Kettle Valley Railway

History

The Kettle Valley Railway was built out of necessity to service the growing mining demands in the Southern Interior region of British Columbia. When the Canadian Pacific Railway (CPR) completed the transcontinental railway in 1885, the route cut through the Rocky Mountains at Kicking Horse and Rogers Passes, then followed the Fraser River for the remainder of the distance to Vancouver. This selected routing was significantly to the north of the mining towns within the Southern Interior. Those critical of the CPR believed that the railway should have been routed along the Dewdney Trail, through the southern portions of British Columbia in order to fulfill politician pledges to keep Americans out of British Columbia should they ever attempt to dominate mining operations in British Columbia's South. However, geography was the main reason the CPR followed the transcontinental railway route that it had selected. Too many mountain ranges stood between Alberta and Vancouver in the southern portions of British Columbia, and CPR had selected what they felt was the path of least resistance.

Once silver was discovered within the region in the spring of 1887, thousands of Americans flooded into the BC's Southern Interior, and essentially took control of the region. These miners quickly found that it was much quicker and cheaper to get their supplies from the recently completed Northern Pacific Railroad that transited through Spokane. Once word caught on, British Columbia's Southern Interior essentially became a commercial annex of the United States. Provincial and Federal officials quickly agreed that a second railway dubbed the "Coast-to-Kootenay" railway within British Columbia was required in order to help preserve Canadian sovereignty of British Columbia, and to also retain the valuable mining revenues within Canada.

The route selected involved connecting the railroad with Vancouver. However, this was not an easy task, as two mountain ranges stood in the way. Construction was some of the costliest per track mile when compared against most other North American railway projects, costing almost $20 million, and it took nearly 20 years to complete. Construction of the railway was not undertaken all at once, or even by one single company. In the process of realizing a completed "Coast-to-Kootenay" railway, a number of "paper railways" emerged. These were railways that never progressed beyond the proposed stage. However some railroads did progress past the proposal stage. The CPR initiated the Nicola Valley Railroad in the early 1890s. This railway connected the town of Merritt with the CPR mainline at Spences Bridge. The Midway & Vernon Railroad was a paper railway that actually started construction. It was hoped that the Midway & Vernon railway would connect Midway (the westernmost station of the CPR-owned Columbia and Western Railway) with Vernon. However, due to funding issues, construction on this railway was stopped. However portions of the completed railway grade were included in the Kettle Valley Railway when the section between Penticton and Midway was completed.

The core portion of the Kettle Valley Railway started in Hope up the steep Coquihalla Valley through the narrow rocky canyon to Coquihalla Pass, transited through GN track via Brookmere, Tulameen, to Princeton; again back on CP track up the grasslands at Jura, through the light forest to Osprey Lake, and down to Summerland, Penticton, Beaverdell and terminated in Midway. An additional, earlier-constructed CPR branch line connected to Spences Bridge, and Merritt. The KVR took over administration and operation of the CPR Spences Bridge-Nicola line in early 1916. The KVR connected this line up the Coldwater River valley to connect with the KVR mainline at Brodie, BC, just west of Brookmere, BC. (After the closure of the Coquihalla Subdivision in late 1959, the Brookmere-Merritt-Spences Bridge line became the connection to the CPR main line.)

After the end of the First World War, additional spur lines connected Copper Mountain with Princeton, Oliver with Penticton. (In 1944, the Osoyoos Subdivision was extended another 10 miles to connect Oliver with Osoyoos.) In the late 1930s until into the 1960s, the portion of the former Columbia & Western Railway from Midway, through Grand Forks continuing through to Castlegar was also periodically referred to as being part of the KVR as well. However, with the exception of some isolated track at Grand Forks, BC, no part of the Boundary Subdivision (Nelson-Midway) was ever part of official KV territory. Former Columbia & Western territory was always administered by the Kootenay Division. In later years of operations after 1962, the Kootenay Division administered the Carmi Subdivision all the way west to the east end of the yard at Penticton, BC.