COPPER MOUNTAIN
Just south of Princeton this former mine town in the Similkameen Country was discovered by fur-trapper James Jameson. He discovered the existence of copper in 1884, this led miners to the area and the town of Copper Mountain became their home. The mining lasted until 1958 and the town was abandoned shortly after.
KITSAULT
Photo: YouTube
Located in the North Coast of BC – at the head of Alice Arm this unincorporated settlement was built in the 1970’s for the employees of a magnesium mine. The mine was unprofitable and closed a year and a half after it opened leaving thousands of residents without work.
In 2004 Krishan Suthanthiran bought the town for $5.7 million in an effort to restart the town. A porposal has been sent for Kitsault to be a site for the exportation of Natural Gases.
Bralorne & Bradian
Bralorne is known for being a historic underground gold mining community—located 80 miles west of Lillooet. The mines were eventually shut down and the town remained abandoned for many years. In 2002, plans were put in place to re-open the Bralorne Mine due to rising gold prices.
Bralorne’s third townsite Bradian wasn’t occupied since the 1970s and in 2014 it was put on the market, selling for one million. After only 7 months of having purchased the ghost town, the Chinese investors decided they need to sell it because of changes made to BC’s immigration rules.
CASSIAR
This small company-owned asbestos mining town is located north of Dease Lake in the Cassiar Mountains. The mine was forced to close in 1992, after operating for 40 years. The town used to hold a population of 1,500 people. Most of the houses in the town were destroyed and burned to the ground. The Catholic Church still stands to this day, as well as the tramline which was used to transport ore from the mine down to the
PHEONIX
PIC – Vancouver Art Gallery
Phoenix is located 11 kilometres east of Greenwood, in the Boundary Country of BC. It was a copper mining community from the late 1890s until 1919. It used to have a population of 1,000 people and had 20 hotels, a city hall building, a brewery as well as a opera house.
In 1918, after the First World War came to an end—the price of copper dropped and Phoenix became abandoned, with people leaving their homes and belongings behind as a result. A cemetery and a war memorial remain in the ghost town.