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Anyox Ghost Town

Anyox, British Columbia is located approximately 60 kilometres, or 37 miles, southwest of Stewart, British Columbia and 20 kilometres, or 12 miles, from the tip of the Alaska Panhandle.

The town of Anyox was built in 1912 by a company called Granby Consolidated for mining and producing copper, silver and gold. 

By 1914, Anyox had grown to a population of almost 3,000 residents, as the mine and smelter were put into full operation.

During its 25-year existence, Anyox’s mines and smelters produced 4 tonnes of gold, 230 tonnes of silver and 340,000 tonnes of copper.

Every day up to 5400 tonnes of ore were hauled across 3 kilometres of railway via 32-tonne steam and electric locomotives from the mine to the crusher and then to the concentrator near the waterfront in 75 ore cars, powered by the energy provided from the hydro dam and coal-fired generators

Huge chunks of ore would travel from the mines, to be dumped into a crusher and reduced to 8-inch pieces.  It would then travel further along to the concentrator to be pulverized to a fine powder.

Hydroelectric facilities were first constructed on Anyox Creek in 1910 to support the mining and smelting operations in the adjacent Hidden Creek drainage basin

Anyox was the location of rich lodes of copper and other precious metals.. A large dam, pipelines and a powerhouse were constructed and operated to provide both electricity and compressed air to the village and smelter.

However, in 1935 the mine and the associated power project were shut down. For safety reasons, the concrete arch storage dam was breached with several small holes near its base in several locations to permit water flow and to prevent overtopping of the storage dam. 

During the late 1930’s and early 1940’s large-scale salvage operations systematically removed all equipment and structural steel from Anyox to be used in the war efforts for World War Two, leaving behind the bones of the former town of 3,000 residents.

A massive forest fire caused by a lightning strike in 1946 swept clean the remains of Anyox leaving behind only the major concrete and steel structures which are still in evidence today.

Click Here to listen to my interview on CBC News about my trip to Anyox