Gênes
The
Columbia and Kootenay Railway was a historic railway in the interior of
British Columbia between
Nelson on
Kootenay Lake and
Robson at the confluence of the
Kootenay River and the
Columbia River near
Castlegar operated as part of the
Canadian Pacific Railway(CPR).
The railway was chartered by a senior officer of the CPR and immediately leased for 999 years to the CPR. The CPR built the line to obtain mining traffic that was then being sent by boat along Kootenay Lake and south to the United States. By building along the 25-mile unnavigable
Kootenay River between Kootenay Lake and the Columbia River, the CPR used steamers to connect with its mainline at
Revelstoke up the
Arrow Lakes and the
Columbia River. In 1891, the first train travelled between Nelson and Robson.
Low water and ice on the Arrow Lakes made connecting route unreliable so in 1897, the CPR extended the railway up the Slocan Valley to
Slocan City on the shore of
Slocan Lake. Boats and barrages moved railway cars and goods to the north end of the lake which connected with its
Nakusp and Slocan Railway which continued to Nakusp on the Arrow Lake much closer to its mainline at Revelstoke. This branch also provided a connection to the rich mining region around Sandon.
The section of railway was later connected both east (along Kootenay Lake) and west, (via the
Columbia and Western Railway) to become part of the CPR's southern mainline through British Columbia. After numerous abandonments in the region, this section of railway is active as a branch line connected at
Cranbrook and terminating in
Trail. The branch up the Slocan Valley was abandoned in 1993 and has been converted into a multiuse trail.
Sanford, Barrie
McCulloch's Wonder: The Story of the Kettle Valley Railway
