Sandon

Sandon in the 1890s had around five thousand people, two railways, twenty-four hotels, electric light before much of Canada and a boardwalk built over the creek that ran through the middle of town. The silver gave out, fires burned parts of it, and in 1955 a flood tore the buried creek loose and destroyed most of what remained. A few buildings survive, including the city hall and the Silversmith powerhouse, which has generated hydroelectricity continuously since 1897 and is among the oldest working plants in Canada. A collection of retired Vancouver trolley buses sits rusting in the open, brought here for storage and never moved.

What you actually see

• The 1897 powerhouse - a hydro plant still generating after more than a century.
• The surviving buildings - city hall and a handful of structures on the creek.
• The trolley buses - retired Vancouver electric buses rusting in rows.
• The mine landscape - tailings and workings in the valley above.

When to go

June to September; the road is unploughed and the site is snowbound in winter. The museum keeps short summer hours run by volunteers.

Honest expectations

Very little is left standing; this is a ruin site, not a preserved town. The access road is rough gravel. Buildings are unsafe to enter and fenced.

Nearby

New Denver lies west; Kaslo is east over the pass.