Ghost Towns — Members Only Blog — British Columbia Chronicles

Conclusion

As we have seen, this was no Wild West town of false-front buildings lining a single street with a scattering of shacks. The Boundary Country’s Phoenix was nothing less than a city in every sense of the word: modern, substantial buildings, services, fine homes, a hospital, brewery, skating rink, and rail connection to the outside world—all the latest amenities of the first two decades of the 20th century.

Then—it was gone, just a man-made lake on top of a mountain in the wilderness.

Featured MembersPatricia MacGregor Graphic DesignerAugust 29, 2024Mining, Ghost Towns

This Phoenix Didn’t Rise From the Ashes

Part 1

This was no Wild West town of false-front buildings lining a single street and a scattering of shacks. The Boundary Country’s Phoenix was nothing less than a city in every sense of the word: modern substantial buildings and services, fine homes, a hospital, even a skating rink, and not one but two rail connections to the outside world—all the latest amenities of the first two decades of the 20th century.

Then—“the highest incorporated city in Canada” was gone, just a man-made lake on top of a mountain in the wilderness.

Featured MembersPatricia MacGregor Graphic DesignerAugust 22, 2024Mining, Ghost Towns

The Ballad of Billy Barker

While at Ross Bay Cemetery recently, I checked out a subject long of interest to me: Billy Barker, the namesake for Cariboo’s Barkerville.

I had to smile—Billy’s an RBC ‘star,’ having an end-of-the-row marker denoting his final resting place. Better yet, he has a handsome and expensive retro bronze marker giving a brief biography. What a far cry from the time of his death in Victoria’s Old Men’s Home for indigents.

From Dust to Dust: The Story of Wahlachin

Communities—villages, towns, sometimes even cities—can come and go. Then we call them ghost towns.

British Columbia has had its share—100s of them, in fact. That said, hands up Chronicles readers who can name, say, six of them. Two? One?

Of the province’s many lost communities, two have achieved legendary even mythic status: Phoenix, which, unlike its namesake, never did rise from the ashes, and Wahlachin.

Featured MembersPatricia MacGregor Graphic DesignerFebruary 29, 2024Ghost Towns

Anyox: The Town That Got Lost

Karma. It’s a curse, I tell you. Hard as it is for me to believe, it’s been almost 50 years since I wrote Ghost Town Trails of Vancouver Island and it’s still in print after several changes of format and cover, and a slight tweak of the title and byline.

Featured MembersPatricia MacGregor Graphic DesignerJuly 21, 2022Ghost Towns

The Story Behind That Piano in the Wilderness

Some months ago, a shopper at Walmart asked me if I knew anything about the “piano” in the bush along the Cowichan Valley Trail. Was it the one, he asked, I’d once mentioned in a Citizen column?

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