THE KÜTNE READER

I previously wrote about some strange circumstances surrounding the death of Doukhobor leader Peter V. Verigin in a train explosion near Farron on Oct. 29, 1924. The site where Verigin died has always been marked in some way, and therein lies a story itself. The following appeared in the Grand Forks Gazette on Dec. 19, 1924 (something almost identical was published two days earlier in the Nelson Daily News ): DOUKHOBORS PLAN SHRINE AT FARRON Up at Farron, 40 miles east, the

Michael Kluckner’s new graphic novel, Julia , is a biography of Vancouver’s Julia Henshaw (1869-1937). She was, among other things, a music and drama critic, columnist, novelist, socialite, botanist, fellow of the Royal Geographical Society, ambulance driver, and recipient of the Croix de Guerre. Henshaw (pictured here ca. 1920, in a photo from Wikipedia) visited the West Kootenay in 1898 as part of a tour for the Vancouver Province that also inspired a novel. It forms an i

One of most poignant epitaphs I’ve ever seen appears on twin gravemarkers in what is probably West Kootenay’s most remote cemetery. The Hamel siblings, Adélia Annee Lilly and Willy Joseph Alphonse, died at Comaplix, on the northeast arm of Upper Arrow Lake, in 1903. Their gravemarkers read in French: Quand on est pur comme à ton âge le dernier jour est le plus beau . Translated, “When one is pure as at your age, the last day is the most beautiful.” I’ve written about them bef

The postcard below is part of a sequence showing Lieut. George Knopp Trim’s flight around Nelson during the fall fair of 1919 — and crash landing in Kootenay Lake. (Greg Nesteroff collection) Originally the Nelson Agricultural and Industrial Association asked Capt. Fred McCall of Calgary to perform acrobatic flying at the fair but he was forced to cancel due to engine trouble and suggested they approach the Vancouver Aerial League to send someone in his place. Trim (often mis

The first newspaper Robert Thornton Lowery was involved in — and the last still in business — is folding after 139 years. This cartoon, showing editor Robert T. Lowery and his pet bulldog mauling a delinquent subscriber, first appeared in The Ledge in July 1900. Lowery (1859-1921) was West Kootenay’s most prolific newspaper publisher during its 1890s and early 1900s mining rush. He founded the Kaslo Claim (1893 and 1895-96); the peripatetic Ledge (Nakusp 1893-94, New Denver 1

There are two curious things about the stock certificate seen below, issued by the Consolidated Mining and Smelting Co. of British Columbia Ltd. and dated June 1, 1904. First, this was not the company of (almost) the same name founded in 1906 with the merger of the Canadian Smelting Works at Trail, St. Eugene mine at Moyie, Centre Star and War Eagle mines at Rossland, and Rossland Power Company. That was the Consolidated Mining and Smelting Co. of Canada Ltd., later better kn

Below I’ve transcribed a six-page letter in my collection mailed by a woman visiting Kaslo with her mother shortly after the death of Queen Victoria on Jan. 22, 1901. It describes the multi-denominational memorial service held for her there. The first and third pages of the letter in question. The letter was mailed to the Rev. Thomas Lerch of Lansdowne, Ont. (if I am reading the last name correctly), who appears to have been the writer’s husband. However, I haven’t been able

Nelson has had three Kootenay Lake Hospitals. The first, built in 1893 near 40 High Street, had a dozen beds. According to Dr. Lorris E. Borden, it was really primitive … On the ground floor was the admitting room and the kitchen; the second floor had a medical ward and the operating room which was very small and narrow; the bird floor was for surgical patients which was considered a poor arrangement [because] there was no elevator and all surgical patients had to be carried

The death of Doukhobor leader Peter (Lordly) Verigin in a train explosion between Castlegar and Grand Forks on Oct. 29, 1924 is the West Kootenay/Boundary’s greatest unsolved mystery. It is also one of the area’s deadliest single incidents, for it took eight other lives in addition to Verigin’s. And if the blast was the result of a bomb, as two coroners’ juries concluded, it was the deadliest crime ever committed in the region. There are a lot of peculiar things about the cas

In 2008, I wrote a story for Route 3 magazine about the Thomas (or Tomas) Higstrim grave at Ainsworth Hot Springs, which dates to 1891 and is West Kootenay’s oldest marked grave in situ . There are certainly many older, unmarked First Nations graves. There are also older sets of remains that were re-interred in Nelson Memorial Park and the Sinixt burial ground at Vallican. But Higstrim’s posthumous distinction is that he’s been in the same marked grave longer than anyone els

Did William Randolph Hearst (pictured below in a photo from Wikipedia), the larger-than-life American newspaper publisher who invented (or at least popularized) tabloid journalism, vacation in West Kootenay? Walter McRaye, sidekick to Pauline Johnson, the poet who toured Canadian concert halls in the early 1900s, related the following anecdote in his memoir: I was told a good story in Nelson not long ago by J.E. Carter of the CPR who, by the way, once lived in Winnipeg and ma

Between 1872 and 1923, at least 13 Chinese Canadian births occurred at Rock Creek. This was noteworthy for a few reasons. First, there was perhaps only one other such birth elsewhere in the Boundary during that time. Most of these births preceded the first Chinese Canadian births in West Kootenay (three in Nelson and five in Kaslo during the same period). But even more intriguing: all 13 people were actually of mixed ancestry, part Chinese and part Indigenous. Rock Creek is s

You’d think if fire destroyed a town’s business district, the date would be well documented. Not in Fruitvale’s case. Much of the town burned in the mid-1910s, yet until recently we could only narrow the disaster to a three-year window. Before we get to the fire, let’s discuss the building where it started. The incredible photo below has been little seen; it shows the first Fruitvale Hotel and W.R. Mellard’s store, which had an unusual false front. Fruitvale Hotel and W.R. Me

There was a time (primarily in the 1950s) where it was common practice to honour individuals (usually trustees and other politicians) by naming schools after them, not always posthumously. However, while the practice perpetuated their names, future generations are often left puzzled at who the namesakes were. Here are brief explanations of the 18 individuals in our area who had schools named after them — of which seven have closed and two have been renamed. Two were in towns

Go for a walk on Beatty Avenue in Nelson, down by the waterfront next to the RCMP station, and you will come across this curious building. From 1948 to 1952, Colin Baker ran a confectionery at the corner of Baker and Railway streets. On Dec. 1, 1952 he opened a new store on Beatty Avenue, next to his house along the waterfront. Nelson Daily News, Nov. 14, 1952 The store was listed in the 1954 directory as Baker’s Grocery & Confectionery, 1026 Beatty Ave., but it only lasted

John Gibb Devlin (1865-1925), alias the Gunner from Galway, was a well-known early Kootenay character. One funny story about him is how he appealed for women to move to Rossland to even out the city’s gender imbalance and marry lonely miners — nearly all of whom, he insisted were “big, handsome fellows, making good money.” John G. Devlin (detail from Arrow Lakes Historical Society 2015-028-3) Apparently his call appeared first in some Toronto newspapers, but I haven’t found a

This amazing little item is in the midst of being transferred from the Touchstones Nelson archives to the Slocan Valley Historical Society. It’s a dance card, complete with pencil. (IOOF is the Independent Order of Odd Fellows.) On the pencil is written “Johann Paper.” Alas, this card went unused, but it does reveal what sort of dances you were expected to know in 1897: I’m not sure where Schonberg’s hall was, but at the time, Slocan City had two newspapers. I looked the danc

The remarkable postcard seen below shows two friends, Anna Norris of Boundary, Wash., and Velma Shields, of Waneta, who didn’t let a little thing like an international border come between them. The photo was taken by Frank Palmer of Spokane in 1908, who also published a postcard of the Waneta bridge. He had the girls dress in nearly identical clothing and pose at the boundary marker. The photo appeared in many US newspapers between May 19 and July 20 of that year, including t

A previous post looked at surviving West Kootenay landmarks related to the Patrick family, hockey pioneers who lived in Nelson from 1907-11 before founding western Canada’s first professional league. Lester Patrick, as a member of the 1909 Nelson senior hockey club, which won a provincial championship. Their departure — after helping build the Hall Mines arena, guiding the senior men’s team to the 1909 provincial championship, and making noises about challenging for the Stan

It was once common for newspapers to fancifully refer to certain people (well, men) as the mayor of a place that wasn’t incorporated. Sometimes this was because they were the only resident (e.g. Sandon, Phoenix, Bannock City). Other times it just indicated they were the town’s chief booster. Eholt had two imaginary mayors, plus a third contender. Ainsworth and Waterloo had three unofficial mayors each. Bealby Point, Carson, Rock Creek, and Kuskanook each had two. Carson annou