When the Kaslo and Slocan Railway opened in 1895, the siding was called Whitewater Creek or The Bells.

(Jack) Seaton discovered a silver-lead ore deposit near the source of Slocan Creek, which triggered the mining boom of the following year.

[4] Seaton recovered almost a million dollars in ore.[5] The 1895 approval for Jim Bell to open a post office under the name Bellona was rescinded, when the Kaslo postmaster informed the postal inspector, "Mr. Bell is an honest man, but he is drunk a good part of his time … I also understand that he can hardly write his own name."

In 1903, Jim burned to death in a cabin fire, and his sons left the area a couple of years later.

The several hotels in the town catered to the workers at the mine, the second largest silver/lead/zinc operation in the British Empire.