The site was the location of the former City of Phoenix, which existed from the mid 1890’s until 1919 as a vibrant city built on top of rich copper ore bodies mined by the Granby Company and other mining companies. The Canadian Pacific and the Great Northern railways serviced the City and the industries that operated in the area. At its peak, Phoenix was home to over 3,000 people and had a well-established business district, hospital, schools, curling rink, arena and other amenities. Once the highest elevation city in Canada, Phoenix’s prosperity ran out with the decline in copper prices at the end of World War I, and within six months the city was largely empty. Over the following decades, the harsh winters, heavy snowfall, neglect and salvage took their toll on the buildings and structure. In the mid 1950s, the Granby Company returned to resume operations with an open pit mine and completely erased all traces of the city remains. Today, a large water-filled pit sits where the city once existed hundreds of feet above. The concrete foundations present today are those of the later mining operations that ran until 1979. Only the cemetery and cenotaph remain to mark the spectacular rise and fall of what was once Canada’s highest city.