Tadanac Community - Trail, BC - British Columbia Heritage Markers on Waymarking.com

When gold was discovered in the Rossland mountains above Trail in the early 1890s it lead to a local gold rush and an influx of thousands by 1895. The gold was associated with copious amounts of copper, silver, lead and zinc, leading one of the Montana Copper Kings, Fredrick Augustus Heinze, to build a smelter down the hill from the mines, in Trail. This was in 1895, and by 1898 Heinze had sold his smelter to the Canadian Pacific Railway (CPR), primarily because the CPR was interested in the small railway line which was associated with the smelter. The CPR formed the Consolidated Mining and Smelter Company (COMINCO) and operated the smelter for many years, as well as buying many of the mines, both in Rossland and elsewhere, which supplied its smelter.

120 years later, though now owned by TECK, "Canada's Largest Diversified Resource Company", the Trail Smelter and associated infrastructure continue to be the economic lifeblood of the city of Trail and Tadanac remains the beautiful, upscale community it was envisioned to be when created in the 1920s.

TADANAC

The first houses in Tadanac were built by the Consolidated Mining & Smelting Company (Teck) and rented to staff employees. They were all built along the Columbia River bank and for many years Tadanac was an exclusive neighbourhood for CM&S management and others with financial means.

A 1921 petition to the Provincial Government asked that 740 acres be incorporated as the municipality of Tadanac. Considerable opposition appeared among the taxpayers in Trail but following a mass meeting of the citizens, approval was won and Tadanac was incorporated in December 1922.

When Tadanac was incorporated, there were a number of conditions imposed upon the new municipality. Trail was to remain the commercial centre, no churches or stores were to be built in Tadanac and only a small school could provide education for the lower grades. There was also a community hall, designed by architect W. F. Williams and built in 1937, five clay tennis courts that were used as a hockey rink in the winter, a Little League ball park, and a swimming pool.

Tadanac had its own municipal reeve, clerk, police and fire departments. It was amalgamated with the City of Trail in 1969. The school continued operating until 1982 when there was a decline in student enrollment within the district.

Many of Trail's heritage homes are located in Tadanac along with an urban forest of silver maple trees.
From the Tadanac Historical Marker