Period 1898 – 1899

Period 1898 – 1899 for South-western Canada

• 1898
  CPR provincially incorporates Arrowhead and Kootenay Railway in BC: re-organized in 1901 as Kootenay and Arrowhead, with Federal subsidy.
• 1898
  Fernie, BC: The CPR sets up a saw mill.
• 1898
  Kimberley, BC: McVittie and McVittie lay out the townsite.
• 1898
  East Kootenay, BC: CPR establishes a storehouse at “Cranston” near today’s Galloway, possibly managed by Andrew Rosen.
• 1898
  “the Springs,” N-WT.: CPR builds a permanent depôt at what is now Blairmore, AB.
• 1898
  B.C.: The Finch Brothers set up sawmill at “the Narrows” of Moyie Lake.
• 1898
  B.C.: George Bigelow establishes the first sawmill in the Creston area.
• 1898
  N-WT: J.E. Davison builds store at CP’s “8th siding” west from Lethbridge on the Crowsnest Line—now Cowley, AB.
• 1898
  B.C.: CPR acquires controlling interest in the Nakusp and Slocan Railway.
• 1898
  Stand Off, I.R. 148A, N-WT: St. Mary’s Mission Indian Residential School completed.
• 1898
  Gladstone City, BC: Founded on the C&W; in the McRae Creek valley on the western slopes of the Rosslands; abandoned within a year.
• 1898
  Osoyoos, BC: J.C. Fisher stakes the Dividend on Kruger Mountain nearby.
• 1898
  The Jewel and the Denoro Grande taken over by the Jewel Development Syndicate of London.
• 1898
  Sandon, BC: Incorporated as a City.
• 1898
  The Piikani take the $2100 that they were obliged to accept from the CPR for the right-of-way of the Crow’s Nest Line across their reserve, and buy sawmill equipment.
• 1898
  N-WT: The “Grand House” on the Garnett brothers’ ranch near what is now Lundbreck, AB, burns.
• 1898
  B.C.: R.A. Brown and Flora Averill granted the Sunset claim on Copper Mountain near Princeton.
• 1898
  B.C.: Chartered Company of Montreal buys the B.C. mine on Thimble Mountain near Phœnix.
• 1898
  J.P. Graves, A.L. White and S.H.C. Miner incorporate the Old Ironsides Mining Company in Montréal to buy the Old Ironsides and the Knob Hill properties on Phœnix.
• 1898
  William Mackenzie, Donald Mann, G.A. Cox, and T.G. Holt form an association to acquire the Stemwinder, the Brooklyn, Montezuma, Phœnix and Standard on Phœnix Mountain.
• 1898
  Rock Creek, BC: The Madge family opens hotel.
• 1898
  Federal Political: David Laird appointed Commissioner of Indian Affairs in western Canada (served till post abolished upon his retirement in 1909).
• 1898
  Kitchener, BC: established on the BC Southern as a logging camp.
• 1898
  Lethbridge, N-WT: David Crichton and son establish the Lethbridge Foundry.
• 1898
  B.C.: The North American Land and Lumber Company sets up a mill near “Sparwood Siding.”
• 1898 Jan. 1
  Northport, WA: Le Roi Mining and Smelting Company blows in the first furnace of its smelter.
• 1898 January
  Butte, MT: P.A. Largey, president on the Center Star Mining and Smelting Company, murdered.
• 1898 Jan. 1
  CP leases the BC Southern in perpetuity.
• 1898 Jan. 6
  Steel finally delivered to the CPR’s bridge site over what is now the Pincher Creek, near Brocket, AB.
• 1898 Jan. 15
  Minister of the Interior Clifford Sifton appoints Royal Commission to investigate the living and working conditions of labour on the Crow’s Nest Line.
• 1898 Jan. 24
  George Gurd and Sir James D. Edgar buy the Wardner Townsite Company from Jas. Wardner and associates.
• 1898 Jan. 27
  CPR crews have rails and ballast in place on the Crow’s Nest Line as far as the bridge site at the South Fork of the Old Man River (now the Pincher Creek).
• 1898 February
  Typhoid fever strikes the construction camps on the B.C. Southern.
• 1898 February, late
  Trestle bridge across Castle River in the District of Alberta finally completed. Begun November of ’97.
• 1898 Feb. 2
  Bridge over the Pincher Creek west of Brocket, AB, completed.
• 1898 Feb. 11
  CPR agrees to buy the Columbia and Western Railway, Trail smelter, etc., from Heinze.
• 1898 March
  Trail, B.C.: Trail Board of Trade organized.
• 1898 March
  Cranbrook, B.C.: Horace T. Brown begins publishing the Cranbrook Herald.
• 1898 Mar. 1
  CPR buys F.A. Heinze’s Canadian assets. Walter Hull Aldridge assumes control of the Trail, BC, smelter, known thereafter as the Canadian Smelting Works.
• 1898 Mar. 17
  West Virginia: British Columbia Copper Company, Limited, incorporated by L.W. Mayer et al to buy out the Boundary Mines Company and build smelter to exploit the Mother Lode.
• 1898 Mar. 19
  WA: Corbin incorporates Kettle Valley Railroad and continues efforts to obtain a Canadian charter for his Kettle River Valley Railway.
• 1898 Spring
  Moyie, B.C.: D.R. Young and F.J. Smyth begin publishing the Moyie City Leader.
• 1898 Mar. 30
  East Kootenays, B.C.: Canada Western Telephone and Telegraph Company begins operations.
• 1898 April
  The Gooderham-Blackstock combine bought the Center Star Mining and Smelting Company: $2 million dollars.
• 1898 April
  Captain Sanborn launches Echo on Moyie Lake.
• 1898 Apr. 5
  “Bull Head Prairie,” B.C.: Southern steel arrives near McGillivray Loop in the mouth of Michel Creek valley.
• 1898 Apr. 7
  N-WT: Four workers perish when gales blow down spans of the St. Mary’s River crossing on the Crow’s Nest Line.
• 1898 Apr. 8
  Ainsworth Hot Springs, B.C.: Gustavus Blin Wright dead.
• 1898 Apr. 15
  Federal political: D.C. Corbin’s final bid to encharter his Kettle River Valley Railway refused.
• 1898 Apr. 18
  Grand Forks, B.C.: Surveyors stake the alignment of the Columbia and Western Railway thus far.
• 1898 Apr. 28
  B.C.: British Columbia Copper Company, Limited, registered.
• 1898 Apr. 28
  Fort Steele, B.C.: The elegant J.D. Farrell arrives on her maiden voyage.
• 1898 May
  B.C.: Crews of McGilvary and Leeson begin Elk River Crossing near what is now Elko.
• 1898 May 4
  B.C.: British Columbia Mining and Smelting Company re-registered provincially under the British Columbia Companies’ Act, 1897.
• 1898 May 4
  Lethbridge, N-WT.: With the Haney family aboard Superintendent N. John Niblock’s private car, the first train departs west-bound on the Crow’s Nest Line.
• 1898 May 20
  B.C. passes the Redistribution Act which divides the East Kootenay Electoral District into North and South Ridings, and redivides the West Kootenay Electoral District into Revelstoke, Slocan, Nelson, and Rossland Ridings.
• 1898 May 23
  Tuesday. Electric lighting illuminates the streets of Grand Forks, BC.
• 1898 May 30
  Malcolm Colin Cameron begins term as lieutenant-governor of the N-WT.
• 1898 June
  Work begins on Columbia & Western Railway west from Robson West. Survey complete to Midway, BC.
• 1898 June
  The Northport Mining and Smelting Co. is incorporated in Washington state, hdqtrs, Spokane.
• 1898 June
  H.W. Forster acquires the charter of the Kaslo and Lardo-Duncan and sells it to the Kootenay Railway & Navigation Co.
• 1898 June 13
  Federal 61 Victoria chapter 57 permits Calgary and Edmonton Railway to be extended to the Crow’s Nest Line near the Town of Macleod, N-WT.
• 1898 June 13
  61 Victoria chapter 89 subjects the Vancouver, Victoria & Eastern Railway to federal regulation.
• 1898 June 15
  B.C. government granted the Vancouver, Victoria & Eastern Railway a $4,000 per mile subsidy provided work begin by August 8th and that Ottawa grant a subsidy as well. Failed.
• 1898 June 20
  B.C.: Wardner designated as a Port of Entry.
• 1898 Summer
  A two-stall fire hall built at Trail, BC.
• 1898 Summer
  Leask and Johnson begin logging operations at Elko.
• 1898 June 27
  Mackenzie and Mann announce that the Vancouver, Victoria & Eastern Railway would begin laying rail from Penticton.
• 1898 June 30
  Last issue of the Wardner International.
• 1898 July
  BC Southern built through to Fernie, BC.
• 1898 July 1
  The Great Northern completes the aquisition of D.C. Corbin’s Spokane Falls & Northern, Nelson & Fort Sheppard, Red Mountain, and Columbia & Red Mountain railways, and Northport smelter.
• 1898 July 9
  B.C. political: Eighth General Election. East Kootenay North Riding, W.G. Neilson (January, 1899); East Kootenay South Riding, Jas. Baker; West Kootenay Nelson Riding, John Frederick Hume; West Kootenay Rossland Riding, J.M. Martin; West Kootenay Revelstoke Riding, J.M. Kellie; West Kootenay Slocan Riding, R.F. Green.
• 1898 July 9
  N-WT: Agreement signed between LDS church and Galt companies to construct the St. Mary’s Main Canal.
• 1898 July 15
  West Kootenay Power and Light began transmitting 22,000 volts of power from Plant No. 1 on the Lower Kootenay River 32 miles to Rossland.
• 1898 July 29
  Friday. B.C. Southern steel reaches the Kootenay River at Wardner, B.C.
• 1898 July 30
  The Right Honourable Sir Gilbert John Murray Kynynmond Elliot, 4th Earl of Minto, appointed governor general of Canada.
• 1898 August
  Greenwood Water, Power and Light Company completes dam at Boundary Falls, B.C.
• 1898 Aug. 1
  Vermilion Forks Mining and Development Company acquires its first coal leases in Princeton, B.C., area.
• 1898 Aug. 3
  Ottawa authorizes CP’s lease of the C&W; in perpetuity.
• 1898 Aug. 7
  Trail, B.C.: CPR blows in smelter furnace after renovations complete.
• 1898 Aug. 8
  Great Britain: H.W. Forster and J.J. Hill incorporate the Kootenay Railway and Navigation Company. Capitalized at £500,000.
• 1898 Aug. 8
  Federal: Order-in-Council authorizes CPR to lease the Columbia and Western Railway for 999 years.
• 1898 Aug. 8
  B.C. political: Government of J.H. Turner dismissed by Lieutenant-governor after apparent election loss on July 9th.
• 1898 Aug. 13
  Saturday.
• 1898 Aug. 13
  Wardner, B.C.: 1500 hours: the first CP train crosses the Upper Kootenay River.
• 1898 Aug. 15
  B.C. political: Charles Augustus Semlin installed as premier. His pan-B.C. party annuls subsidy to the Vancouver, Victoria & Eastern Railway.
• 1898 Aug. 18
  B.C.: Cariboo Consolidated Gold Mining Company robbed of some 30 lbs. of gold near Camp McKinney. Unrecovered.
• 1898 Aug. 18
  Wardner, B.C.: Regular service on the CNL extended to Wardner, B.C.
• 1898 Aug. 18
  Pincher Creek, N-WT, incorporated as a Village.
• 1898 Aug. 23
  Cranbrook, B.C.: B.C. Southern trackage pushed onto townsite.
• 1898 Aug. 26
  Friday.
• 1898 Aug. 26
  Cranbrook, B.C.: Regular service inaugurated on the B.C. Southern (Crow’s Nest Line).
• 1898 Aug. 26
  N-WT: C.O. Card turns the inaugural farrow on the St. Mary’s Main Canal.
• 1898 September
  B.C.: Work begins on Bulldog Tunnel on the C&W; west of Castlegar.
• 1898 September
  Moyie, B.C.: Emma C. McMahon begins teaching first school classes.
• 1898 Sep. 4
  Sunday.
• 1898 Sep. 4
  B.C.: BC Southern trackage through Jerome Tunnel and into Moyie City.
• 1898 Sep. 14
  B.C.: BC Southern steel tops the Goatfell Hill between Curzon and Kitchener.
• 1898 Sep. 19
  N-WT: Ordinance No. 9, “An Ordinance to amend and consolidate as amended Ordinance No. 5 of 1893 intitled [sic] ‘An Ordinance to make Regulations with respect to Coal Mines'” receives royal assent.
• 1898 Autumn
  Cascade City, B.C.: The Cascade Water, Power and Light Company, Limited, begins to build its dam.
• 1898 Autumn
  B.C.: The Gooderham-Blackstock syndicate completes the purchase of the Center Star M&S; Company.
• 1898 Autumn
  B.C.: R.J. Long constructs the first hotel as what is now Creston.
• 1898 Sep. 26
  N-WT: Lieutenant-governor Malcolm Colin Cameron dies in office.
• 1898 Sep. 29
  B.C.: The CPR’s Goat River bridge near Creston declared complete.
• 1898 October
  Rosebery, B.C.: CPR launches Sandon (97 tons). Dismantled 1927.
• 1898 Thanksgiving Day
  John Frederick Hume opens Hume Hotel in Nelson.
• 1898 Oct. 1
  Responsible government in N-WT inaugurated with Haultain as Premier.
• 1898 Oct. 1
  Post Office opens a bureau at Okanagan Falls.
• 1898 Oct. 4
  Amédée Emmanuel Forget begins the first of his two terms as lieutenant-governor of the North-West Territories.
• 1898 Oct. 6
  Thursday evening; last spike driven in Crow’s Nest Pass Line near Kootenay Landing.
• 1898 Oct. 22
  Nelson, B.C.: CPR launches Moyie (835 tons). Prefabricated in Toronto for Yukon service on the Stikine River in northern B.C. Retired April, 1957, survives as museum at Kaslo.
• 1898 November
  Great Northern and the CPR begin an informal three year truce with an agreement which required the GN’s K&S; to pay a subsidy to the CPR’s N&S; to allow the former to haul 80% of Slocan ore.
• 1898 November
  Bonner’s Ferry, WA: The Great Northern begins construction of the Kootenay Valley Railway towards the Boundary.
• 1898 Nov. 12
  Federal political: The Right Honourable Sir Gilbert John Murray Kynynmond Elliot, 4th Earl of Minto, sworn in as governor general of Canada. (1904)
• 1898 Nov. 14
  “Crow’s Nest Branch” from Macleod, N-WT., to Kootenay Lake in B.C. is turned over to CPR’s Operations.
• 1898 Nov. 18
  Nakusp, B.C.: CPR launches Minto (829 tons). Prefabricated in Toronto for Yukon service on the Stikine River in northern B.C. Retired April, 1954, purposely burned near Galena Bay on Upper Arrow on August 1, 1968.
• 1898 Nov. 22
  British-America Corporation, Limited, completes the purchase of the Le Roi Mining and Smelting Company.
• 1898 Nov. 29
  City of Ainsworth founders off Crawford Bay on Kootenay Lake. Nine lost.
• 1898 December
  Mr. Redfield and Mr. Wilson set up a sawmill at “Moodyville” by Christina Lake.
• 1898 December
  Trail, BC: Installation of ore roasters completed at CP’s smelter.
• 1898 Dec. 7
  Inauguration of Crow’s Nest Pass Line.
• 1898 Dec. 8
  Bound for Trail, BC, the first shipment of coke leaves Fernie, BC.
• 1898 End
  Kootenai Valley Railway completed its 26 miles miles of trackage between Bonners Ferry and Bedlington, Idaho.