Kettle Valley Railway - History

History

The Kettle Valley Railroad was built out of necessity to service the growing mining demands in the Southern Interior region of British Columbia. When the Canadian Pacific Railway (CPR) completed the transcontinental railroad in 1885, the route cut through the Rocky Mountains at Kicking Horse and Rogers Passes, then followed the Fraser River for the remainder of the distance to Vancouver. This selected routing was significantly North of the mining towns within Southern Interior. Those critical of the CPR believed that the railroad should have been routed along the Dewdney Trail, through the Southern portions of British Columbia in order to fulfill politician pledges to keep Americans out of British Columbia should they ever attempt to dominate mining operations in British Columbia's South. However, geography was the main reason the CPR followed the transcontinental railroad route that it had selected. Too many mountain ranges stood between Alberta and Vancouver in the Southern portions of British Columbia, and CPR had selected what they felt was the path of least resistance.

Once silver was discovered within the region in the spring of 1887, thousands of Americans flooded into the B.C.'s Southern Interior, and essentially took control of the region. These miners quickly found that it was much quicker and cheaper to get their supplies from the recently completed Northern Pacific Railroad that transited through Spokane. Once word caught on, British Columbia's Southern Interior essentially became a commercial annex of the United States. Provincial and Federal officials quickly agreed that a second railroad dubbed the "Coast-to-Kootenay" railroad within British Columbia was required in order to help preserve Canadian sovereignty of British Columbia, and to also retain the valuable mining revenues within Canada.

The route selected involved connecting the railroad with Vancouver. However, this was not an easy task, as two mountain ranges stood in the way. Construction was some of the costliest per track mile when compared against most other North American railroad projects, costing almost $20 million, and it took nearly 20 years to complete. Construction of the railroad was not undertaken all at once, or even by one single company. In the process of realizing a completed "Coast-to-Kootenay" railroad, a number of "paper railroads" emerged. These were railroads that never progressed beyond the proposed stage. However some railroads did progress passed the proposal stage. The CPR initiated the Nicola Valley Railroad in the early 1890s. This railroad connected the town of Merritt with the CPR mainline at Spences Bridge. The Midway & Vernon Railroad was a paper railroad that actually started construction. It was hoped that the Midway & Vernon railroad would connect Midway (the Westernmost station of the CPR owned Columbia and Western Railway) with Vernon. However due to funding issues, construction on this railroad was stopped. However portions of the completed railroad grade were included in the Kettle Valley Railroad when the section between Penticton and Midway was completed.

The core portion of the Kettle Valley Railroad started in Hope, transited through Brookmere, Tulameen, Princeton, Summerland, Penticton, Beaverdell and terminated in Midway. An additional branch line connected to Spences Bridge, and Merritt. This portion was eventually adopted as the main portion of the railroad when the portion of the original railroad between Hope and Brookmere via the Coquihalla Valley was abandoned due to high track maintenance costs. Additional spur lines connected Copper Mountain with Princeton, Osoyoos, and Oliver with Penticton. In addition, the Columbia & Western Railway from Midway, through Grand Forks continuing though to Cranbrook was also periodically referred to as portions of the KVR as well.

The railroad was built primarily in a mile-for-mile battle with the Vancouver, Victoria and Eastern Railroad (VV&E). The VV&E was actually owned by Great Northern Railway. The competition between the KVR and the VV&E during constructions of both railways was intense and resulted in many areas within the Southern Interior being serviced by two railways, when one would have been sufficient. Eventually, the hatchet was buried between the KVR and VV&E, as they both were forced to collaborate when constructing their railways through the Coquihalla Valley.

The Kettle Valley Railway between Merritt and Midway was opened for service on May 31, 1915. On that date, the first two passenger trains commenced service. The Kettle Valley Railway was its own entity, however, the Canadian Pacific Railway eventually took over operations of the KVR at the beginning of 1931.

Rail service on the KVR consisted of both passenger and freight trains. Passenger service over the line consisted for many years of the Kettle Valley Express and the Kootenay Express, which carried passengers between Vancouver, BC and Medicine Hat, Alberta. Freight carried on the KVR consisted primarily of ore from the Kootenay region of British Columbia, as well as forestry products and fruit from the Okanagan. Finished goods were primarily brought into the Southern Interior on trains heading Eastbound. During the Kettle Valley Railway's lifespan, on numerous occasions it was called upon to act as "The Second Mainline" when washouts, avalanches and rock slides closed off the main CPR line through the Fraser Canyon. CPR recognized the benefit of having a second railway transiting through British Columbia, so in the 1950s, they set off on an upgrade program that saw the weight-bearing strength of the rails increased, as well as bridge and trestle improvements which brought the railway up closer to mainline standards.

The first portion to be abandoned was the Copper Mountain Branch in 1957. The loss of traffic due to the Copper Mountain Mine closure spelled the end for this line. The second part of the KVR to be abandoned was the Coquihalla subdivision. In 1959 there was a large washout and the line was closed for some time. The CPR officials in Montreal decided to close the line permanently. Many say that their decision was short sighted. In the late 40's/early 50's the CPR invested quite a lot of money in upgrading the line. including many new bridges. Through freight was discontinued throughout the line in 1962, and the last passenger train operated in January 1964. Effective 1964, the KVR essentially became a branch line. All rail service stopped from Midway to Penticton (including the famed Myra Canyon section) in May 1973, with the trackage officially being labelled as abandoned in 1978. Rails along this section were removed in 1979 as the result of a grant of abandonment from the Canadian Transport Commission.In 1977 the CP abandoned part of the Osoyoos Subdivision from Okanagan Falls to Osoyoos. This was due to the loss of fruit traffic to trucks. The remainder of the KVR was doing quite well. There were 3 trains a week serving the various saw mills. This all ended in the mid 80's when there was a downturn in the forest industry, and as a result the CPR lost all woodchip traffic to trucks. From this point the KVR quickly quickly demised. The final abandonment was in spring 1990.

One of the major landmarks on the former line are the Othello-Quintette Tunnels, which are lined up in a straight line, cutting through the Coquihalla River's gorge near Hope. They are open in summer for sightseeing. Andrew McCulloch, who engineered the complex series of bridges and tunnels through Coquihalla Canyon was an avid reader of Shakespeare. As a result, many of the areas in the Coquihalla Region are named after characters in Shakespearean literature, such as Iago, Romeo, Juliet, Lear, Jessica, Shylock and Portia.

On the Smithsonian Folkways FW03569 1961 recording, "Bunkhouse and Forecastle Songs of the Northwest," Stanley G. Triggs sings a song called "The Kettle Valley Line" while accompanying himself on the mandolin.