SOMBA K'E/YELLOWKNIFE
With little more than a horn blast, a flash of red at the base and a boom, the tallest structure in the territory fell from the city's skyline Saturday evening.

People gathered in groups along the edge of the defunct Con gold mine to watch as its iconic 249-foot Robertson Headframe was toppled with a controlled explosion shortly after 5 p.m.

It fell to the north as expected, hitting the ground as water was shot upward to minimize the dust.

The headframe, named after a foreman at the mine, was built in the 1970s at a cost of $20 million.

Its destruction has been long planned, though subject to a number of attempts to save it from demolition.

This year, the territorial government began talks with mine owner Newmont Mining Corporation to try and save it, though cabinet ultimately backed off due to liability concerns.

A final effort by NWT Mining Heritage Society president Walt Humphries to stop the demolition permit also failed this month. Without any other viable options, work resumed on plans for demolition.

Newmont on Thursday gave notice the demolition date and time would be Saturday between 4:30 p.m. and 5:30 p.m.

As the afternoon carried on, crowds gathered around the edges of the site on Robertson Drive and Rasmussen Road.

Along a rock outcrop south of the headframe, more than 20 people gathered toting cameras and warming themselves by a fire.

With all the people coming out to witness the event, the afternoon became a strange mix of waiting for a Christmas parade in the cold and attending a wake. Families with young children and even a man dressed as the headframe watched from the outcrop.

The crumpled remains of the Robertson Headframe will be scrapped and taken away over the coming weeks.