Located appr. four miles west of Sandon along the old CPR grade - now Galena Trail - is the former community of Alamo. It began as a settlement surrounding the first concentrator mill built in the Slocan. Alamo had a post office, hotels, shops and all the usual amenities to be found in a community of 200 or more.
In 1918 Clarence Cunningham, an inventive, generous and much-loved local mining man, purchased the Alamo, Idaho and Queen Bess mines. He built a new concentrator mill, the finest in the country, and he became a millionaire over the next few years. Cunningham even built a beautiful mansion complete with English gardens on a bench above Alamo.
The Alamo mill was equipped to custom-mill ore that was brought in on the railway, and was constantly busy with Cunningham's own ore and that of others. An indication of the respect Cunningham was accorded was that when most other area mines were forced to stop production during a strike, Cunningham's men refused to walk out on him. Despite all his cleverness, wealth and the devotion of his workers, however, disaster loomed for Cunningham. As the 1930's dragged on, the Great Depression caused most mining activity in the Slocan to wither. Desperately, Cunningham invested more and more of his fortune in an effort to keep his mines active. It was said that if a man came to Cunningham with a 'hard luck story' he would not turn him away without a meal and a few dollars in his pocket. Sadly, Cunningham himself eventually died penniless.
Today, Alamo is a ghost town. Cunningham's great mill collapsed and the remains burned in 2018 leaving rusted metal machinery exposed. You can see the impressive site beside the cable car crossing on the Galena Trail.
The beautiful mansion above burned down many years ago although the collapsed stable block is still there. In a nod to the once beautiful gardens, daffodils pop up in the spring and then a large patch of striking, fragrant, yellow day lilies bloom on the bench with views of the New Denver glacier - the perfect spot for a picnic! On the second photo you can see the Old Sandon Road, now a trail, that ran between New Denver and Three Forks above the mill site and mansion.
The Alamo site can be reached by a half hour walk or bike ride along the old CP rail bed of the Galena Trail from Three Forks.