Introduction

Communication
    Mail
    Newspapers
    Telephone

Financial

Retail
    Grocery Stores & Butchers
    Department Stores
    Other Stores

Brick Factory

Brewery

Utilities

Railroads
    MF&M Railway
    Passengers & Freight
    Stations & Yards
    Accidents

Mail

Before the installation of telephone and telegraph lines between isolated communities, most long-distance communication was done by mail.

In the late 1880’s, before the arrival of the railway to the Elk Valley, few people were settled here. The surrounding mountains, dense forests and swift river were barriers to settlement in the region. Most of the roads

Crow's Nest Pass Mail Stage, Fort Steele, 1890's, BCARS, (A-03691)

and trails into BC’s Southern Interior came up from the United States. In order to reach the Elk Valley from the prairies, eastern Canada or the West Coast, settlers had to travel across the northern United States, where transcontinental railroads were already built, then north into BC. There was no other alternative to such a route other than traversing the Rocky Mountains along snake-like trails hacked out by the Ktunaxa, trappers or prospectors. The cold climate of the Elk Valley was another disadvantage to travellers. Winters could be treacherous, and snowshoes were the only practical means to travel through the deep snow.

In this isolated setting, mail was delivered by horse and wagon or even on foot to one of the few posts within the East Kootenay. One of the first postmasters of the area was Michael Phillipps. From his ranch on Tobacco Plains he travelled to Fort Kootenay and delivered mail to the area residents.

The construction of a CPR extension line through the Kootenays in 1898 brought many European settlers into the Elk Valley. Mail services accompanied the settlers to the fast-growing communities of the region. Mail was sent in railway cars on the CPR and later on the Great Northern Railway. Special clerks at train stations handled incoming and outgoing mail. At small communities, if trains were not scheduled to stop, any outgoing mail would be lifted to the engineer using a hook as the locomotive passed by.

At the turn of the century the CPR began a daily mail service to the Elk Valley. The mail was sorted in mail cars, dropped off at stations along the railway and then picked up and taken to the local post offices. The more rural communities such as Newgate and Baynes Lake would have a postmaster who delivered their mail, travelled by horse, carriage or on foot to Elko. He would travel by way of the smaller communities where he would stop to pick up their outgoing mail before meeting the CPR mail car in Elko. There he would pick up the incoming mail and then make his return trip home. During the winter and in bad weather it could take up to twenty-four hours to reach Elko alone.

Communication		Newspapers