Hotel Ymir and the Cosmopolitan Hotel - Ymir, British Columbia
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T0SHEA
N 49° 16.992 W 117° 12.929
11U E 484328 N 5458960
Hotel Ymir and the Cosmopolitan Hotel is on the side of a small building just inside and past the playground located at 2nd Avenue and Fir Street. The playground is behind the Hotel Ymir.
Waymark Code: WMHM4M
Location: British Columbia, Canada
Date Posted: 07/22/2013
Views: 3
This mural features the Hotel Ymir and the Cosmopolitan Hotel (not named). During the early 1900s Ymir was a rowdy mining town. Miners came from all over Canada and the US to seek their fortunes. The hotels, though some with implied prestige accommodations, were less than desirable boarding houses with a communal bath house, small dingy rooms and overcrowded.
By 1899, Ymir had eleven hotels, a bank, post office, one church, a newspaper, school, police station, 3 jails, blacksmith shop, mine recording office, physician and surgeon, barber, mining engineer and assayer, undertaker, justice of the peace, notary public, mining broker and others.
The population of Ymir in 1899 was 800. In addition, the surrounding areas contained another 400, most coming to Ymir on payday, to drink, gamble and have a pretty lady as company.
The Ymir Hotel was built in 1896, during the mining boom years of the Salmo River Valley region. The hotel is one of the oldest remaining buildings in the region.
Completely restored in '06, now known as the Hotel Ymir Country Resort, is now family owned and features the Pau Hana Dining Room and the Cowichan Lounge. Both offer great food, friendly service and an amazing art collection consisting of carvings and paintings from all over the world.
The Cosmopolitan Hotel, still standing in 1948, has since been destroyed by fire. Included are photographs circa 1910 and 1948.