Giant Mine sits just outside Yellowknife, northwest Territories on a twisty stretch of the Ingraham Trail and is one of the most recognizable, historic, and polarizing industrial properties in Canada. A gold mine that brought people and countless job opportunities to Yellowknife during its 50+ years of production, it has also been the source of tragedy (see “Murders in the Mine“) and is currently one of the worst environmental situations in our country, containing 237,000 tonnes of highly toxic arsenic trioxide. At the present time, the federal government is well into a lengthy remediation project to clean up much of the site, which includes freezing the arsenic in place deep underground.
Ever since I moved to Yellowknife I have long been fascinated with Giant Mine, as – I’m sure – many northerners have been. The darkest moments of its history happened before I came to town, but I’m sure every single person in Yellowknife who has not yet been onto the mine site – which has been closed to production for about 10 years now - has driven by the mine countless times and wondered, “what’s it like on the other side of the fence?”
This week, I had a bit of a dream assignment for me, given my interest in the mine: this week I was commissioned by Aboriginal Affairs and Northern Development Canada (AANDC), who oversee the remediation project, to document through photos various areas around the Giant Mine site, as many changes will be happening over the coming decade and many of the buildings in various states of disrepair will be torn down and cleaned up. My trip, then, was a bit of a “historical ddocumentation” project, but one that allowed me a pretty good deal of freedom in what I captured: I was basically told to “go be creative”, which is hat any photographer loves to hear from a client.
Here, then, is a few of my images from this project from the other side of the fence, showing the good, the bad, and the beautiful of the old. In some ways, time has not been kind to this mine, but as a photographer, I look for beauty….and I found a lot to appreciate in the old and decrepit. I end with some of the “new”. I hope you enjoy.
20 Responses to “Giant Mine In Images – A Decade Later”
Verna says:
beautiful and sad at the same time….amazing pictures
Shaun Morris says:
Nice images Dave, to bad you were not able to go into the generator room at A-Shaft. There is an old ship engine from 1913 that was converted into a generator. It is twenty feet long and 15 feet high! It has a stairwell and catwalk around the top for checking on the valves and oil system. It is one of the coolest mechanical things I have ever seen! Should be in a museum!
Susan says:
Oh wow very stunning. Im awe struck!
Sylvia Imbeault says:
Beautiful and heartbreaking – brings back a lot of memories. I’m pretty sure the 10th shot on the page is a picture of my husband’s old house on top of the hill. Thank you for sharing Mr. Brosha. Sincerely, Sylvia & Robby Imbeault
Elisa says:
Amazing! My Grandma lived in Yellowknife until 1953 and my Mom was born there. I was there in about 1986. It is a beautiful area rich in history. Will there eventually be somewhere to view the entire collection of your photographs?
David Eggen says:
“and if I work all day, in the blue sky mine…” Your images remind me of Chernobyl. After all the money that was taken out of there, is there any left for a clean up? Very powerful images.
C J Mann says:
Nice pictures. Brings back memories, including the only summer that I had boils. That was the summer that I worked in fairly close proximity to the smoke stack!
Colin Hudson says:
My wife and I lived on the campsite in the 80’s for 6 years. We loved every minute of it and it is sad to see the houses in such bad shape. All the heating was steam heat and you were never cold.
Thanks for showing the great pictures.
Susan (McCorquodale) Mather says:
I was the first baby born to people living at Giant and spent most of the next 50 years living there. My husband and I have been back to Giant a few times and it makes me sad that the houses have been so vandalized!! Colin is right – with steam heat we were never cold!! Have wonderful memories of growing up there and most of my adult years as well were great times.
dale attrell says:
i was there from 1946 to 1948,i have a few pictures taken of the concentrator,just before the grand opening when they poured the first gold brick.if they would be any help to you,let me know.
Stan Bown says:
I look at all this with so many memmories !I remember arriving in Yellowknife in 1979 , no friends to call my own. My friend and I had no place to stay so we used meal cards from others that worked at the mine and stayed at the camp….the day we got hired is the day we got caught using our friends meal cards lol…I see your comments Collin and I do remember you….I have so many happy memmories in yellowknife and the Company “Giant Yellowknife Mines” that started my life in the work world! “Long may she live as memmories never die”…
Charles curtis says:
I was raised in the north I used to go by it every day on my way home to prelude lake I remember the big strike and the disaster that followed
Thanks for the great pics
Lisa says:
Breathtaking.. I am not familiar with this place and its history..but your photos are amazing and very powerful!
Jennie says:
I lived on the Giant town-site as a young teenager from 1982-1989, as my dad was the security and fire chief. I have wonderful and warm memories of this place. It was it’s own little community and a great place to grow up! Thank you for sharing these photos, although it is heart breaking to see the place of so many wonderful times reduced to rubble.
fran costigan says:
I lived in Yellowknife during High School from 1959 to 1961 and went to Sir John Franklin which was great except for the living spaces in the hostel.
Came back for Home Coming with my children and we went down Giant Mine which was a great experience for me and my children. I was with my mother who loved the North and spent many years teaching there. One of the places that she taught was Pine Point which is also a ghost town.
History has it’s moments to say the least but nothing stays the same.
Very sad but also images that tell a whole great story which should be told.
Ciao,
Fran
George Espley says:
I lived on the Giant townsite for the better part of 10 years, give or take, from 1959 to 1969.
My 3 children were also borne in YK Staton hospital and of course, lived on the townsite with us. At different times during our stay, we occupied 3 of the houses on the hill, and frankly loved every one of them … not to forget the steam heat, the free car plugs during winter and the low subsidised rents. In the end, the company moved us to Toronto ……!
Victoria Boucher says:
Beautiful collection. It is sad to see houses wasted especially in the north. Too bad the city could not negotiate a resource to transfer the houses into the city stock. I lived there for 17 years and housing was such a big issue and I know it still is.
David Dickson says:
Lived on site for over 16 years, sad to see the townsite so run down. Used to be so vibrant, especially when the bunkhouses were active. Lived in # 207.
Patricia Casaway says:
Wonder why no one Sued the City for allowing the People to drink polluted water???!!!!!