Ferguson, British Columbia

Ferguson is a ghost town located in the West Kootenay region of British Columbia. It is located west of the junction of Ferguson and Lardeau Creeks.[1] It came into being with the discovery of gold in the region. In 1897, the Lardeau Hotel opened. By 1899, Ferguson had a main street with hotels, shops and saloons, and a population of 800. It had a newspaper called The Ferguson Eagle. It eventually went into decline and by 1920 was almost deserted. The Lardeau Hotel stood into the 1970s.[2]

Ferguson
Ferguson Location of Ferguson in British Columbia
Coordinates: 50°41′00″N 117°29′00″W
Country	Canada
Province	British Columbia

The main street is said to have come back to life in the 2000s, when many lots were sold to cabin builders.[3]

Though mines in the surrounding mountains which had been supplied through Ferguson [4] (Broadview, True Fissure, Nettie L., Silver Cup) had generally fallen into disuse by the 1970s, substantial mineral resources remain in the area. In 2006 5 mines to the west of Ferguson were consolidated into the Thor deposit, which began gold production again in 2017.[5]

Ferguson was founded and named for Dave Ferguson, who came from Grand Bend, Ontario in 1891, and vanished in Saanich in December 1903. His body was found in a bush the next March, a coroner's jury finding he died of "suicide in a fit of despondency".[3]