Surrounding Towns and Ghost Towns of Boundary Country, British Columbia

Anaconda, Greenwood's slightly older sister. Dating back to 1894.  Situated on Boundary Creek, at the mouths of Lind and Copper Creeks.  John Lind preempted around 300 acres of land in the area. 

1895, Robert Wood  purchased the Dillier Ranch adjacent to Lind's and took steps to layout a town-site and by December 1895 eight block had been plotted into town lots.  By March 1896 Anaconda began to flourish with an assay office and the Graham Restaurant, followed by Anaconda Sawmill.  Anaconda Hotel, was followed by Palace Hotel and two general stores and a bakery.  A Post Office was brought in by the end of 1896. 

Anaconda was expanding north as Greenwood was expanding south, soon there was no distinguishing where one ended and the other began, but Greenwood soon outstripped Anaconda and many businesses soon relocated to Greenwood.  

By 1900, a petition was signed asking Greenwood City Council to extend its boundaries and make Anaconda a welcome addition to the City of Greenwood.  A vote was taken to annex Anaconda and was turned down.  

The Post Office lasted until 1915 and the school lasted in Anaconda until 1924 after which the remaining students went to Greenwood.

Beaverdell

Bridesville

Canon City- was located up Christian Valley and was going to be an enterprising town.  It never happened.

Carmi came into strength at the turn of the century with a silver mine in the hills, some crude log and frame buildings and a hotel.  the Carmi mine was short lived but the town lingered on over decades.  Now there is still the old hotel left and a few buildings

Cascade City, nearly all the supplies from Spokane were routed through Cascade and it was soon nicknamed Gateway City.  with connections to the CPR and other rail connections, water power and mining claims, all look quite promising even a smelter was planned here.  Many businesses and hotels flourished.  By 1899, 10 buildings were destroyed by fire and another by 1901 nearly wiped out the rest of the town.  Only 75 residents remained of the 1000, three years before.

Camp McKinney was born in 1887, one of the earliest lode gold camps in the province.  By 1893, the camp was roaring on the strength of the excellent assays.   For a full decade the mining camp ran full tilt with gold bullion being shipped regularly.  By 1901, the population stood around 250 with hotels, stage lines and businesses.  But by 1904 the ore depleted and the Cariboo Mine was closed.  Within months it was nearly a ghost town.  Forest fires in 1919 and 1931 virtually devastated the town. 

Christina Lake

Eholt: In 1893, Louis Eholt preempted land on a small creek, and the stopping places of Eholt Creek and Eholt came into being.  In 1899, the Columbian& western Railway made its way through the area, and a Post Office soon followed. Quickly, the village had claim to 5 hotels, four general stores.  Growth soon stabilized and Eholt then grew to contain a roundhouse and the CPR work yard.  North of town the Jewel and Old Rambler mines, east the Strawberry, south east the main and Rathmullen mines, south the B.C. and Mountain View mines and west the Oro Denoro, Emma and a host of others, all within a 2 mile radius.  

By 1949, the Post office was closed and only 17 hardy souls remained.

Gladstone:

Grand Forks:

Jewel Lake: originally called Long Lake,  was discovered by prospector Louis Bosshart in 1895.  Bosshart then staked claims on the area and named one of them "Jewel".  A wagon road was built to it in 1897.  In 1899 Arthur N. Pelly  acquired land at the south end of the lake and had it subdivided and registered as the Long Lake Town site.  Some very large Kamloops Trout were caught in the lake in 1913.  56 and 48 pounds!

Midway:  is the oldest town site in the Boundary.  First named Eholts after the first preemptor of the land Louis Eholt. It later was called Boundary City in 1893 when it was platted, followed by its current name of Midway.  Many discussions of why it is called Midway, some sources say it is named from the Chicago World's Fair Midway, others say it is Midway between Fort Hope and Fort Steele on the Dewdney Trail.

In 1900, the Columbia & Western Railway, terminus was completed to Midway.  By 1905  three separate railroads had converged on Midway.  The CPR, the VV& E (Great Northern) and the Midway & Vernon Railway. 

The Great Northern soon had passenger service between Spokane and Oroville passing through Midway.  the Columbia & Western Railway also had Passenger service to points East.  The Midway & Vernon had 10 miles of railway bed constructed and hopes to have it completed by 1906, but it never materialized. 

A confrontation happened in 1905 between the VV & E (Great Northern) and the Columbia & Western (CPR) west of Midway. The CPR hurried men to disputed property as did the VV & E.  Over 500 men were on the scene, but the potential for a confrontation was dealt with in the courts and the VV & E was granted expropriation rights.  

Wagon roads converged on Midway.  the Camp McKinney Road to the Okanagan, the upper main Kettle River Road, and the Myers Creek Road to the Okanagon District across the International Boundary, also a road to the Mining camps of Republic and Colville areas of Washington State.

Niagara: located on Fisherman Creek and the Columbia & Western Railroad grade between Grand Forks and Eholt, this was more a contractor camp.  Towns sprang up quickly and died quickly.  In the fall of 1898 a Greenwood business man bought the property and wanted to develop it into a town-site when he realized the  C& W was passing alongside it.  The advance sale of the lots was great with 53 selling in 3 months.  It was a railroad construction camp at best and had a good start but once the Rock and Trestle work was done, the men moved on.  At its peak, it did have 11 hotels, 9 general stores, three butchers,, two blacksmiths, and other businesses.  By 1899, the town was barely alive.  It died as suddenly as it was born.  

Riverside:

Rock Creek:  The first gold in the area was discovered at Rock Creek in 1857 and the Dewdney Trail was built in 1865.  A Gold Rush had brought a rough estimate of 5,000 miners were looking an working trying to find gold in the area.  The boom for the area happened from 1860 to 1870.  Permanent settlers did arrive until the 1890's.  The area started to grow but remained a rural community. 

Summit City:

Volcanic City: Mentioned several times in articles, it never really existed except in the fertile imagination of Volcanic Brown.   Brown had discovered a magnificent looking Iron Cap mountain up the North Fork of the Granby River, and thought it was rich beyond compare.  The potentially mighty city of Volcanic City never really grew beyond one building. 

Westbridge:

Exploring Our Southern Neighbours

Ghost Towns of Northeast Washington 

Thanks to www.ghosttownsusa.com

Ferry County, Washington  Our Friendly Neighbours to the South! 

Okanogan County, Washington Many Other Towns exist in Okanogan County, but follow the links to our closest neighbours!