Once again, as has happened in so many southern British Columbia communities, it was
GOLD which gave rise to, first, the town of
Rossland, then a pack horse route down the mountain to the
Columbia River, then this wagon road, and finally a railway. By the time the railway was under construction in 1895, a smelter was also under construction in the little community of
Trail Creek, which was soon to be renamed simply
Trail. Both railway and smelter were the brainchild of one
Fritz Augustus Heinze, one of the renowned
Montana Copper Kings.
It was the Trail Creek Valley down which the 1865
Dewdney Trail, then the Rossland - Trail Wagon Road, then the initial section of the
Columbia and Western Railway, and finally Highway 3B wound their way to Trail and the Columbia River. Standing alongside the Rossland - Trail Wagon Road, this marker outlines the succession of transportation routes which followed the valley, as well as Rossland and Trail Creek Landing, the communities at either end of the valley.
Texts from the marker are to be seen below.
Sections of the
Rossland - Trail Wagon Road remain in roughly their original condition, or better, and are today used as walking trails. They can be accessed from a few select spots, which may be found at
Trail Forks.
Below is a satellite view of the remaining Rossland section of the wagon road which remains intact and accessible today. The
RED MARKER indicates the coordinates provided for this Waymark, as well as a bench at a tiny rest stop which overlooks the
Redstone Resort Golf Course and faces a historical marker. The marker outlines various historical aspects of the town of Rossland, and in particular the story of the transportation which was required to bring wealth to the area.
See a fairly complete story of transportation in the valley below.
HISTORY
When gold was discovered on Red Mountain, on the edge of what was to become the City of Rossland, the only transportation route in the area was the Dewdney Trail constructed in 1865 between Hope BC and Fort Steele. Fortunately, the Columbia River was less than 13 kilometers down the hill, and paddle wheelers were already plying its waters from Washington, to the south and Robson, at the confluence of the Columbia and Kootenay Rivers, to the north providing access via rail lines to smelters in Butte, Montana.
In the spring of 1891, several tons of ore from the LeRoi mine went by mule down the mountain and along the Dewdney Trail to Trail Creek Landing at the creek mouth. Following boat transport to Little Dalles, Washington, the Spokane Falls and Northern Railway (SF&N), and connecting lines, railed the product to the Colorado Smelting and Mining Company Works at Butte, Montana. The trip was arduous and cost prohibitive.
In late 1892, Oliver Durant built a new wagon road from Red Mountain towards Northport, Washington. From there the ore was transported by ferry to the Little Dalles and put aboard the Spokane Falls and Northern Railway with connecting lines to Montana. The Le Roi Company ordered 40 heavy wagons in 1893 to replace the mule trains to Trail. However, they were often mired in mud causing delays and making deliveries uncertain, creating friction between the mine owners and the smelting companies.
The opening of the road to Northport, Washington spurred the construction of the Rossland - Trail Wagon Road to Trail Creek landing to win back traffic for Trail. In 1893, the Le Roi mining company, aided financially by the provincial government undertook the construction of the 3 metre (11 foot) wide Rossland - Trail Wagon Road to take ore from the Rossland mines to Trail Creek Landing and then to American smelters via steamboats. This Wagon Trail was a vast improvement from an overgrown, little used trail into a road capable of transporting ore by horse and wagon.
Freight wagons hauled mining machinery, goods and staples up the hill from the Columbia River and ore down to the Columbia River for the first few years. Initially, the ore was shipped to smelters south of the border, but in 1895 Fritz Augustus Heinze gave notice that he would be building a smelter in Trail and a railway to the Rossland mines to more easily transport the ore to his smelter.
Construction of the Heinze railway began in late 1895. The 22 kilometer narrow gauge rail Columbia and Western Railway was completed by June of 1896 from Trail to the LeRoi mine. The grade was steep (4 - 4.8% grade) and four switchbacks were needed to get the train up the hill. At the same time, Daniel Corbin was building a rail bridge over the Columbia River at Northport, Washington to connect the Spokane Falls and Northern Railway to a rail line that would run to Red Mountain. Corbin completed the Red Mountain Railway, 6 months after Heinze’s railway was operating.
After the ore and equipment started traveling by rail, the Rossland - Trail Wagon Road continued to be the major passenger route to Trail and beyond. It is a testament to the design of the Rossland - Trail Wagon Road that, in 1912, when a new road was being designed, a large portion of the Rossland - Trail Wagon Road was used. The section not used for the construction of Highway 3B between Rossland and Trail continues to be a popular hiking and biking trail to this day.
From the Rossland Heritage Register