Abandoned BC: Cassiar
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- Опубліковано 2 жов 2024
- SUBSCRIBE: bit.ly/lifeofluke
The name Cassiar needs no introduction. One of northern BC's most well known ghost towns, this is the story of the rise and fall of Cassiar, explore with me as I see what this former asbestos mining company town looks like today. Another episode of the Abandoned BC series.
Video and editing by Luke Gibson.
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A buddy and I went from Nelson B.C to Cassiar in 93 or 94 and took all the hydro lines down for a guy who lived on Sunshine Coast.
Everything was intact and normal, I recall walking down a street and swings creaking back and forth, but no people, like being in the Twilight Zone, I'll never forget it.
Thanks for the memories.
Damn, I missed out on that!
We lived there over a year, worked at the hospital, my husband was electrician working at the construction of a new school at 1991. We have a wonderful memories.Our friend Gigi was taking us for hiking and gold search. Visiting Stewart big Glacier, Hyder Alaska and many more unforgettable places. I got pregnant there with my first son. He is 32 years old now.
This town was like one big family. Remember that people didn’t locked their houses. Was so trusting and safe. Great Party every weekend at the restaurant owned by Ida, Derek and Tim( great people)
Thanks for the video.. was a resident of Cassiar. Till it closed..
Pretty sure me, your brother and you used to hang out!, name is Barry Brown
Barry brown ???? Maybe..
@@mikesantos2638 Did you have a older brother named Joeseleto, pardon the spelling, him Ron Hunt and I used to get into hang together.
I had older sister stella , used to hang with lori Kahmla and a younger brother who used to hang with john Sethan.
I grew up in Cassiar, for the most of my young years! It is a town that so many called our "Home Town". All that lived there, miss it, and the folks who called it home!
I heard that the elementary school in Hudson's Hope, BC came from Cassiar. You'd know it!
1900 P&H Shovel, I worked at Cassiar employed as a truck driver for a short period of time then it was laid-off, Note always wore a respirator mask with two filters. Have a nice day.
Almost 10,000 views (as of this posting) yet only 354 people remembered to "Like" the video. This is why awesome channels like this one don't get noticed enough by UA-cam's algorithm. We MUST remember to Like the videos before we leave!
I appreciate that you often mention the scent of a place you’re exploring. Thank you for that! It gives additional depth to the second hand experience of exploring with you ✌🏼
Thanks! I try to describe the whole experience so that the feeling of being there is captured
Spent many a cold day there .Best years of my life.
Luke, I often wondered what became of cassia. I spent a month there fixing the tramway for the underground portal. I actually had an interesting time while there. Thanks for the video. Like a Ghost the town I knew appeared to me, the store, school, curling rink, the mill and cabins. ..
Jeff Conroy of Pittsburgh. Pennsylvania
Thanks Jeff, I'm sure it was massively different to experience Cassiar in its prime!
Yeah. To experience a true isolated mining town and its people, its bar seen, yeah that too. Working -40F Temps. Hey back then I wore moon boots they were really good and no cold feet all day. ( I got a few laughs on those by Cassiar folks but hey they just wanted a blue pair like them. )
Mine went bankrupt and now we're stuck with whatever they could not sell off. Someone should be held responsible for cleanup and reclamation. On the other hand there's a bit of Canadian history to explore.
My mom use to go to the high school their back in the 80s
She told me about her crazy teenage days at that school and how much fun it was
Sure looks different than in 1989.
I love seeing the ways in which nature reclaims its landscape, when human activity ceases. It's really humbling to think that, regardless of our impact, nature will find its "new normal," and move-on as if we never existed.
Exactly, and the reclaiming of nature is powerful, even if it happens slowly
@@lifeofluke The planet isn't impacted by the length of a human lifetime. So many of us have come and gone in our time, and it's barely been a blink in the timeline of the planet.
it'll take 1000 years to reclaim that slag pile
@@Morpheen999 1000 years is absolutely nothing in the history of earth
@@Morpheen999 that "slag pile" is just crushed rock (serpentine). period. no chemicals added.
Born and raised a Cassiar kid, you are a very good story teller thanks for the vid....
Thanks Kate!
Actually Born?
Cassiar had a small hospital but some great doctors and nurses (my mum was a nurse now retired) They stopped birthing children there at some point, but in their were lots of kids born and raised there it was a terrific place to raise. A young family. Virtually no crime or unemployment. I left there when I was 17 so I don’t know much about the mine, my mum has recently told me that some of the fibres from Cassiar were Hand picked for NASA. My dad had a trap line that went from Mac dame post to the mouth of the Eagle River.
Ah shoot, I would have loved to include that little fact in the video!
Went to school here in 1980, lived in the gold mining camp across the highway. Crazy place all that raw asbestos flying off the peak of the hill in the wind.
Really interesting memory, Vanessa, thanks!
which gold mine??? My Dad had a cabin on McDame Creek, by Erickson Gold,and Jade City!
I've seen a lot of B.C. but your visits to these forgotten ghost towns and your excellent filming is quite breathtaking! I subscribed after watching a few of your videos, and must say, your soundtracks are some of the best...keep up the quality content🤙
My dad worked there in the early '70's as an engineering student. He said the town had a very nice sense of community he still talks fondly to this day about living and working there.
I can imagine! it's great to have memories like those.
Great 👍 😊 Video Of Beautiful 🥰 British Columbia......... 🇨🇦
Thanks James!
Asbestos it gets! This is a genius video! Strange with all this Knowledge now china knowingly labels and ships esbestos motorcycle bits all over the world(brake pads, gaskets,exhaust gaskets) recieved many unknowingly untill it arrived and was labeled so. Such Gorgeous Veiws in this Video!
Great job Luke! Was there about 8 years ago.
thanks Rob!
You should visit Cassiar’s brother town Clinton Creek! It’s located in the western part of the Yukon. It was owned by Cassiar Asbestos Corporation like Cassiar and was pretty much the same thing yet smaller! It had a population of around 500 and ran from 1967-1978! I don’t know why it shut down but it pretty much did the same thing when Cassiar shut down, They forced everyone to leave and auctioned everything off. You should check it out! I would love to see a video/documentary about it! But hey, no pressure! :D
Thanks for the recommendation, maybe I'll be able to get up to the Yukon again and check that spot out!
Very cool
always love the abandoned bc vids
Asbestos is also used in heavy metals as a hardener. I've heard of people who have grown up there. The Talhtan are strong and incredible people with a fascinating history.
I currently work near this mine in another. Which will probably be a relic of another era for another generation to explore in 30+ years.
Thank you for making this video.
I never did much hiking there so it was nice to see the lakes on that mountain that did such a "great" job of blocking the sun in winter. A while in winter sun never hit the house.
I lived in Cassiar from late 1958 to early 1966, then worked there summer 1967. Summer 1968 I worked in Clinton Creek which was another asbestos mine operated by the same company.
The school when I got there was two rooms and covered grades 1 to 9. Students went to boarding schools "outside" to continue their educations.
The streets were gravel/dirt until they were paved summer 1965.
In winter the streets were packed snow, no sanding. We could put our skiis on at home and skate-ski to the ski hill.
No effects from the asbestos so far that i can tell. Differing info re incubation period. One version is that if you die of something other than asbestos related disease then the incubation period is over.
The History channel did an episode on Cassiar in their Ghost town series.
Link below is for a promo film the company had made. It shows the town/mine in the mid sixties.
ua-cam.com/video/cZReMAnky1Q/v-deo.html
Haunting, austere beauty, respectfully and expertly captured. I love these video stories; history made alive. Terrific work and super editing. I am happily addicted to Lifeofluke. Bets wishes from Makara Beach, near Wellington, New Zealand.
Thanks very much! Cheers to NZ
Excellent story telling with amazing visuals, You have a talent for that
I appreciate that, Jerry!
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Man your videos are amazing!!!!!!!!!!! Everything is perfect - narration, camerawork, music
Thanks dude!
Your delivery is very natural and even keeled. Very professional well done video.
Thanks.
Thanks Marty!
Worked there in 1970/71. Lived all over the world since. Taking a camper from Ontario to Whitehorse.......want to see what is in Cassiar and the YK today, 51 years later.
nice to hear a couple people still live there
My Dad passed away from Asbestos Cancer. I hope you kept safe while you were there! Did you visit Telegraph Creek while you were up there? It has some very cool history.
Great video my friend just found your channel again. Love the name by the way my original UA-cam channel was similar. FYI it’s called Bear Skat just so you know. Cheers.
Thanks guys, glad you found my videos again, cheers!
So sad to see this. I was there a number of times in the 198⁹0s and it was so beautiful. The people were amazing. Life can change so quick. Thanks for sharing.
Great video! Thanks
Thanks Bill!
Great to see how mining companies can just walk away from their environmental responsibilities.
Did you miss the part where he explains they went bankrupt? With what money should they use for cleanup ?
In UK they have to clean up but slimeball lawyers got judges to say asbestos wasn't dangerous.
@@drywallmike0819 These companies always use bankruptcy as an excuse. Would you rather have companies pay into a remediation account to fully fund their environmental rehab when they come to end of mine life or just have the taxpayers fund it? Or worse, most governments just forget it was ever mined and let future generations deal with the aftermath. If they are going to mine public lands there must be laws in place to protect both the environment and the taxpayer.
@@drywallmike0819 no company should be allowed to even start up production if they don't have an environmentally-sound close-up plan.
Cassiar is a weird place from all angles. Firstly before the mine the naturally occurring asbestos just sat in the open air for centuries getting blown all over the valley as it weathered making it hard to tell what contamination came from mining and what was there already. There really was that much asbestos there that the area would have been considered a contaminated zone by modern standards before humans ever set foot there. Aside from the unsightly tailings pile which despite being ugly is basically just a pile of rocks and rusting equipment left around and the few processing buildings left there isnt much in the way of objective contamination. By the time of closure the townsite itself was not owned by the company directly as company owned towns were gradually turned into "normal" towns over the course of the Bennett Sr administration and ultimately all the crumbling residential stuff is basically under the BC Govt because the govt bought out all residents who wanted to leave (hence the auctioning off afterwards).
Complicating the removal of equipment and the processing buildings and even tailings pile are modern standards on asbstos safety. Demolishing those buildings would kick up much asbestos laden dust in the presence of workers and its basically been decided that its safer to just leave everything as is for now and not disturb the area.
Were I ever to venture to that place I seriously doubt my leaving. Man that is beautiful country.
I worked in Cassiar in 1986. I have heard tales of night watchmen named Richard G. who is supposed to haunt the old sites.
Fast dog!
My brother worked and lived in Cassiar for several years in the late 1960's. He worked for CN Telecommunications. he installed and removed all the telephones when this was a going concern. He met his wife there, who was teaching school.
Your going places many cannot because of some disability! Keep up the good work!
Thanks Charlie!
I was in cassia for about three-year you mention the tailings pile.I will tell you a story about that. Here what I remember. The government came to cassia and told the mining company that the tailing was to high and was was blowing all over the valley it looked like a mountain.and that they would have cut it down half way. There was a community just outside of town next to that tailing and there was a few homes and a garage there I remember taking my vehicle there to get work done there anyway the company had to buy out all those people out and the businesses and then cut that down and bury that community of buildings.thats what I remember. If anybody knows more about that it would be nice to know more about that. Would anybody like to know the story about the stolen 50 ton truck load of jade
😊
That sounds like a awesome story that's a lot of Jade did it come from Jade City
Beautiful video but please not so much depressing music next time
I love old sites like this !
I’m glad you do this kind of exploring of history in the area !
Fabulous.
Its like BC's Prypyat minus the radiation
Great videothanks Luke!
I'm planning on driving up to Northern BC this summer (from Calgary) and it's definately on my list of places I really need to see :)
Thanks Todd, I hope you get there!
Great Video, im one of the people still living in Cassiar/ Jade City.
Lived there from ‘79 to ‘88 and I don’t glow in the dark but unfortunately some poor souls were affected. The rule was “if Andy was making dust pushing on the tailings pile you call and they add more water” (maybe the “white hats” should have thought that one out a bit more…). I thought the green snow was pretty. Great video bud, respectfully filmed and tastefully chronicled / from a past resident of what was a perfect little northern town.
Thank you Joseph!
@@lifeofluke your most welcome. New subscriber…keep the feeds a rollin. Good stuff.
That tailings pile is massive! It appears that there's some vegetation growing out of the top which is absolutely amazing how it manages to grow out of pure serpentine.
Yep, I noticed that too, likely seeds were carried by wind or in machinery to the top and managed to find enough water to put down roots and grow! Pretty resilient!
We hydroseeded that tailings pile many many times trying to get various things to grow on it.. very little took. Nice to see mother nature is starting to finally take hold. For everyone who grew up or lived in Cassiar, seeing that tailings pile as you drove in from the highway was a beautiful sight, it meant you were almost home. Great video. Thanks for making it.
I think they wanted to mine in the side of the mountains with a giant drill as a joke to the Washington thing
Cool video. Wild history. Amazingly beautiful area. I met guys who worked there in the 70s. 😉👍🌲🇨🇦
Superb videography. Thanks.
Thank you for watching, Larry!
I can't remember the name of that community
It‘s sad to see places in nature not cleaned up.
Really good thank you excellent cinematography 👍
"inhalation or ingestion of silica particles/fibres" - it's not exclusive to asbestos
good tip
Wowww it's amazing, thanks luke
Thanks Rishabh
Such a awesome UA-cam channel
Thanks dude!
I appreciate your video. Gorgeous. Cassiar was the start of a month long backpacking trip to the Alaskan highway in the Yukon.
Thanks Brandon!
The knowldege that asbestos was deadly was well known from 1930's and until all UK asbestos processing ceased thousands of workers and even people living close to mills died from the untreatable lung diseaase.
IN UK the companies that owned the mills are still liable to pay big damages to people who are dying even 50 years after first contact with the stuff.
Sick intro man! Love the music you put to it.
Thanks Jesse!
Great documentary like video. I am now a subscriber.. Yippee can't wait to see more. Super job
Thanks Alexander!
That's some goooood dubstep in the biking part 👌
Weren't you afraid of inhaling asbestos that could linger in the area? Any amount of it in your lungs can lead to serious problems down the road.
No I wasn't afraid, everything I did was very low risk
I have lived in or been to most of the places you have posted about. It makes me homesick for the north.
There was a house in cassiar that was chainsawed down the middle. Victim of a nasty divorce.
Wow! haha
You create amazing content and is a shame that you don't have more subs,i hope more people will discover your chanel.Keep up the great work!!!
Greetings from Greece
Thanks Hercules!
another great video, Luke! hope you get more following
thanks Pawan!
Thanks a lot for posting this. Those mountains will never stop being familiar to me.
Awesome stuff.
Thanks Andrew!
Thank you, Luke, for this excellent intro to Cassiar. Hoping to make a sidetrip there in my way north in mid-May.
Beautiful photography 😍
In the eighties I hauled explosives to a hard rock gold mine just outside Cassiar but only in the winter, neve rgot to see the beauty of the area in the summer
although the scenery in the winter was absolutley stunning.Thanks for the vid.
Thanks for watching, Kenneth!
Enjoyed this very much...well done but somewhat of a melancholy journey for me as I have some wonderful memories from my time there from fall of 69 to summer of 72....thank you for doing this!!!
Thanks Kenton, it's an unfortunate end but at least you got to experience it in its prime!
Sick
My Opa used to work there back in the day.
Let.me know if any body would like here the story about the stolen jade
@@josephbuyck7127 sounds good how can we hear about the 50 ton load of Jade 💰🏆
How can a company destroy the moutains and walk away from all that mess and it still stands there today ?And the generation that did it now wants their kids too pay for it.
Unfortunately you'll find that this is an all-too-common phenomenon around the whole world, not just here in Canada. It's changing more now, though.
@@lifeofluke ya it's truly sad. I was always taught too leave no trace ...but apparently not everyone has learned that lesson
We have piles of tailings next door in Asbestos, Québec. IMHO the government should have made the companies bank money to fill in the pits.
Loved this one! Super interesting and great shots as usual
thanks a lot!
Great video like what you have shown .The plant manager at the mine his first name was Mike even though I live in the states I worked with him later in Washington State after he locked the gate after the mining days were over he told me lots of stories about this mine and the operations if I'm not mistaken he still lives in Abbotsford British Columbia area 🙏🤔
Great explore Luke! I wish your videos were hours long 😁👍
Thanks Brent, I'll have to buy new hard drives and computer to make that happen!
Great video and interesting. I worked in a mine for 33 years. We were producing zinc, lead copper and a little bit silver. It is always interesting to see other mine locations.
Ah, very cool, which mine was that?
@@lifeofluke It was Brunswick Mines In the Bathurst area in New Brunswick. It is closed now and it has been completely demolished and the area is replanted. Only the open pit is present and tells you that a mine has been in the area. It opened in 1964 and closed on April 30, 2013. It was a super safe place to work.
@@599miata very interesting, thanks for sharing that!
@@lifeofluke My pleasure. Take care.
AsbesTOAST
Hey Luke I'm going through some of your older vids I gave you another shoutout about your vids on Churchill and the the Barrett Battery. I have the same yellow Tupperware cup that you had your coffee in. From a tv show I watched Canada is the biggest export of exbestos in the world. It was about health concerns in India that the fibers are sepperated by hand and the workers don't even wear a mask on that show 60 minutes.
Thanks! It's a great cup as it's lightweight and won't break when packed.
Yes, it is true that Canada is one of the largest exporters of asbestos, even while most countries have banned it.
I would really appreciate, if you will shout out my name - Aryan.
It's really unbelievable that your videos are so high-quality but still underrated! It must be frustrating for you to put so much effort on a video and not getting much of a response. But, I, and others who enjoy your videos wait eagerly for your new videos. Please keep making them! You are my one of the favourite travel vloggers.
Thanks so much! I try not to let any frustration get the better of me, and I do find it's a great motivator to improve
Never disappoint. I like the bits of history.
Thanks, also there's more history to Cassiar than I had space to include in this video!
lifeofluke I am sure but never thought they did asbestos there. Man you subscribed to my channel? Cool thanks 🙏 Did not expect that.
Best. Dog-walk. EVER.
empty space as far as you can see
Loved it
OH man I get tingling feeling everytime I watch these kind of videos about Abandoned BC. How do you find these places? I really want to do exploring myself like this one day but not sure how to find these really remote places. And how do you get to these places? I'm in vancouver and can't really find a clear path on google maps (trying to go north of BC). Good content bro, keep it up.
Thanks Kunwar! I spend a lot of time researching BC's history so that's how I find these places. To get to Cassiar is really straightforward, it's off of Hwy 37 North (Stewart-Cassiar highway), it's just a looong way north!
Right on. I've seen vids and pics of Cassiar before....but not quite like this. Great job. Subscribed.
Thanks Sean!
I loved the drone shot following you on your bike down the mountain! Super epic 🙌🏼
thanks Anthony!
Great videos !...I came upon your channel when I saw your Hedley mine video I live in Princeton so that mine is like my back yard you seem to have ventured many places I have like the thunderbird mine was there 15 years ago not seen this place in person...you defiantly deserve more subscribers than this you can count me in good work bud!
Thanks very much!
Imagine just packing your bags up and leaving life to live off grid here. No more hustling, no bills to pay, no people or traffic or clocks! I wonder if you even could with it being a asbestos mine 🤔
It used to be land that was taken from the first nations.
Dam i miss cassiar worked there 3 yrs.
great videos, keep em coming!
thanks Adam, I will!
Awesome video thanks, I have visited Cassiar in the past so beautiful in summer the green mountains felt like I was there with u. Also nice drone footage what kind of drone did u use ?
Thanks! I used the dji mavic 2 pro
Wicked!!
Just a quick question. Did there happen to be a house there with a 79 ford plow truck in the garage?
I don't recall seeing one...
Great content!
thanks Jaime!