Anyox Hydroelectric Power Plant 

Besides the cemetery, the highlight of my first few days in Anyox was the hydroelectric power plant.

We arrived in Anyox on the Monday afternoon, after we were done unpacking and settling in, the very first place I went to was the power plant.

Construction of the Anyox hydroelectric power plant began in 1911 and was completed in 1914. The plant utilized the precipitous terrain of the Coastal Mountains, capturing the energy of the falls and channels to generate electricity. It was a cutting-edge facility for its time, producing up to 35 megawatts of power, a significant achievement that powered the mines, smelters, and homes of Anyox.

In the early 1930s, The Great Depression drove down the demand for copper, which was the beginning of the end for Anyox.

The mine shut down in 1935, and the town was abandoned. Salvage operations in the 1940s removed most machinery and steel from the town to be largely used for the War effort.

These salvage efforts included much of the power plant, until two forest fires caused by lightning strikes in 1942 and 1943, burned all of the remaining wood structures and wiped Anyox off the face of the earth.

What you see there now is all that remains, after years of salvage and harsh weather.