Bringing a Ghost Town Back to Life: Port Essington

When I was growing up in Prince Rupert, I heard stories about our neighbouring ghost town Port Essington, but never had the opportunity to see it in person. As I coloured this collection of photos from the BC Archives, I was amazed that such a thriving town would eventually be abandoned.

Port Essington was a cannery town on the south bank of the Skeena River, not too far from Prince Rupert. Founded in 1871 by Robert Cunningham, Port Essington was the largest settlement in the region - home to a mix of European-Canadians, Japanese-Canadians and members of First Nations including Tsimshians from Kitselas and Kitsumkalum. In the Tsimshian language, the townsite is called Spaksuut, which means “autumn camping place.”

In its heyday, the town had multiple canneries operating near the estuary. In the summer months, Port Essington had an active social scene, with dances, concerts and church activities - it even had a red light district. In the winter, when the river was closed for freighting, many of the residents would migrate south.

When the Grand Trunk Pacific Railway was completed in 1914, Port Essington’s importance as a town began to wane. Rail supplanted the riverboat commerce, and by the 1940s, all of Port Essington’s canneries were inactive. The population plummeted in the 1950s, and in the 1960s, Port Essington burned down in a series of fires.

Port Essington is now a ghost town - all that’s left is an overgrown cemetery with hundreds of moss-covered headstones, a long boardwalk falling into disrepair, and pilings protruding out of the brackish river on their last legs.

Here’s a video showing what remains of Port Essington.

Visit the City of Rainbows gallery to see more Prince Rupert photos.