Wasa is an unincorporated community in the East Kootenay region of southeastern British Columbia.

This place, on the east shore of the Kootenay River north of the mouth of Lewis Creek, surrounds Wasa Lake.

According to the Ktunaxa creation story, the origins of Wasa, BC could've possibly have been derived from the word.

[8] That year, he built a fine residence to entertain his guests,[9] who could enjoy the beautiful gardens he was developing.

[16] His original hotel building lasted into the 1920s but had been replaced by a more lavish structure in 1904, which offered running water.

[9] He had sold his Wasa holdings to the Unionist Investment Co, which failed during World War I, reverting the assets to the Hanson estate.

[20] A modest hotel was soon erected at the southern intersection of Wasa Lake Park Drive but burned down in 1938.

[16] Although smaller sawmills operated over the decades, the community did not revive until the Skookumchuck pulp mill opened in 1968.

[29] The route initially retained the section northward via Premier Lake, before heading southwestward to Skookumchuck.

Stopping places for horse changes, meals, and possible overnight rests were every 13 to 16 kilometres (8 to 10 mi).

During an overnight stop at Wasa in 1897, the mail bag, en route to Fort Steele, was robbed and about $1,100 taken.

[37][38] To assist his logging operations, Nils Hanson built a toll bridge in 1901[39] below the southern end of the lake.

[40] The 1928 opening of the Skookumchuck bridge diverted travel immediately north of Wasa from the east shore of the Kootenay to the west one.

[41] Housed in relief camps during the Great Depression, workers reconstructed the road to Kimberley.

The northward advance of the rail head from Colvalli[46] was near Wasa in September 1914, when a fireman walking along the top of a moving construction train fell between the cars and was killed instantly.

[49] The Crowsnest Pass Lumber Co. operated a standard gauge logging railway from a base at Wasa.

The east shore route went northeast via Premier Lake before turning northwest to reach the Kootenay just north of Torrent.

A west shore route left the CP track about 9 kilometres (6 mi) north of Wasa.

[62][63] Infrastructure includes a church,[71] community hall, general store/post office/gas station, country pub, and motel.

At the north end is the Wasa Lake Provincial Park, which has been a popular family vacation destination since the 1950s.

Norman (Red) McLeod was a horse thief, who arrived in the East Kootenays in the early 1890s.

[87] Prior to 1885, a trail existed northward from Fisherville to facilitate the considerable mining activity on Tracy Creek.

That year, Hanson brought in a sawmill for the construction program,[88] and a road was built to Bummers Flats on the Kootenay.

[92] Bummers Flats, about 8 kilometres (5 mi) southeast of Wasa, is a local name dating to the pack trail era.

Suggestions have been a shanty town for hobos possibly once existing or the bummer lambs produced by Alfred Doyle's sheep, which grazed on the flats.

[97] On the opposite river bank, North Star Landing accessed the McGinty Trail to Kimberley, which was used 1893–1898 to carry sacks of ore.[27] Mather Creek, formerly called Cherry Creek,[98] is about 9 kilometres (6 mi) southeast of Wasa on the opposite shore.