BC is beautiful all over, but my word, you do indeed seem to have found THE most idyllic spot!

I would live there in a heartbeat, you are so lucky!!

Oh Moet I could answer all your questions now! OP is responsible for me doing nothing at all for almost TWO HOURS reading up on these 'ghost towns' watching YouTube vids of them and all sorts!

Just google Canadian ghost towns. Fascinating stuff. See - I'm always learning stuff on Dogsey - even if it's nowt to do with dawgs!

WOW. That looks beautiful. Do you fancy a lodger
Well done you for following your dream.

Gorgeous place

Hi Folks! Thank you so much for your kind words! Butedale is amazing beyond words. (Though I do try to find the words!) And oh yes, I'm keeping a journal. Didn't think of a an online blog! Gonna have to do that. You're all so right!

I'll give ya's a couple links from another forum I'm on that's got the low-down in some pretty serious details.

Here's a couple from Bushcraft USA

http://bushcraftusa.com/forum/showth...wn-in-the-Bush

http://bushcraftusa.com/forum/showth...st-Town-Update

I could have just copied and pasted my posts I suppose, but I'd lose the pictures. And speaking of pictures; I have a whole bunch of Butedale from way back in the day, and I should show ya's a few.


Aerial Photo from 1923 or 1926


The General Store. (1940's)

Yes, it's gone now. It was a hazard hanging over the docks, so the remains of it was burned down last Summer.

Butedale's fishing fleet. (1940's)


The General Store with the Bunkhouse in the upper right. (1940's)


More of the town.

My cabin is the one dead center of the picture.

Anyhoo, about the only info that's missing from the BCUSA posts is why Butedale actually became a ghost town. Here t is.

Butedale was Built in 1909 by the Western Packers, who in 1917 sold it to Canfisco. (Makers of Gold Seal - Chicken of the Sea, etc.) anyways, it ran merrily along rendering oil from Herring, and canning Salmon until the cannery collapsed into the ocean after the creek washed out the footings for the pilings it was built upon. After that they continued on with producing herring oil until a massive snow load one winter collapsed the roof of the rendering plant. In 1957 (or thereabouts) they rebuilt the rendering plant and ran it for only 2 years before Canfisco shut down Butedale to consolidate it's operations in Prince Rupert and Vancouver.

So, in 1959 it was over as a town, but still operated it's fuel docks and the general store. Until around 1985 there were actual caretakers living there actually taking care of the property; but at that time it was sold to a private citizen who had big plans, but no ambition. So, the caretakers were replaced with care less takers of everything not nailed down. And Butedale was raped. Every old hand cranked phone, every claw foot tub, all the furniture, dishes, clothing, refrigerators, the pool tables in the bunk house, even every inch of power lines were stolen. Before that, the town was actually the most "ghostly" of all ghost town due to one interesting thing. The power was left on. All the houses were lit up. All the buildings, the Bunkhouses, the streetlights, everything. You could even go into the old Bunkhouse 20 years after the place closed in '59 and still have a hot shower from the electric boiler still heating water. Of course that all changed after the new owner allowed scavengers to strip the place bare. Anyways, that's how we got a ghost town. It's actually pretty aggravating to me to know that with just a few thousand dollars he could have put tin roofing on all the buildings without it, and saved 90% of whats collapsed and gone now. Truly teeth gnashing! Well, you can see by the pictures what's gone. And all because he didn't tin the roofs. Sigh...


Anyhoo, 'nuff of that disheartening chatter! I'm at (what's left of) Butedale, and I'm HAPPY!

Y'know, I'm going to try and cut & paste my full description of Butedale from my BCUSA post. The pictures may actually come along.

Here it is...


For those who don't know; (and that's most of the world), Butedale is an abandoned salmon cannery and herring oil rendering plant that has slowly decayed into the wilderness since it was closed in 1959. It was bought by a private citizen back in the eighties, and unfortunately he didn't do anything with it except allow a long run of squatters to live there and steal and sell everything not tied down. Actually, they stole the stuff that was tied down too. Here's some pain for some of us. One entire building was sabotaged so that it would fall into the ocean and become "salvageable" and salable. And the timbers in the building were a variety of 100+ years old, old growth timbers. (60 foot long 12 x 16 Douglas fir, 30 foot long 12 x 12 Douglas fir, almost an acre of double tongue and groove red cedar 3 x 8, 30 foot long 10 x10 ironwood net loft beams, etc, etc. So much was stolen it just hurts. The hand cranked telephones, the cast iron claw foot tubs, even... even... I don't know how to say it... even a whole sheepload of Aladdin oil lanterns stolen and sold for $5 a piece. I know, I know, I'm sorry. The horror struck me like that too when I found out.

Anyhoo, 'nuff of that! I'm off to BUTEDALE!!! Just imagine; I'll be the sole inhabitant of a ghost town on the Coast of a 1000 square mile completely uninhabited island. (Princess Royal Island, British Columbia.) All my heating is wood heat, All my baking is by an oven I built to fit over the curved top of the wood stove. Much of my cooking will be on or in the wood stove, though, I'll admit that I'll probably use the propane range more than I would like to.

It's a pretty awesome place. The scenery is something out of a fairy tale, the wildlife too. There's Killer Whales, Humpbacks, Gray Whales, Dolphins, porpoises, Sea Lions, Seals, Sea Otters, Coastal Wolves, Grizzly Bears, Black Bears, and even ghosts. Spirits actually. Spirit Bears. They're Black Bears that are completely white, (or blonde.) They're not albino's, their fur is just, white. (Double recessive gene, long explanation.) Not piebald's either. About 10% of the black bears on the island are white, or "Spirit Bears". The beauty of the place is indescribable. Even pictures barely scratch the surface due there being just. so. much. beauty. The mountains are gorgeous, the ocean is gorgeous, the lake is, the two gigantic waterfalls are, the little waterfalls are, the little island across from the town is, the hotspring is, everything is just... ...perfect there. And yes, it has a hotspring 6 miles away by boat. And a gold mine that was highgraded back in the early 1900's, but hasn't been touched since. Yup. Goldmine. Oh! And free power through the old gigantic 350 kw pelton turbine now being connected to an alternator and an inverter. Long story, ask me some time.

Anyways, not only is there wildlife, and beauty all around, but the food bounty is just stupid. No really, it's actually stupid. Nearly every square yard on land has something edible growing on it. EVERY type of berry that you can possibly find on the coast seem to ALL grow in Butedale. Huckleberries (Blue and red), Blueberries (Highbush and lowbush), Thimbleberries, Strawberries, Raspberries (Normal and creeping vine), Blackberries, Starberries, Dewberries, Bearberries, and best of em all... Salmonberries. For those not in the know; Salmonberries look just like a raspberry, except that they can ripen in three different colors. Bright Yellow, Bright Orange, and Bright Red. Just imagine the rainbow jams I'll be making with all those colors! And then, there's the fishing. Off the dock there's Butter Sole. Out a little deeper and you get the Dungeness Crab. A little further and yer dropping prawn traps, in the way deep water there is a bunch of different cod, and my fave; Red Snapper. Drool... Up at the lake the cutthroat trout take longer to get off of the hook than to get on. No joke. There's supposed to be 5+ pound Dolly Varden at the lake too, but I've never caught one.

It really is like a dream at Butedale. The silence is pure except for the occasional passing tug, the air is as pure as it gets. The water from the lake was measured for dissolved mineral content twice when I was there and the results were staggering to everyone. First test after three weeks without rain and the PPM for the dissolved minerals was 0.01 PPM. The second time was after three weeks of rain and the result was 0.1 PPM. Butedale Lake may possibly have the cleanest water on EARTH. Not to mention the most glorious light pollution free skies at night. The nearest civilization is Klemtu, (Pop. ~450) a First Nations village about 35 miles South by boat, or Harltey Bay, (Pop. ~ 200) another First Nations village 45 miles to the North. (By boat.) The nearest actual town is Kitimat, 70 miles away by boat. That's where I got / will get my non perishables like canned veggies, canned whatever, bulk flour and sugar and that jazz. But most of my protein came / will come from the lake and ocean. Again. One thing different this time. This time I have a crapload more self sufficiency supplies and equipment including not just a normal Mason Jar canning set, buuut, I also have a manual tin can sealer so I'll make my own tins of meat or butter or cheese or whatever BEFORE I go. Ahhh, cans of shelf stable butter and cheese, and I won't have had to pay 300% import duties on them either. (Stupid Canadian Import Laws!!!) Anyways, I've got manual grinders, mills, juicers, slicers, dicers, choppers, whatever. You name it; if it has a hand crank and it has something to do with food, I own it. And then, I've now got white gas Coleman stoves coming out my Yin~Yang, and a couple good single mantle Coleman lanterns. More than a hundred pounds of cast iron cookware that I didn't have last time will be coming. A couple of big totes hold all my manual woodworking tools. A couple of chainsaws and a brush saw will be coming to Butedale for firewood cutting and trail making / re-making. And the list goes on.

The pictures actually made the transfer from one forum to the next, but there were too many for one post, so I'll save em for the next.


Righty then, thank you all again for your awesomeness! And I'll keep on with the updates if ya's don't mind.


Cheers!

If that's what heaven looks like I wanna go there. What a beautiful place, I only see those sort of places in films. Lucky you and Bud. Its good leaving the rat race. Good for you.

Oh don't dare forget to update us. I'm hanging on every word here. I am now a minor expert on the subject of Ghost Towns having spent my entire morning reading up on them!

So glad you posted this. Who'd a tho't it - finding this little gem of a story in the dog forum!

I see it says your present location is Kitimat? I had a friend, Sheryl, who lived in Kitimat (and probably still does but we lost touch) it was pretty deserted enough around there by the sound of it. She got snowed in every winter.

By the way - I loved the way that cat immediately 'moved in with you' lol!

Thanks for the info on the town, very interesting and sad that it was sold out for a few dollars here and there.

Enjoy and keep us updated!!

Hi! Oops! I guess I gotta update my profile from "Kitimat" to "Butedale", eh? lol!

Here's the pics I didn't have room for.

The General Store


Channel Mountains from the dock.


Butedale Lake


Butedale Lake Frosty Morning


Those are "Postcards" I had printed up to sell to tourists when I was living here last time.

And here's a couple of Bud enjoying his new territory.

His first snow.

He's a nut!

Surveying his Kingdom. lol!


He's definitely lovin' it here! I'm so glad that Tiger was here, though. Bud was pretty lonesome for a while for Junior, his best doggy buddy back in Kitimat. But of course, a kitty just ain't the same as a doggy buddy, so when I go back to Kitimat for a grocery run in March or April, I'll be picking up a female Lab / Husky mix for a buddy for Bud. (She's been fixed, so no possible troubles there.) Her name is Sage, and she's been at the Kitimat Humane Society for more than a year now, and that's only because they absolutely adore her there; and because she needs a home where she can be as energetic as she needs, (apparently she's VERY energetic), and someone who has oodles of time on their hands to keep her energy directed into fun and love. Ahem, I think I just might have that place, and the oodles of time. (And the love.) lol! Anyways, I've been chatting back and forth with the Humane Society for a while, and all I pretty much need to do is show up and meet Sage to make sure she's happy with Bud and myself. Then She'll become part of the Butedale Clan. Here's a pic of Sage.


My Gawd she's a cutie! Who couldn't love that face?! She's going to be so happy here! And Bud will be so happy to have someone almost his size to play with. (She's about 3 years, and looks to be a good German Shepherd sized dog.) Bud is still well on course to being a monster. At 9 months now his growth has slowed a lot, but he's over 75 pounds and is already starting to broaden out significantly in his chest area.

But by gosh I hope they hit it off right away, and are best buds at Butedale for life! They'd get to roam the forest with me. Hop into the behemoth canoe and explore the shoreline of the lake or wander over to the island in front of the town for a jaunt. (I can't wait for Spring and to be able to meet adopt Sage! Gaaa!)

It's almost too bad she's fixed; Bud and her would'a had BEAUTIFUL pups!

Anyhoo, that's about it for this post methinks. I have more pictures if anyone is interested. Plus, I have a video on YouTube of the River raging during a January thaw, and one of the lake, the massive waterfall above the lake, and some loons singing. There's also a pan and zoom slideshow video of a couple hundred pictures of Butedale and the area. If anyone likes, I can post those links too.

Righty then, thanky again folks! It always makes me happy when people react positively to my revelation of living literally in the middle of the most beautiful nowhere. So many people always worry about stuff like the Wild Things lurking in the bush, or getting hurt, or the loneliness, but you'all are all so positive. It's fannntastic!

Cheers!

How absolutely totally awe inspiring.