THE KÜTNE READER

For a period in the 1910s and ‘20s, if you wanted to rent transportation, you’d head to the nearest livery stable and be asked: “What’ll it be, horse or auto?”

Some amazing and incredibly rare Kootenay railway passes have sold on eBay in recent weeks for eye-popping prices.

The Western Federation of Miners had at least 22 locals in the Kootenay-Boundary, whose ribbons are highly coveted by collectors.

A rare Christmas seal inflated the price of an envelope from a Trail hotel.

The story of a rare jam tin from an obscure company that operated on the East Shore of Kootenay Lake in 1909.

An envelope that sold on eBay for an eye-popping price has a connection to a man convicted of bank robbery and embezzlement.

Three images sold online tell the story of transportation in the area.

The cachet associated with the ghost town of Sandon probably drove up the auction price of a trade token from the Hotel Reco.

Five envelopes mailed in 1885 by a CPR camp cook working near present-day Revelstoke have sold at auction for nearly $7,000.

Several envelopes that sold at auction have intriguing connections to West Kootenay Japanese-Canadian, Chinese Canadian, and mining history.

An amazing envelope from Cascade City has sold on eBay.

A rare postal cancellation from the Kootenay post office, dated August 1884, sold at auction last month for $375 Cdn. The envelope was mailed to “Mrs. O’Reilly, Point Ellice, Victoria.” The Kootenay post office opened in 1866 on Wildhorse Creek, 12 miles northeast of present-day Cranbrook. It was renamed Wildhorse in 1895 and closed in 1900. The letter was probably mailed by Peter O’Reilly, a government official who served in many different roles, to his wife Carry at their V

Below is one of the strangest souvenirs ever made of our area, courtesy of the Greenwood Centennial Committee. The committee was first struck in 1958 to mark the 100th anniversary of the founding of the Colony of British Columbia, and revived in 1965 ahead of the 100th anniversary of the amalgamation of the colonies of British Columbia and Vancouver Island, and of Canada’s 100th birthday. The committee decided to issue a commemorative card of Greenwood’s smelter, which operat

Fifty-five years ago today, the Ainsworth post office ceased to exist. The following day, it was reborn as Ainsworth Hot Springs. The envelopes pictured below, which sold on eBay recently, were postmarked Jan. 10 and 11, 1964 as the change took effect. The explanation for the change is found in a letter to the postal inspector of Oct. 3, 1963 from A.E. Catterall, district director of postal service (held in the place names duotang of the Martin and Jane Lynch fonds at the Koo

An envelope mailed from London to Fort Shepherd in January 1862 sold today for $1,600 Cdn. The piece was part of the Gerald Wellburn gold rush collection being auctioned by All Nations Stamp and Coin . The envelope is addressed: “Mr. James Cooke, Fort Shepherd, near the mouth of Pond [sic] Oreille River in Vicinity of Colville Mines on Columbia River British Columbia North America.” It bears a London postmark of Jan. 2, 1862 as well as Port Townsend, Washington Territory. U

A terrific cover from Silverton, postmarked July 28, 1894, sold for $192.50 Cdn yesterday on eBay. It was sent from Hunter & McKinnon,...

An amazing cabinet card sold on eBay last week for $181.50 US ($240 Cdn), showing two First Nations people in a studio portrait by Rossland photographer Thomas Henry Gowman. I don’t know for sure if these were Sinixt people, but their name for Rossland was kEluwi’sst or kmar k n, the former a generic name for “up in the hills” and the latter a term for “smooth top,” referring to Red Mountain. They knew it as a good area for huckleberries. While we do don’t know the names of

Three noteworthy bits of Greenwood memorabilia (Greewoodiana?) have sold on eBay in the last few months. On Aug. 4, a dry-mount photo of Greenwood looking southwest sold for $225 US. Rossland photographer William J. Carpenter took it in the late 1890s or early 1900s. The seller was in Tacoma. An envelope from the British Columbia Copper Co. Ltd. smelter at Greenwood, postmarked 1900 and mailed to Sweden attracted 16 bids and netted $277.79 US on Oct. 2 . The seller was in Sto

While quite a few postcards show First Nations scenes in East Kootenay, not many exist from West Kootenay. At least, there are only a few we can comfortably say were taken on this side of the Purcell mountains, since the location was not always listed. Although the captions always said “Kootenay Indians,” I don’t know whether these people are Ktunaxa or Sinixt; the photographer probably wasn’t aware of the distinction. We know who he was, though: Allan Lean of Queen Studio in

The postcard below of an old bridge across the Cascade canyon at Christina Lake sold online today. It’s a nice enough image, but it’s the message on the back that’s jaw dropping. It’s the first postcard I’ve seen used to deny involvement in a crime. The card was mailed on June 29, 1929 from Greenwood to Mr. W. Best, secretary of the Elks Club in Victoria. Here is the message flipped on its side: Earlier that month, Arthur Thomas, 19, held up the Grandview branch of the Royal