Big Bend Country

Familiar with the river for navigation, the Big Bend is a traditional territory of the Secwepemc (Shuswap) people, but is also claimed by the Ktunaxa.

[5] In 1864, Governor Frederick Seymour commissioned George Turner to find a suitable route for a road from the coast to the Kootenays.

Descending the Columbia from Boat Encampment, his party profitably panned gold while prospecting on the river bars.

[6] In 1865, the government dispatched Walter Moberly to explore from Kamloops to the Canadian Rockies,[7] a partly successful venture.

[10] With the arrival of the railway, mining resumed on Carnes, French, McCullough, and Gaffney (Smith) creeks, and the Goldstream.

[18] Unsuccessful, the province created a massive park to attract federal acquisition, and the transfer of highway maintenance obligations.

[21] When parts were submerged by the reservoir of the Mica Dam, there was insufficient time to clear extensive areas of forest.

[26] During the westward advance of the Canadian Pacific Railway (CP) transcontinental during the early 1880s, the alternatives of crossing the Selkirks or following the Big Bend were examined.

[28] Moberley believed the significant employee fatalities in the March 1910 Rogers Pass avalanche, might prompt CP to reconsider the Big Bend route.

[30] Little mentioned was the Canadian Northern Railway (CNoR) proposal announced that April to build a branch line from Tête Jaune south to Big Bend, forking to Revelstoke and Golden.

[33] CP typically pursued policies that blocked a competitor's advance, and only built marginal lines after the strategy failed.

[34] Lacking the capital resources, CNoR could ill afford to compete with CP on a minor branch route.

George LaForme operated pack trains to Big Bend during 1889–1905, and provided a free public ferry at the mouth of McCullough Creek.

[43] A proposal to upgrade to Trans-Canada Highway standards a decade later, determined that the Selkirks option would be cheaper,[44] and not conflict with the Columbia River hydro-electric potential.