COMMUNITY
The Castlegar area was populated gradually. First permanent residents of the townsite appeared after the completion of the CPR bridge in 1902, which made Castlegar Junction an important railway terminus. Waves of new settlers followed, attracted by opportunities in a largely empty valley. Agricultural interests brought the first wave from the British Isles, to be succeeded by the Doukhobors. The last significant injection into our ethnic mix consisted of the Portuguese.
People of British, Scottish, and Irish descent were attracted to this area by railway development, and a bit later by dreams of a new life supported by fruit farming and other agrarian pursuits. Kootenay land was actively promoted in Europe as the ticket to an independent lifestyle, and the first ground was broken in Robson in 1908. Further up the Lower Arrow Lake, settlements like Renata and Deer Park were being developed by Mennonites into prime fruit production areas. By 1910 forests to the south of Castlegar had been cleared by logging, and settlers started to work the land. The first resident of what would later be known as Kinnaird was Marc Dumont. Thy Killough family arrived in 1913 from Saskatchewan and purchased 800 acres of land, about a quarter of which was put under cultivation. As these agrarian pursuits became less viable, land was put to other uses, including housing.
The Doukhobors started arriving in 1908 after leader Peter Verigin (the Lordly) decided to relocate from Saskatchewan, where communal land ownership by the pacifist refugees from Russia was no longer possible. Around 5,000 people became the main agent of change in the region: they cleared forested land, constructed elaborate irrigation systems, and planted thousands of fruit trees. They were settled in many 'villages', each having two large communal houses for about 100 inhabitants. Brilliant became the centre of operations, and included a grain elevator and a jam factory. A sawmill and a wooden pipe factory were located across the Kootenay River, in Ootischenia. After the tragic death of Peter the Lordly in 1924, various misfortunes combined to weaken the communal enterprise. Today, the Doukhobors live independent lives, but still retain a strong identity as a distinct community dedicated to the slogan "Toil and Peaceful Life".
The cultural diversity of the Castlegar area was further enriched by a significant emigration of Portuguese from the Azores. During the 1950s the Canadian government actively encouraged immigration from Europe. The CPR also directly financed the resettlement of workers, who had to commit for a five year service period to the company. Once the term was up, employees were free to stay with the company, seek other employment, or return to the land of their birth. Most of them stayed and in turn sponsored family relatives to resettle here. They were attracted by employment opportunities offered by a rapidly growing area whose traditional dependence on agriculture, mining, and the forest industry was being supplemented by construction. The many fine gardens are a great asset to our community and they reflect a devotion to a traditional way of life.
From the sign