The Famous Empress Hotel | Only Operational for two years | Destination Adventure 

Those are my initials and foot prints! I grew up there with Frank’s daughter! So cool!

That old light bulb-like fire extinguisher is filled with now-banned carbon tetrachloride. It was meant to be thrown at the base of the fire. My grandparents old farmhouse in North Dakota had several of them on the walls and stairs. Besides throwing them, their bulb extinguishers wall brackets had an extra feature that automatically dropped the bulb when the heat of a fire reached it.

The window above the door is called a transom, no AC so just let’s the airflow without having the doors all Open 😃

The windows with hinges above the doors are called Transom Windows. They were invented in the 1800's, and were the first 'air conditioners'. Homes and buildings in the olden days had high ceilings for air flow using those windows. They would keep the homes and buildings cool in the summer, and warm in the winter. Many old homes still have them to this very day, and work quite well.

Frank says that you forgot to mention that the Empress is for sale! I lived in this building solo for about four months… 6000 square feet and no heat. Great video Dustin, I’m glad it worked out.

6:20 A Transom was quite common in buildings of that era in the United States. Ventilation. 8:29 "Knob and tube" wiring, before good insulation was developed. 11:00 Carbon Tetrachloride was used in these fire extinguishers. The Chemical causes brain damage, so it's no longer used. The windows have a sash weight on each side, so that's 4 per window.

My uncle owns an old mansion built in 1898 and some of the windows are still original with original glass with those counter weights. The upper floors still have the original wiring with those insulators but there's no power going to those. This is in Everett Washington.

original wiring was called “knob and tube”. The tubes went through the wood, ie studs, wall plates, and the wires inside of them were thus isolated. Still find some early 1900’s homes with it, a huge red flag for home inspectors. 🔥 Great walk through ! 👍

Love when you include local historians in your videos - super cool that you reach out to them to give a more formal and in-depth background of the places you visit. Equally love the ones where you are just adventuring around and discovering on your own. Keep up the good work!

5:20 - That little room is probably the phone booth. Other old hotels of that era with which I am familiar had that. The doors, windows, and flooring are so much like the house I grew up in Nice to see.

In that room with the toasters and stuff , you came across an old type lithograph machine ( with the big crank ) an old time copy machine .... I have not seen an old one like that in a long time .....nice to see...

Those hinged transoms over the doors is a nice architectural element and would have been a nice feature for air movement.

Love the old windows with the counterweights

Great old building. The transom windows are great for air movement. I remember the ones in my grandmothers house in NY. My first house was built in 37 still had knob and tube wiring. It’s downfall was insulation… we started adding it to our homes and it could no longer dissipate heat and would fail. Packed away somewhere, I have a box of the old “fire grenades.” You would literally take it out of the holder and throw it at the fire. Other models had a spring and bimetallic strip that would break at a preset temperature! Thank you for the walk-through!

You could make some really nice apartments in that place. Even on that top floor. Stunning views

I love the old classic buildings...Nice walk thru!

I retired as a fire inspector in a major department 8 years ago. The Empress was beautiful, in it's own historic way, but there are reasons they don't build most things like that building anymore. The main object of fire codes is "life safety". If something goes dreadfully wrong and there is a fire can the people safely get out ? Looking at the old construction allowed back in the day the answer would be no in that building. It would be beautiful renovated but I think the owner you met would have a case of major sticker shock to get it where it could be safely occupied. That old wood and top to bottom openings would cause it to burn fast and completely. I got called to inspect a space in a building where the owner found a box full of those carbon tet fire bombs. I told him how toxic they were and he needed to get some guidance on getting rid of them safely. Well, his idea of getting rid of them was to put them in his car and take them home. He dropped the box and broke several of them. He had the sense to run but had to called a haz mat clean up company to "fix his mess. After two days of his business being shut down and several thousand dollars for clean up he could get on with his life and business.

Fantastic! Thanks for sharing us some BC rural findings! I've done some B&W pics back in 2009 of this building who definitely standing out!

i traveled into Hyder and Steward in the 1960s, here to see what it looks like today, thanks for the video.

The center shaft on buildings for ventilation and light is called an atrium still in use on large buildings today. Most of the schools that I went to had transoms common in Office Buildings the ones in the hotels usually have curtains across them for privacy or frosted glass. The machine that you were turning is probably an old mimeograph machine used to make handbills. And of course the iron bars are sash weights. The window frame is called the sash and the weight counterbalances the sash so therefore referred to as the sash weight. The 8th probably refers to 8 lb my job when I was working construction as a Young Man was to switch out the ropes for chains. The hard part was removing the wood trim without breaking it. Sometimes the frame had a wooden plug held in by a screw to make it easy to access the weight.

I am really jealous of your adventures Dustin. I wish I was physically able. Thank you for the chance to adventure vicariously with you through these videos.

I love it when you find people that are willing to share the history they know of a particular area or town. It makes your videos the best and most informative travel series on the internet. Thank you! Always look forward to your videos.

That building is gorgeous! I would live in it!

In 1998 we took a trip to Alaska and came back on the Casriar???highway we were going to go toward Stewart but did not .But now will be able to see some of the area .thank you for your adventures. From the Sumas area in wash state .p.s. HOPE you find your 2 wheeler 😞

The glass in the old windows is wavy because of how it was made. A large gather of glass is attached to a blow pipe and then blown into a big long bubble. The craftsman would stand next to a large pit and swing the bubble like a pendulum while blowing it to the correct thickness. The ends of the hardened bubble were cut off and a crack was made down the side of the resulting cylinder of glass. The cracked cylinders were then placed in a kiln to soften where they could then be opened up at the crack and spread into the sheets that were then cut to size for the windows. Cool stuff! I'm a glass blower who also installed windows for a number of years. Curiosity got the best of me and I had to figure it out one day. :)

I love to see an episode like this on the Coalmont Hotel! Carful with those early fire extinguishers, They have some crazy toxic chemical in them. It’s not water

Awesome video, and beautiful hotel. Thanks for sharing your visit there.

Can you imagine the electric bill - single pane windows, probably little or no insulation and baseboard heaters. It must have originally had a coal furnace but no sign of old radiators now. The rooms are so tiny.

That was a cool place to see. Thank you for sharing.

Awesome experience and those doors with windows some homes had those long ago there were exciting to have if you locked yourself out of the room you always had access to climb throw the window over the door way do yeah it was awesome to see a place again with windows over the door entrance

Amazingly beautiful video like always. Thank you so much for letting us see God’s beautiful creation through your eyes and videos. God bless you and may all your travels be fun and safe…

I love your adventures, and I would really love to see your production value for an adventure up the Nahanni River valley. It has amazing history and creepy mythology. I watched an amazing film made by Mel and Ethel Ross from 1958, they briefly looked at some of the caves in the area and found burned areas where fires had been and petroglyphs, but you couldn’t see them well with the technology they had at the time.

Thank you for listing your sound tracks, great vid as well. Glad to hear the Gnarly is back in your possession.

Love the old trim. Great walk thru.

at 11:50 ish someone took the "leave nothing but footprints" to heart.

Really cool place. Thanks for going to the top for a quick view. I have seen some of the old fire extinguishers. Glad you pointed it out. Thanks for the Empress Hotel.🙂

That light bulb fire extinguisher is just awesome and I want them in my house!!!!

I just discovered your channel, you’re really inspiring me to get back out on the open road and explore 🙌🏻 I need to see B.C.

I love that old building! Thanks for showing us.

That is the coolest building with the woodwork and hardwood floors and that view is just beautiful ❤ Such a shame it cant be enjoyed

What a spectacular building & rich history! My parents' house has many of the same architectural elements. Appreciate the attention you were able to give it w/ just a lens :)

Liked the window weights because they reminded of when I was a kid and one of my jobs was to replace the rope. ALSO INTERESTING is the revolutionaries use to melt those down to make lead bullets because the British had confiscated powder and ammo trying to disarm them.

I really love your content an appreciate that you get the actual facts from the people who are from the area or who are trying to preserve the places. I’m binging on your page now 😅🙏🏾✨💖

Hey Dustin,I was really sorry to hear about the "Gnarley Davidson"...I just don't get people and their feelings of entitlement to other folks stuff. I've been really enjoying your Northern B.C. series (I'm from Vancouver Island originally and would love to do a series like what you do,only just on the Island itself (I'm from Port Renfrew ,raised in Duncan) but know the island from Victoria to Cape Scott.....anyway,thanks for doing what you do,it keeps an old dude breathing and dreamin'...oh,and BTW,the windows above the doors that you saw were called transoms....and as for the light shafts in a building,I lived in an S.R.O hotel in Vancouver that had one,and I had a room on the 3rd floor and my window opened onto the light shaft,only it had been made into a sitting area/lounge on the main floor...kind of a cool place........peace out Mr.P...take nothing but pictures ,leave nothing but footprints...such an absolutely awesome mantra.

What a neat place! This tour was fun!

Its a real did building! It would be a great place for old miners on a pension! Beautiful scenery and peaceful!!!

Man, I wish I had the money to save that old place. I love hotels, especially the old ones. Maybe if I win the lotto...good story!!

This was beautifully shot! Loved hearing the story of the Empress.

Wow!! BC history channel once again!! Mind blown! Thanks for the amazing watch BC friend! Keep up the good work! Crazy history!

They just were smarter in the past and built better! Those counter weights is a fantastic idea!

The footprints on the wall were mine from the 90's! What a beautiful video, thanks Dustin

Those horizontal windows above the doors are called transoms and were used for air circulation. I love the toaster collection and the old mimeograph machines and sowing machine.

Gotta say I felt my gut pucker up when you climbed that ladder.

I knew what the window weights were for my old house used to have them!!!

Such a cool place.

stayed with my aunt who's lived there long as i can remember. for a summer when i was 15. such an amazing place

Love the blues style music in the background 😎, I play blues harmonica, great video!!!

The hinges on the upper doorframe is for air flow. We had counter waits in the windows at the Kitwanga CN Station. Thank you for the beautiful gift of history in our region

The old Windsor hotel in Garden City Kansas would be a fantastic walk-through. At different times people have talked about renovating it but so far it hasn’t been done.

Only just starting to watch this episode….and that Toaster guy I saw on a previous episode pops up. I really like this guy. He has a voice and demeanour, that I could listen to all day. Don’t really know what, but he does. You gotta get him to start his own channel 😀 Cheers, love your channel. Rob, Tasmania, Australia 🇦🇺

Another fantastic journey into history. Thanks Capt. D

Great history of Stuart. Thanks. When you get a new gnarly.. hide a GPS tracker on it. Link it to your own phone. Camping and outdoor stores should stock them.

Great documentary Dustin !

I really like the knowledge you have and the respect you show for all these places you explore.

Those window weights make great anchors for a kayaks,canoes and small boats

Your positivity about the past and even current life keeps me goin bro!!! LOVE YOU MAN!!!

Gorgeous building and amazing history ❤️

It's worth renovating; no doubt. Only thing is: what are the tourist attractions there? You need to attract tourists too.

You do a GREAT job of this! Thank You for taking us along on the adventure! God bless❤️

Not just for light on that big vertical also chimney in summer to draw heat,but holy canoli that building is cherry! Here in south everything rots in two years if no maintenance.Beautiful how that spruce has held up, truly boatbuilder's choice(sitka) good vid thanx

Great vid.. always appreciate your content

I intend to be in Stewart next summer and see this extraordinary hotel, although, I don’t expect to see the inside. Thanks for giving me such a wonderful tour!

Very cool building with those light shafts! I have never seen that before.

beautifully made structure. The quality with which is was built is apparent. It would be great to make it a luxury spa hotel with all those little rooms for treatments

Best destination adventure so far love the history from the current owner

Those transoms very common in Ontario. Perhaps the mysterious doorway on the 1st floor was a dumbwaiter?

Amazing piece of history I bet that building had old laundry shoots and things, the bare bones of the building are good, floors are incredible shape, thanks for showing us the Famous Empress Hotel.

Love the history of BC places. Thank you

Great video! I love the Grand name given to this hotel. What a interesting history. Hard to imagine someone would be arrest just for the country they were born in. Sorry about your bike. That must have been so disappointing. Hopefully it will not slow you down any as we all love your videos and they just get better and better!

The exterior reminds me of the hotel that was decimated and buried under 200 feet of mud at the base of Mount St Helens. Nice guy too!

Awesome old beautiful building, would make a great apartment hotel. Love the sound of the old wooden floors.

Amazing building and such a interesting town. Been researching it since your last video. I would of asked to spent a night in it. Would be a amazing experience. Great video dude. Adventure on!! 🤘😁🤘⛰⛏🇨🇦

Really good views. Thank you.

Trippy place🍄Can imagine it back in the day being really cool🌟Thanks👍

Nice piece of history, well preserved in your video. Some scenes (the plastic doll with the knife) reminded me a bit of "The Shining" 😄 Thanks for sharing!

No RU-vid memberships ?? Who's paying your fuel 🤣🤣Awesome adventures & love the history in your videos!

Neat architecture and history. Love the sewing machine.

Love that building. Thanks

Windows above the interior doors was very common in early 1900's. They were for circulation and called a transom. Gramma Candy

I peared through the window of the Empress and had so many questions... not anymore though, thanks for the tour!

Absolutely loved this place!!! Gorgeous old building!!! It may be in a bad part of town, but I’d live there!!!! Great structure! The things that I could do with this property!!! I’m sure that it has no insulation in it, so that’ll be the 1st thing! Love the sky Windows!!! I’d accentuate them! You could make that building a focal point of the town & the possibilities are endless!!! The scenery is beautiful! Who cares that across the street is a junkyard…the views inside & out make up for that!!! Thank you for sharing this wonderful adventure with us Dustin, I loved it ❤️❤️❤️

Great video, really enjoyed it ! Thank you ! 👍🇨🇦✌️

That's awesome thanks for the video 👍

The famous Empress Hotel I know is the one located in Victoria, BC. Another buried treasure explored. Located in Stewart, BC. The other side of the Alaskan border.

Thanks again Dustin, great share. Cheers, Billy from Bluff Lk.

That's a good job... I cant get over people... they look at a wreck and see something and go to work. Hell if I had a wad today I would find a couple dozen of you youtube whacko's and check out these mines from death valley to obscure islands these little spots have some hold out gung hos keeping the tradition. Very cool..

I would LOVE to B the care taker of It!! Awesome find.Thx 4 all ur vids;)great work.

I lived there for years , now I'm home sick 😩 best town ever

Enjoy all of your video Stay Safe and Sound and well and Strong

That was a awesome building. It has big potential. Thanks for sharing this adventure with us .videos like this make me proud to be a patreon member! Keep up the awesome job