Period 1893 – 1896

Period 1893 – 1896 for South-western Canada

• 1893
  B.C.: John Hendry, Alexander Ewan and J.D. Munn receive a B.C. charter for Kootenay Lake Shore and Lardo Railway Co.
• 1893
  Nelson, B.C.: Nelson Brewing Company begins operations in the “old” brewery.
• 1893
  B.C.: Pyritic Smelting Company of San Francisco bonded the War Eagle claim near Trail Creek Landing, examined the property and pronounced it worthless.
• 1893
  Idaho: Pend Oreille renamed “Sandpoint.”
• 1893
  Federal: The Department of Indian Affairs prohibits futher polygamous marriages among its “wards.”
• 1893
  Stand Off, I.R. 148A, N-WT.: DIA builds hospital. Staffed by Sœurs de la Charité de Nicolet—the Grey Nuns. Soon named Our Lady of the Seven Sorrows hospital.
• 1893
  B.C.: R.C. Adams lays out townsite of Boundary City at what is now Midway.
• 1893
  Hansen’s Landing, B.C.: Captain Francis Patrick Armstrong of the Upper Columbia Navigation and Tramway Company builds the hull of the Gwendoline. To Golden for fitting out.
• 1893
  B.C.: Salmo founded as “Salmon Siding.”
• 1893
  Fruitvale, B.C., founded as “Beaver Siding.”
• 1893
  B.C.: W.J. and Ernest Waterman first visit the Similkameen region.
• 1893
  N-WT: The department of public works completes the first iron bridge in the Territories to carry the the Lethbridge-Cardston trail over the St. Mary”s River.
• 1893
  N-WT: CP completes a connection between Pasqua on its Mainline and a branch of the Minneapolis, St, Paul and Sault Ste. Marie Railway at Hankinson in south-east North Dakota.
• 1893
  B.C.: E.S. Topping and Frank Hanna complete a waggon road between Trail Creek Landing and the Red Mountain mines.
• 1893
  B.C.: Rush on the Grouse Mountain lodes in the Purcell Mountains.
• 1893
  Oakland, CA: John C. Ainsworth, Sr., dies.
• 1893
  B.C.: Kootenay Hydraulic Mining Company working the Pend d’Oreille on a multi-year project.
• 1893
  B.C.: Robert Leslie Thomas Galbraith appointed Indian Agent for the Ktunaxa.
• 1893
  B.C.: R.L.T. Galbraith lays out the townsite of Fort Steele and begins to sell building lots.
• 1893 Circa
  Spokane, WA: Cariboo Mining and Milling Company organized to buy the Cariboo and Amelia properties at Camp McKinney, B.C.
• 1893 Jan. 6
  Scenic, WA: Great Northern last spike.
• 1893 Mar. 1
  MT: Frederick Augustus Heinze incorporates the Montana Ore Purchasing Company.
• 1893 Spring
  Alberta and B.C. Exploration crews began dyking the Kootenay and Goat Rivers at what is now “Creston Flats.”
• 1893 Spring
  “Pielle Tête de Fer” discovers the St. Eugene lode on Moyie Lake.
• 1893 April
  The Spokane re-launched by Columbia and Kootenay Steam Navigation Company at Nelson after having been re-built to 400 tons. Burned at Kaslo on March 21st, 1895.
• 1893 April
  Bonners Ferry, ID: The Bonner’s Ferry and Kaslo Transportation Company launch State of Idaho (500 tons).
• 1893 Apr. 1
  N-WT: 56 Victoria Chapter 69, “An Act to incorporate the Alberta Irrigation Company,” receives royal assent.
• 1893 Apr. 1
  N-WT: 56 Victoria Chapter 38, “An Act respecting the Alberta Railway and Coal Company,” receives royal assent. Permits AR&C to dispose of railways and railway charters.
• 1893 Apr. 12
  B.C.: Royal assent given the Red Mountain Railway Company Act, 1893.
• 1893 Apr. 12
  B.C.: Royal assent given the Nakusp and Slocan Railway Company Act, 1893.
• 1893 Apr. 12
  B.C.: Royal assent given the British Columbia Southern Railway Act extinguishing the Crow’s Nest and Kootenay Lake Railway and transferring its assets to the BCS, extending completion dates.
• 1893 Apr. 17
  B.C.: The British Columbia Coal, Petroleum and Mineral Company, Limited, incorporated to absorb the assets of the Crow’s Nest Coal and Mineral Company.
• 1893 Apr. 22
  Federal: Order-in-Council reduces the price per acre charged to Ranchers to buy a home range to $1.25.
• 1893 May
  Butte, MT: The Western Federation of Miners formed.
• 1893 May 1
  Waneta, B.C.: Post Office established by J. Reith.
• 1893 May 5
  Washington, U.S.A.: Sherman Silver Act of 1890 repealed. Silver falls from US$33.63 per kilogram to $20.25 in 4 days precipitating the Great Market Decline.
• 1893 May 6
  Bonner’s Ferry, ID: First sailing of the State of Idaho (508 tons). Launched by the Bonners Ferry and Kaslo Transportation Company.
• 1893 May 15
  Lethbridge, N-WT: The NWC&N/AR&C shuts down its “inclined railway.”
• 1893 May 22
  CPR launched Aberdeen (544 tons) at Okanagan Landing. Retired in 1916.
• 1893 June
  Ottawa grants Corbin permission to build his SF&N/N&FS across the Boundary, plus a $3,200 per mile subvention.
• 1893 June 7
  GN transcontinental completion celebrated big in Minneapolis-St. Paul.
• 1893 Summer
  B.C.: Jas. Cronin up from Spokane to evaluate B.C. finds. Gives up his interests on Mark Creek.
• 1893 Summer
  B.C.: Joe Bourgeois and Jim Langhill sell the North Star for $40,000 to an Eastern consortium headed by Donald D. Mann.
• 1893 June 25
  B.C.: Father Coccola, “Pielle Tête de Fer” and Jas. Cronin register the St. Eugene, the Peter and the Society Girl claims.
• 1893 June 27
  New York: Stock Market plunge begins: 600 banks and 74 railroads defunct by year’s end.
• 1893 July
  N-WT: CPR agrees to lease AR&C’s “Turkey Track.”
• 1893 July 16
  B.C.: SF&N/N&FS steel crosses the Boundary.
• 1893 July 27
  Federal political: Under pressure from the Minister of the Interior, Lawrence Vankoughnet resigns as Deputy Superintendent-general of Indian Affairs. Succeeded by Hayter Reed.
• 1893 August
  Nelson, B.C.: Twelve bed hospital built by public subscription.
• 1893 August
  U.S.A.: Northern Pacific Railroad declares bankruptcy.
• 1893 Aug. 14
  B.C.: Kaslo incorporated as a Village.
• 1893 Sep. 14
  Service between Minneapolis and Vancouver inaugurated on CP and the ‘Soo’ Line (Minneapolis, St. Paul and Sault Ste. Marie Railway).
• 1893 Sep. 16
  N-WT: Ordinance No. 5 of 1893, “An Ordinance to make Regulations with respect to Coal Mines” receives royal assent.
• 1893 Sep. 18
  Federal political: The Right Honourable the Earl of Aberdeen appointed governor-general.
• 1893 Sep. 19
  Montrél, QC: Sir Alexander Tilloch Galt dies.
• 1893 Autumn
  Stand Off, I.R. 148A, N-WT.: Boys’ residence completed at St. Paul’s.
• 1893 October
  B.C.: Inland Construction and Development laying Nakusp and Slocan Railway trackage from Nakusp on behalf of the CPR.
• 1893 Oct. 13
  B.C.: Wm. Jessup Snodgrass registers the street plan of Okanagan Falls.
• 1893 Nov. 1
  Federal political: Charles Herbert Mackintosh takes seat as lieutenant-governor of the North-West Territories.
• 1893 Nov. 10
  Ainsworth, B.C.: State of Idaho grounded and damaged. Purchased, rebuilt and renamed Alberta by the Alberta and British Columbia Exploration Company, back at work by May of 1895. Sank and scrapped 1905.
• 1893 Nov. 18
  Nelson, B.C.: The rails of the Nelson and Fort Sheppard Railway reach the site of Mountain Station.
• 1893 Nov. 27
  N-WT: Agreement finalized. CPR leases “Turkey Track” from Alberta Railway and Coal Co.
• 1893 Nov. 28
  Lethbridge, N-WT: First standard-gauged CPR locomotive arrives. (Nov. 23rd?)
• 1893 Nov. 30
  B.C.: CPR telegraph line completed into Nelson.
• 1893 December
  Nelson, B.C.: N&FS trackage completed to Five Mile Point on the West Arm of Kootenay Lake.
• 1893 Dec. 3
  N-WT: Dave Akers, erstwhile “owner” of Ft. Whoop-Up, killed on the Pot Hole by Thos. Lee Purcel.
• 1893 Dec. 3
  N-WT: Completion of re-alignment and conversion of “Turkey Track” to standard gauge.
• 1893 Dec. 19
  B.C.: Nelson and Fort Sheppard Railway opens for business.
• 1894
  Nelson, B.C.: The Nelson and Fort Sheppard pushes trackage into “Bogustown.”
• 1894
  Nakusp, B.C.: The government of B.C. completes rail wharf.
• 1894
  I.R. 148A, N-WT.: Black Horses and his son, Chief Mountain, buy Heavy Gun’s coal mining operation on the St. Mary’s River.
• 1894
  Federal political: Indian Act amended to permit the apprehension of Native children for incarceration in residential schools.
• 1894
  Cascade, B.C.: George Kendall Stocker comes to live on his property.
• 1894
  Marysville, B.C.: Wm. Meacham stakes out a townsite on his property. (? See 1897)
• 1894
  B.C.: J.L. Coulthard and the Honourable Edgar Dewdney form an association to send James Riordan and Chas. Allison to examine Nickel Plate Mountain. Stake 3 claims.
• 1894
  Everett, WA: Puget Sound Reduction Company builds its smelter.
• 1894
  B.C.: Boundary City changes name to “Midway.”
• 1894
  Boundary City/Midway, B.C.: Ida McDonald opens the Boundary Creek School.
• 1894
  Lethbridge, N-WT: Chinook Cycle Club formed.
• 1894 January
  MT: Montana smelters cancel orders for Galt coal.
• 1894 Jan. 1
  N-WT: Calgary incorporated as a City.
• 1894 Feb. 15
  Lethbridge, N-WT: AR&C lays off all 580 miners and offers to rehire 130 at a reduced wage. Some resistance.
• 1894 Feb. 17
  B.C.: Arthur Burroughs Fenwick registers a 144-acre pre-emption which became the Wardner townsite.
• 1894 Feb. 25
  Kaslo, B.C.: Central business district razed by fire.
• 1894 Spring
  Camp McKinney, B.C.: The Cariboo Mining, Milling and Smelting Company begins operations.
• 1894 March
  N-WT: South West Irrigation League formed.
• 1894 Mar. 10
  Lethbridge, N-WT: Galt miners subdued.
• 1894 Mar. 16
  Pilot Bay, B.C.: Kootenay Lake Reduction Company ships first cargo of Bluebell’s concentrate.
• 1894 Mar. 21
  B.C. political: The Legislative Electorates and Elections Act which dividing the West Kootenay District into North and South Ridings is passed.
• 1894 May 22
  B.C.: Gwendoline leaves Golden on maiden voyage and passes through the Canal Flats canal southbound a few days later.
• 1894 May 28
  Fort Steele, BC: Gwendoline arrives.
• 1894 June
  B.C.: Heavy snowfall and quick melt in late spring. Floods swamp much low lying land. At Nelson, a record high water mark of 30 feet above average was established on the West Arm.
• 1894 June
  I.R. 148A, N-WT.: Four chiefs of the Kainai “Fish Eater” band swap 50 horses for 50 head of cattle, beginning the Kainai cattle industry.
• 1894 June 3
  B.C.: the “Cyclone” on Kootenay Lake wrecked Kaslo and mauled Boswell’s new wharf. Much of Alberta and B.C. Exploration dyking on what is now “Creston Flats” was destroyed at around 4:00 in the afternoon.
• 1894 June 3
  Tacoma, WA: Emil Sick born.
• 1894 June 3
  Sunday.
• 1894 July 7
  B.C. political: Theodore Davie returned as premier in 7th General election. James Baker retains East Kootenay, J.M. Kellie in North Kootenay, John Frederick Hume in South Kootenay.
• 1894 July 7
  New Jersey: Kootenay Mining & Smelting Company registered, capitalized to $2.3 million.
• 1894 July 23
  N-WT: 57-58 Victoria, Chapter 30, “The North-west Irrigation Act,” read into Law.
• 1894 August
  Macleod, N-WT: Peter McLaren’s lumber mill destroyed by fire.
• 1894 August
  I.R. 148A, N-WT: N-WMP effect massive arrests among Kainai for cattle killing.
• 1894 Aug. 6
  B.C.: Kootenay Mining & Smelting Company re-registered: F.W. Herrick, president; R.P. Rithet, as vice president.
• 1894 Aug. 24
  B.C.: C&KSN’s Columbia burns to the waterline near Waneta.
• 1894 Sep. 5
  Calgary, AB: Col. James Farquharson Macleod dies.
• 1894 Sep. 7
  N-WT: Order-in-Council No. 39 of 1894, “An Ordinance to Incorporate the Galt Hospital,” receives royal assent.
• 1894 Sep. 23
  Sunday.
• 1894 Oct. 19
  B.C.: W.F. Thompson publishes the first edition of Trail Creek News.
• 1894 Oct. 28
  B.C.: Nakusp and Slocan Railway tracks reach Three Forks (above New Denver).
• 1894 November
  Alberta and B.C. Exploration Company and its partner, the Kootenay Valley Power and Development Company Limited, received B.C. patents for 7,700 acres on “Creston Flats.”
• 1894 Dec. 21
  Federal Election: Mackenzie Bowell succeeds as Conservative prime minister of Canada.
• 1895
  B.C.: William Fernie sells out of Crow’s Nest Pass Coal for $500,000.
• 1895
  Midway, B.C.: Provincial Police establish a post.
• 1895
  B.C.: Stage coach service commences between Trail Creek Landing and Rossland.
• 1895
  Grand Forks, B.C.: Granby River bridged.
• 1895
  B.C.: McGinty (North Star) Waggon Road completed from Mark Creek Crossing and the North Star Mine to North Star Landing on the Upper Kootenay River near Fort Steele.
• 1895
  East Kootenays, B.C.: Robert Henry Bohart buys property on Kootenay River at Big Sand Creek.
• 1895
  B.C.: Nelson and Fort Sheppard Railway completes its facilities at Five Mile Point on Kootenay Lake.
• 1895
  U.S.A.: Northern Pacific Railroad re-organized and adopts new name: Northern Pacific Railway.
• 1895
  WA: American Smelting and Refining Company buys out Tacoma Smelting and Refining Company. Shuts down in the mid-1980s?
• 1895
  B.C. political: Bureau of Mines Act passed.
• 1895
  B.C.: Robert Wood pays $5,000 for 200 acres of the Dillier Ranch in the Boundary Creek’s valley, built a store, subdivided the property and offered lots for sale in “Greenwood Camp.”
• 1895
  B.C.: The Rossland Light and Water Company formed; Patsy Clark and J.A. Finch, principals.
• 1895
  B.C.: John A. Finch of Spokane buys out Fa. Coccola’s and “Pielle’s” share of the St. Eugene group on Moyie Lake.
• 1895
  District of Alberta, N-WT: John Stoughton Dennis, the Department of the Interior’s chief inspector of surveys, roughs out the route of proposed irrigation canal in Lethbridge area.
• 1895
  Lethbridge, N-WT: Lethbridge Curling Club completes a two-sheet in-door rink.
• 1895 Circa
  Grand Forks, B.C.: Hospital opened.
• 1895 Jan. 1
  Federal political: Nelson, B.C. desgnated a Port of Entry.
• 1895 Jan. 10
  B.C.: Townsite plan for Cascade City registered.
• 1895 Jan. 15
  Federal political: Honourable J.G. Haggart appointed the federal Minister of Railways and Canals.
• 1895 Jan. 24
  WA: D.C. Corbin, et al, incorporate the Columbia and Red Mountain Railway.
• 1895 February
  B.C.: First edition of the Rossland Record: published (in Colville, WA) by Eber C. Smith.
• 1895 Feb. 18
  The War Eagle Gold Mining Company registered in B.C. as a Foreign Company, capitalized to $500,000, headquartered at Rossland.
• 1895 Feb. 25
  A Sunday.
• 1895 Mar. 1
  B.C.: Post Office established in “Rossland.”
• 1895 Mar. 2
  First edition of the Rossland Miner Weekly: published by John Houston of Nelson, BC.
• 1895 Mar. 2
  B.C. political: Premier Theodore Davie resigns to become Chief Justice of B.C.
• 1895 Mar. 4
  B.C. political: John Herbert Turner selected as conservative premier.
• 1895 Mar. 21
  Kaslo, B.C.: Spokane destroyed by fire. Hull repaired and re-launched on August 1 as a barge.
• 1895 May 3
  B.C.: K&S No. 1 scow launched (at Mirror Lake near Kaslo?).
• 1895 May 8
  B.C.: Construction of the Kaslo and Slocan Railway begins at Kaslo on Kootenay Lake.
• 1895 May 26
  Rossland, B.C.: First church service held. Conducted by Presbyterian Hugh. J. Robertson.
• 1895 May 30
  Federal: Parliament declares the core of what became Waterton Park a protected area.
• 1895 June 28
  Federal: 58-59 Victoria chapter 60 permits the Red Mountain Railway to connect at the Boundary to the Columbia and Red Mountain Railway in Washington state. Subjects the RMR to Ottawa’s authority.
• 1895 June 28/29
  Russia: Doukhobor conscripts in the army mutiny.
• 1895 July
  Rossland, B.C.: F.A. Heinze visits on a tour of evaluation.
• 1895 July
  B.C.: K&S No. 2 scow launched.
• 1895 July 1
  Nakusp, B.C.: C&KSN launches the Nakusp (1083 tons). Burned 1897.
• 1895 July 13
  Federal political: Honourable A.G. Blair appointed federal Minister of Railways and Canals.
• 1895 July 16
  B.C.: The Center Star Mining and Smelting Company registered provincially; capitalized to $500,000, headquartered at Rossland: president, Patrick A. Largey.
• 1895 July 16
  Rossland, B.C.: The Rossland Miners’ Union No. 38 formed; president, W.A. Crane.
• 1895 August
  Rossland, B.C.: W.A. Pratt began publishing The Rosslander.
• 1895 Aug. 1
  Rossland, B.C.: D.B. Bogle buys the Rossland Miner from John Houston.
• 1895 Aug. 28
  Rossland, B.C.: First service in the new Presbyterian Church on Nickel Plate Flat.
• 1895 Sep. 12
  B.C.: Thomas Ellis buys the debt of the Haynes estate and forecloses on the Okanagan property.
• 1895 Sep. 13
  Trail Creek Landing, BC.: Construction begins on Heinze’s smelter.
• 1895 Sep. 25
  CP announces that the survey of its right-of-way through the Crow’s Nest Pass to Rossland, BC, were complete.
• 1895 Autumn
  Trail Creek Landing, B.C.: Bowry Bridge completed across the creek.
• 1895 Autumn
  Trail Creek Landing, B.C.: Volunteer fire brigade established.
• 1895 Oct. 10
  The Alberta and B.C. Exploration Co. incorporates the International Trading Company Limited. The State of Idaho transferred to ITC as the Alberta.
• 1895 Oct. 15
  B.C.: The Spokane Ore Company incorporated provincially with $5 million in allowed capital to mine the Crown Point properties near Rossland.
• 1895 Oct. 19
  Saturday.
• 1895 Oct. 19
  B.C.: W.F. Thompson publishes the first issue of the Trail Creek News.
• 1895 Oct. 22
  Sandon, B.C.: First K&S work train arrives.
• 1895 Nov. 20
  B.C.: The K&S open for business.
• 1895 Dec. 3
  B.C.: C&KSN’s Kootenai grounded and broke in a shallows in Upper Arrow Lake.
• 1895 Dec. 15
  Sandon, B.C.: Nakusp and Slocan Railway opened.
• 1895 Dec. 17
  Monday.
• 1895 Dec. 17
  Sandon, B.C.: K&S crews attack the rival N&S’s property and personnel at Sandon, BC.
• 1895 Dec. 21
  B.C.: F.A. Heinze declares that he would seek a provincial charter to extend his Trail Creek Tramway westward to the Okanagan valley of BC.
• 1895 December
  Pilot Bay, B.C.: Kootenay Mining & Smelting blows in the first of its proposed four furnaces in its smelter on Kootenay Lake.
• 1895 Dec. 18
  Sandon, B.C.: K&S crews demolish N&S station.