In 1883, George J. Ainsworth, a wealthy mining and railway man from California, arrived in the Kootenay region. (Stainer, Mavis Fletcher. History of Ainsworth). He had been granted one hundred and sixty-six acres of land that surrounded the hot springs. (Stainer, Mavis Fletcher. History of Ainsworth). In the same year as his arrival, he plotted out the townsite on his property, naming it Ainsworth, in honour of his father, Captian J.C. Ainsworth. (E.L. Affleck. Sternwheelers, Sandbars, and Switchbacks. p. 13) And in the following year, George Ainsworth staked the first mineral claim in the region.

Around the same time, A.D. Wheeler and Harry Tobias were traveling in the area, in hopes of finding the mineral deposits in the Kootenay country. (Stainer, Mavis Fletcher. History of Ainsworth) . They were outfitted by H. Giegrich and White of Walkerville. Henry Giegrich would later follow his friends in their journey to the Kootenay region. And in the mid-1880's he opened the only General Store in Ainsworth, that supplied all goods to the mining community. This building is now called the J.B. Fletcher Store.