Introduction

Railways Criss-cross the Kootenays

The New Players

Busy Beehive Ovens

The New Players

In 1898, the CPR negotiated with Heinze to purchase his Trail Creek smelter and the Columbia and Western Railways. In 1906, the CPR brought together its mining and smelting operations as the Consolidated Mining and Smelting Company (COMINCO).^15,16

"Centre Star Gulch, Rossland, CPR locomotive number 111 with freight cars on trestle bridge; Trail to Rossland rail line; mines in background are Centre Star, Nickel Plate, and Le Roi, 1900's." BCARS, D-03655

James J. Hill, founder of the Great Northern Railway (GNR), was not to be outdone by his main rival: the CPR. Around the turn of the twentieth century, Hill had embarked on a campaign to acquire or build spur lines into southern Canada from his mainline across the extreme northern United States. In 1898, he purchased Corbin’s Spokane Falls and Northern Railways, including his spur lines to Trail and Nelson.¹⁷ He had also purchased a narrow gauge railway connecting Kootenay Lake and the Slocan Valley as well as the rich mineral deposits around Sandon.

Hill also built a spur from Bonners Ferry, Idaho to Kuskanook, and launched sternwheelers on the lake to transport passengers and freight, including ore from Sandon, Riondel and Pilot Bay.¹⁸

"Construction of the Great Northern Railway into Creston, 1898" BCARS B-01445

Hill soon sought another connection to Canada: a rail line from Jennings, Montana to the Crowsnest coalfields.¹⁹

This spur would enable him to transport coke produced in the Elk Valley to smelters in Trail, Northport and elsewhere along his rail, lake and river network.

The BC government granted him a charter to build the Crow’s Nest Southern Railway in 1901.20 In 1904, he purchased over fifty percent of the Crow’s Nest Pass Coal Company’s shares, giving him further control over the transportation of coke produced in the Elk Valley.

For over twenty years, Hill's GNR provided the only all-rail network connecting the Elk Valley and the ore mines and smelters west of Kootenay Lake.

"Fernie Coke Ovens, 1910's" BCARS B-07551

Next Page