August, 1886

In August, 1886, a group led by brothers, Osner and Winslow Hall left Colville, Washington to search for gold. They ended up on Toad Mountain, southwest of Nelson, with no luck and dampened spirits. While the young men of the party were fetching the horses for the trip home they found a copper - silver deposit which began the rush to Toad Mountain and the establishing of Nelson, the Queen City of the Kootenays.

By the winter of 1887 - 88, 300 - 400 people had set up tents along Ward Creek, (now the centre of Nelson). G.M. Sproul, gold commissioner and magistrate, laid out the government town site which he called "Stanley" after Lord Stanley, Canada's Governor - General. There was an argument about the name from Harry Anderson, mining recorder and constable, who had already named the town site, Salisbury.

The feud was settled when the townspeople applied for a post Office 1889 under the name of Stanley. As there was already a town of That name in the Cariboo district, Nelson was named after the then Lieutenant-Governor of B.C., Hugh Nelson.

Tents gave way to shake and log shacks, until lumber became in 1889 from G.0. Buchanan's mill and frame buildings began to proliferate in the town site. The milled lumber supplied timbers for the area's hardrock mine tunnels. Lumbering succeed mining as the main industry, and remains important today.

Transport of the Silver King ores by pack train, boat and railroad To the nearest smelter in Butte, Montana proved costly. With new British the Hall Mining Company was organized in 1893 and things began to improve.

In 1895, a four and a half mile gravity - operated aerial tramway Was constructed from the mine to a smelter site in the Rosemont area of Nelson. Every hour, 875 buckets carried a total of 10 tons of ore to the smelter. By 1894, Nelson was served by two railroads, the Columbia and Kootenay, (CPR affiliate) and the Nelson and Fort Sheppard. The smelter produced a variety of ores and although the Silver King began to diminish, the plant was active until 1908, when S.G. Blaylock was appointed receiver. The smelter buildings were destroyed in spectacular fire, one of the many set by Nelson's notorious firebug in 1911.

The City of Nelson was incorporated on March 4, 1897, population - 3,000. It had many fine homes and stores, hotels and churches, a school, a hospital, jail, fire hall, court house, water company and the first hydro electric generating plant in B.C.

By 1899, Nelson owned its own electrical utility and was making plans to move its electrical generation from Cottonwood Creek to a dam site on the Kootenay River at Bonnington Falls. This project was accomplished in 1907. A street car system started by Nelson Electrical Tramway Company in 1899 and a Gasworks started in 1900 were also later taken over and operated by the City until the second half of the century, when they were supplanted by bus transit and natural gas.

Many Nelson men and women distinguished themselves in World War I, among them the Nelson - based 54th Kootenay - Battalion, and Nelson's first Victoria Cross winner, Lieutenant - Commander Rowland Bourke, R.N. The Depression years saw many work projects improve Nelson's facilities and beauty, including the impressive Nelson Civic Centre: a rink - badminton hall - theatre complex that was a "miracle" and spawned the Nelson Midsummer curling bonspiel bringing visitors to the community for over 50 years. World War II produced another Nelson hero, Victoria Cross winner, Lieutenant Robert Hampton Gray, R.C.V.V.R.

Education became a new focus for Nelson when R.C. B-Martin M. Johnson began Notre Dame College in 1950, and the B.C. Vocational School (with Kootenay School of the Arts) was established in 1960. Now the Notre Dame buildings house over 200 Japanese young people learning English in a friendly setting, Nelson University Centre, and Selkirk College Music School. The former Vocational School is now a campus of Selkirk College, and Kootenay School of the Arts has been reestablished in downtown Nelson.

Nelson's heritage potential was realized in 1977 with the designation of over 350 heritage buildings, and today Nelson, celebrating its Centennial of Incorporation in 1977, serves as the busy centre of West Kootenay government, arts, tourism, commerce, small manufacturing, and home-based business.

Editors Notes
by Shawn Lamb

History in the News