The Place:
Gilbert Malcolm Sproat, “the Father of Nelson,” surveyed and subdivided the property which became the City of Nelson in October of 1888. He named the place
Stanley after Lord Stanley of Preston, Canada’s governor-general from 1888 to 1893. When the Post Office pointed out that there was already a
Stanley in the Cariboo district of BC, it fell to John “Truth” Houston, pioneer publisher of the community's first newspaper,
The Miner, to suggest the name
Nelson in 1892, for B.C.’s then Lieutenant-Governor, Hugh Nelson. By 1897 it was incorporated as a town.
1886 was the pivotal year in Nelson's history, the year silver bearing ore was discovered on Toad Mountain, immediately south of Nelson. Shortly the inevitable boom was underway and Nelson was born and began to grow along with it. In 1888 the city consisted of a trail up the mountain, two tents, (one a hotel & bar, the other a general store) a shack dispensing mining equipment and several more miner's tents.
Soon railways arrived from both the south and the west, providing easy transportation for the ore going out and supplies and equipment coming in. As well, paddlewheelers were soon plying the waters of Kootenay Lake, further linking Nelson with the world.
Industry soon began, with a brickyard and a shipbuilding yard opening around this time, and a generating station was built on Cottonwood Creek to light the town. A second, much larger generating plant was later built by the city downstream on the Kootenay River at Bonnington Falls. Upgraded and updated, it remains in operation today, providing a large percentage of the city's electrical requirements.
Nelson's location on the West Arm of Kootenay Lake, affording water transportation, and the arrival of the CPR on May 31st, 1891, ensured its survival as a mining and supply town for the area. It has survived and prospered ever since. Much of the town from the 1890s survives, making it the heritage capital of the interior. It was once named "the prettiest small town in Canada" by the New York Times.
The Person:
Born in Inagheramore, Larne, County Antrim, Ireland on May 25th, 1830, Hugh Nelson became the fourth Lieutenant Governor of British Columbia. Prior to this he had served in Parliament as Member of Parliament for New Westminster from 1872 to 1874.
He had previously emigrated from Ireland to California in 1854, finally arriving in British Columbia in 1858. There he founded the B.C. & Victoria Express Company, which hauled freight between Victoria and the BC mainland, and also the lumbering firm Moody, Dietz and Nelson. He first ran for Legislative Council in 1870 and in 1871 ran for and won a seat in Parliament. He did not run for reelection in 1874 but became a Senator in 1879, representing the senatorial division of Barkerville, British Columbia. He resigned this seat when appointed Lieutenant-Governor of British Columbia in 1887. In 1892 he resigned this position and returned to England, where he died of Bright's Disease in March of 1893.