Period 1899 – 1901

Period 1899 – 1901 for South-western Canada

• 1899
  West Kootenay Power doubles the generating capacity of its No. 1 Plant at Lower Bonnington.
• 1899
  CNP Coal begins operations at Michel, BC.
• 1899
  CPR lays in a BC Southern siding to establish Yahk, BC.
• 1899
  Limestone mining begins on the Fife property near Christina Lake, BC.
• 1899
  Some 7400 Doukhobors arrive in Canada and begin settling in the District of Saskatchewan, N-WT.
• 1899
  GN working on railbed of Kaslo and Lardo-Duncan Railway. Work abandoned in 1901 when railbed complete from Lardeau to Duncan.
• 1899
  The Yellowstone claim on Sheep Creek near Salmo was registered.
• 1899
  I.R. 147B, N-WT: The Piikani begin operating a sawmill on their timber reserve in the Porcupine Hills, No. 147B.
• 1899
  B.C.: The No. 7 Mining Company, Limited, of New York, buys the No. 7 property.
• 1899
  Grand Forks, BC: Sacred Heart Church opens.
• 1899
  Pincher Creek, N-WT.: Union Bank opens a branch.
• 1899
  B.C. Election: By-election brings W.C. Wells to Victoria as MPP for the North East riding of the Kootenay Electoral District.
• 1899
  The Dominion Copper Company acquires the Brooklyn Group on Phœnix Mountain in BC.
• 1899
  B.C.: The Jewel Development Syndicate of London reorganized as Jewel Gold Mines, Limited, to work the Jewel and the Denoro Grande near Eholt.
• 1899
  B.C.: Vermilion Forks Mining and Development Company buys lot 706 upon which Princeton is built.
• 1899
  Revelstoke, B.C.: The abandoned British Columbia (formerly, Kootenay) Smelting and Trading Syndicate smelter washed away.
• 1899
  Okanagan Falls, B.C.: The sternwheeler Greenwood burns and sinks.
• 1899
  B.C.: Department of Mines created.
• 1899
  District of Alberta, N-WT.: Wm. Aldridge stakes petroleum leases on Cameron Creek.
• 1899
  District of Alberta, N-WT.: Crowsnest River bridged just up-stream from its confluence with the Oldman, near what is now Cowley, AB.
• 1899
  B.C.: The Fairview Amalgamated Gold Mining Company succeeded by the Fairview Corporation, Limited, on the Stemwinder and Morning Star properties at Fairview.
• 1899
  B.C.: The Cariboo Consolidated Gold Mining Company reorganized as the Cariboo-McKinney Gold Mining and Milling Company, Limited.
• 1899
  J.P. Graves and S.H.C. Miner form the Granby Consolidated Mining, Smelting and Power Company.
• 1899
  B.C.: CPR completes the North Star branch from Cranbrook to Kimberley.
• 1899
  B.C.: Kootenay Mining and Smelting defaults on its debts and the Bank of Montreal assumes ownership of the Bluebell and the Pilot Bay smelter.
• 1899
  B.C.: CPR completes Rossland’s first station.
• 1899
  B.C.: C.P. Hill bonds his 20 iron properties near Kitchener to the London and British Columbia Gold Fields Company, Limited.
• 1899
  Trail, B.C.: CP installs an experimental lead furnace in smelter.
• 1899
  Gooderham-Blackstock syndicate of Toronto buys two/thirds of the St. Eugene group ay Moyie, BC.
• 1899
  Moyie, B.C.: Joseph Niederstadt builds brewery.
• 1899
  Macleod, N-WT.: Macleod Telephone Co. incorporated.
• 1899
  N-WT: Mormons found Sterling.
• 1899
  N-WT: Mormons found Magrath.
• 1899 Circa
  Great Britain: The British Columbia (Rossland and Slocan) Syndicate, Limited, organized to buy up the Snowshoe Group.
• 1899 January
  B.C.: Nearly 200 claims how registered in the Mark Creek area around Kimberley.
• 1899 Jan. 1
  Kootenay Railway & Navigation acquired the International Navigation & Trading Co. and the Kaslo and Slocan Railway.
• 1899 Jan. 13
  Canada: Having amalgamated the Winnipeg Great Northern Railway Company and the Lake Manitoba Railway and Canal Company, William Mackenzie and Donald Mann incorporate the Canadian Northern Railway (CNoR).
• 1899 Jan. 14
  Fernie, B.C.: The Fernie Free Press begins publication.
• 1899 February
  WA: Le Roi M&S of Spokane sells Northport smelter operations and associated assets to the Northport Mining and Smelting Company of Spokane, WA.
• 1899 Feb. 10
  N-WT: Town of Lethbridge elevated to status of “chief port.”
• 1899 Feb. 27
  B.C., political: An amendment to provincial Inspection of Metaliferous Mines Act, 1897, received royal assent, limiting underground miners’ hours to 8 hours per day.
• 1899 Feb. 27
  Nelson, B.C.: CPR launches Ymir (70 tons). Withdrawn in 1929.
• 1899 March
  B.C.: Fernie school board organized.
• 1899 Mar. 1
  Revelstoke, B.C., incorporated as a City.
• 1899 Mar. 4
  B.C.: First rail shipment of St. Eugene ore leaves Aldridge near Moyie.
• 1899 Mar. 15
  Fernie, B.C.: Board of Trade organized.
• 1899 May 16
  Granby Consolidated Mining and Smelting Company, Limited, announces its intent to build its smelter at Grand Forks.
• 1899 May 19
  Rossland, B.C.: Four die in elevator accident in War Eagle mine.
• 1899 April
  Kimberley, B.C.: Jim Carroll opens store.
• 1899 Apr. 29
  The Dominion Copper Company, Limited (DCC), incorporated in Toronto by senator G.A. Cox et al including Mackenzie, Mann and Company of Toronto.
• 1899 June
  Hedley, B.C.: M.K. Rodgers buys the Nickel Plate and other claims on Nickel Plate Mountain for Marcus Daly.
• 1899 June
  MT: Gwendoline falls from a Great Northern flatcar and smashed in the gorge of Kootenai Falls.
• 1899 June 3
  First miners’ strike at CNP Coal. Hours of work and tonnages.
• 1899 June 12
  Monday: W.C. Van Horne resigns as president of CPR in favour of T.G. Shaughnessy. Van Horne continues to serve as Chairman of the Board of Directors.
• 1899 June 13
  Wardner, B.C., de-certified as a Port of Entry, the offices being transferred to Fernie.
• 1899 June 15
  CP finishes converting the Columbia & Western’s “Trail Creek Tramway” to standard gauge.
• 1899 June 21
  Treaty 8 signed at Lesser Slave Lake by representatives of HRH Victoria and the Chipewayan, Newiyawak/Cree, Beaver and Athapascan.
• 1899 Summer
  George Cahill stakes the Mascot Fraction on Nickel Plate Mountain for Duncan Woods.
• 1899 June 23
  Four die in blast in War Eagle mine, Rossland.
• 1899 July
  Northwest Elevator Association formed.
• 1899 July 10
  Federal: 62-63 Victoria Chapter 93, “An Act respecting the Alberta Irrigation Company, and to change its name to the Canadian North-west Irrigation Company” receives royal assent.
• 1899 July 12
  The eight hour work day for underground miners implemented province-wide in B.C.
• 1899 July 17
  Rossland, B.C.: CP opens the C&W Railway station.
• 1899 July 26
  Creston, B.C.: Anglicans hold first official church service.
• 1899 Aug. 1
  Rossland local of the Western Federation of Miners bans contract mining.
• 1899 Aug. 1
  Elko, B.C.: Postal bureau opened; Mrs. Holbrook, post mistress.
• 1899 Aug. 3
  Greenwood, B.C.: Major fire in the business district.
• 1899 Aug. 5
  Osoyoos, B.C.: T.J. Kruger dies at home (1829).
• 1899 Aug. 12
  Cascade, B.C.: First train arrives on the C&W.
• 1899 September
  Fernie. B.C.: First school classes given, in Joyce’s Hall.
• 1899 Sep. 14
  CPR receives from the contractors the Castlegar-Grand Forks portion of the Columbia and Western.
• 1899 Sep. 15
  Joseph C. Hooker buys 400 Crown-held acres along the Bull River canyon preparatory to generating electricity.
• 1899 Sep. 18
  First scheduled C&W train into Columbia (Grand Forks).
• 1899 Sep. 23
  Regular passenger service extended to Columbia (Grand Forks).
• 1899 Sep. 30
  Most of Cascade City burns.
• 1899 Oct. 4
  London, Eng.: Nelson Electric Tramway Company incorporated by the British Electric Traction Company.
• 1899 Oct. 7
  Ottawa: Royal Commission appointed to investigate railcar distribution to the Territorial farmers and the fairness inthe manner of dockage and weighing grain.
• 1899 Oct. 10
  Wardner, B.C.: School closed.
• 1899 Oct. 11
  First shipment of ore carried on the C&W, from City of Paris mine at White’s Camp to CP’s smelter at Trail, BC.
• 1899 Oct. 21
  Greenwood, BC.: Columbia & Western Railway steel laid into the community.
• 1899 Nov. 15
  “the Springs,” N-WT, renamed “Blairmore.”
• 1899 Nov. 25
  Greenwood, BC.: C&W begins regular passenger service.
• 1899 December
  Midway, BC.: Columbia & Western Railway steel laid into the community.
• 1899 December
  Moyie, B.C.: James Wilkes of the Western Federation of Miners arrives to organize St. Eugene miners.
• 1899 December
  Nelson, B.C.: The City buys the Nelson Electric Light Company.
• 1899 Dec. 1
  Kimberley, B.C.: Chas. Estmere opens local postal bureau.
• 1899 Dec. 18
  Rossland, B.C.: District 6 of the Western Federation of Miners formed as an intermediary between the B.C. locals and the Union executive in the U.S.A.
• 1899 Dec. 23
  Nelson, B.C.: Nelson Electric Tramway begins operations.
• 1899 Dec. 31
  B.C.: British Columbia Smelting and Refining Company removed from the Register of Companies.
• 1899 End
  C.S. McRae and Donald McLaren pre-empt adjacent 320 acre homesteads near the Mother Lode property in the Deadwood Creek’s valley and lay out Deadwood townsite.
• 1900
  J.J. Hill incorporates the Washington and Great Northern Railway.
• 1900
  Nelson, B.C.: CPR launches the tug Procter (43 tons). Sold 1917.
• 1900
  Kimberley, B.C.: CPR pushes North Star Branch a couple of miles further up the Mark Creek valley to the Sullivan mine site.
• 1900
  Midway, BC.: Midway Hotel completed.
• 1900
  B.C.: Andrew Rosen settles in what is now the Jaffray area.
• 1900
  Marysville, B.C.: Al. Bales opens the Marysville Hotel.
• 1900
  East Kootenay, B.C.: Robert S. Elmsley buys 200 acres in the core of modern Jaffray for $200.
• 1900
  Blairmore, N-WT.: H.E. Lyon opens settlement’s first store.
• 1900
  Winnipeg Hotel raised in Grand Forks, BC.
• 1900
  Cowley, N-WT.: Multi-denominational Protestant church raised.
• 1900
  Samuel. W. Gebo examines coal measures at “Livingstone” siding, N-WT (now Burmis, AB). Decides not to develop a mine and joins Henry Lupin Frank in developing mine at Frank, N-WT.
• 1900
  Head tax imposed on Chinese immigrants entering Canada doubled to $100.
• 1900
  Colonel James Baker retires to England.
• 1900
  Kimberley, B.C.: School. Miss Mary Jacks.
• 1900
  B.C.: The Yellowstone mine on Sheep Creek near Salmo installs a 10-stamp mill. Mine exhausted by 1902 and mill quits.
• 1900
  M.K. Rodgers and the Marcus Daly estate incorporate the Yale Mining Company to buy up the mining claims on Nickel Plate Mountain.
• 1900
  U.S.A.: Adopts the Gold Standard Act. Price of silver plummets.
• 1900
  G.A. Cox replaced Colonel Baker as president of CNP Coal.
• 1900
  B.C.: Hedley City Townsite Company lays out Hedley townsite during the summer and fall.
• 1900
  Fairview, B.C.: Fairview Amalgamated Gold Mining Company suspends operations at the Stemwinder and the Morning Star properties. Bought up by the Gooderham-Blackstock Syndicate of Toronto which forms the New Fairview Corporation to work the mines.
• 1900
  Cranbrook, B.C.: Sisters of Providence open St. Eugene’s Hospital.
• 1900
  Midway, B.C.: B.C. Police barracks completed.
• 1900
  B.C.: B. Richard Atkins’ population estimates for communities in BC: Rossland, 8,000; Nelson, 5500; Fernie, 2500; Kaslo, 1550; Trail, 1500; Cranbrook, 1400; Ymit, 600; Ft. Steele, 425.
• 1900 Circa
  Christina Lake, B.C.: Eli LaValley builds first hotel on the Lake.
• 1900 January
  District of Alberta, N-WT: Recruitment to man the 2nd Battalion of the Canadian Mounted Rifles.
• 1900 Jan. 1
  Tuesday.
• 1900 Jan. 1
  Nelson, B.C.: Official opening of new CPR Station.
• 1900 Jan. 1
  Lethbridge, N-WT: N-WMP Corporal Thos. Lewis resigns as Town constable.
• 1900 February
  District of Alberta, N-WT: Recruitment to man Strathcona’s Horse. Sam Steele commanding.
• 1900 Feb. 6
  Rossland, B.C.: Western Federation of Miners locked out of the War Eagle and Center Star mines in a dispute over contract mining.
• 1900 Feb. 14
  B.C.: Bulldog tunnel opened at Farron Hill; C&W complete.
• 1900 Feb. 17
  B.C.: International Navigation and Trading Company launches Argenta (206 tons) at Mirror Lake Yards near Kaslo.
• 1900 Feb. 27
  B.C. political: Election. C.A. Semlin dismissed and Joseph Martin installed as conservative premier of B.C. E.C. Smith replaces Baker in the South East Riding of the Kootenay Electoral District, W.C. Wells re-elected to the North East.
• 1900 March
  Midway, B.C.: The Columbia and Western Railway builds its station.
• 1900 Mar. 1
  Contractors turn over the Grand Forks-Midway portion of the Columbia and Western to the CPR.
• 1900 Mar. 1
  CNP Coal announces that it would apply to Ottawa for a charter for the Kootenay Lake Railway to connect the Pass to the GN mainline at Jennings, Montana.
• 1900 Mar. 12
  B.C.: Western Federation of Miners locked out of the Le Roi mine in a dispute over contact mining.
• 1900 Mar. 20
  B.C.: Settlement of Kuskonook burns.
• 1900 Spring
  Bedlington and Nelson Railway receives B.C. charter. Begins construction immediately.
• 1900 April
  Moyie, B.C.: The St. Eugene Consolidated Mining Company completes its concentrator at Aldridge near Moyie.
• 1900 Easter
  Fernie, B.C.: First R.C. church inaugurated.
• 1900 Apr. 1
  Cowley, N-WT.: Post Office opens a bureau in Davidson’s store.
• 1900 Apr. 5
  B.C.: R.C. Clute mediates an agreement between the Rossland miners and mine management: Union accepted contracting and Owners agreed not to discriminate against Union members.
• 1900 May
  B.C.: The Sisters of Providence announce that they will close their hospital at St. Eugene’s mission and open one in Cranbrook.
• 1900 May
  Valparaiso Gold Mines Company incorporated.
• 1900 May
  N-WT.: The Beaver Indians of what is now central Alberta sign Treaty 8, the last people to do so.
• 1900 May 4
  Sandon, B.C.: CBD burns.
• 1900 May 21
  BC.: CPR drives the last spike in its Phœnix Subdivision.
• 1900 June
  Agreement between GN and CP allows C&K Procter Branch trackage to cross N&FS trackage at Five-Mile Point in exchange for N&FS access to C&K station and yards in Nelson.
• 1900 June
  School building completed in Fernie. In September, 100 students.
• 1900 June 1
  The Post Office opens its Crow’s Nest, BC, bureau.
• 1900 June 9
  B.C. political: Election.
• 1900 June 14
  Federal: 63-64 Victoria Chapter 79, “An Act to incorporate the St. Mary’s River Railway Company” receives royal assent.
• 1900 June 21
  B.C. political: Honourable Sir H.J. de Lothinière commissioned lieutenant-governor.
• 1900 June 28
  Québec City, PQ: Standard Pyritic Smelting Company incorporated.
• 1900 June 14
  B.C. political: Joseph Martin dismissed as premier by Lieutenant-governor.
• 1900 June 14
  Federal: 63-64 Victoria Chapter 79, “An Act to incorporate the St. Mary’s River Railway Company” receives royal assent.
• 1900 June 15
  B.C. political: James Dunsmuir installed as conservative premier.
• 1900 July
  Federal political: Manitoba Grain Act passed.
• 1900 July 4
  Lethbridge, N-WT: St. Mary’s Main Canal declared complete.
• 1900 July 14
  Alberta and British Columbia Exploration Company, Limited, incorporated in Great Britain. Capitalization: £30,000. Headquarters in Kaslo.
• 1900 July 29
  Carcross, Yukon Territory: Last spike driven in White Pass & Yukon Railway.
• 1900 August
  B.C.: The Yale Mining Company contracted L.A. Clark to push a waggon road from Penticton to Nickel Plate Mountain.
• 1900 August
  B.C.: CP completes ballasting of C&W and full service to Midway inaugurated.
• 1900 Aug. 1
  Aylesworth Bowen Perry, C.M.G., appointed sixth Commissioner of the N-WMP, RN-WMP, and RCMP (to March 31, 1923).
• 1900 Aug. 17
  International Navigation and Trading Company launches Kaslo (765 tons) at Mirror Lake yards, Kaslo. Sank 1910.
• 1900 Aug. 18
  Nelson Electric’s dam on Cottonwood Creek collapses. Nelson, B.C.
• 1900 Aug. 21
  Granby Consolidated Mining and Smelting blows in No. 1 furnace of its Grand Forks smelter.
• 1900 Aug. 28
  Mi’kai’stowa (Chief Red Crow) of the Kainai drowns in St. Mary’s River in southern Alberta.
• 1900 Aug. 29
  Granby Consolidated sends first shipment of Grand Forks smelter matte copper to market.
• 1900 Aug. 31
  B.C.: Provincial charter for Tracy Holland’s Grand Forks and Kettle River Valley Railway granted.
• 1900 Sep. 10 (19?)
  Great Britain: United Gold Fields of British Colimbia incorporated with French money. Headquarters in Nelson, B.C.
• 1900 Autumn
  Creston, B.C.: B&N rails arrive.
• 1900 Autumn
  Moyie, B.C.: Moyie Water Company laying pipe.
• 1900 Oct. 11
  City of Phœnix incorporated.
• 1900 Oct. 13
  Grand Forks, B.C.: Granby Consolidated Mining and Smelting blows in No. 2 furnace of its smelter.
• 1900 Oct. 22
  Boundary Creek Mining Company, Limited, reorganizes itself into the Montreal and Boston Copper Company, Limited.
• 1900 Oct. 31
  District of Alberta, N-WT: Village of Stafford incorporated.
• 1900 Nov. 3
  B.C.: The Dominion Copper Company contracts to have a smelter built in the Boundary Creek region. Cancelled in 1901.
• 1900 Nov. 5
  Fernie, B.C.: CP abandons its claims to the townsite.
• 1900 Nov. 7
  Federal Election: Laurier re-elected as Liberal prime minister of Canada.
• 1900 Nov. 7
  Federal Election: William A. Galliher (Liberal) elected for the District of Cariboo and Yale, B.C.
• 1900 Nov. 10
  Federal political: Chas. Tupper steps down as leader of the federal Conservatives.
• 1900 Nov. 12
  U.S.A.: Marcus Daly dies. (December 5, 1841)
• 1900 Nov. 25
  B.C.: Bedlington and Nelson—Kootenay Valley Railway opened for business.
• 1900 Nov. 28
  District of Alberta, N-WT: St. Mary’s River Railway opened between Stirling and Spring Coulee.
• 1900 December
  Frank, N-WT: H.L. Frank and S.W. Gebo begin developing their coal mine. First coal mine in the region east of the Great Divide.
• 1900 Dec. 1
  Blairmore, N-WT.: postal bureau opens in Lyon’s store.
• 1900 Dec. 6
  B.C.: C&K’s Procter branch declared open.
• 1900 Dec. 11
  Trail, BC: Board of Trade registered.