From the marker.
Proximity to Boundary Creek mines, and excellent climate, water and soil convinced Midway promoters of a bright future as a "railway and residential town." The Columbia & Western Railway reached Midway in 1900, five years later, the Vancouver Victoria & Eastern Railway pushed north of the 49th Parallel to the town. Construction crews continued to work on railway extensions, and the number of Midway hotels swelled to nine.
The Midway Hotel recalls these frontier times. The original building burned in 1900. but was quickly rebuilt by owner Charles Thomet. Yet tragedy did not end there: in 1908 Thomet was shot dead by bandits who promptly escaped south of the border, never to be captured.
The 1995 Stop of Interest signs were developed when Bill Barlee was the Minister of Small Business, Tourism and Culture. It was administered through the British Columbia Heritage Trust. Vancouver Sun columnist Denny Boyd credited Bill Barlee as being one of the best Tourism Ministers B.C. has ever had. Bill Barlee has had a varied career as a high school teacher, writer, publisher, and placer miner. He is considered by some to be the ‘Great Historian of British Columbia’ He was born in Grand Forks, BC and grew up in Rossland. This is why most of these signs where placed along the Crowsnest corridor. They were produced in Nelson BC and although touted to last ‘100 years’ the pictures on the signs have now all but faded away 15 years later. The initial cost of $3000 per sign was steep and that is what probably killed the program by 1996.