A very special thanks to Destination Adventure. Watch their video here: www.youtube.com/watch?v=zxiJYlMjYWE&t=70s Mining came upon the remote Kitsault valley when the Dolly Varden mine opened in 1918. Thanks to heavy investment from the United States they were able to make Bunkhouses, stores and a ten-mile-long railway. The mine operated for only three years until it was held up in litigation. Eventually, the mining company was able to move past the litigation and went on to build the Lions Gate Bridge. Which ushered in another era for this sleepy little valley. The town of Kitsault was established in 1979 as the home community to a molybdenum mine run by the Phelps Dodge Corporation of Chicago. The community was designed for over 1,200 residents and included a shopping mall, restaurant, swimming pool and bowling alley. In 1982, prices for molybdenum crashed and the entire community was evacuated after just 18 months of existence. In 2004, the ghost town was bought by Indian-American businessman Krishnan Suthanthiran for $5.7 million; he has spent $2 million maintaining the town. In the end, he would have spent over $20 million more to fully update the town. He has also since closed the town to the public. Krishnan had hoped to turn the town in to an intellectual utopia. In which you could only be invited to. In an effort to revitalize the ghost town, Kitsault has been proposed as a location for a liquefied natural gas (LNG) terminal site. However; this offer has not yet been accepted. Please comment if you lived in Kitsault or have more information. Elder Whine Adds: “In 2005 Suthanthiran bought the whole town, 1,500 kilometers north of Vancouver, for less than $7 million. The Kitsault Project was a producer of molybdenum between 1967 and 1972 and again between 1981 and 1982. The area was ideal due to its "elevated levels of arsenic, molybdenum, cadmium, lead, and sulfur. It was referred to as, the Kitsault Molybdenum Project.” Learn more about the community here: www.kitsault.com Keep Up-To-Date with Me Here: derelictdoug.net Or Follow Me Here: www.instagram.com/derelictdoug twitter.com/Derlict_doug www.facebook.com/DerelictDoug

Be the first to comment