[3] Today, Ainsworth Hot Springs and the Cody Caves are a popular destination for tourists and spelunkers.

Upon hearing of the discoveries of silver-lead ore in the Kootenays, the brothers had travelled to British Columbia from Idaho via Bonners Ferry.

[6] From 1884, the mountains above Ainsworth were alive with mining activity and prospectors had staked nearly every inch of ground from the townsite to the glacial summits.

Then in 1891, Eli Carpenter and John Seaton left Ainsworth for their mining claims, but returned after several futile weeks of searching.

They returned to town by a route that took them over Payne Mountain, where they discovered ore samples worth CN$170 to $240 a ton.

The Nelson didn't operate during the winter months and supplies had to be brought in by packhorse, driving up food prices and making such luxuries as liquor hard to come by.

To solve the problems caused by this isolation, the community decided to build its own sternwheeler, one that could run all year round, connecting with Bonners Ferry.

The toilets were bowls with lids on top, which the proprietor's wife kept from freezing in the winter by heating them with coal oil lamps.

[3] Ainsworth Hot Springs has been featured on the historical television series Gold Trails and Ghost Towns, Season 2, episode 10.