Period 1949 – 1962

Period 1949 – 1962 for South-western Canada

• 1949
  Hedley, BC: The Hedley Gold Mining Company shuts down the Mascot Fraction mine.
• 1949
  B.C.: Paving of BC’s Kootenay Lake’s east shore road complete.
• 1949
  AB: Consolidated M&S took a record 600,000 tons of Coleman area coal.
• 1949
  Chapman Camp, BC: Consolidated Mining and Smelting concentrator modified to capture indium.
• 1949
  B.C.: Provincial prohibition on Native political organization lifted.
• 1949
  CP begins converting its locomotives to burn fuel oil.
• 1949
  Creston, BC: CP replaces 1898 station.
• 1949
  Creston, BC: Third elevator built.
• 1949
  Kimberley, BC: St. Andrew’s Presbyterian completed.
• 1949
  Kimberley, BC: The high-capacity “High Line” haulageway completed between the 3700-foot level of the Sullivan Mine and the CM&S concentrator at Chapman Camp.
• 1949
  B.C.: Bark Beetle infestation begins in southern Kootenays.
• 1949
  Kitchener, BC: Dr. F.W. (Frank) Green’s former sick-house was destroyed.
• 1949
  Trail, BC: Cominco Arena completed.
• 1949 Winter
  Crowsnest, BC: Last harvest of ice from Summit Lake.
• 1949 January
  Creston, BC: Kootenay Hotel opened.
• 1949 Jan. 11
  Lethbridge, AB: Premier Ernest C. Manning opens the new traffic bridge over the Oldman River.
• 1949 Jan. 12
  Salmo, BC: Canex ceases milling tungsten at Emerald mine operation nearby and begins converting the mill to concentrate lead and zinc as well.
• 1949 Mar. 7
  Marysville, BC: Incorporated as a Village.
• 1949 Mar. 21
  Brookmere, BC: CPR No. 907 blows up and destroys the 3-stall roundhouse. Rebuilt as a 4 stall structure, demolished in 1972.
• 1949 Apr. 5
  Blairmore, AB: Crowsnest Pass Hospital opened.
• 1949 Apr. 12
  Blairmore, AB: First baby, Margaret Savinkoff, born in Crowsnest Pass Hospital.
• 1949 June 15
  BC election: B.I. Johnson’s Liberal/P.C. coalition re-elected.
• 1949 June 20
  Nelson, BC: Streetcars retired.
• 1949 June 27
  Federal election: Louis St. Laurent’s Liberals returned to power.
• 1949 Oct. 20
  Michel, BC: Crow’s Nest Pass Coal closes Erickson strip operation.
• 1949 Oct. 21
  Michel, BC: Crow’s Nest Pass Coal opens the Baldy Mountain strip operation on Natal Ridge.
• 1949 Nov. 2
  Allison Pass, BC: Crowsnest Highway declared open by premier Byron Johnson and minister of Public Works, E.C. Carson.
• 1949 Nov. 11
  Fernie, BC: Memorial Hospital opens (demolished 1975).
• 1950
  Federal political: The Department of Veterans’ Affairs purchases tracts between Keremeos and Cawston, BC, for the settlement of veterans.
• 1950
  Coleman, AB. Ukranian/Greek Catholic Church completed.
• 1950
  Burmis, AB: Burmis Lumber Company operating 3 mills on Lost Creek and planer mill.
• 1950
  Bellevue, AB.: West Canadian Collieries builds new coal washery.
• 1950
  Lethbridge, AB: Addition to Carnegie Library.
• 1950
  Lethbridge, AB: Sick’s brewery gardens opened.
• 1950
  Alberta Government Telephones competes its micro-wave tower on Crowsnest Ridge.
• 1950 Jan. 3
  Lethbridge, AB: Record cold: -42.8º Celsius.
• 1950 February
  Burmis, AB: School classes cease. Students to Pincher Creek or Lundbreck, AB.
• 1950 Feb. 1
  AB political: John James Bowlen appointed lieutenant-governor (to December 19th, 1959).
• 1950 Apr. 3
  Princeton, BC: Tulameen Collieries shuts down.
• 1950 Apr. 27
  Lethbridge, AB: Green Acres Drive-In Theatre opens.
• 1950 June
  Fernie, BC: Interior Breweries Company acquires the Brewery.
• 1950 July 31
  Waneta, BC: postal bureau closes.
• 1950 July 31
  Columbia Gardens, BC: postal bureau closes.
• 1950 Aug. 15
  Thursday.
• 1950 Aug. 15
  The RCM Police absorb the B.C. Provincial Police.
• 1950 Oct. 1
  BC political: Colonel Clarence Wallace commissioned as the lieutenant-governor.
• 1950 Oct. 2
  Christina Lake, BC: Alpine Inn burns.
• 1950 November
  Lethbridge, AB: Civic Centre opens with 10-sheet curling rink and skating rink.
• 1950 Dec. 4
  Macleod, AB: new Post Office opens.
• 1951
  Coal Mountain, BC: Byron Creek Collieries begins work.
• 1951
  Rossland, BC: CP builds a new station to replace the 1899 building.
• 1951
  Kimberley, BC: Consolidated Mining and Smelting begins building a fertilizer plant nearby.
• 1951
  Bellevue, AB: Bellevue Volunteer Fire Dept. organized.
• 1951
  Lethbridge, AB: Branch No. 4 of the Canadian Legion, British Empire Service League, renamed “General Stewart Branch No. 4 of the Canadian Legion, BESL.”
• 1951
  Lethbridge, AB: Branch of the YWCA opened.
• 1951 Jan. 5
  “Royal City,” AB: The Chester flooded and sealed in February.
• 1951 March
  Coleman, AB: fire brigade re-organized by Aldo Montalbetti.
• 1951 May 1
  Salmo, BC: Canex completes purchase of the Emerald mine nearby from the Canadian government.
• 1951 May 1
  Federal political: Leonard Hanson Nicholson, MBE, appointed tenth Commissioner of the RCMP (to March 31, 1959).
• 1951 June
  Burmis, AB: School house removed to Lundbreck.
• 1951 June 1
  Hillcrest-Mohawk Collieries, Limited, offered to buy all shares of International Coal & Coke, and McGillivray Creek Coal & Coke held by Consolidated Mining & Smelting and L.A. Campbell’s estate.
• 1951 June 19
  McGillivray Creek Coal & Coke accepts International Coal and Coke’s offer of $300,000 for its operations.
• 1951 July
  West Canadian Collieries offers to buy International Coal & Coke, and McGillivray Creek Coal & Coke.
• 1951 July
  Macleod, AB: Town petitions Ottawa for “Fort” to be re-attached to its name.
• 1951 July
  AB: The Forestry Trunk Road northward from Coleman through the Kananaskis Country to Hinton and Edson, AB, completed.
• 1951 July 16
  AB: Dam on the St. Mary’s River completed to serve the St. Mary’s Irrigation District.
• 1951 Aug. 30
  Penticton, BC: Sicamous arrives under tow to be beached as a museum.
• 1951 Oct. 7
  Princeton, BC: Incorporated as a Village: Isaac Plecash, mayor.
• 1951 Dec. 4
  AB: Coleman Collieries, Limited, incorporated. $1.21 million capitalization. Controling interest owned by CP’s Consolidated Mining and Smelting Co. HQ at Coleman, H.S. Patterson as president.
• 1952
  Boswell, BC: D.H. Brown begins his “peculiar” Glass Castle nearbt on Kootenay Lake.
• 1952
  Rossland, BC: The owners of the War Eagle/Center Star combine’s assets return the Union Hall to the local miners after more than 50 years.
• 1952
  Keremeos, B.C.: Clarke and Armstrong’s packing house burns. Replaced.
• 1952
  AB: Crowsnest Highway re-routed around Crowsnest Lake.
• 1952
  Grand Forks, BC: CPR abandons old Kettle Valley Railway station downtown and moves local operations to the Columbia station.
• 1952
  Sparwood, BC: high school opened.
• 1952
  Kimberley, BC: The Hudson’s Bay Company buys the Consolidated Mining and Smelting Company’s Mark Creek Store.
• 1952
  Kimberley, BC: Selkirk Senior Secondary School opened.
• 1952
  Coleman, AB: International and McGillivray Creek mines linked underground.
• 1952
  Castlegar, BC: Canadian Celanese Corporation buys the flood-damaged William Waldie and Sons, Limited, saw mill.
• 1952
  Lethbridge, AB: St. Patrick’s Roman Catholic Church completed.
• 1952 January
  Lethbridge, AB: First diesel locomotive-powered train arrives. Fairbanks-Morse “C-Liner.”
• 1952 Jan. 1
  “Trust Deed” signed creating Coleman Collieries, Limited, from from the assets of International Coal & Coke, McGillivray Creek Coal & Coke, and Hillcrest-Mohawk Collieries (which would remain a separate entity with its original shares outstanding).
• 1952 February
  Coalhurst, AB: Pentecostal Assembly church burns.
• 1952 Feb. 6
  King George VI dies.
• 1952 Feb. 29
  Coleman, AB: The last load of coke removed from the coking ovens.
• 1952 Mar. 14
  Bellevue, AB: Hillcrest-Mohawk Collieries quits mining the Mohawk.
• 1952 Apr. 1
  Federal political: Order-in-Council granting Macleod, AB, its “Fort.”
• 1952 Apr. 8
  B.C.: West Kootenay Power completes the Kootenay Lake span and connects to East Kootenay Power.
• 1952 Apr. 15
  Bluebell mine and new concentrator activated with WK Power.
• 1952 June 12
  B.C. political: 23rd General Election
• 1952 Aug. 1
  B.C. political: Wm. Andrew Cecil Bennett and Social Credit government installed.
• 1952 Aug. 5
  AB election: E.C. Manning and Social Credit re-elected.
• 1952 Oct. 1
  Salmo, BC: Canex completes the repurchase of the Emerald mine nearby from the Canadian government.
• 1952 Nov. 4
  Fruitvale, BC: Incorporated as a Village.
• 1952 Nov. 16
  A Sunday.
• 1952 Nov. 16
  Calgary, AB: Curtis Reid Wilson born in the General Hospital.
• 1953
  Bridesville, BC: Fire destroys hotel and dance hall.
• 1953
  Elko, BC: The Waldo Stockbreeders Association holds its last livestock auction.
• 1953
  Federal political: Hereditary nature of Native chieftenhood destroyed by the imposition of the Dominion government’s First Nations’ electoral system.
• 1953
  Crowsnest Pass, AB: West Canadian Collieries offers to join or buy Coleman Collieries, Limited, of Coleman.
• 1953
  Consolidated Mining and Smelting completes Waneta Dam on the Pend d’Oreille River.
• 1953
  B.C.: CP replaces steam locomotives with diesel in south.
• 1953
  Jaffray, BC: Jehovah’s Witnesses raise their first Kingdom Hall.
• 1953
  Salmo, BC: Consolidated Mining and Smelting completes concentration mill at the nearby HB mine.
• 1953 January
  Hillcrest, AB: Residents vote to incorporate their community. Never done.
• 1953 Jan. 20
  Coleman, AB: Three dead in a “bump” in the McGillivray mine.
• 1953 Spring
  Lethbridge, AB: “The Bottoms” flooded. Surviving structures razed.
• 1953 May 26
  Boswell, BC: Fruit Growers Association disbanded.
• 1953 June 2
  Elizabeth II crowned queen.
• 1953 June 9
  B.C. political: W.A.C. Bennett leads Social Credit to victory.
• 1953 June 26
  Lethbridge, AB: First diesel-powered Kootenay Express arrives. Fairbanks-Morse “C-Liner.”
• 1953 July 1
  Macleod, AB: Town officially re-prefixes “Fort” to its name.
• 1953 Aug. 10
  Federal election: Mackenzie’s Liberals returned to power.
• 1953 September
  B.C. & AB: CP completes dieselization of KVL/CNL with Fairbanks-Morse locomotives.
• 1953 Sep. 9
  B.C.: RCMP begin rounding up Doukhobor dissidents in the Kootenays.
• 1953 Oct. 8
  AB: Hillcrest-Mohawk Collieries buys a bigger stake in Coleman Collieries, Limited.
• 1953 Oct. 29
  BC: British Columbia Telephone Co. buys the Kootenay Telephone Co. effective November 1. Exchanges included were Cranbrook, Michel/Natal, Fernie, Creston, and Kimberley.
• 1953 December
  B.C.: East Kootenay Power completes 2nd dam on the Bull River.
• 1954
  Mascot mine at Hedley, BC, shuts down.
• 1954
  M.V. Balfour begins service on BC’s Kootenay Lake between the east shore and Balfour.
• 1954
  CP ends mixed train service on BC’s Slocan Lake.
• 1954
  Elko, B.C.: The nearly completed new school burns. Reconstruction begins.
• 1954
  Hillcrest, AB.: St. Francis Anglican Church closed. Congregation buys Ukranian Hall in Bellevue, AB, names it St. Francis and transfrrs church treasures thereto.
• 1954
  The Great Northern lifts Vancouver, Victoria & Eastern Railway trackage between Hedley and Keremeos.
• 1954 Jan. 1
  AB political: Municipal District of Lethbridge No. 25 declared.
• 1954 Jan. 24
  Nelson, BC: CPR opens diesel service plant.
• 1954 Feb. 1
  Michel, BC: CNP Coal opens new briquette plant.
• 1954 Feb. 4
  Cranbrook, BC: Woodworkers’ strike ends.
• 1954 March
  Coleman, AB: International mine sealed.
• 1954 March
  Cowley, AB: Village buys Alvin Murphy’s power distribution grid.
• 1954 Apr. 23
  B.C.: CP withdraws Minto from service on BC’s Arrowhead Lakes.
• 1954 May 25
  Frank, AB: Noontime: the “Man Rock” on Turtle Mountain falls.
• 1954 June 15
  Blakeburn, BC: Mullin’s Strip Mine Limited acquired the rights to mine coal.
• 1954 Dec. 2
  Hillcrest-Mohawk Collieries buys Consolidated M&S’s stake in Coleman Collieries, Limited.
• 1955
  Eastport, ID: CPR and Union Pacific build Spokane International yards.
• 1955
  Coleman, AB: Coleman Collieries, Limited, completes construction of briquetting plant.
• 1955
  Blairmore, AB: RCMP detachment moves from old Courthouse and to offices in the new post office building.
• 1955
  Blairmore, AB: Town annexes West Blairmore.
• 1955
  Lethbridge, AB: St. Augustine’s Anglican consecrated.
• 1955
  AB: CP introduces Budd RDCs “Dayliners” on the Calgary–Lethbridge, Lethbridge–Medicine Hat runs.
• 1955
  Elko, BC: Reconstruction of the new school finally completed.
• 1955
  B.C.: The Nakusp and Slocan washed out above Kaslo on the ex-K&S line.
• 1955 Apr. 24
  The CPR’s “Dayliner” service between Lethbridge and Calgary along the Aldersyde branch inaugurated.
• 1955 May 25
  Lethbridge, AB: Lethbridge Municipal Hospital opened.
• 1955 June 14
  Lethbridge, AB: Sod turned on new synagogue.
• 1955 June 29
  E.C. Manning and Social Credit re-elected in Alberta.
• 1955 Sep. 23
  Kelowna Mines Hedley Limited discontinued working the Nickel Plate at Hedley.
• 1955 Nov. 15
  Galloway, BC: Curling Rink completed and flooded. First games played on December 19th.
• 1955 Nov. 23
  Princeton, BC: New post office building opened.
• 1956
  CPR absorbs Kettle Valley Railway.
• 1956
  Elko, BC: the Elk Hotel burns.
• 1956
  Slocan Lake, BC: Iris G launched by Interior Lake Services to barge CP freight under contract.
• 1956
  Deadwood, BC: Last mining done above Greenwood, BC.
• 1956
  AB: Burmis Lumber Company’s timber lease expires; not renewable.
• 1956
  B.C.: Burns and Farstad ally Cranbrook Sawmills with Crestbrook Timber Limited.
• 1956
  Yahk, BC: Connected to Idaho Power along with the lower Moyie valley.
• 1956 Feb. 29
  Wardner, BC: CNP Lumber closes plant.
• 1956 March
  Crestbrook Lumber Company incorporated.
• 1956 Mar. 17
  Lethbridge, AB: J.J. Hamilton closes Federal mine.
• 1956 April
  Crestbrook Lumber Company buys ex-Crow’s Nest Pass Lumber’s Wardner planing mill.
• 1956 June 4
  Crestbrook Lumber Company loses new Parson mill to fire.
• 1956 June 22
  Montrose, BC: Incorporated as a Village.
• 1956 Aug. 12
  Hedley, BC: Major fire downtown.
• 1956 Sep. 19
  B.C. election: W.A.C. Bennett and Social Credit re-elected.
• 1956 Oct. 30
  Keremeos, BC: Incorporated as a Village.
• 1956 Nov. 30
  Sanca, BC: Postal bureau closed.
• 1956 Dec. 6
  Hedley, BC: Major fire downtown.
• 1957
  Coal Creek, BC: CNP Coal shuts down last mine, and Morrissey, Fernie and Michel Railway ceases operations.
• 1957
  Sirdar, BC: The CPR abandons the community.
• 1957
  Bellevue, AB: incorporates as a Village.
• 1957
  Jaffray, BC: Jaffray Elementary Junior Secondary School opened.
• 1957
  AB: Shell Oil discovers the Waterton Field—gas—in the south-west.
• 1957
  Brocket, AB: CP completes its Pecten Branch to Shell’s gas plant at Pecten in south-western AB.
• 1957
  Crowsnest Pass, AB: Coleman Collieries, Limited, begins underground mining at Vicary strip mine.
• 1957
  Shaughnessy, AB: Standard coal mine becomes the Galt No. 10 with the closure of Galt No. 8.
• 1957
  Greenwood, BC: Woodgreen Copper Corporation leases the Mother Lode mine nearby and built a 1,000 ton-per-day concentration mill on the site.
• 1957 January
  CP introduces Budd RDCs “Dayliners” on the KVR/CNL between Medicine Hat, AB, and Hope, BC.
• 1957 Jan. 1
  AB: Crowsnest Consolidated School District No. 63 formed. (Blairmore-Frank, Hillcrest and Bellevue-Maple Leaf: Coleman joined 1970)
• 1957 Jan. 15
  Hedley, BC: Third major fire downtown.
• 1957 Jan. 30
  Fernie, BC: CNP Coal wound up operations at the Elk River Colliery, soon blasting its tunnels closed. End of mining in Coal Creek valley.
• 1957 Feb. 8
  Lethbridge, AB: Lethbridge Collieries, Ltd, closes the Galt No. 8 coal mine.
• 1957 Apr. 10
  Bellevue, AB: West Canadian Collieries suspends operations of the Bellevue mine.
• 1957 Apr. 17
  Lethbridge, AB: Lethbridge Junior College opens.
• 1957 Apr. 24
  On Kootenay Lake, BC: Moyie begins her final run.
• 1957 Apr. 27
  Kaslo, BC: Moyie tied up in retirement.
• 1957 Apr. 30
  Blairmore, AB: West Canadian Collieries ceases operations at the Greenhill mine.
• 1957 Apr. 30
  Princeton, BC: Granby Consolidated Mining and Smelting Co. shuts down its Copper Mountain operation nearby.
• 1957 Apr. 30
  Blakeburn, BC: Mullin’s Strip Mine Limited ceases operations.
• 1957 May 27
  Fort Macleod, AB: Construction begins on a replica of the original N-WMP fort.
• 1957 June 10
  Federal election: J.G. Diefenbaker leads Progressive Conservatives to minority power.
• 1957 June 26
  Golden, BC: Incorporated as a Town.
• 1957 July 5
  Charles Sherwood Noble, the inventor of the “Noble Blade,” dies.
• 1957 July 23
  The Crow’s Nest Pass Lumber Company, Limited, dissolved.
• 1957 July
  CP begins the 2 month-long job of lifting the Kettle Valley Railway’s Allenby-Copper Mountain spur. Soon lifts rest of spur from Princeton to Allenby.
• 1957 Oct. 27
  CPR discontinues Kootenay Express and Kettle Valley Express on the Kettle Valley Line.
• 1957 Nov. 7
  Nelson, BC: The $4 million West Arm bridge opened by Premier Bennett.
• 1957 December
  BC and AB: CPR introduces Budd RDC cars on its “Southern Mainline” from Medicine Hat, AB, to Hope, BC.
• 1958
  B.C.: Melinda Jane launched onto Kootenay Lake by Kootenay Water Transport Co. to barge CP freight under contract. Sold 1980.
• 1958
  B.C.: Canalization of the Okanagan River between Osoyoos and Lake Skaha completed.
• 1958
  Galloway, B.C.: Curling Rink expanded with a community hall.
• 1958
  Lethbridge, AB: Molson’s buys Sick’s brewery.
• 1958
  Lethbridge, AB: Water tower on Magrath Blvd. completed.
• 1958
  I.R. 148, AB.: Jim Shot-on-Both-Sides becomes head chief of the Kainai Nation.
• 1958 Jan. 31
  Prime Minister John Geo. Diefenbaker appoints Jas. Gladstone—Akay-na-muka, “Many Guns”—of the Kainai Nation as Canada’s first senator of Aboriginal descent.
• 1958 Mar. 3
  Passenger service on Kettle Valley Railway switched to Budd diesel cars.
• 1958 Mar. 31
  Diefenbaker returned as Progressive Conservative prime minister of Canada. Landslide.
• 1958 May
  Crestbrook Lumber Company sells Wardner operations to the Graf brothers.
• 1958 May 28
  Nelson, BC: the old Hotel Phair burns.
• 1958 June 17
  Vancouver, BC: The new Second Narrows Bridge collapses while under construction.
• 1958 July 31
  Salmo, BC: Canex shuts down the Emerald mine and mill nearby.
• 1958 August
  B.C.: Crestbrook Lumber Company’s Kootenay Spruce mill at Mineral Lake burned.
• 1958
  Galloway, BC: St. Joseph’s Chapel founded under the direction of Fr. W. Scott.
• 1958 Oct. 5
  Grand Forks, BC: Boundary Museum opened.
• 1959
  B.C.: CPR upgrades Kootenay Central Railway to handle coal unit-trains.
• 1959
  Castlegar, BC: Celgar, Limited, subsidiary of the Celanese Corporation of America, completes its pulp mill.
• 1959
  on Phœnix Mountain, BC: Granby Mining Company built a 900 ton-per-day concentrating mill; operated through its subsidiary, the Phœnix Copper Company.
• 1959
  Fernie, B.C.: Fernie brewery closed and dismantled.
• 1959
  British-American Oil Co. discovers Butte gas field in s-w Alberta.
• 1959
  CP upgrades Kootenay Central trackage in anticipation of abandoning the Coquihalla section of the Kettle Valley Railway.
• 1959
  Cowley, AB.: Cowley School closes.
• 1959 January
  Lethbridge, AB: Last steam locomotive-powered train arrives.
• 1959 Jan. 2
  Keremeos, BC: RCMP open their new offices.
• 1959 Feb. 8
  Hillcrest, AB: Hillcrest Miners’ Literary and Athletic Association’s hall burns.
• 1959 March
  Allenby, BC: Granby Mining Company Limited begins casting magnesium machine parts in smelter.
• 1959 Apr. 1
  Federal political: Charles Edward Rivett-Carnac appointed eleventh Commissioner of the RCMP (to March 31, 1960).
• 1959 July 1
  Fort Macleod, AB: Replica of the original N-WMP fort declared open.
• 1959 Aug. 2
  Governments suspend policy of capturing and incarcerating Doukhobor Freedomite children.
• 1959 Nov. 15
  Hillcrest, AB: New Miners’ Hall dedicated.
• 1959 Nov. 23
  B.C.: Last train across Coquihalla section of the Kettle Valley Subdivision; washout at Lear, BC.
• 1959 Dec. 19
  AB political: John Percy Page appointed lieutenant-governor (to January 6th, 1966).
• 1960
  Federal political: Aboriginal Americans finally granted political enfranchisement.
• 1960
  Creston, BC: Interior Breweries Limited completed its new brewery.
• 1960
  Kimberley, BC: Sullivan concentrator begins sending iron ore to Consolidated Mining and Smelting steel works in Vancouver, BC.
• 1960
  Blairmore, AB: “West End” School closed.
• 1960
  Kimberley, BC: New hospital opened on “Townsite.”
• 1960
  Lundbreck, AB: New school completed.
• 1960
  B.C.: Highway 93 completed down the Rocky Mountain Trench to the Boundary at Grasmere.
• 1960
  Cowley, AB: Dept of Transport decertifies Cowley landing strip.
• 1960 Feb. 8
  Lethbridge, AB: Indian Battle Park dedicated.
• 1960 March
  Fort Steele, BC: Site declared a Class “A” provincial park.
• 1960 Apr. 1
  Federal political: Clifford Walter Harvison appointed twelfth Commissioner of the RCMP (to October 31, 1963).
• 1960 July 2
  Passburg, AB: The Wayside Chapel, having been erected by recent immigrants from the Netherlands with the assistance of the Dutch Reformed Church, is dedicated.
• 1960 September
  Natal, BC: Residents vote to incorporated community as a Village.
• 1960 Sep. 1
  Blairmore, AB: Isabelle Sellon High School opened.
• 1960 Sep. 12
  B.C. election: W.A.C. Bennett and Social Credit re-elected.
• 1960 Oct. 22
  Saturday.
• 1960 Oct. 22
  Saskatoon, SK: Karyn Lynne McIndoe born.
• 1960 Dec. 22
  Natal, BC: Incorporated as a Village.
• 1961
  Poor crop year on the Prairies.
• 1961
  Federal political: McPherson Royal Commission on Transportation recommends that railroad companies not be forced to maintain unprofitable branch lines.
• 1961
  Trail, BC: The Victoria Bridge opened.
• 1961
  Federal political: Natives enfranchised.
• 1961
  Chapman Camp, BC: First load of pig-iron leaves the CM&S blast furnace.
• 1961
  Kikomun doab, BC: Barr family fold their “Sand Creek Dairy” operation.
• 1961
  Blairmore, AB: Western Canadian Collieries shuts down Greenhill mine.
• 1961
  Savanna, AB: Coleman Gas Plant constructed by Saratoga Processing.
• 1961
  Cowley, AB: Johnson Bros. set up sawmill.
• 1961
  Princeton, BC: Princeton Brewing Company bought up by Canadian Breweries Limited and promptly closed.
• 1961
  Bellevue, AB: West Canadian Collieries closes the Bellevue mine. Tipple removed in 1962.
• 1961
  Lethbridge, AB: The General Stewart Branch No. 4 of the Canadian Legion becomes the General Stewart Branch No. 4 of the Royal Canadian Legion.
• 1961
  Lethbridge, AB: Direct election of the Mayor implemented.
• 1961
  Castlegar, BC: Village assumes sole responsibility for airfield near Brilliant.
• 1961 Jan. 1
  CPR creates Soo Line Railroad Company by amalgamating the Minneapolis, St. Paul and Sault Ste. Marie Railroad Company, the Wisconsin Central Railroad Company and the Duluth, South Shore and Atlantic Railroad Company.
• 1961 Jan. 1
  B.C. Hydro and Power Authority created to absorb all the power companies in B.C. except for the CPR-owned West Kootenay Power and Light Company.
• 1961 Jan. 9
  CPR announces permanent closure of the Coquihalla Section of the Kettle Valley Division.
• 1961 Jan. 17
  Federal political: Prime minister J.G. Diefenbaker and U.S. president D.D. Eisenhower sign the Draft of the Columbia River Treaty in Washington, D.C.
• 1961 Mar. 12
  Trail Smoke Eaters defeat the Russian team in Geneva, Switzerland, to win the World Amateur Hockey Championship.
• 1961 Apr. 17
  Caithness, BC: DayLiner and freight train collide. Minor injuries, trackage blocked.
• 1961 June 1
  Canadian Bank of Commerce and Imperial Bank of Canada merge.
• 1961 July
  Federal political: CPR granted permission to abandon Coquihalla section of Kettle Valley Railway.
• 1961 Aug. 1
  British Columbia Electric becomes a Crown corporation.
• 1961 Autumn
  Alberta Natural Gas Company completes 2800 km-long pipeline from Alberta to San Francisco.
• 1961 December
  Elko, BC: Alberta Natural Gas Company completes compressor station
• 1961 Dec. 2
  Alberta Natural Gas Company begins pumping 500,000,000 cubic feet of natural gas per day to California.