THE KÜTNE READER

Three little-known Northport buildings that have disappeared since 2007 each had intriguing stories.

Was a respected chief engineer on an Arrow Lakes sternwheeler also an opium smuggler?

It may be in Washington state, but I regard Northport as an honourary West Kootenay town, given that its existence from 1898 to 1921 was largely due to a smelter built to treat ore from Rossland’s LeRoi mine. Most people from Rossland and Trail are extremely familiar with Northport and vice versa. On top of that, at least four or five of Northport’s mayors were Canadian born. Can any other US town make a similar claim? I have no idea, as it doesn’t seem to be the subject of i

Earlier this year I wrote about a billhead from the New Zealand Hotel that Jada Regis of the Northport Historical Society found in a gunnysack full of paper related to the Kendrick Mercantile and Northport State Bank. Here are a few more items from that batch that he kindly scanned and sent to me — although they are so contaminated with mold spore that they require mask and ventilation to work with. I wrote about the Hunter Bros. and Hunter-Kendrick Co. for Route 3 magazine

Jada Regis of the Northport Historical Society recently came across a gunnysack full of old paper from the Kendrick store and Northport State Bank. Although in poor condition, several items were intriguing, including this letterhead from the New Zealand Hotel at Hedley. There was a New Zealand House hotel in Northport, which burned in 1914. It was rebuilt and burned again in 1958. Regis asked: was the New Zealand a chain of hotels? And was there any connection with the countr