The Kootenays or Kootenay ( / ˈ k uː t n i / KOOT -nee ) is a region of southeastern British Columbia . It takes its name from the Kootenay River , which in turn was named for the Kutenai First Nations people.
23-466: Queens Bay is an unincorporated community in the West Kootenay region of southeastern British Columbia . The former steamboat landing is on the west shore of Kootenay Lake . The locality, off Highway 31 , is about 38 kilometres (24 mi) northeast of Nelson . Honouring Queen Victoria , the name ascribed to the bay in the 1880s was later adopted for the settlement. The benchlands were logged in
46-588: A , right) . In most interpretations, however, the region also includes: Some or all of the following areas to the north, which drain into the Columbia River, are also commonly included in the Kootenays: When the above regions are added, sometimes the region's name is morphed into Columbia-Kootenay or Kootenay-Columbia , although that terminology also includes the Big Bend Country and Kinbasket Lake, to
69-726: A geographical region and the other a legal boundary, the Kootenay Land District , which was identical with the original federal and provincial Kootenay ridings . Once settled by miners, loggers, and rail workers, the area experienced a silver rush in the 1890s. The district now contains important tourism, outdoor activity and fruit-growing regions ( Creston Valley ) and numerous commercial centres, including Grand Forks , Kaslo , Robson , Ymir , Warfield , Montrose , Fruitvale , Salmo , Trail , Nelson , Slocan , Playmor , Winlaw , Cranbrook , Kimberley , Fernie , Castlegar , Rossland , Erickson , and Creston . The region has
92-575: A jitney service ran to Nelson. Mrs. S.A. Codd was the inaugural official teacher at the school, which operated 1912–1929, 1931–1932, and 1934–1942. Kenneth Athalmer Aylmer was the final postmaster 1929–1964. The Lodge opened in the late 1930s. In the mid-1950s, a private hydroelectricity plant was installed and the venture was renamed the Antler Lodge and Marina. A fire destroyed the building in 1984. Originally named All Hallows, St. Francis-in-the-Woods opened in 1915. Although electricity arrived in 1938,
115-493: A large concrete water tank, which careered into the lower level of their house where the couple were sleeping. Buried beneath the debris, both died. About 1909, the Eighth Baron of Belrath, Ireland, Lord Aylmer, and his wife, migrated from Ottawa with their five adult children. No doubt their connections prompted the 1911 installation of the second federally funded wharf on the lake. The log community hall, built about this time,
138-463: A large network of outdoor activity operators, with the biggest facilities including lift, cat and heli-skiing. This includes some of the oldest resorts in North America such as Red Mountain , and largest Revelstoke Mountain . The highway that connects them all has been named the powder highway . With the emergence of fibre internet, digital nomads and technology developers are now a growing part of
161-475: A resident for decades until 2018. West Kootenay The Kootenays are more or less defined by the Kootenay Land District , though some variation exists in terms of what areas are or are not a part. The strictest definition of the region is the drainage basin of the lower Kootenay River from its re-entry into Canada near Creston , through to its confluence with the Columbia at Castlegar (illustrated by
184-456: A stove continued to provide heating for decades. The bell tower/steeple was added in 1971, as a memorial to Private Thomas C. Ough. Dwindling attendance led to deconsecration of the Anglican church in 1994. Soon after, the building was bought for $ 1 to be a community hall. During 1999, extensive renovations included rewiring and replacing rotting timbers. Artist Thomas Kinkade composed a painting of
207-469: Is located (rather than splitting the region into "East/Central/West" subregions). That being said: It remains unclear why both Kootenay and Kootenay s are used somewhat interchangeably to describe the area. The plural form is in reference to The Kootenays , both East and West; the singular is in reference to the Kootenay Region . In practice the two terms are used interchangeably, although one indicates
230-670: Is the Cariboo Land District . To the Kootenay Land District's west is the Yale Land District , which includes the Kamloops-Shuswap, Okanagan and Boundary Country regions of the province. While most land districts are primarily defined by lines of latitude and longitude and survey parcel boundaries, the boundaries of the Kootenay Land District are near-entirely the summit-line of the encasing mountain ranges, namely
253-514: The British Columbia Ministry of Transportation and Infrastructure (MOTI) commissioned SNC-Lavalin to examine a number of potential ferry sites, as well as improvements to the existing Balfour site. Issued in March 2016, a key recommendation of the report was to relocate the terminal to Queens Bay North. The findings triggered a negative local reaction. John Cooper (1936–2021), painter, was
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#1732851896037276-647: The Kootenay River and Columbia River basins in the southeast corner of the province, excepting the drainages of the Okanagan , Granby , Sanpoil and Kettle Rivers , i.e. all those sub-basins of the Columbia on the west and south of the summit-line of the Monashee Mountains . Also not in the land district is the northernmost part of the Columbia's basin, north of Boat Encampment and Mica Creek , northwest of which
299-565: The Kootenays could be described as the complete Canadian portion of the Columbia Basin minus lands drained by the Okanagan River . Contingent on the above boundaries, the Kootenays are commonly split either into East and West, or East, Central and West. In general use amongst locals of the area, the "East/West" convention is more common as a descriptor of where someone is from or where a town
322-680: The Lands Act of the Colony of British Columbia in 1860. The British Columbia government's BC Names system, a subdivision of GeoBC , defines a land district as "a territorial division with legally defined boundaries for administrative purposes" All land titles and surveys use the Land District system as the primary point of reference, and entries in BC Names for placenames and geographical objects are so listed. The land district comprises all those parts of
345-654: The Okanagan. In actuality, the settlement of the Boundary Country predates development in either of the regions it is now attached to, as is also the case with the Similkameen Country to the west of the Okanagan. In some descriptions, the Boundary Country includes Osoyoos and Oliver in the South Okanagan (rather than the other way around). The Boundary Country is (illustrated by h ) In the event of its inclusion,
368-406: The bioregion together under one magazine. It covers a range of topics including outdoor adventure, environmental issues, arts and culture, local events, and profiles of people living in the region. Kootenay Land District The Kootenay Land District is a cadastral survey subdivision of the province of British Columbia , Canada , created with rest of those on Mainland British Columbia via
391-568: The church. In 2012, the bulk of Christmas Miracle, a low-budget production, was filmed inside the building. The upper portion of the neighbourhood is often referred to as the Queens Bay townsite. These properties serve as weekend retreats or as a bedroom community for Nelson. In 2015, Queens Bay was one of the first BC communities and the first in the Kootenays to be awarded with the FireSmart designation for local wildfire protection efforts. That year,
414-453: The early 1890s to provide fuel for the Pilot Bay smelter across the lake. Around 1897, several preemptions were filed, but the individuals moved on before claiming title. In 1903, a wildfire blackened the hillside. The community was established around 1900. Walter West, a squatter , kept a chicken farm until his death in 1904. Over the following years, James Johnstone bought a large tract at
437-605: The economy. Several coworking and innovation centres have sprouted including Kootenay Lake Innovation Centre . A number of Community Radio stations exist in the region, most notably CJLY-FM in Nelson, CIDO-FM in Creston and Stoke FM in Revelstoke. These stations usually operate either as Cooperatives or as non-profit Societies . Since 2001, The Kootenay Mountain Culture has brought
460-622: The north of Golden and Revelstoke, which is not generally considered part of the Kootenays, though part of the Kootenay Land District . Finally, the Boundary Country , a southern east–west corridor between the Okanagan and the Bonanza Pass and drained by the basins of the Kettle and Granby Rivers , is sometimes mentioned as being in the West Kootenay, and in other reckonings as being part of
483-484: The southern end and Dr. Ross did likewise at the northern end. From 1907, real estate agents promoted the commercial orchard potential, luring many settlers from the UK. Edgar T. Ross, who settled in early 1908, was the inaugural postmaster 1909–1911, before moving on. In 1908, Harry Scott-Lauder and his younger brother R. Arthur settled but quickly realized the challenge of harnessing the sparse water supplies of local creeks. Arthur
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#1732851896037506-641: Was demolished around 1947. The Queens Bay Fruit Growers Association, which formed about 1912, erected a log packing shed in 1922. On amalgamating with the Harrop association in the late 1920s, the body became the Kootenay Lake Fruit Growers Association centralized at the Harrop shed. About 1952, the abandoned Queens Bay shed was demolished. The Balfour –Queens Bay road was completed around 1912 and opened to Ainsworth and Kaslo about 1926. By 1923,
529-451: Was postmaster 1917–1929. George Frederic and Edith Catherine Attree also arrived with their two sons in 1908. Although George died in 1918, Edith remained an active resident for 42 years. A year or two later than the Attrees, John Herbert and Sarah Alice Hoyle came with their three children. In 1925, a wintertime slide blocked Hoyle creek creating a dam. When the dam burst, the torrent dislodged
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