Sandon BC

On our recent Kootenay Rockies road trip circuit, we visited the ghost town of Sandon BC, one of many such boom and bust gold towns scattered throughout the Province. Some are in better shape than others and most have a tiny few dedicated remaining residents who try and keep the unique history of each town alive. Each town usually has at least one feature which make a worthwhile visit. In addition to Sandon's history of unfortunate natural disasters, both fire and flood, it has quite a few unique features.

A very impressive wooden three storey town hall, dated 1900 still stands.

This general store, now museum, is a reproduction of  the building that stood there originally. the first of many restorations planned for the town.

The jewel is the still-operating Silversmith Powerhouse operated by the Silversmith Power and Light Corporation. This plant is the oldest continually-operating hydro plant in Canada and one of the oldest of its type in the world. It was built in 1897 and is a beautifully-preserved operating example of the earliest AC generating plants, a working Westinghouse generator and water turbine driven by a small creek running from the mountains above. In the picture below you can just see the creek where it exits from underneath the building.

Sandon is also participating in other historical preservation initiatives, like this steam locomotive,

and these electric transit vehicles.

Note the wooden folding doors on these electric trolley buses.