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This series consists of the records of the Corporation of the City of Sandon from 1898 to 1953. Records include letters, minute books, correspondence, memoranda, by-laws, voters lists, reports, accounting material, and other miscellaneous records.

Travelogue. Scenic and recreational attractions of the West Kootenay area. Includes sequences on Arrow, Christina and Kootenay lakes; mining history, abandoned mine workings, old hotels and ghost towns, including Sandon; Hugh Keenleyside dam (and boat lock there); boating, fishing and water-skiing; Duck Lake wildfowl sanctuary; Meadow Creek kokanee spawning channel; "house of bottles" tourist attraction; Ainsworth Hot Springs; the retired sternwheeler S.S. "Moyie" at Kaslo; the Balfour-Kootenay Bay car ferry; mining museum at Rossland; parade honouring champion skier Nancy Greene, who is seen winning the ladies' slalom in the Du Maurier International at Red Mountain; Trail, including Cominco smelter; Phoenix open-pit mine; Doukhobor village museum and tomb of Peter Veregin; trail riding on the Dewdney Trail; various facilities for visitors.

CALL NUMBER: T1147:0002 [and T2744:0001]
RECORDED: Sandon (B.C.), 1972
SUMMARY: TRACK 1: (1) ALEXANDER (SANDY) HARRIS of New Denver discusses the town of Sandon. His father came to Sandon in 1897 to mine silver/lead. Harris discusses the area's geology; Eli Carpenter, who pioneered mining in the area; and a dispute between Carpenter and his partner, Jack Seaton. He discusses the geography around Sandon; life there after the First World War; a murder; the town's organization; and why Sandon was abandoned in 1955, after a flood. There was no gold at Sandon, but there was a boom in mining silver and lead there. He discusses Gene Peterson, the only resident of Sandon as of 1972. Harris claims that organized ice hockey originated there in 1904.
TRACK 2: Mr. Harris discusses the Japanese people who lived in Sandon. During World War II, there was a heavy demand for the mine's resources. The government's role in moving the Japanese to the Slocan, and the character of the Japanese. After the war, the Japanese were moved east by the government. He discusses the effects of the 1955 flood. He discusses his life in the area; he eventually became the owner of the New Denver water works and power plant. The Sandon hydro plant was built in 1898 by Johnny Harris, a major contributor to the town's development. He describes the layout of Sandon, including its opera house and entertainments. (2) EUGENE (GENE) PETERSEN is interviewed. Peterson is one of the few people still living in Sandon. He discusses the other people who live there; the population of 5000 who lived there in the late 1800s; a fire which caused the town to be rebuilt; Sandon's founding in 1892, and the staking rush shortly thereafter. He discusses his father (who came from Norway to Sandon in 1923) and describes life in Sandon in the 1920s. He recalls the town being well organized, but with no highway connection; its dependence on the railway; the orderly conduct of its residents; and the local prostitutes, known for helping out miners who were broke. [Interview continued on next tape.]

CALL NUMBER: T1147:0001 [and T2744:0002]
RECORDED: Sandon (B.C.), 1972
SUMMARY: TRACK 1: EUGENE PETERSEN recalls the history of Sandon through various mining booms, up until its present condition as a ghost town. He discusses the 1929 murder of miner Sigvald Myklebost [Petersen says "1927"]; the killer was never convicted. An anecdote about how little law-breaking there was in Sandon. The “exodus” started during the depression in the 1930s. In the 1940s there were only 40 people. There was a slight increase in population in the 1950s, when 700 people lived in the town. The town emptied out again in the fall of 1953, when the population went down to 100. The flood of June 1955, in which half of the town was destroyed. The local power plant, built in 1896. He discusses what would be involved in the preservation of Sandon. He describes the silver-lead ore found at Sandon. Petersen still finds ore in the area, but it is not a big money maker. He plans on staying in Sandon until he works out his mining claim. (4) HAL WRIGHT, formerly of Saltspring Island, discusses his efforts to establish a museum at Sandon in the summer of 1972, working under an OFY grant. The museum displays local relics, along with photographs he acquired from the BC Archives. Wright is staying in Sandon through the winter. He plans on working for a carpenter and finishing school by correspondence. (5) EUGENE PETERSEN then discusses ghosts in the town. One of the remaining houses caught on fire, and he heard knocking on his door; no one was there, but there was a fire down the street.
[TRACK 2 is described separately; see AAAB1272.]

CALL NUMBER: T1866:0001 SUPPLIED TITLE OF TAPE(S): Robert E. Allen : the West Kootenays in the 1890s PERIOD COVERED: 1877-1896 RECORDED: [location unknown], 1959-10-24 & 25 SUMMARY: TRACK 1: Born in Nevada in 1877. To Spokane in 1880. Father a homesteader in Washington and later in the mining industry in Idaho. Family to the Slocan region in 1892. Trip from Kellogg, Idaho, to Nakusp, New Denver, Three Forks and Sandon. Hauling ore by pack trains. Jobs in the Sandon-New Denver area. Camp conditions. Helped father with mail contract, 1893. TRACK 2: Traveling in the West Kootenay region: Rossland, Nelson and the Slocan Valley. Adventures on a trip from Nelson to Three Forks via Kaslo. Allen has mail contract from Nakusp to the Slocan mines, 1893. Became packer for the mines. Allen in the transportation business in Sandon and Slocan City. CALL NUMBER: T1866:0002 SUPPLIED TITLE OF TAPE(S): Robert E. Allen : the B.C. Forest Branch, 1912-1917 PERIOD COVERED: 1896-1917 RECORDED: [location unknown], 1959-10-24 & 25 SUMMARY: TRACK 1: Sold out in Slocan City in 1906. Married in 1897. Story of his marriage and honeymoon. Lived in Slocan City, 1896-1910. Became a bush foreman, 1906. Sawmills in the West Kootenays. Flood on Arrow Lakes in 1907. Woods and packing jobs. Became road foreman in 1908 at Slocan City and Burton. Incident when Allen fired Sid Leary who was later Minister of Public Works for not working hard enough on road construction. TRACK 2: Political patronage in Public Works road crews. Allen got a job as a fire warden through the influence of William Hunter a Conservative back-bencher, 1911. Becomes divisional fire warden at Revelstoke in 1912. Traveling around his division. R.E. Benedict and John Lafon brought in from U.S. Forest Service to organize new B.C. Forest Branch, 1912. Allen becomes District Forester in Hazelton, 1913. Becomes head of amalgamated Prince Rupert Forest District, 1917. Staff in the Hazelton Forest District. CALL NUMBER: T1866:0003 SUPPLIED TITLE OF TAPE(S): Robert E. Allen : District Forester and mill operator, 1913-1926 PERIOD COVERED: 1913-1926 RECORDED: [location unknown], 1959-10-24 & 25 SUMMARY: TRACK 1: The Hazelton Forest District, 1913-17. Forest Rangers. Repetition of some earlier material about the Slocan mines. Becomes District Forester in Prince Rupert in 1917. Stories about M.A. Grainger, the second Chief Forester. Anecdote about Grainger's flat feet and his moccasins. Mrs. Grainger. Quit Forest Branch to go into sawmill business, 1919. TRACK 2: Anecdotes about Forest Branch personnel. In sawmill business, 1919-26. Hanall mill described. Working conditions in Hanall. Buys into a mill at Vanarsdol in 1925. Sawmills along the CNR line. The production of railway ties. CALL NUMBER: T1866:0004 SUPPLIED TITLE OF TAPE(S): Robert E. Allen : the B.C. Forest Branch, 1913-1945 PERIOD COVERED: 1920-1945 RECORDED: [location unknown], 1959-10-24 & 25 SUMMARY: TRACK 1: Tie production along the Skeena section of the CNR. Rejoined B.C. Forest Branch in 1926 as District Forester at Prince Rupert. Allen investigated after the change of government in 1928 but not fired. Allen non-political while employed by B.C.F.S. District Forester in Prince Rupert, 1926-30. Procedures for timber sales. Became District Forester at Kamloops, 1930-32. Became District Forester in Nelson, 1932. Squabbles over Forest Branch vehicles. TRACK 2: Allen was District Forester in Nelson, 1932-45. Retired in 1945. Staff of the Nelson Forest District. Staff. Fire a major problem in Nelson District. Dispute over who would be District Forester in Kamloops, 1940. Auction bidding for timber. Forest fires in the Nelson District. Expresses satisfaction with his Forest Branch career. Salaries for District Foresters. (End of interview)

The item is a b&w copy print of Sandon.

The item is a b&w copy print of William H. Todd, a Sandon tinsmith.

The item is a b&w copy print of Jake Pearson, Ike Pearson and Harry Nash riding horses at Sandon, B.C.

The item is a b&w copy print of Jake Pearson, Harry Nash and Ike Pearson sitting outside a log house in Sandon.