Beaton is at the head of the Beaton Arm of Upper Arrow Lake in the West Kootenay region of southeastern British Columbia.

Other towns in the vicinity included Comaplix, Camborne, Galena Bay and Arrowhead.

In 1957, the eastern terminal for the ferry moved to Galena Bay.

As BC Hydro was flooding the new reservoir in 1967–1969, the hotel burned to the ground (a catastrophe that coincidentally occurred to several other hotels up and down the lake around that time).

[1] Although comprising several scattered residences, the former settlement was mostly covered by the reservoir and never rebuilt.