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Castlegar is the second-largest community in the West Kootenay region of British Columbia, Canada. In the Selkirk Mountains, at the confluence of the Kootenay and Columbia Rivers, it is a regional trade and transportation centre, with a local economy based on forestry, mining and tourism. Castlegar was recently cited as one of the Top Eight Places in British Columbia for most promising growth. It is home to Selkirk College, a regional airport, a pulp mill, and several sawmills. Its population of 7,259 includes many Doukhobors, who were largely responsible for much of the town's early development and growth. The area which became Castlegar was an important centre for the Sinixt (Lakes) Peoples. Outside the city limits are the small surrounding communities of Ootischenia, Brilliant, Robson, Robson West, Raspberry, Tarrys, Thrums, Glade, Shoreacres, Fairview, Genelle, Pass Creek and Krestova, and the much smaller communities of Deer Park, Renata, and Syringa on Lower Arrow Lake. These outlying areas have a further population of about 8,000 people.
[edit] History
On 5 September 1811, David Thompson arrived in the area of present-day Castlegar, and camped near the mouth of the Kootenay River. A plaque dedicated to him is on the east bank of the Columbia River overlooking the town. The area's first settlement was West Waterloo, now known as South Castlegar. With widespread provincial interest in gold prospecting in the late 19th century, by 1895 there were 40 houses in Waterloo. The town boomed until the end of the century when interest in the local mines declined. Castlegar takes its name from Castlegar, County Galway in Ireland (on the eastern boundary of the city of Galway), the ancestral home of townsite founder Edward Mahon. Castlegar, BC was planned in 1897. Around 1902, the Canadian Pacific Railway (CPR) built the bridge there and laid the wide-gauge railway tracks to Trail. They built a boxcar station at the old Waterloo Trail crossing and named it Kinnaird Station in honour of Lord Kinnaird, a CPR shareholder. There was little in Castlegar until after the completion of the CPR bridge. A Mr. Farmer built the first store, housing both the post office and town hall. William Gage built the Castlegar Hotel in 1908, which stood until 1982 when it was destroyed by fire. Also in 1908, the first schoolhouse was built by a few local residents. A dance pavilion, garage, tourist cabins and a slaughterhouse were established by 1925. On 30 October 1946, Castlegar was incorporated into a village; and in 1966, became a town. It amalgamated with neighbouring Kinnaird into a city on 1 January 1974, effectively doubling its population. On 20 May 2004, the city's boundary was extended to include the Blueberry Creek Irrigation District. [edit] Indigenous peoples historyCastlegar is in the border area between the Sinixt (Interior Salish) and Ktunaxa Indian bands. Experts cannot agree where one band's range ended and the other's began, as there was much overlapping of cultural and territorial activity between them. Most recent information suggests that the Sinixt were the area's original people, and that the Kootenai arrived several hundred years ago from central Canada. Kp'itl'els was an Indigenous settlement on the north side of the Kootenay River, just above the junction with the Columbia River. Implements such as arrowheads and pestles have been found along the nearby Arrow Lakes. A reconstructed kekuli dwelling was discovered on Zuckerberg Island, at the confluence of the Kootenay and Columbia rivers. [edit] Doukhobor historyThe Doukhobors operated a ferry near Brilliant on the Kootenay River in 1910, and the Christian Community of Universal Brotherhood (CCUB) applied to CPR for a railway station and siding to that point. Brilliant was the centre of the CCUB commercial enterprises, including the Brilliant Jam Factory, a grain elevator, and a flax mill. [edit] Research Tips
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