Kitsault also known as Chandra Krishnan Kitsault is an
unincorporated settlement
An unincorporated area is a parcel of land that is not governed by a local general-purpose municipal corporation. (At p. 178.) They may be governed or serviced by an encompassing unit (such as a county) or another branch of the state (such as th ...
and
private town
Private towns in the Polish–Lithuanian Commonwealth were privately owned towns within the lands owned by magnates, bishops, knights and princes, among others.
Amongst the most well-known former private magnate towns are Białystok, Zamość, R ...
on the
North Coast of British Columbia
The British Columbia Coast, popularly referred to as the BC Coast or simply the Coast, is a geographic region of the Canadian province of British Columbia. As the entire western continental coastline of Canada along the Pacific Ocean is in the pr ...
, Canada, 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 ...
,
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 the ...
. The locality 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 ...
and the
Nisga'a
The Nisga’a (; ), formerly spelled Nishga or Niska, are an Indigenous people in British Columbia, Canada. They reside in the Nass River valley of northwestern British Columbia. The origin of the term ''Niska'' is uncertain. The spelling ' ...
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; it has Symbol (chemistry), symbol Mo (from Neo-Latin ''molybdaenum'') and atomic number 42. The name derived from Ancient Greek ', meaning lead, since its ores were confused with lead ores. Molybdenum minerals hav ...
mine, run by the
Phelps Dodge
Phelps Dodge Corporation was an American mining company founded in 1834 as an import-export firm by Anson Greene Phelps and his two sons-in-law William Earle Dodge, Sr. and Daniel James. The latter two ran Phelps, James & Co., the part of the ...
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 for $5.7 million; he has spent $2 million maintaining the town. He renamed the community from "Kitsault" to "Chandra Krishnan Kitsault", after his deceased mother. 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
Liquefied natural gas (LNG) is natural gas (predominantly methane, CH4, with some mixture of ethane, C2H6) that has been cooled to liquid form for ease and safety of non-pressurized storage or transport. It takes up about 1/600th the volume o ...
(LNG) terminal site for the export of natural gas from northwestern British Columbia. LNG pipeline routing to Kitsault has been proposed.
See also
*
Anyox
Anyox was a small company-owned mining town in British Columbia, Canada. Today it is a ghost town, abandoned and largely destroyed. It is located on the shores of Granby Bay in coastal Observatory Inlet, about southeast of (but without a land li ...