The Kettle Valley Rail Trail is a multi-use recreational rail trail located in the Okanagan - Boundary region of southern British Columbia .
110-588: The trail uses a rail corridor that was originally built for the now-abandoned Kettle Valley Railway . The trail was developed during the 1990s after the Canadian Pacific Railway abandoned train service. One of the most popular sections of the Kettle Valley Rail Trail is the section through Myra Canyon. Myra Canyon is located south of Kelowna on Okanagan Mountain. The section of line originally transited between Midway and Penticton . When
220-511: A heritage railway along a preserved 10-kilometre section from Prairie Valley Station to Canyon View Siding, near Summerland, British Columbia . This is the only active remaining section of the Kettle Valley Railway. The last freight haul on the KVR was in 1989, after which CP Rail obtained permission to abandon and remove the final section of rails. A heritage society sprang up in a bid to save
330-718: A cyclist on one of the trestles, many people petitioned to have the bridges and trestles made safer. These upgrades included repairs, the installation of handrails and planks so that people did not have to jump between each railway tie. This section of the railway was designated a National Historic Site of Canada in 2002. From August to September 2003, lightning sparked the 2003 Okanagan Mountain Park Fire in Okanagan Mountain Provincial Park. This fire rapidly grew in strength and size and made its way southeast across Okanagan Mountain. This fire engulfed many portions of
440-474: A daring raid. Using his European connections and a reputation for having "bested" Jay Gould in a battle for control of the Kansas Pacific Railroad years before, Villard solicited and raised $ 8,000,000 million dollars from his associates. This was his famous "Blind Pool," Villard's associates were not told what the money would be used for. In this case, the funds were used by him to purchase control of
550-445: A fatal accident involving a cyclist on one of the trestles, many people petitioned to have the bridges and trestles made safer. These upgrades included repairs after numerous years of disrepair, and the installation of handrails and planks so that people did not have to jump between each railway tie. This section of the railway was designated a National Historic Site of Canada in 2002. From August to September 2003, lightning sparked
660-525: A large area, including extensive trackage in the western Federal territories and later states of Idaho , Minnesota, Montana , North Dakota , Oregon , Washington , and Wisconsin . In addition, the N.P. had an international branch running north to Winnipeg , capital of the province of Manitoba , in the newly organized Canada . The main activities were shipping wheat and other farm products, cattle, timber, and minerals; bringing in consumer goods, transporting passengers; and selling land. The Northern Pacific
770-558: A mile and half (2.4 km) of track each day. In early September, as the line neared completion. To celebrate, and to gain national publicity for investment opportunities in his region, Villard chartered four trains to carry guests from the East to Gold Creek in western Montana Territory No expense was spared, and the list of dignitaries included Frederick Billings, former 18th President Ulysses S. Grant (served 1869-1877), only two years before his tragic death from cancer, and Villard's in-laws,
880-644: A permanent station was built at the Prairie Valley station providing a great access point for the railway. The railway initially operated with one 1924 Shay locomotive loaned from the BC Forest Discovery Centre in Duncan, British Columbia . It was originally operated by the Mayo Lumber Company on Vancouver Island, and was specifically designed to work on rough forestry trackage. Rolling stock for
990-544: A portion of the rail line. Their efforts were successful in preserving the section, and they proceeded to prepare rail operations. In the original position of the Summerland station, a maintenance building was erected. Sidings were placed at Prairie Valley, and at Canyon View (North side of the Trout Creek Bridge). Temporary stations were built at Prairie Valley, Canyon View and at the original Summerland Station. Eventually
1100-611: A result of an anniversary of the Bard's death in 1916, McCulloch had a role in naming Coquihalla Subdivision stations after characters in Shakespearean literature, such as Iago , Romeo , Juliet , Lear , Jessica , and Portia . Shylock was never an official KVR station name. A spur just below Portia was unofficially known as 'Shylock Spur.' On the Smithsonian Folkways FW03569 1961 recording, "Bunkhouse and Forecastle Songs of
1210-413: A routing proposed by his subordinates through this section was unnecessarily long or complex. McCulloch recalculated the requirements and decided that a straight section of track through this area was required; in order to achieve this, five closely aligned tunnels would be required. He also determined that two bridges would need to be built between three of the tunnels. These tunnels were eventually known as
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#17328382012771320-442: A short amount of time for completion, and a large penalty if the deadline were missed. While crews worked on the tunnel, the railroad built a temporary switchback route across the pass. With numerous timber trestles and grades which approached six percent, the temporary line required two M class 2-10-0s —the two largest locomotives in the world (at that time)—to handle a tiny five-car train. On May 3, 1888, crews holed through
1430-587: A stable path to that important interchange. At the same time, E. H. Harriman , head of the Union Pacific Railroad , was also looking for a road which could connect his company to Chicago. The road both Harriman and Hill looked at was the Chicago, Burlington and Quincy. To Harriman, the Burlington was a road which paralleled much of his own and offered tantalizing direct access to Chicago. For Hill as well, there
1540-565: A threat in certain quarters. German-born former war correspondent / journalist and later newspaper / magazine publisher Henry Villard (6th President N.P.R.R. 1881-1884), had raised capital for western railroads in Europe (especially in the recently unified German Empire ), from 1871 to 1873. After returning to New York City in 1874, he invested on behalf of his clients in railroads in Oregon . Through Villard's work, most of these lines became properties of
1650-468: The 2003 Okanagan Mountain Park Fire in Okanagan Mountain Provincial Park. This fire rapidly grew in strength and size and made its way Southeast across Okanagan Mountain. This fire engulfed many portions of the KVR between Penticton and McCulloch Lake. After a valiant fight by the firefighters, the fire unfortunately claimed 12 of the 18 trestles within Myra Canyon. In addition, the bridge decks of two of
1760-705: The Cape Horn to the Pacific Ocean. In Minnesota, the Lake Superior and Mississippi Railroad completed construction of its 155-mile (249 km) line stretching from Saint Paul east to Lake Superior at Duluth in 1870. It was leased to the Northern Pacific line six years later in the American Centennial celebration year of 1876 and was eventually absorbed by the Northern Pacific. The famed North Coast Limited
1870-565: The Great Lakes ). The backing and promotions of famed New York City / Wall Street financier Jay Cooke , in the summer of 1870 brought the first real momentum to the railway company. Over the course of 1871, the Northern Pacific pushed westward from Minnesota Territory into the newer Dakota Territory (present-day state of North Dakota ). Surveyors and construction crews had to maneuver through swamps, bogs, and tamarack forests. The difficult terrain and insufficient funding delayed by six months
1980-706: The Northern Securities Company , a move which would be undone by the Supreme Court in 1904 under the auspices of the Sherman Anti-Trust Act . Harriman was not immune either; he was forced to break up his holdings in the Union Pacific Railroad and the Southern Pacific Railroad a few years later. In 1903, Hill finally got his way with the House of Morgan. Howard Elliott , another veteran of
2090-581: The Snake River near Wallula, Washington . The Union Pacific and Central Pacific lines had completed the first trans-continental route 12 years earlier in 1869. Within a decade of his return, Villard was head of a transportation empire in the Pacific Northwest that had but one real competitor, the Northern Pacific Railroad. The Northern Pacific's trans-continental route completion threatened
2200-445: The northern Great Plains of central Canada to the northern states of the U.S . and especially its Midwestern big cities, manufacturing centers and markets. The U.S. Congress granted the Northern Pacific Railroad a generous potential bonanza of 60 million acres (94,000 sq mi; 240,000 km ) of land adjacent to the line in exchange for building rail transportation to an undeveloped western territory. Josiah Perham
2310-528: The 1870s, began anew. Virgil Bogue , a veteran civil engineer , was sent to explore the Cascades again. On March 19, 1881, he discovered Stampede Pass . In 1883, John W. Sprague , the head of the new Pacific Division, drove the Golden Spike to mark the beginning of the railroad from what would become Kalama, Washington . He resigned a months later due to impaired health. In 1884, after the departure of Villard,
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#17328382012772420-449: The 1970s progressed. Train service declined correspondingly. In early 1983, wood chip service was moved to trucking and from that point onwards, rail traffic quickly diminished to a couple of trains per week. Penticton station building and mechanical servicing facilities were closed at Penticton in the spring of 1985. From that time until the end of train service in March 1989, train crews working
2530-469: The Chicago, Burlington and Quincy, became president of the Northern Pacific on October 23. Elliott was a relative of the Burlington's crusty chieftain Charles Elliott Perkins, and more distantly the Burlington's great backer, John Murray Forbes . He had spent 20 years in the trenches of Midwest railroading, where rebates, pooling, expansion and rate wars had brought ruinous competition. Having seen
2640-619: The Coquihalla Subdivision.) Through freight was discontinued throughout the line in 1961, and the last passenger train operated in January 1964. With the end of scheduled through-freight service in September 1961, the former KVR line essentially became a wandering, low-trafficked branch line. All rail service stopped from Midway to Penticton (including the famed Myra Canyon section) in May 1973, with
2750-548: The Dakota Territory conducted expeditions to protect the railroad survey and construction crews in Dakota and Montana Territories. In 1877, construction resumed in a small way. Northern Pacific pushed a branch line southeast from Tacoma to Puyallup, Washington and on to the coal fields around Wilkeson, Washington . Much of the coal was destined for export through Tacoma to San Francisco, California , where it would be thrown into
2860-585: The East after 1873, led by the Credit Mobilier Scandal and the Union Pacific Railroad stock fraud, caused a nationwide economic recession and financial panic in New York City's Wall Street financial district, stopping further railroad building for twelve years during the latter 1870s and early 1880s. In 1886, the company restarted and put down 164 miles (264 km) of main line across the northern Dakotas, with an additional 45 miles (72 km) from
2970-675: The European creditors' holding company, the Oregon and Transcontinental Company . Of the lines held by the Oregon and Transcontinental, the most important was the Oregon Railway and Navigation Company , which ran east from Portland, Oregon along the left bank of the Columbia River to a connection with the Union Pacific Railroad 's Oregon Short Line at the confluence of the Columbia River and
3080-517: The Gladstone Shops, which closed in 1915. On May 24, 1879, Frederick H. Billings became the fifth president of the company. Billings' tenure would be short but ferocious. Reorganization, bond sales, and improvement in the U.S. economy allowed Northern Pacific to strike out across the upper Missouri River by letting a contract to build 100 miles (160 km) of railroad west of the river. The railroad's new-found strength, however, would be seen as
3190-594: The KVR between Penticton and McCulloch Lake. Despite concerted efforts by the firefighters, the fire claimed 14 of the 18 trestles within Myra Canyon. In addition, the bridge decks of two of the metal bridges were also destroyed in the fire. Soon after the Okanagan Mountain Park Fire in 2003, the BC provincial government announced that it would rebuild the damaged and destroyed trestles and bridges. In addition, safety improvements including stabilizing rock faces along
3300-527: The Kettle Valley Railway's lifespan, on numerous occasions it was called upon to act as "The Second Mainline" when washouts, avalanches and rock slides closed off the main CPR line through the Fraser Canyon . CPR recognized the benefit of having a second railway transiting through British Columbia, so beginning in the late 1930s and up until 1959, they set off on an upgrade program that saw the weight-bearing strength of
3410-752: The Kootenay Division. In later years of operations after 1962, the Kootenay Division administered the Carmi Subdivision all the way west to the east end of the yard at Penticton, BC. Much of the KVR was built in response to the construction of the Vancouver, Victoria and Eastern Railway (VV&E). The VV&E was owned by Great Northern Railway . Although the CPR and the GNR had indulged in fierce competition in Boundary, West and East Kootenay Districts, that competition
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3520-746: The Kootenays. It was stored in Port Coquitlam in 1966, and was restored in 1975. It was used as a backup locomotive to the Royal Hudson until it was retired from BC Rail's service in April 2001. The train now travels to the middle of the Trout Creek Bridge. Plans also were to extend the run to Faulder along the final portions of remaining original trackage. The Steam Railway owns track to Faulder. However, tours do not run to that location. Kettle Valley Railway
3630-653: The Mississippi River as the Chicago, Burlington and Quincy had done, Villard chose to lease the Wisconsin Central . Some backers of the Wisconsin Central had long associations with Villard, and an expensive lease was worked out between the two companies which was only undone by the Northern Pacific's second bankruptcy. The ultimate result was that the Northern Pacific was left without a direct connection to Chicago,
3740-494: The N.P. reached the shores of the upper Missouri River at Edwinton, Dakota Territory (now the state capital of Bismarck, North Dakota) . In the west sector, the N.P. track extended 25 miles (40 km) north from Kalama. Surveys were carried out in the Dakota Territory protected by 600 troops of the horse cavalry of the United States Army , under command of Civil War hero, General Winfield Scott Hancock , nicknamed "Hancock
3850-543: The Northern Pacific Corner. By the end of the day, he was short just 40,000 shares of common stock. Harriman placed an order to cover this, but was overridden by his broker, Jacob Schiff , of Kuhn, Loeb & Co. Hill, on the other hand, reached the vacationing Morgan in Italy and managed to place an order for 150,000 shares of common stock. Though Harriman might be able to control the preferred stock, Hill knew
3960-700: The Northern Pacific Railway Company on July 2, 1864, with the goals of connecting the Great Lakes with Puget Sound on the northwestern coast of the United States on the Pacific Ocean , opening vast new lands for farming, ranching, lumbering and mining, and linking the Federal territories and later newly admitted to the Union as states of Washington and Oregon to the rest of the country (plus connecting
4070-410: The Northern Pacific began building toward Stampede Pass from Wallula in the east and the area of Wilkeson in the west. By the end of the year, rails had reached Yakima, Washington in the east. A 77-mile (124 km) gap remained in 1886. In January of that year, Nelson Bennett was given a contract to construct a 9,850-foot (1.9 mi; 3.0 km) tunnel under Stampede Pass . The contract specified
4180-551: The Northern Pacific closer to the orbit of James J. Hill. In the late 1880s, the Villard regime, in another one of its costly missteps, attempted to stretch the Northern Pacific from the Twin Cities to the all-important rail hub of Chicago, Illinois . A costly project was begun in creating a union station and terminal facilities for a Northern Pacific which had yet to arrive. Rather than build directly down to Chicago, perhaps following
4290-537: The Northern Pacific experienced the first competition in the form of James Jerome Hill and his Great Northern Railway . The Great Northern, like the Northern Pacific before it, was pushing west from the Twin Cities towards Puget Sound, and would be completed in 1893. Mismanagement, sparse traffic, and the Panic of 1893 sounded the death knell for the Northern Pacific and Villard's interest in railroading. The company slipped into its second bankruptcy on October 20, 1893. Oakes
4400-474: The Northern Pacific still completed the line north along the Pacific Ocean and U.S. west coast from Kalama to Tacoma, a distance of 110 miles (180 km), before the end of 1873. On December 16, the first steam locomotive train arrived in Tacoma. But by the next year in 1874 the company was approaching insolvency. Northern Pacific slipped into its first bankruptcy on June 30, 1875. President Cass resigned to become
4510-595: The Northern Pacific's bankruptcy. Things came to a head in 1896, when first Edward Dean Adams was appointed president, then less than two months later, Edwin Winter . Ultimately, the task of straightening out the muddle of the Northern Pacific was turned over to J. P. Morgan . Morganization of the Northern Pacific, a process which befell many U.S. roads in the wake of the Panic of 1893, was handed to Morgan lieutenant Charles Henry Coster. The new president, beginning September 1, 1897,
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4620-401: The Northern Pacific. Despite a tough fight, Billings and his backers were forced to capitulate; he resigned the presidency June 9, 1881. Ashbel H. Barney , former President of Wells Fargo & Company (bankers and famous Western stagecoach line), served briefly as interim caretaker of the railroad from June 19 to September 15, when Villard was elected sixth president by the stockholders. For
4730-454: The Northwest," Stanley G. Triggs sings a song called "The Kettle Valley Line" while accompanying himself on the mandolin. One of the most popular sections of the hiking trail along the former Kettle Valley Railway line is the section through Myra Canyon. Myra Canyon is located south of Kelowna on Okanagan Mountain. The section of line originally transited between Midway and Penticton . When
4840-558: The Princeton Subdivision west of Penticton, were headquartered at Merritt. About 2 miles of former KVR track also survived westward from Midway to a sawmill at West Midway. After 1976, Kootenay Division crews handled whatever work was required west of Midway. In fact, even though the Carmi Subdivision had closed to through service between Penticton and Carmi, BC, train service was maintained as far west as Beaverdell until late 1976. After 1977, no trains went past West Midway. One of
4950-682: The Quintette tunnels. These tunnels are a popular tourist attraction, and are located along the existing Coquihalla Highway (however they are not visible from the highway). These tunnels are also known as the Othello Tunnels because they are near the Othello Railway station, named for the Shakespeare character, as is the case with other stations on this stretch of the railway named by McCullough. The Kettle Valley Steam Railway has been operating
5060-670: The Superlative" but defeated Democratic Party candidate in the 1880 presidential election . Fabricating shops and foundries were established in Brainerd, Minnesota Territory , a town named by the N.P. second President John Gregory Smith for Lawrence Brainerd , the father of his wife Anna Elizabeth Brainerd and a close friend and colleague. It was here further back on the line where the Railway established its first temporary offices and headquarters. A severe stock market crash and financial collapse in
5170-496: The United States and even growing exports overseas to Europe. Most of the settlers were German and Scandinavian immigrants who bought the land cheaply and raised large families. They shipped huge quantities of wheat to Minneapolis, then Milwaukee, Chicago and St. Louis connected by rail. while buying all sorts of farming equipment and home supplies (some ordered and delivered through the beginnings of published mail-order catalogs from
5280-663: The Yellowstone region by Sioux , Cheyenne , Arapaho , and Kiowa native warriors in northern Dakota and Minnesota Territories became so prevalent that the company received protection from additional mounted troops in units of the U.S. Army. In 1886, the Northern Pacific also opened colonization / emigration offices in Europe especially the newly unified German Empire and north to the kingdoms of Scandinavia , with good reliable steamship lines, attracting Nordic farmers with package deals of cheap land and transportation and purchase deals in
5390-548: The big cities warehouses, to be shipped in by rail. The N.P. used its federal land grants as security to borrow money to build its system. The federal government kept every other alternate section of land, and gave it away free to native and immigrant homesteaders / farmers under the Homestead Act of 1862. At first the railroad sold much of its holdings at low prices to land speculators in order to realize quick cash profits, and also to eliminate sizable annual tax bills. By 1905,
5500-571: The civilian Pennsylvania Railroad , organized the Northern Pacific Beneficial Association in 1881. Inspired by the progressive medical care and insurance program then being introduced in the German Empire in Europe and a forerunner of the modern health maintenance organization , the N.P.B.A. ultimately established a series of four medical hospitals across the N.P.R.R. route system in Saint Paul, Minnesota ; Glendive, Montana ; Missoula, Montana ; and Tacoma, Washington , to care for its railroad employees, retirees, and their families. On January 15, 1883,
5610-408: The closure of the Coquihalla Subdivision in late 1959, the Brookmere-Merritt-Spences Bridge line became the connection to the CPR main line.) After the end of the First World War, additional spur lines connected Copper Mountain with Princeton, Oliver with Penticton. (In 1944, the Osoyoos Subdivision was extended another 10 miles to connect Oliver with Osoyoos.) In the late 1930s until into the 1960s,
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#17328382012775720-481: The company bylaws allowed for the holders of the common stock to vote to retire the preferred. In three days, the Harriman-Hill imbroglio managed to wreak havoc on the stock market. Northern Pacific stock was quoted at $ 150 a share on May 6 and is reported to have traded as much as $ 1,000 a share behind the scenes. Harriman and Hill now worked to settle the issue for brokers to avoid panic. Hill, for his part, attempted to avoid future stock raids by placing his holdings in
5830-410: The completed railway grade were included in the Kettle Valley Railway when the section between Penticton and Midway was completed. The core portion of the Kettle Valley Railway started in Hope up the steep Coquihalla Valley through the narrow rocky canyon to Coquihalla Pass, transited through GN track via Brookmere , Tulameen , to Princeton ; again back on CP track up the grasslands at Jura, through
5940-418: The construction phase in Minnesota. The N.P. also began building its line north from Kalama, Washington Territory , on the Columbia River just outside of Portland, Oregon , towards the Puget Sound . Four small construction locomotive engines were purchased, the Minnetonka , Itaska , Ottertail and St. Cloud , the first of which was shipped to Kalama by ship all around the continent of South America and
6050-433: The court-appointed receiver of the company, and Charles Barstow Wright became its fourth president. Frederick Billings , namesake of future Billings, Montana , formulated a reorganization plan which was put into effect. Throughout 1874 to 1876, elements of the 7th Cavalry Regiment of the U.S. Army under the command of Lieutenant Colonel George Armstrong Custer , operating out of Fort Abraham Lincoln and Fort Rice in
6160-444: The decade between 1881 and 1890. The Northern Pacific reached Dakota Territory at Fargo in 1872 and began its career as one of the central factors in the economic growth of the future Dakotas Territory and later its twin states North and South. The climate, although very cold in the continental interior heartland was still suitable for wheat, which was in high demand in the eastern and Mid-Western rapidly developing industrial cities of
6270-417: The easy access of cheap lumber. The Brainerd Shops to the east remained as the largest locomotive repair facility throughout the steam era. Another shops / foundry site was located at the center mid-way of the mainline in Livingston, Montana , which became the primary diesel engine maintenance facility after 1955. In St. Paul, Minnesota were the Como Shops, which maintained most of the passenger car fleet, and
6380-403: The effects of having multiple railroads attempt to serve the same destination, he was very much in tune with James J. Hill's philosophy of "community of interest," a loose affiliation or collusion among roads in an attempt to avoid duplicating routes, rate wars, weak finances and ultimately bankruptcies and reorganizations. Elliott would be left to make peace with the Hill-controlled Great Northern;
6490-413: The family of famed longtime abolitionist William Lloyd Garrison , who had just died four years earlier. On September 8, 1883, the Gold Spike was driven near Gold Creek in the Montana Territory . Villard's fall was swifter than his ascendancy. Like Jay Cooke, he was now consumed by the enormous costs of constructing the railroad. Wall Street bears attacked the stock shortly after the Golden Spike, after
6600-429: The fireboxes of Central Pacific Railroad 's steam engines locomotives. This small amount of construction was one of the largest projects the company would undertake in the years between 1874 and 1880. That same year the company built a large shop complex at Edison, Washington (now part of south Tacoma metropolitan area ). The Edison Shops became the largest on the system for building and repairing freight cars due to
6710-454: The first N.P.R.R. train reached Livingston, Montana , at the eastern foot of the Bozeman Pass . Livingston, like Brainerd and South Tacoma before it, would grow to encompass a large backshop handling heavy repairs for the Northern Pacific Railroad equipment. It would also mark the east–west dividing line on the Northern Pacific route system. Villard pushed hard for the completion of the Northern Pacific in 1883. His crews laid an average of
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#17328382012776820-404: The holdings of Villard in the Northwest, and especially in Portland. Portland unfortunately could possibly become a second-class city if the Puget Sound 's deeper and larger ports at Tacoma and nearby Seattle, Washington , were further developed and connected to the East by rail. Villard, who had been building a monopoly of river and rail transportation in Oregon for several years, now launched
6930-452: The light forest to Osprey Lake, and down to Summerland , Penticton , Beaverdell and terminated in Midway . An additional, earlier-constructed CPR branch line connected to Spences Bridge , and Merritt . The KVR took over administration and operation of the CPR Spences Bridge-Nicola line in early 1916. The KVR connected this line up the Coldwater River valley to connect with the KVR mainline at Brodie, BC, just west of Brookmere , BC. (After
7040-405: The line and clearing rock also has taken place. The trestles have since been rebuilt and the trail is fully open to the public. There are indications that plans for further improvement are in place, such as a restroom located at approximately the middle of the trail. When constructing the railway through the roughest portion of the Coquihalla Canyon, chief engineer Andrew McCulloch determined that
7150-429: The line consisted for many years of the Kettle Valley Express and the Kootenay Express , which carried passengers between Vancouver, BC and Medicine Hat , Alberta . Freight carried on the KVR consisted primarily of ore from the Kootenay region of British Columbia, as well as forestry products and fruit from the Okanagan. Finished goods were primarily brought into the Southern Interior on trains heading Eastbound. During
7260-421: The line was closed for some time. The CPR officials in Montreal decided to close the line permanently. Many say that their decision was short sighted. In the late 1940s/early 1950s the CPR invested quite a lot of money in upgrading the line. including many new bridges. (Others, better-informed, knew that the 1950s upgrades were part of a larger corporate strategy: it aimed at getting rid of unprofitable lines such as
7370-419: The line. In some cases vandals had removed railway ties on the larger steel bridges, thus creating large gaps. In some cases hikers and cyclists wanting to cross the trestles would be required to walk on sections of steel no wider than a foot across in sections where the ties were removed. This would not normally be an issue, but many of these trestles and bridges were hundreds of feet in height. However, after
7480-407: The line. In some cases vandals had removed railway ties on the larger steel bridges, thus creating large gaps. Hikers and cyclists wanting to cross the trestles would be required to walk on sections of steel no wider than a foot across where the ties were removed. This would not normally be an issue, but many of these trestles and bridges were hundreds of feet in height. After a fatal accident involving
7590-410: The main CPR line. It opened in 1915 and was abandoned in portions beginning in 1961, with the surviving portion west of Penticton seeing their last trains in 1989. Much of the railway's original route has been converted to a multi-use recreational trail , known as the Kettle Valley Rail Trail , which carries the Trans-Canada Trail through this part of British Columbia . The Kettle Valley Railway
7700-432: The main reason the CPR followed the transcontinental railway route that it had selected. Too many mountain ranges stood between Alberta and Vancouver in the southern portions of British Columbia, and CPR had selected what they felt was the path of least resistance. Once silver was discovered within the region in the spring of 1887, thousands of Americans flooded into the BC's Southern Interior, and essentially took control of
7810-406: The major landmarks on the former line are the Othello-Quintette Tunnels , which are lined up in a straight line, cutting through the Coquihalla River 's gorge near Hope. They are open in summer for sightseeing. Andrew McCulloch , who oversaw the engineering projects which resulted in the complex series of bridges and tunnels through Coquihalla Canyon, was an avid reader of William Shakespeare . As
7920-498: The metal bridges were also destroyed in the fire. Soon after the Okanagan Mountain Park Fire in 2003, the B.C provincial government announced that it would rebuild the damaged and destroyed trestles and bridges. Restoration of the trail was completed, with an official re-opening ceremony held June 22, 2008. In addition, safety improvements including clearing and rock face stabilization along the line have taken place. The extreme flooding event of November 2021 washed out many portions of
8030-454: The mounting construction costs. Cooke overestimated his managerial skills and failed to appreciate the limits of a banker's ability to be also a promoter, and the danger of freezing his assets in the bonds of the Northern Pacific. Cooke and Company went bankrupt on September 18, 1873. Soon the financial Panic of 1873 engulfed the United States, business and financial community extending to numerous industries beginning an economic depression that
8140-515: The new German Empire ), for construction funding. Construction began in 1870 and the main line opened all the way from the Great Lakes to the Pacific Ocean , just south of the United States-Canada border when Ulysses S. Grant , drove in the final "golden spike" completing the line in western Montana Territory (future State of Montana in 1889), on September 8, 1883. The railroad had about 6,800 miles (10,900 km) of track and served
8250-532: The next four years, until the return of the Villard group, Harris worked at improving the property and ending its tangled relationship with the Oregon Railway and Navigation Company. Throughout the mid-1880s, the Northern Pacific pushed to reach Puget Sound directly, rather than by means of a roundabout route that followed the Columbia River. Surveys of the Cascade Mountains , carried out intermittently since
8360-405: The next two years, Villard and the Northern Pacific rode the whirlwind. In 1882, 360 miles (580 km) of main line and 368 miles (592 km) of branch line were completed, bringing totals to 1,347 miles (2,168 km) and 731 miles (1,176 km), respectively. On October 10, 1882, the line from Wadena, Minnesota , to Fergus Falls, Minnesota , opened for service. The upper Missouri River
8470-574: The north of the mining towns within the Southern Interior. Those critical of the CPR believed that the railway should have been routed along the Dewdney Trail , through the southern portions of British Columbia in order to fulfill politician pledges to keep Americans out of British Columbia should they ever attempt to dominate mining operations in British Columbia's South. However, geography was
8580-486: The portion of the former Columbia & Western Railway from Midway, through Grand Forks continuing through to Castlegar was also periodically referred to as being part of the KVR as well. However, with the exception of some isolated track at Grand Forks, BC, no part of the Boundary Subdivision (Nelson-Midway) was ever part of official KV territory. Former Columbia & Western territory was always administered by
8690-430: The previous three years the financial house of Jay Cooke and Company in New York City had been throwing money into the construction of the Northern Pacific. As with many western transcontinentals , the staggering costs of building a railroad into a vast wilderness prairie had been drastically underestimated. Cooke had little success in marketing the N.P.R.R. bonds in Europe and overextended his house in meeting overdrafts of
8800-495: The primary interchange point for most of the large U.S. railroads. Fortunately, the Northern Pacific was not alone. James J. Hill , controller of the Great Northern Railway , which was completed between the Twin Cities and Puget Sound in 1893, also lacked a direct connection to Chicago. Hill went looking for a road with an existing route between the Twin Cities and Chicago which could be rolled into his holdings and give him
8910-513: The rail grade west of Princeton. Currently the path is unusable from Princeton to Coalmont, Tulameen, Brookmere, and Coquihalla Lakes. Kettle Valley Railway The Kettle Valley Railway ( reporting mark KV ) was a subsidiary of the Canadian Pacific Railway (CPR) that operated across southern British Columbia, west of Midway running to Rock Creek, then north to Myra Canyon, down to Penticton over to Princeton, Coalmont, Brookmere, Coquihalla and finally Hope where it connected to
9020-503: The railroad company's land policies changed, after it was judged a costly mistake to have sold much of the land at wholesale prices. With better railroad service and improved more educated and scientific methods of farming and soil conservation in future decades in the special unique conditions on the Great Plains. The Northern Pacific then easily sold what had been heretofore termed "worthless" land directly to farmers at good prices. By 1910
9130-545: The railroad's holdings in the new state of North Dakota had been greatly reduced. In 1873, Northern Pacific made impressive strides before a terrible stumble. Rails from the east reached the Missouri River on June 4. After several years of study, Tacoma, Washington Territory near the Pacific Coast and Puget Sound for waterborne shipping port facilities was selected as the road's western terminus on July 14, 1873. For
9240-580: The rails increased, as well as bridge and trestle improvements which brought the railway closer to mainline standards. The first portion to be abandoned was the Copper Mountain Branch in 1957. The loss of traffic due to the Copper Mountain Mine closure spelled the end for this line. The second part of the KVR to be abandoned was the Coquihalla subdivision. In 1959 there was a large washout and
9350-402: The railway was built, the section of railway between Myra station and June Springs station required 18 wooden trestles and two tunnels in order to traverse the deep canyon. For years after the abandonment of this section of rail line, the area was a noted attraction, with its relatively gentle grade, it became a hiker and cyclist haven. Years of disrepair on the trestles began to take its toll on
9460-405: The railway was built, the section of railway between Myra station and June Springs station required 18 wooden trestles and two tunnels in order to traverse the deep canyon. For years after the abandonment of this section of rail line, the area was a noted attraction; with its relatively gentle grade, it became a hiker and cyclist haven. Years of disrepair on the trestles began to take their toll on
9570-545: The railway was donated from BC Rail . These railcars are Canadian Pacific in origin, but were used by BC Rail for service on the Royal Hudson . The most recent locomotive addition to the Kettle Valley Steam Railway is a Canadian Pacific Montreal Locomotive Works 2-8-0 . This locomotive, originally delivered as number 3916, it now is number 3716 and runs on the KVSR. It was built for the CPR, and operated primarily in
9680-465: The railway was not undertaken all at once, or even by one single company. In the process of realizing a completed "Coast-to-Kootenay" railway, a number of "paper railways" emerged. These were railways that never progressed beyond the proposed stage. However some railroads did progress past the proposal stage. The CPR initiated the Nicola Valley Railroad in the early 1890s. This railway connected
9790-425: The realization that the Northern Pacific was a very long road with very little business. Villard himself suffered a nervous breakdown in the days after the driving of the Golden Spike, and he left the presidency of the Northern Pacific in January 1884. Again, the presidency of the Northern Pacific was handed to a professional railroader, Robert Harris , former head of the Chicago, Burlington and Quincy Railroad . For
9900-436: The region. These miners quickly found that it was much quicker and cheaper to get their supplies from the recently completed Northern Pacific Railroad that transited through Spokane. Once word caught on, British Columbia's Southern Interior essentially became a commercial annex of the United States. Provincial and Federal officials quickly agreed that a second railway dubbed the "Coast-to-Kootenay" railway within British Columbia
10010-569: The similar cold higher latitudes of climate of the north-central North America continent, but with richer unplowed expansive soil. The success of the N.P. was based on the abundant crops of wheat and other grains already grown and the attraction to settlers of the lower Red River Valley of the Red River of the North, Minnesota, Missouri and Mississippi Rivers basins along the Minnesota-Dakota border in
10120-519: The town of Merritt with the CPR mainline at Spences Bridge . The Midway & Vernon Railroad was a paper railway that actually started construction. It was hoped that the Midway & Vernon railway would connect Midway (the westernmost station of the CPR-owned Columbia and Western Railway ) with Vernon . However, due to funding issues, construction on this railway was stopped. However portions of
10230-746: The trackage being labelled as abandoned in 1978. Rails along this section were removed in 1979-1980 as the result of a grant of abandonment from the Canadian Transport Commission. In 1977 the CP abandoned part of the Osoyoos Subdivision from Okanagan Falls to Osoyoos. This was due to the loss of fruit traffic to trucks. The remainder of the former KVR was doing quite well. In the early 1970s, at various times when forest products were shipping at peak rates, trains were operated between Penticton and Spences Bridge daily. This traffic gradually diminished as
10340-601: The tunnel, and on May 27 the first train passed through directly to Puget Sound. Despite this success, the Northern Pacific, like many U.S. roads, was living on borrowed time. From 1887 until 1893, Henry Villard returned to the board of directors. Though offered the presidency, he refused. An associate of Villard dating back to his time on the Kansas Pacific, Thomas Fletcher Oakes , assumed the presidency on September 20, 1888. In an effort to garner business, Oakes pursued an aggressive policy of branch line expansion. In addition,
10450-602: The west in Washington Territory. On November 1, General George Washington Cass (formerly of the U.S. Army), became the third president of the company. General Cass had been a vice-president and on the board of directors earlier of the Pennsylvania Railroad , one of the major dominant Eastern lines and would lead the Northern Pacific through some of its most difficult times in the later 19th century. Attacks on survey parties and construction crews as they approached
10560-499: Was Charles Sanger Mellen . Though James J. Hill had purchased an interest in the Northern Pacific during the troubled days of 1896, Coster and Mellen would advocate, and follow, a staunchly independent line for the Northern Pacific for the next four years. Only the early death of Coster from overwork, and the promotion of Mellen to head the Morgan-controlled New York, New Haven and Hartford Railroad in 1903, would bring
10670-706: Was an important transcontinental railroad that operated across the northern tier of the western United States , from Minnesota to the Pacific Northwest . It was approved and chartered in 1864 by the 38th Congress of the United States in the national / federal capital of Washington, D.C. , during the last years of the American Civil War (1861-1865), and given nearly 40 million acres (62,000 sq mi; 160,000 km ) of adjacent land grants , which it used to raise additional money in Europe (especially in President Henry Villard's home country of
10780-501: Was bridged with a million-dollar span on October 21, 1883. Until then, crossing of the Missouri had had to be managed with a ferry boat service for most of the year; in winter, when ice was thick enough, rails were laid across the river itself. Former Union Army General Herman Haupt , another veteran of the Civil War , builder then of the wartime United States Military Railroad lines and
10890-522: Was built out of necessity to service the growing mining demands in the Southern Interior region of British Columbia. When the Canadian Pacific Railway (CPR) completed the transcontinental railway in 1885, the route cut through the Rocky Mountains at Kicking Horse and Rogers Passes, then followed the Fraser River for the remainder of the distance to Vancouver . This selected routing was significantly to
11000-438: Was cooling considerably by the time the construction of the KVR began in 1910. By 1913, prodded by the provincial government, the GNR had reached formal construction and then as regular operations loomed, joint track operations agreements with the KVR. The Kettle Valley Railway between Merritt and Midway was opened for service on May 31, 1915. On that date, the first two passenger trains commenced service. The Kettle Valley Railway
11110-504: Was elected its first president on December 7, 1864. It could not use all the land and in the end took just under two-thirds of the allotted grant of 40 million acres. For the next six years, backers of the road struggled to find financing. Though John Gregory Smith , succeeded Perham as second president on January 5, 1865, groundbreaking did not take place until February 15, 1870, at Carlton, Minnesota Territory , 25 miles (40 km) west of Duluth (western port town on Lake Superior of
11220-627: Was featured on the historical television series Gold Trails and Ghost Towns , season 2, episode 8. Because the CP route through the Rockies had been upgraded to modern steel bridges, the CBC miniseries The National Dream filmed its opening and a number of scenes where wooden trestles were wanted on the Myra Canyon section of the Kettle Valley Railway. The locomotive used was Canadian Pacific 4-4-0 No. 136, disguised as CPR 148. Northern Pacific Railroad The Northern Pacific Railway ( reporting mark NP )
11330-512: Was headquartered in Minnesota, first in Brainerd , then in the territorial / state capital of Saint Paul . It had a tumultuous financial history; the N.P. merged with other lines over a century later in 1970 to form the modern Burlington Northern Railroad , which in turn merged with the famous Atchison, Topeka and Santa Fe Railway to become the renamed BNSF Railway in 1996, operating in the western U.S. The 38th United States Congress chartered
11440-473: Was its own entity, but in practical reality, under the thumb of senior CPR management after about 1912. The Canadian Pacific Railway eventually took over operations of the KVR at the beginning of 1931. The former KVR territory was folded into the CPR's BC District at that time as the Kettle Valley Division. Rail service on the KVR consisted of both passenger and freight trains. Passenger service over
11550-661: Was named receiver and Brayton Ives , a former chairman of the New York Stock Exchange , became president. In 1894, the 10th Cavalry Regiment of the U.S. Army was involved in protecting property of the Northern Pacific Railroad from striking workers. For the next three years, the Villard-Oakes interests and the Ives interest feuded for control of the Northern Pacific. Oakes was eventually forced out as receiver, but not before three separate courts were claiming jurisdiction over
11660-471: Was one of the worse in American history prior to the infamous Great Depression of the 1930s, sixty years into the future. The downturn ruined or nearly paralyzed newer railroads throughout the country.. The Northern Pacific however luckily survived bankruptcy that year, due to austerity measures put in place by President Cass. In fact, working with last-minute loans from Director John C. Ainsworth of Portland,
11770-544: Was required in order to help preserve Canadian sovereignty of British Columbia, and to also retain the valuable mining revenues within Canada. The route selected involved connecting the railroad with Vancouver. However, this was not an easy task, as two mountain ranges stood in the way. Construction was some of the costliest per track mile when compared against most other North American railway projects, costing almost $ 20 million, and it took nearly 20 years to complete. Construction of
11880-500: Was the Northern Pacific's flagship passenger train and the Northern Pacific itself was built along the trail first blazed by the famed Lewis and Clark expedition first exploring the new Louisiana Purchase and the further American West in 1804 and 1805. The Northern Pacific reached Fargo, Dakota Territory (now North Dakota) on the border between Dakota and Minnesota Territories / states, early in June 1872. The following year, in June 1873,
11990-467: Was the possibility of a high-speed link directly with Chicago. Though the Burlington did not parallel the Great Northern or the Northern Pacific, it would give them a powerful railroad in the central West. Harriman was the first to approach the Burlington's aging leader, the irascible Charles Elliott Perkins . The price for control of the Burlington, as set by Perkins, was $ 200 a share, more than Harriman
12100-441: Was willing to pay. Hill met the price, and control of the Burlington was divided equally at about 48.5 percent each between the Great Northern and the Northern Pacific. Not to be outdone, Harriman now came up with a crafty plan: buy a controlling interest in the Northern Pacific and use its power on the Burlington to place friendly directors upon its board. On May 3, 1901, Harriman began his stock raid which would become known as
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