This past weekend my family spent a few days in the Columbia Valley of British Columbia. We stayed at a hotel in Radium Hot Springs, known of course for the hot springs and also the bighorn sheep that wander through town. We enjoyed the water and walking through the woods and around the nearby town of Invermere, where we did some shopping and eating. Of course I couldn’t resist the travel brochures and maps, so here are some things I learned from the 2017 Columbia Valley Map Book.
The History of the Columbia Valley
The Columbia Valley was originally home to the Shuswap Band and the Ktunaxa Nation.
In 1807 explorer David Thompson built Kootenae House (now a National Historic Site) and began trading with the First Nations.
Kicking Horse Pass is named for an 1858 incident in which geologist Sir James Hector, who was seeking a route for the Canadian Pacific Railway (CPR), suffered a near fatal kick from a horse.
The first towns in the Columbia Valley were not established until the CPR was completed in 1885.
In 1889 William Adolph Baillie-Grohman built a canal to connect the Kootenay River to Columbia Lake, but only two ships ever passed through (in 1895 and 1902).
In 1890 Roland Stuart purchased 160 acres around the Radium hot springs for $160; thirty years later he received $40,000 from the government for the land!
In 1898 the City of Cranbrook became the administrative centre of the CPR’s Crowsnest Pass route. You can now tour vintage passenger trains at the Canadian Museum of Rail Travel.
Just northeast of Cranbrook is the restored boomtown of Fort Steele, where you can experience the history of the area (particularly between 1890 and 1905); it includes a huge artifact collection and archival library.
In 1897 when the CPR changed a railway divisional point from Donald to Revelstoke they agreed to move some important buildings too. However, Rufus Kimpton, a leading citizen, stole the dismantled church and reassembled it in Windermere where it remains to this day. (Read more about “The Stolen Church” here.)
In the early 1900s English millionaire William Heap Holland drafted the valley’s first promotional brochure, drawing tourists to Fairmont Hot Springs.
In 1909 Austrian Conrad Kain became the Alpine Club of Canada’s first professional guide; he made the first ascent of many peaks in the area.
The village of Edgewater features an operating wooden water flume (viaduct) built in 1912.
Kootenay National Park was established in 1919.
The first road across the Central Rockies opened in 1923.
In the 1960s tourism expanded with new pool complexes and ski hills.