February 8 2012

Well it seems like this little town of Gold River BC is falling apart at the seams. Last year the only bank pulled out of town, then at the end of December one of the little galleries where local artist could put things for sale (Haven Gallery) closed it's doors. Now Fields and the hair salon are closing their doors as early as the end of the month. Add to that yesterday morning a fire gutted the China House restaurant closing not only the restaurant but due to water damage from fighting the fire it closed the only insurance company, the video store and the Gold River Deli. Eventually hopefully those businesses will be able to reopen. One of the other restaurants is closed at the moment until they get the fan above the ovens fixed. It seems all the businesses in town are struggling and walking a fine line to stay open and the economy is tough right now here and has been for years. It sounds like the economy here has been tough around here since the mill shut down in 1999. There has been talk of an energy plant being built and opened on the old mill site creating some jobs. But no one is holding their breath that that will happen as I have been here 4.5 years and heard about it when I first moved here and apparently it has been 10 + years since there was talk of the plant being built so at this point I think most people are disappointed and don't expect it to ever be built. Homes here are still cheap to buy but it takes years to actually sell. If the energy plant does get built maybe those homes will actually sell. It would seem that this town may become more of a ghost town than it already is. There is about 1400 people living in the area which includes the reserve 4 km out of town. I can see people leaving to find work else where.