Phoenix is a ghost town

Ghost town

A ghost town is an abandoned town or city. A town often becomes a ghost town because the economic activity that supported it has failed, or due to natural or human-caused disasters such as floods, government actions, uncontrolled lawlessness, war, or nuclear disasters...

 in the Boundary Country

Boundary Country

The Boundary Country is a historical designation for a district in southern British Columbia lying, as its name suggests, along the boundary between Canada and the United States. It lies to the east of the southern Okanagan Valley and to the west of the West Kootenay. It is often included in...

 of British Columbia

British Columbia

British Columbia is the westernmost of Canada's provinces and is known for its natural beauty, as reflected in its Latin motto, Splendor sine occasu . Its name was chosen by Queen Victoria in 1858...

, Canada

Canada

Canada is a North American country consisting of ten provinces and three territories. Located in the northern part of the continent, it extends from the Atlantic Ocean in the east to the Pacific Ocean in the west, and northward into the Arctic Ocean...

, 11 km east of Greenwood

Greenwood, British Columbia

Greenwood is a small city in south central British Columbia.It was incorporated in 1897 and was formerly one of the principal cities of the Boundary Country smelting and mining district. It earned "city" status and has retained that stature despite the population implosion following the closure of...

. Once called the “highest city in Canada” by its citizens (1,411 metres / 4,630 feet above sea level) it was a booming copper mining community from the late 1890s until 1919. In its heyday it was home to 1,000 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, 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

Stanley Cup

The Stanley Cup is an ice hockey club trophy, awarded annually to the National Hockey League playoffs champion after the conclusion of the Stanley Cup Finals. It has been referred to as The Cup, Lord Stanley's Cup, The Holy Grail, or facetiously as Lord Stanley's Mug...

, but it was too late to qualify. The Granby Consolidated Mining, Smelting and Power Company, Limited

Granby Consolidated Mining, Smelting and Power Company, Limited

Granby Consolidated Mining, Smelting & Power Company, Limited Granby Consolidated Mining, Smelting & Power Company, Limited Granby Consolidated Mining, Smelting & Power Company, Limited (also known as Granby Consolidated Mining & Smelting Company, Granby Copper & Granby Mining Company Ltd was a...

 operated the Phoenix Mine

Phoenix Mine

Phoenix Mine was an open pit and underground mining operation in city of Phoenix in the Boundary Country region of British Columbia, Canada that operated in the early and mid 20th century, run by the Granby Consolidated Mining, Smelting and Power Company, Limited. It was discovered in 1891, but was...

, a copper mine that produced 13,678,901 tons of ore before operations ceased on June 14, 1919.

Boom years

Copper was discovered at Phoenix in 1891, credited to an American prospector named 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. The log cabins of Greenwood Camp were replaced by frame houses and brick homes. Then, in 1896, the Canadian Pacific Railway

Canadian Pacific Railway

The Canadian Pacific Railway , formerly also known as CP Rail between 1968 and 1996, is a historic Canadian Class I railway founded in 1881 and now operated by Canadian Pacific Railway Limited, which began operations as legal owner in a corporate restructuring in 2001...

 and the Great Northern Railway arrived. By then, with the exception of the one at Rossland

Rossland, British Columbia

Rossland is a city in the West Kootenay region of British Columbia.Tucked high in the Monashee Mountains, Rossland is at an elevation of 1023 metres . Population today is approximately 3500; a number that fluctuates from season to season. The population is at its peak during the winter...

, the output of the mines was exceeding the combined output of every other copper mine in British Columbia. The town got its own newspaper, the Phoenix Pioneer, in 1896 and on October 1, 1898, Greenwood Camp was renamed Phoenix when the first post office opened.. By the early 1900s, Phoenix was a thriving community with electricity and telephone services, a hospital, banquet hall, ballroom, opera house and its own stage

Stagecoach

A stagecoach is a type of covered wagon for passengers and goods, strongly sprung and drawn by four horses, usually four-in-hand. Widely used before the introduction of railway transport, it made regular trips between stages or stations, which were places of rest provided for stagecoach travelers...

 line. There was no lack of fine meals or accommodation: on the Christmas Day menu at the Brooklyn Hotel in 1911 the variety of delicacies included Russian caviar

Caviar

Caviar, sometimes called black caviar, is a luxury delicacy, consisting of processed, salted, non-fertilized sturgeon roe. The roe can be "fresh" or pasteurized, the latter having much less culinary and economic value....

, Green Turtle soup and English plum pudding with brandy sauce.

Aftermath

When World War I

World War I

World War I , which was predominantly called the World War or the Great War from its occurrence until 1939, and the First World War or World War I thereafter, was a major war centred in Europe that began on 28 July 1914 and lasted until 11 November 1918...

 ended in 1918, the price of copper dropped dramatically and Phoenix, which was completely reliant on its one industry, began to die. When the last ore was shipped out in 1919, thousands exited soon after. Many left their homes and belongings, making Phoenix 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.

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

One remaining relic is Phoenix’s World War I cenotaph

Cenotaph

A cenotaph is an "empty tomb" or a monument erected in honour of a person or group of people whose remains are elsewhere. It can also be the initial tomb for a person who has since been interred elsewhere. The word derives from the Greek κενοτάφιον = kenotaphion...

. Another memorial can be found in nearby Greenwood where the open pit miners of the seventies erected a commemorative phoenix

Phoenix (mythology)

The phoenix or phenix is a mythical sacred firebird that can be found in the mythologies of the Arabian, Persians, Greeks, Romans, Egyptians, Chinese, Indian and Phoenicians....

bird sculpture to mark the hopes that someday Phoenix will rise again. In recent years, locals have restored the pioneer cemetery in Phoenix.