A Fertile Valley in the Mountains of Peace
This early panoramic view looking east over the Grand Forks valley encapsulates much of its early history. This is the magnificent landscape setting where many people settled, lived and worked for more than a century. Visible are orchards and fertile fields. In the far distance, an industrial haze lingers over the site of the Granby smelter behind Observation Mountain, its huge slag pile clearly visible. On the right, in the near foreground, is a Doukhobor village with its distinctive buildings amidst cultivated fields and orchards. Grand Forks appears in the far distance behind it. A railway line is visible. Forests descend the mountain slopes. Towards the left appears the North Fork valley, the site of mining explorations and farmlands.
The Grand Forks valley is situated in the southern portion of the easternmost sub-range of the Monashee mountains which lie between the Columbia-Arrow Lakes river system and the western sub-range which rises on the east side of Lake Okanagan. A part of the greater Columbia mountain group, the Monashees are very old mountains, formed as a result of tectonic activity 175 million years ago. The Monashees include a number of sub-ranges such as the Christina range situated north of Grand Forks between the Granby river and Lower Arrow Lake, and the Midway range located between the Kettle and Granby rivers.
The Monashees (From the Gaelic — monadh-sith, meaning 'mountain of peace") were named by a Scottish Highlander and prospector named Donald McIntyre in about 1881. The Grand Forks valley is part of an unusual natural east-west corridor in mountain formations arrayed north to south. It is called the Boundary area because it parallels the International Boundary set in western Canada at the 49th parallel, and is formed by the valleys of the Kettle River, the North Fork or Granby River, and Boundary Creek It is essentially the area between the Okanagan and the Kootenay valleys.
This unique valley was known to early Hudson's Bay Fur trade brigades and a trail was established by the mid 1800s, linking Fort Colville to Fort Hope, along the Kettle and Sirnilkameen rivers. They referred to this valley as "la grande prairie," a cleared area with plenty of grass for their horses and fresh water. To the south west, the Kettle Valley re-enters Canada, and flows in an easterly direction for about 25 km., across the valley towards Christina Lake, where it again flows into the United States, eventually joining the Columbia River.
Lieutenant Henry C. Palmer, exploring the area for Governor Douglas in 1859, described this special place:
At the confluence of the three valleys occurs a large open plain, three miles by two, designated [...] "La Grande Prairie"... Little snow falls here in winter and its sheltering position renders it an excellent 'guard' for cattle and horses during the season.
Situated just north of the International Boundary, its location provided ready access to the nearby Washington towns of Republic, Bossburg and Marcus.
Optimistic prospects for Grand Forks and its valley were expressed in a 1913 promotional brochure entitled Views of Grand Forks, B.C. & District:
Grand Forks, B.C. situated at the junction of the Main Kettle river and the North Fork of same, in a fertile and picturesque valley, containing some 45,000 to 50,000 acres. a very large proportion of which is now under a high state of cultivation, including some 2,350 acres set out to orchards, is destined to become the largest city in the whole of Southern British Columbia, on account of its limitless resources.
From the plaque