Token for one cigar from B.C. ghost city sells for $610 greater than a century later

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A uncommon token for one free cigar at a long-defunct lodge in a B.C. ghost city has bought for greater than $600.

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Over the following 5 days there have been 16 bids. One bidder began at $155 and ended up making a closing provide of $600 earlier than being outbid for $610 on the final minute by somebody who had made no earlier bids.

Sandon is considered one of B.C.’s well-known ghost cities, situated midway between New Denver and Kaslo off Freeway 31A within the West Kootenay.

It was constructed to service a short-lived however profitable silver growth within the deep and excessive valley famend for its heavy annual snowfall. The neighborhood prospered from 1890 to 1900, then died off earlier than having one other growth throughout the First World Conflict.

The primary lodge was registered in Might 1893 and inside a number of years Sandon had 24 resorts, two dozen saloons, two rail strains and three breweries with round 5,000 everlasting residents. There was additionally a curling enviornment, hockey rink and even a ski hill.

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It was included as a metropolis in 1898.

In 1900, a hearth destroyed a lot of the city’s core, although it was rebuilt with much less grandeur. In 1907, an avalanche destroyed extra buildings and in 1955 a lot of the remaining buildings had been destroyed by a flood.

Sandon was additionally the primary neighborhood in B.C. to function absolutely on hydro energy. It’s a summer time vacationer vacation spot now, notable for its assortment of classic B.C. Transit buses and its entry to the beautiful Idaho Peak lookout.

In accordance with West Kootenay historian Greg Nesteroff, there have been 4 resorts in Sandon referred to as the Reco at one level or one other and this token was doubtless from the second or third incarnation, operated by John Morgan Harris.

Harris was the most important identify in enterprise in Sandon and stayed on till the bitter finish. He died there in 1954.

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The neighborhood was additionally utilized by the federal authorities to incarcerate Japanese Canadians throughout the Second World Conflict.

Harris would use the tokens handy out to folks as a promotion.

Sandon was former B.C. politician and historian Invoice Barlee’s favorite outdated mining city in B.C. and was featured in his Gold Trails and Ghost Cities collection.

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