Rates

British Columbia and its many resources joined the Confederation of Canada with the promise of a railway that would come into BC, thus extending the rails from sea to sea. The Canadian Pacific Railway (CPR) arrived in BC in 1885, fourteen years after the province became a part of Canada.

Unfortunately the CPR was initially of little use to the people of Southern BC where mineral deposits like silver, were being discovered. It was all too easy for BC's American neighbours to help themselves to the province's riches and haul them away on their own railroads which seemed to be cropping up everywhere.

In the 1890's the CPR had extended their service to the South Okanagan constructing the Shuswap & Okanagan Railway from Sicamous on the CPR Mainline through to Okanagan Landing on Okanagan Lake. From that point CPR sternwheeler ships traveled south to Penticton carrying people and freight and making frequent stops along the way.

But this was a long trip to the coast or points east for people living in the South Okanagan and the demand came about for a "Coast-to-Kootenay" connection. Although the CPR was laying rails in other parts of BC, it was an American railroader, J.J. Hill who was making headway in the southern part of the province. He was trying to bring a rail line up from Spokane through Oroville and eventually this was accomplished with the acquisition of the Vancouver, Victoria and Eastern Railway, a subsidiary of the Great Northern Railroad. It arrived in Keremeos in 1907 and in Hedley and Princeton two years later. The CPR, which was now under the leadership of Thomas Shaughnessy, had created the Columbia & Western Railway through the Crow?s Nest Pass to Midway. They had also put down track for the Nicola, Kamloops and Similkameen Railway.

In 1901 there had been a charter created for the Kettle River Valley Railway (KRVR) which was to connect a mine at Republic and a smelter at Grand Forks. It never materialized but an Ontario lawyer, J.J. Warren had taken over the financial problems of the almost defunct KRVR. He decided t o have a chat with the CPR president Shaughnessy about the future of BC's railways. He knew Sir Thomas "was a man deeply involved with the province and its future... and had personally founded a number of business enterprises in southern BC including the development of the Summerland Development Company which became largely responsible for making Okanagan fruit world famous" (Sanford, 1988). Warren envisioned an alliance of the CPR and the KRVR that represented a subsidiary corporation and could be used to legally expand the rails west from Midway. And so the Kettle Valley Railway (KVR), was born and survey work began in 1910 from Midway to Penticton (Carmi division) and Penticton to Merritt (Princeton division). Shaughnessy felt that the line should also go through the Coquihalla Pass in order for the railway to be successful and work began on this subdivision a year later.

After consulting Premier McBride, the KVR received some perks from the BC government. KVR president J.J. Warren and Sir Shaughnessy chose Andrew McCulloch for the task of Chief Engineer for the construction of the railway. They gave him instructions that; "the KVR must be first class in every way." However, McCulloch seemed to have problems from the start in securing working engines, materials and a labour force and two years into the work, only 20% of the line was completed. But by the end of the year, over 5000 men were navies on the KVR and work on "one of the strangest railways ever built" was completed within five years. A proud Thomas Shaughnessy (now a Lord) traveled the full route from Midway to Hope, September 14th, 1916. Throngs of welcoming citizens lined the tracks in every town along the way ? their Coast-to Kootenay connection had finally become a reality. Not only did the railway provide a faster route and more efficient service for Okanagan fruit going to its market, but it carried ore and lumber to the coast, men in search of jobs and young minds yearning for an education.

The earlier trains on the KVR were routed from Midway to Spences Bridge where they hooked up with the CPR mainline, but after July of 1916 the Coquihalla subdivision was complete and the trains traveled south from Brodie to Hope, meeting up with the CPR mainline there. In time the Coquihalla subdivision proved too much to handle suffering many washouts and snow and rock slides, so in 1959, after a series of abandonments, it was closed and the earlier route adopted once more. Also at this time air travel was coming into its own and the KVR found its express service too expensive to maintain. In January 1964 the final passenger run was made and eight years later the Carmi subdivision from Midway to Penticton was shut down and eventually the tracks were torn up. Branch lines were added to the KVR mainline: at the end of World War One, a spur was constructed from Princeton to the mines at Copper Mountain; another eight-mile link line was added in 1930, from Penticton to Okanagan Falls. In order to increase fruit shipments to Great Britain during World War Two, this line was extended to Osoyoos. The CPR had officially taken over the KVR operations in 1930 and with the country in the throes of depression and the harsh decline in railway business, they decided to construct these rail lines in order to tap new sources of revenue.

Our tour travels the 3% grade of the railbed that has for much of it's length been made part of the Trans Canada Trail (www.tctrail.ca). This railbed, especially near towns, is very popular with cyclists for obvious reasons. Locally, the Myra Canyon Trestle Restoration Society raises funds for reconstruction of the trestles and maintenance of the trails in the Myra Canyon portion of the KVR. The area of the trestles is soon to be a designated provincial Class A Park known as the Myra-Bellevue Provincial Park.