A local history book 20 years in the making will be launched at the Silvery Slocan Museum in New Denver on Saturday, Oct. 4, at 1 p.m.
The King of Sandon: Murder, Myth, and the Man Behind B.C.’s Greatest Ghost Town is a full-length biography of John Morgan Harris, a mining magnate with a secret past and a complicated legacy.
Local historian and Vista Radio reporter Greg Nesteroff traces Harris’ life from rural Virginia, where he was born into a family of slaveholders, to northern Idaho, where he risked life and liberty to make a name for himself.
Harris arrived in the Slocan in early 1892, as part a wave of prospectors lured by a silver rush, and bought a promising mining claim that turned into his bonanza. While other tycoons spent their fortunes on mansions in urban areas, Harris built an entire city in the wilderness as a monument to himself. He owned the townsite, its principal buildings, power plant, and waterworks.
He was nicknamed the King of Sandon, but his subjects didn’t always see his rule as benevolent. He was frequently in court defending his interests, and one dispute over a mining claim dragged on for years before finally reaching the Privy Council.
When Sandon’s fortunes declined as the mines in the area played out, Harris refused to leave, even as his town crumbled around him. Although new life teased occasionally, his optimism that the city would boom again was never fully justified.
During the book launch, Nesteroff will present a slideshow and explain the book’s long genesis, including his trips to Harris’ birthplace and burial site in Virginia.
“I became interested in Johnny Harris because so many myths were associated with him,” Nesteroff explains. “While some things were said about him that were false, I was surprised that some of the most unlikely things turned out to be true.”
The book lays bare Harris’ darkest secrets and also looks at how, following his death, Sandon nearly faded from existence, only to be discovered by others determined to save what was left.
The book includes 237 photos and illustrations as well as eight specially-created maps. The King of Sandon is available for pre-order on the book’s companion website, kingofsandon.com, which also contains source notes, photo galleries, interviews, and many other special features.
The book will be available in stores throughout the West Kootenay following the launch.
Nesteroff will also speak on the book at the Slocan Valley Historical Society annual general meeting on Saturday, Oct. 18 at 1 p.m. at the W.E. Graham school library in Slocan.
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