[1] When surveying alternative east–west routes over the passes (namely Allison (longest), Coquihalla, and Railroad (shortest)) in 1902, Edgar Dewdney rejected all of them in favour of rails via Spences Bridge.
[2] Around 1900, the Columbia and Western Railway (C&W), a CP subsidiary, had projected a line to connect Princeton and Penticton via Keremeos,[3] but this never eventuated.
CP's Thomas Shaughnessy claimed he would build a direct Kootenays to the coast line, but the chosen route was more suited to local traffic.
[4] By 1910, the CP and Great Northern Railway (GN), had each surveyed routes through the Coquihalla canyon.
[7] Exiting on the east side of the Coquihalla River, this tunnel would not have interfered with earlier and later trails and roads.
[9] After calling for tenders,[10] GN ultimately chose the longer Coquihalla Pass route instead.
[8] Instead, the CP and GN conflicts over the narrow Coquihalla right-of-way triggered years of legal claims.
[5] In early 1914, they signed the Tulameen Agreement, whereby GN would be responsible for Princeton–Brookmere, upon which CP would have running rights.
[12] In 1937, John Sullivan wrote to McCulloch, both retired senior CP employees, stating, "Of all the blunders in railway building history the CPR's southern British Columbia rail line (namely the KV) is the greatest".
[16] The last spike on the KV was driven in July 1916 east of the tunnel adjacent to the Ladner Creek bridge.
During World War II, Japanese Canadians from the Tashme Incarceration Camp formed a bridge and building maintenance gang.
When slides and washouts in 1932 resurrected thoughts of abandonment, the ongoing GN payments were the deciding factor.
Severe weather damage in early 1939 raised concerns again, but the likelihood of an escalating war in Europe, which would increase rail traffic, instead prompted extensive upgrades.
In turn, CP paid GN $1,500,000 to terminate the Tulameen Agreement and acquired that leg.
[22] During World War II, bulldozers were introduced for snow clearing, which proved superior to the prior combination of rotary and wedge plows.
In addition, substandard snowsheds were removed rather than replaced, resulting in 10 of the original 15 sheds being demolished over an eight-year period.
[26] After the November 1959 slides and washouts in the vicinity of Jessica, passenger service through the Coquihalla permanently ceased that month.
Section house, water tank, and coal chute erected on the northwest side of the main line.^d .
[27] That year, work trains, operating from each side of the blockage, collected employee and CP possessions.
In 1961, CP announced plans to formally abandon the route, which received government approval that summer.
[27] Rails were lifted westward from Mile 38.3 to Hope in August 1961 and eastward from the washout to Boston Bar Creek in September and October.