Kitsault is an unincorporated settlement and a private town on the North Coast of British Columbia,

Canada Canada is a country in North America. Its ten provinces and three territories extend from the Atlantic Ocean to the Pacific Ocean and northward into the Arctic Ocean, covering over , making it the world's second-largest country by tot ...

, at the head of

Alice Arm Alice Arm is the east arm of Observatory Inlet, which itself is an arm of Portland Inlet, on the North Coast of British Columbia, Canada, near the border with the American state of Alaska. The abandoned settlement and steamer landing of Alice Arm, ...

Observatory Inlet Observatory Inlet is an inlet on the North Coast of British Columbia. It is a northward extension of Portland Inlet, other branches of which include the Portland Canal. The entrance of Observatory Inlet, from Portland Inlet, lies between Ramsden ...

and at the mouth of the

Kitsault River The Kitsault River is a river on the North Coast of British Columbia, Canada, located at the head of Alice Arm, which is the east arm of Observatory Inlet, which is itself an arm of Portland Inlet (see Portland Canal). Located at the mouth of th ...

. The locality of

and the Nisga'a community of Gits'oohl (formerly Gitzault Indian Reserve No. 24) are in the immediate vicinity. "Kitsault" is an adaptation of ''Gits'oohl'', which means "a ways in behind".

History

The later town of Kitsault was established in 1979 as the home community to a

molybdenum Molybdenum is a chemical element with the symbol Mo and atomic number 42 which is located in period 5 and group 6. The name is from Neo-Latin ''molybdaenum'', which is based on Ancient Greek ', meaning lead, since its ores were confused with lea ...

mine run by the Phelps Dodge corporation of the United States. The community was designed for 1,200 residents and included a shopping mall, restaurant, swimming pool and bowling alley. In 1982, however, prices for molybdenum crashed and the entire community was evacuated after just 18 months of residence. In 2004, the ghost town was bought by Indian-Canadian businessman

Krishnan Suthanthiran Krishnan Suthanthiran (born 1949) is an Indian-Canadian businessman, and president and founder of the Best Medical group of companies. He was born in India, educated in Canada, and made his fortune selling medical devices and real estate in the Wa ...

for $5.7 million; he has spent $2 million maintaining the town. In the end, he would have spent over $20 million more to fully update the town. He has also since closed the town to the public. In an effort to revitalize the ghost town, Kitsault has been proposed as a location for a liquefied natural gas (LNG) terminal site for the export of natural gas from northwestern British Columbia. LNG pipeline routing to Kitsault has been proposed.

References

* * *{{BCGNIS, 54302, Gitzault Indian Reserve 24 (rescinded)

External links

Official Website, with images

1929 film footage of the Dolly Varden Railway
Unincorporated settlements in British Columbia Ghost towns in British Columbia Mining communities in British Columbia North Coast of British Columbia Company towns in Canada

History

References

Further reading

External links