The 'Historic Sandon' album
Boomtown, busted to pieces.
For lots of great info on this “turn-of-the-century Capital City of the Silvery Slocan,” I’d recommend reading the many articles provided by the Sandon Historical Society.
as viewed from the steep narrow Idaho Peak Road.
With respect for the current resident or two still living there, some might not consider it completely PC to call Sandon a ghost town; but as of yet plenty of shadows from the past are still hanging on to a faintly familiar refuge. Sandon reflects the unfortunate pattern of decay that occurs in many historical sites, and today hardly resembles the thriving mountain gulch city it once was. City planning was not often the priority for boom towns, and Sandon exemplifies the protocol for a pioneer city suffering the wrath of its own shortsightedness and bad luck. But in the amount of ore and hard work, money lost on hookers and cards, rate of boom to bust, & impact and variety of disasters incurred, there wasn’t anything that boomed and busted quite like Sandon.
See: From Boom to Bust in 20 Years; Sandon’s History as an Incorporated City
photos of photos in the Sandon Museum:
Mule train on Main Street.
A baseball game in action.
Still pulling ore from the mountains around Sandon.
After the Great Fire of 1900, rebuilding work began immediately.
Perhaps one of the most visible changes was the construction of a large three-story City Hall. Built at a cost of $3,195, the City Hall featured beautiful trim and woodwork inside, and held city offices, council chambers, a courtroom, jail and fire hall.
See: From Boom to Bust in 20 Years; Sandon’s History as an Incorporated City
Built after the great fire of 1900, which razed the entire downtown core of the city, the Slocan Mercantile Block was the only brick building ever constructed in Sandon.
Originally known as the Hunter-Kendrick Block, it was a general store. The original owners were Mssrs. Hunter and Kendrick, then it passed on into the hands of the Slocan Mercantile Co. Ltd. Its last incarnation as a general store was under the ownership of Mssrs. Tattrie and Greer.
See: Sandon’s Attractions
The Silversmith Powerhouse is currently the oldest continually-operating hydro plant in Western Canada. In Sandon’s heyday, “Electricity was ’state of the art’ and Sandon became the first city in BC to be entirely electrified.”
See: SILVERSMITH HYDRO ELECTRIC SYSTEM HISTORY
