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Utilities

Water System
The Crow’s Nest Pass Coal Company originally installed Fernie’s first water system between 1899 and 1900. By 1906, Fernie’s water system was found to be inadequate for the growing city. The Crow’s Nest Pass Electric Light and Power Company, a subsidiary of the Coal Company, had taken over the operation in earlier years. In 1906 the Power Company decided to spend a large amount of money on updating the Fernie water system. A new reservoir was built and new water mains installed, making the new system much more efficient.

The newly installed pipes connected to the pipes of the older system in order to maintain uniform water pressure throughout the city of 80-85 pounds per square inch. Twelve-inch pipelines carrying water from the new reservoir came down to the city along two major routes. One line was directed under Cox (Fifth) Street, and the other line followed Pellat (Third) Avenue. Branch lines consisting of ten-, eight-, and six-inch wire-wound wooden pipes served the remaining streets of Fernie. To the nine fire hydrants in the city, seventeen new ones were added at convenient places.

The new concrete reservoir was 120 feet long, sixty feet wide and eight feet deep, holding up to 400 000 gallons of water. Water was channelled into the reservoir via the old system whose pipelines began further up Coal Creek, starting about one mile above the coal mines, then flowing down the old pipes into the reservoir.

While installing a reservoir for the City of Fernie the Crow’s Nest Pass Electric Light and Power Company also constructed a new reservoir for the Coal Company’s coke ovens. In comparison to the 400 000 gallons of water held by the city’s new reservoir this one was much smaller, holding only 150 000 gallons. It was constructed on the bench behind the coke ovens and received its water from a branchline flowing out of the main pipeline of the larger reservoir.

In 1904, the Electric Light and Power Company entered into an agreement with the City of Fernie stating that the Power Company would supply the city with Coal Creek water for the next ten years. After this time the City could purchase the plant on favourable terms. The City of Fernie later negotiated for the water rights to Fairy Creek and in 1909, only four years after the new water system had been installed. The City contracted Martin and Broley to construct a pipeline from Fairy Creek Dam to the city. When the $29 000 contract was completed it would be capable of delivering 2 000 000 gallons of water to the city every day.

Sewer
In the early 1900’s Fernie boasted a new and improved "fireproof" downtown area, proper roads and sidewalks, an excellent water system where each household and place of business had access to fresh running water as well as fire hydrants. With all this infrastructure, Fernie was ahead of its time and was soon to leap ahead even more.

In 1906 a bylaw was authorized allowing the city of Fernie to borrow $40 000 in order to install a sewer system. Up until this time outhouses and septic fields handled most sewage in Fernie. Construction on the new sewer began in 1907.

Power
During the early years of settlement in the East Kootenay households were lighted using coal oil (kerosene) or gas lamps. As time progressed people began to wire their houses to enjoy the luxury of electric light and power. Fernie’s first electricity was generated by the Crow’s Nest Pass Coal Company and sold to the city.

Before hydro-electric dams were built on the Elk and Bull Rivers in 1923, local coal-burning power plants provided electricity to households in the Elk Valley. Fernie obtained its electricity from a steam power plant located below Ridgemont hill, near the present substation by Fourth street. A small tipple, adjacent to the one along Coal Creek Road, loaded coal slack unsuitable for coking into "dinky" trains. The trains then carried the slack to the power plant.

It wasn’t until 1922 when the Bull River Dam had finally been completed that Fernie received its power from an outside source. The Bull River Electric Light and Power Company began constructing the dam, but could not finance its completion. The Power Company was then taken over by the BC & Alberta Power Company who in turn ran into the same problem as its previous owners. The dam was finally completed in 1922 by the East Kootenay Power Company (EKP). The first power delivered from the Bull River Dam was on May 7th when it was connected to the city of Fernie’s distribution system. EKP soon became responsible for distributing power to the coal mines of the Elk Valley and Crowsnest Pass, as well as to cities and towns including Fernie, Cranbrook, Kimberley, Coleman and Blairmore.

EKP had acquired the water rights for the Elko River Canyon when it took over the Bull River Dam. The BC & Alberta Power Company had previously bought the water rights from the Crow’s Nest Pass Electric Light and Power Company. EKP soon built a new hydro-electric dam near Elko which had twice the generating capacity as the Bull River Dam. The Elk River Dam opened in March 1924.

Brewery		Railroads