Phoenix, British Columbia

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official_name = Ghost town of Phoenix
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settlement_type = Ghost town
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image_caption = Phoenix in 1905


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map_caption = Location of Phoenix in British Columbia


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subdivision_type = Country
subdivision_name = CAN
subdivision_type1 = Province
subdivision_name1 = BC
subdivision_type2 = Region
subdivision_name2 = Kootenays
subdivision_type3 = Regional district
subdivision_name3 = Kootenay Boundary
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established_title2 = Incorporated
established_date2 = October 1, 1898
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timezone = PST
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footnotes = Phoenix is a ghost town in the Boundary Country of British Columbia, Canada, 11 km east of Greenwood. Once called the “highest city in Canada” by its citizens (4,630 feet above sea level) it was a booming copper mining community from the late 1890's until 1919. In its heydey it was home to 4,000 citizens and had an opera house, twenty hotels, a brewery and its own city hall. Phoenix’s magistrate, Judge Willie Williams, who served there from 1897 until 1913,rp|178 soon became famous for his booming declaration, “I am the highest judge, in the highest court, in the highest city in Canada.” In 1911, Phoenix’s hockey team won the provincial championship and asked for the right to compete for the Stanley Cup, but were too late to qualify.cite web| last =Ghost town pix| title =Phoenix, British Columbia| url =http://ghosttownpix.com/bc/phoenix.html| accessdate = 2008-07-20] The copper mine at Phoenix produced 13,678,901 tons of ore before its operations ceased on June 14, 1919.

The boom years

The first copper discovery at Phoenix was made in 1891 and is credited to American prospector Bob Denzler. His discovery became the first of many claims and a settlement called Greenwood Camp was built, but it was not until 1895 that the full riches of the area were realized and the boom really began.cite book |last=Ramsey |first=Bruce |title=Ghost Towns of British Columbia|year=1963|publisher=Mitchell Press|isbn=Unknown|pages=] rp|176 The log cabins of Greenwood Camp were replaced by frame houses and brick homes. Then, in 1896, the Canadian Pacific Railway and the Great Northern Railway arrived. By then, with the exception of the one at Rossland, the output of the mines was exceeding the combined output of every other copper mine in the province.rp|177 The town got its own newspaper, the "Phoenix Pioneer", that fall and on October 1, 1898, Greenwood Camp was renamed Phoenix when the first post office opened.. By the early 1900's, Phoenix was a thriving community with electricity and telephone services, a hospital, banquet hall, ballroom, opera house and its own stage line. There was no lack of fine meals or accommodation: on the Christmas Day menu at the Brooklyn Hotel in 1911 was a variety of delicacies such as Russian Caviar, Green Turtle Soup and English Plum Pudding with Brandy Sauce.rp|178

After the boom

When World War One ended in 1918, the price of copper dropped dramatically and Phoenix, which was completely reliant on its one industry, began to die.rp|179When the last ore was shipped away in 1919, thousands exited the mountain city, many leaving behind their homes and belongings. Phoenix instantly became the largest ghost town Canada had ever seen. In 1920 wrecking crews arrived to haul away the churches, halls, stores, skating rink and hospital, all of which were dismantled and re-erected in other communities.rp|179

An open pit mine operated in Phoenix during the 1950's and through to 1978 but the venture was ultimately abandoned and the mining had caused the historic buildings to be buried or bulldozed.

Phoenix today

In recent years, locals have restored Phoenix’s pioneer cemetery. One remaining relic of the city of copper is Phoenix’s First World War cenotaph. Another memorial can be found in nearby Greenwood where the open pit miners of the seventies erected a commemorative phoenix bird sculpture to mark the hopes that someday Phoenix will rise again.

References

ee also

* List of ghost towns in British Columbia

Further reading

*cite book |last=Ramsey |first=Bruce |title=Ghost Towns of British Columbia|year=1963|publisher=Mitchell Press|isbn=Unknown|pages=