1892 - NAKUSP - 1992
A CENTURY OF CHANGE
Nakusp Before the Columbia River Treaty
The waterfront of Nakusp, now a quiet scenic spot, was once a bustling hive of activity and industry. Involved in the Kootenay's great mining boom of the 1890s. Nakusp was established 1892 as a transportation point for the ore of the rich Slocan area. The first shipment of ore out of the Slocan from the Freddy Lee Mine in Sandon was loaded at Nakusp onto sternwheelers headed for smelters in the United States. Along the shores of the Arrow Lakes sprang up small fruit-growing and farming communities such as Burton, Arrow Park, and Edgewood. Above Nakusp were two grand spas, Halycon Hot Springs and St. Leon Hot Springs, as well as such towns as Comaplix and Arrowhead. The Lardeau country also lay north of Nakusp. These places could be reached only by water. The various industries of the Arrow Lakes—lumbering, fruit-growing, farming—depended on the sternwheelers to move their good to market.
Nakusp's waterfront was the hub and focus of this activity. From the day in 1892 when the first lots were sold by the Rand Brothers of Vancouver, to 1969 when the lake waters rose from the completion of the Hugh Keenleyside Dam in Castlegar, the waterfront was a colourful milieu. Lumber mills and pole yards, processing the Arrow Lakes' high-quality timber, hummed with activity. A stroll along Bay Street brought you to business establishments as diverse as the Nakusp Trading Company, Lee Sing's Laundry, Mr Sutherland's Dairy or North's Ice Cream Parlour. The lone commercial survivor of the early days on the waterfront is the Leland Hotel, built in 1892, the only one of the hotels not destroyed by fire.
At the west end of the waterfront, on the site of the present-day farm of Chris and Jean Spicer, was located a large Chinese market garden, owned by the colourful Sam Henry. His vegetables and fruits supplied the town, as well as most of the boats and trains. After Sam's death in 1912 it became a successful dairy operation owned by Buesnel Brothers.
The Canadian Pacific Railway was the hub of the waterfront. At the wharf, where as many as four sternwheelers at a time were tied up, the shouts of deckhands mixed with the chugging of the engines and the excited sounds of disembarking passengers. Trains were constantly on the move on the many spurs and lines crisscrossing the waterfront to the lumber mills. Many of the sternwheelers and tugs that plied the lake were constructed in Nakusp at the large CPR works yard.
The scene began to change in 1915. With the construction of the Kettle Valley Railway, freight began to take the southern route and dramatically affected sternwheeler traffic. Another death blow was dealt to water transportation with the construction of highways in the area. The last sternwheeler was built on the ways in 1911 and in 1954, the last sternwheeler in service on the lake, the venerable S.S. Minto, was retired. Many of the businesses had moved to Broadway Street in the early 1920s after a serious fire.
The biggest change of all came in January of 1964 when the Columbia River Treaty was signed. The CPR and the remaining industrial concerns were moved to higher ground in 1966 to make way for the waters that would soon rise from the Hugh Keenleyside Dam's being constructed in Castlegar. After the removal of all remaining structures, an impressive soil/cement wall was built and waterfront park developed. The wall, 2000 feet in length, is a mixture of clean sandy gravel and 7% cement and at the time was the only one of its kind in Canada.
Today in 1992, the old Leland Hotel still overlooks the tranquil shores of the Arrow Lakes with Saddleback Mountain towering in the distance. The scene is quiet except for the ripple of the water, but if you use your imagination, you can still hear the mill whistle blowing, the hammers pounding and the big engine chugging as the S.S. Bonnington slips away from the dock.
From the Historical Kiosk