The end was in sight in everyone's eyes except Johnny Harris. He was still full of faith that his city would make a comeback when he died there in 1953 at the age of 89. Sandon today is peaceful. There a few buildings still standing and a trip to Sandon is worthwhile.
Britannia Mining Museum, BC Canada
Explore the old underground copper mine at Britannia Beach, near Vancouver BC Canada. Take a guided tour through the old tunnels, blasted out of solid rock and experience the working life of a hard rock miner.
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia...
Britannia Beach is a small unincorporated community in the Squamish-Lillooet Regional District located approximately 55 kilometers north of Vancouver, British Columbia on the Sea-to-Sky Highway on Howe Sound. It has a population of about 300.
The community first developed between 1900 and 1904 as the residential area for the staff of the Britannia Mining and Smelting Company. The residential areas and the mining operation were physically interrelated, resulting in coincidental mining and community disasters through its history.
Today, the town is host to the Britannia Mine Museum, formerly known as the British Columbia Museum of Mining, on the grounds of the old Britannia Mines. The mine's old concentrator facilities, used to separate copper ore from its containing rock, are a National Historic Site of Canada
Copper mine (1900-1974)
A copper discovery on Britannia Mountain by Dr. A. A. Forbes in 1888 led to the development of the Britannia Mine. In 1899, a mining engineer named George Robinson was able to convince financial backers that the property had great potential. For several years, companies were formed, merged and dissolved in efforts to raise capital. The Britannia Mining and Smelting Company, a branch of the Howe Sound Company, finally commenced mining in the early 1900s, and owned the site for the next sixty years. The first ore was shipped to the Crofton Smelter on Vancouver Island in 1904, and the mine achieved full production in 1905.
A town had grown up around the mine and a Post Office opened on January 1, 1907 where it was named after the nearby mine.
In 1912 John Wedderburn Dunbar Moodie was authorized to upgrade the operation and increase production from the mine. Improvements in the mineral separation processes stimulated plans for a new mill (No. 2), which was completed in 1916 and was capable of producing 2000 tons of ore per day. The onset of World War I increased the demand for copper and the price rose sharply.
On March 21, 1915 an avalanche destroyed the Jane Camp. Sixty men, women and children were killed and it was a terrible blow to the tiny community. Construction began immediately on a new, safer town at the 2,200-foot (670 m) level above the Britannia Beach site. This portion of the community became known as the Town site or Mount Sheer.
In March 1921 during a brief period when the mine was shut down, mill No. 2 burnt to the ground.
On October 28, 1921 after a full day of torrential rain, a massive flood destroyed much of that portion of the community and mine operations that existed on the lower beach area. 50 of 110 homes were destroyed and thirty-seven men, women and children lost their lives. The flood was caused because the mining company had dammed up a portion of the Creek during the construction of a railway, and when this dam gave way the town below was flooded. Carleton Perkins Browning directed the reconstruction of this portion of the community and the new No. 3 mill, which stands today.
Being an isolated, close knit community which could only be accessed by boat, life in both of Britannia's towns was never dull. Facilities included libraries, club rooms, billiard rooms, swimming pools, tennis courts and even bowling. A thriving social calendar saw sporting events, theatrical productions, dances, movies and parties held throughout the year.
The mine boomed in the late 1920s and early 1930s, becoming the largest producer of copper in the British Commonwealth by 1929, under the management of the mine manager C.P. Browning.
In the 1940s there were talks to build an artist village in Britannia's hills, but that plan did not proceed.
During the Great Depression, miners unionized in 1946 and suffered through their first strike. Low copper prices saw the Britannia Mine Company reduced to seven employees, and in 1959 it went into liquidation.
In 1963 the Anaconda Mining Company bought the property and production continued for the next eleven years. 300 employees managed to produce 60,000 tons of concentrate each year. Ferries services stopped around May 1965 after the highway and railway connections had been constructed. The connections made it easier to transport the copper, but high operating costs and taxes eventually forced the mine to close on November 1, 1974. The company did not attempt to clean up the mine and chemical wastes that it produced, since environmental protection laws had not yet been enacted and enforcement of the Fisheries Act was never applied
On April 1, 1975 the BC Museum of Mining was opened to the public, and was designated as a National Historic Site in 1988. The following year, 1989, the Museum site was designated a British Columbia Historic Landmark.
Last Chance Silver Mine, Old Cabin Found, Metal Detecting Ghost Towns British Columbia Canada
Last Chance Silver Mining ghost town and Sandon Historical Society’s old museum. We visited the area of the mine and found an old cabin in the woods with a bunch of stuff inside. My curiosity got the better of me and I opened the door and stepped inside. Not only that but we found where the old brewery was and the powder house was, this was where the miners stored the powdered for dynamite. The museum curator gave us some great history on the area. I was able to see a good sample of silver ore, it was much heavier than I though. Just an amazing experience visiting this ghost town in British Columbia! Not many finds were made but there was plenty of ruins to explore. Dome cabin, privy, small cabin for sleeping and the powder house ruins. Make sure to subscribe to our channel not to miss out on our next video.
Metal Detectors used
Daniel and Bruce CTX 3030
Laurie MXT Pro
Alison Escalliber II
micheal XP Deus
Garret pro pointers and Whites TRX.
The Canadian Metal Detecting Forum
Featured Music by
Requiem for a Small Town And Poor Man by John Wort Hannam
Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivs 2.5 Canada (CC BY-NC-ND 2.5 CA)
Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivs 2.5 Canada (CC BY-NC-ND 2.5 CA)
Lets Go Lets Leave by Emily Lacy
Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivs 3.0 United States (CC BY-NC-ND 3.0 US)
Tour of Abandoned RCAF Base ...Edgar Ontario
As of April 28th, this is all that remains of edgar, which was an RCAF base (Royal Canadian Air Force) and Edgar Adult Occupational Camp ...it housed Developmentally Challenged people....what an awesome place to live...hear the birds.
Check out our other videos of fun stuff and SUBSCRIBE to see what else twistedmindsalike finds to amuse ourselves.
Sandon BC 2019
2019 Sandon, BC
Hal Wright & Vida Turok
sandoninthekootenays.ca
facebook.com/sandonbc
Videographer Jesse Schpakowski of New Denver, BC
Idaho Peak Wildflowers, Sandon, BC
During the end of July, the Kootenay alpine comes alive with an abundance of wildflowers.
Idaho Peak, just above Sandon, is a favourite place to go to enjoy, not just the spectacular views, but to witness this marvel of nature.
This is a fragile environment, so pictures are the only thing taken and staying on the trail is advised.