History of Castlegar
On 5 September 1811, David Thompson arrived at the location
where Castlegar now sits, where he camped near the mouth of the
Kootenay River. A plaque dedicated to David Thompson can be found
on the east bank of the Columbia River overlooking the present
day site of Castlegar.
The first settlement in the area was West Waterloo, now known
as South Castlegar. There was widespread provincial interest
in gold prospecting in the late 19th century, and by 1895 there
were forty houses in Waterloo. The town boomed until the end
of the century when interest in the local mines declined.
Castlegar takes its name from Castlegar, County Galway in Ireland,
the ancestral home of townsite founder Edward Mahon. (Castlegar
is on the eastern boundary of the city of Galway.) The city was
planned in 1897. Around 1902, the Canadian Pacific Railway (CPR)
built the bridge at Castlegar and laid the wide gauge railway
tracks to Trail. They put in a box car station at the old Waterloo
trail crossing and called it Kinnaird Station in honour of Lord
Kinnaird who was a shareholder in the CPR.
There was little in Castlegar until after the completion of
the CPR bridge. A Mr. Farmer built the first store in town, housing
both the post office and the town hall. William Gage built the
Castlegar Hotel in 1908, standing until 1982 when it was destroyed
by fire. Also in 1908, the first schoolhouse was built by a few
local residents who bought the lumber and erected the building.
A dance pavilion, garage, tourist cabins and a slaughterhouse
had all been established by 1925.
On 30 October 1946, Castlegar was incorporated into a village,
then in 1966 into a town. It amalgamated with the neighbouring
town of Kinnaird into a city on 1 January 1974, effectively doubling
the population. On 20 May 2004, the City's boundary was extended
to include the Blueberry Creek Irrigation District.
Native history
Castlegar is located in the border area between the Sinixt (Interior
Salish) and the Ktunaxa Indian bands. Experts cannot agree where
the Ktunaxa range ended, and where the Sinixt began. There was
much overlapping of cultural and territorial activity between
the two peoples. Most recent information suggests that the Sinixt
were the original people in the area, and that the Kootenai arrived
several hundred years ago from central Canada.
"
Qepitles" was a site on the north side of the Kootenay River,
just above the junction with the Columbia River. Native implements
(arrowheads, pestles, etc.) have been found along the nearby
Arrow Lakes. A reconstructed kekuli dwelling was formally located
on Zuckerberg Island, at the confluence of the Kootenay and Columbia
rivers.
Doukhobor history
The Doukhobors put a ferry into operation near Brilliant on
the Kootenay River in 1910 and the Christian Community of
Universal
Brotherhood (CCUB) made an application to the CPR for a railway
station and siding to this point. Brilliant was the centre
of the CCUB commercial enterprises. Located on the site was
the
Brilliant Jam Factory, a grain elevator, and a flax seed mill.