Columbia and Western Railway

Fritz Augustus Heinze, who opened a smelter at Butte, Montana, in 1893, was seeking investment opportunities. Attracted by the emerging mining boom on Red Mountain, Rossland, Heinze incorporated the British Columbia Smelting and Refining Company with a commitment to lay trackage between the mines and the Trail smelter. From the smelter, which opened in February 1896, boats could carry the metal concentrate to complete the purification at a refinery. However, his then competitor denied him access to rail transport downriver.

Fearful that further railway competition would capture the ore supply for the smelter, Heinze sought to enlarge the catchment area. He obtained a provincial charter for C&W in April 1896, which authorized a line from the Columbia River west through the metal-rich Boundary District to Penticton on Lake Okanagan. Both ends had riverboat services connecting with Canadian Pacific Railway (CP) lines. Provincial land grants per completed mile were {{convert|10240|acre|ha}} for narrow-gauge trackage or {{convert|20,000|acre|ha}} for standard gauge.{{Cite web | url=http://www.crowsnest-highway.ca/cgi-bin/citypage.pl?city=ROSSLAND#4 | title=Railroad Race to Rossland | website=www.crowsnest-highway.ca}}{{Cite web | url=http://www.crowsnest-highway.ca/cgi-bin/citypage.pl?city=TRAIL#3 | title=F.A. Heinze and his Smelter at Trail Creek | website=www.crowsnest-highway.ca}}

In November 1895, crews began grading a 13-foot wide railbed from Trail along Trail Creek, and up Red Mountain, the final section having switchbacks. The C&W acquired five locomotives, and purchased used rails for laying the {{track gauge|3ft|lk=on}} narrow gauge line. The first loaded ore train ran in June 1896. In December that year, the three times daily Rossland–Trail passenger service commenced.

In September 1897, C&W opened a Trail–West Robson line, terminating on the opposite shore to the CP Robson docks. Mixed trains soon ran on the route. From here, steamboat and rail could take concentrate from the Trail smelter to Butte for refining. However, the immediate value of his land grants were small, and Heinze lacked the necessary resources to extend the line westward.

In March 1898, CP bought C&W for $600,000.{{Cite web | url=http://www.crowsnest-highway.ca/cgi-bin/citypage.pl?city=TRAIL#4 | title=The CPR Digs into the Metals Business | website=www.crowsnest-highway.ca}} That June, C&W was incorporated federally.{{Cite web | url=http://www.crowsnest-highway.ca/cgi-bin/citypage.pl?city=TRAIL#6 | title=The Columbia & Western Railway and Rossland | website=www.crowsnest-highway.ca}} In July 1899, CP completed converting the route to {{track gauge|ussg|al=on}}. At Rossland, a new station, freight shed, two-stall engine house, and coaling dock were erected. To gain {{convert|2300|ft|m|0|order=flip}} elevation in {{convert|14|mi|km|0|order=flip}}, the line still included up to 4.8 per cent grades and tight curves. Consequently, CP ordered three Shays, which were delivered between May 1900 and December 1903. In 1910, Baldwin 2-8-0 Consolidations replaced the Shays.

With a provincial government subsidy of $4,000 per mile, the line was extended westward from West Robson via Grand Forks, reaching Midway by the end of 1899.{{Cite web | url=http://www.crowsnest-highway.ca/cgi-bin/citypage.pl?city=TRAIL#6 | title=The Expansion of the C&W | website=www.crowsnest-highway.ca}} A ferry provided the link across the Columbia until the rail bridge at Sproat's Landing opened in March 1902.{{Cite web | url=http://www.crowsnest-highway.ca/cgi-bin/citypage.pl?city=CASTLEGAR#1 | title=Castlegar | website=www.crowsnest-highway.ca}}

In May 1891, the Robson–Nelson rail link of the Columbia and Kootenay Railway (C&K) was completed.{{Cite web | url=http://www.crowsnest-highway.ca/cgi-bin/citypage.pl?city=CASTLEGAR#3 | title=Sproat’s Landing and Robson | website=www.crowsnest-highway.ca}} Between July 1897 and October 1898, CP built westward from Lethbridge via the Crowsnest Pass to the Kootenay Landing terminal. Although the charter specified Nelson, lake boats completed this link until an all-rail route was opened in January 1931.{{Cite web | url=https://railways.library.ualberta.ca/Chapters-7-4 |title=The Crow's Nest Line |website=www.library.ualberta.ca}} This section accessed the Crowsnest coal deposits.

Advancing westward from Midway, the Kettle Valley Railway (KVR) connected to Penticton in October 1914, and Merritt in fall 1915, providing a link to Vancouver, with the more direct route via the Coquihalla Pass opening in July 1916.{{Cite web | url=http://www.crowsnest-highway.ca/cgi-bin/citypage.pl?city=rock_creek#4 | title=The Kettle Valley Railway, Part I | website=www.crowsnest-highway.ca}} Although technically, west of Midway is KVR, and east is C&W,{{Cite web | url=https://www.kettlevalleyrailway.ca/map.html | title=Map of the Kettle Valley Railway and connecting railway trails | website=www.kettlevalleyrailway.ca}} the Kettle Valley designation was later ascribed to the whole route.

When Le Roi mine closed in 1929, big ore trains ceased on the Rossland–Trail section. Highway improvements ended passenger service on this route in 1936. However, the three times a week freight train continued. Frequency progressively reduced until the line was lifted in 1966 west of Warfield.

Passenger service on the KVR ended in 1964. The Penticton–Beaverdell track was abandoned in 1973, and Beaverdell–Midway in 1979. The CP eastward almost to Castlegar was abandoned in 1991.{{Cite web | url=http://www.ronperrier.net/2020/08/04/columbia-western-rail-trail | title=Columbia & Western Rail Trail | website=www.ronperrier.net}} The section from Castlegar to Grand Forks is now a cycling trail.{{cite web| url=http://www.trailsintime.org/?request=columbiawestern | first=Walter| last=Volovsek | title=Columbia & Western Railway (Boundary Rail Trail)| website=www.trailsintime.org}} The former grade is now biking and skiing trails.

File:Verigin Memorial.jpg

Only Warfield–Trail–Hugh Keenleyside Dam remain as live lines.

• The one-kilometre long Bulldog Tunnel, {{convert|44.3|mi|km|1|order=flip}} northeast of Grand Forks, and {{convert|24.7|mi|km|1|order=flip}} southwest of Castlegar,{{Cite web | url=https://open.library.ubc.ca/collections/chung/chungtext/items/1.0362163#p9z-2r0f:%22tunnel%22 |p=10 (TT 70) |title=1935 timetable |website=www.library.ubc.ca}} is the most outstanding man-made feature on the trail.{{Cite web | url=https://www.castlegarnews.com/opinion/place-names-tunnel-vallican-and-velvet | title=Castlegar News, 19 Oct 2017 | website=www.castlegarnews.com}}
• Near Farron, the former summit station, which was {{convert|36.7|mi|km|1|order=flip}} northeast of Grand Forks, and {{convert|32.3|mi|km|1|order=flip}} southwest of Castlegar, Doukhobor leader Peter (Lordly) Verigin, his secretary, and seven others were killed in October 1924, when a CP passenger car exploded. Although a crime was suspected, no charges eventuated.{{Cite web | url=https://www.nelsonstar.com/community/farron-site-of-mysterious-explosion-has-mysterious-name | title=Nelson Star, 6 Apr 2014 | website=www.nelsonstar.com}}{{Cite web | url=http://www.canadianmysteries.ca/sites/verigin/home/indexen.html | title=Explosion on the Kettle Valley Line: The Death of Peter Verigin | website=www.canadianmysteries.ca}}

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• List of defunct Canadian railways

{{reflist}}

• {{Cite web | url=https://open.library.ubc.ca/collections/chung/chungtext/items/1.0354843#p0z-3r0f |p=1 |title=1899 Kootenay map|website=www.library.ubc.ca}}

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Category:West Kootenay

Category:Defunct British Columbia railways

Category:Narrow-gauge railways in British Columbia