**This photo is not my house but I chose it because highlights the sort of dense living arrangements that are common. This is a duplex, with two additional legal suites. People often live on top of each other here and new construction tailors to this. As similar duplexes continue to be built the population is rising on my street.**

I live in the Rosemont neighbourhood in Nelson, BC, on a new street called Perrier Lane. It is tucked behind Selkirk College’s Silverking campus with no through road between the highway and the rest of the neighbourhood. The first houses on the street were built in 2010.

Nelson is situated in the West Kootenays, on Kootenay Lake. The lake, however, is technically an extension of a river system that feeds into the Columbia River just 40km away. It is on the traditional lands of the Sinixt and Ktunaxa who lived here for thousands of years before European contact.[1] While researching for an anthropology course, I discovered an archaeological study that radiocarbon dated a human settlement just south of the border on the Columbia River to 16, 560 BP.[2] This is an important site for anthropologists, as it predates the people associated with the Clovis tool technology—who were previously thought to have been the first to settle the Americas by migrating down an inland corridor during the retreat of the ice age. This site supports the theory that the first humans migrated down the coast and inland by water. I have not found any discussions on whether these people are thought to be related to the Sinixt or the Ktunaxa.

Nelson is surrounded by Sinixt and Ktunaxa place names as well as archaeological evidence on the waters of Kootenay Lake, Arrow Lake and Slocan Lake.[3]  The Ktunaxa relied extensively on deer, beaver, muskrat, fish, berries and roots.[4] The Sinixt subsisted on a similar diet, and have origin stories of the Salmon and Huckleberry.[5] Despite evidence to the contrary, the Canadian government declared the Sinixt extinct in 1956, which conveniently aligned with the development of the Columbia Basin Treaty—an agreement between Canada and the United States for hydroelectric developments and management.[6] The Sinixt, who are opposed to the damns because they restrict traditional salmon runs, have not been offered a seat in treaty discussions on either side of the border.[7]

Contact with the Sinixt and Ktunaxa, corresponded with epidemics such as smallpox which decimated their communities.[8] David Thompson charted the area during the first decade of the 19^th century, while the North West Company established the Kootenae House fur trading post in 1807.[9] Developments in the 1860s (e.g., the Dewdney Trail, HBC’s Fort Shepard, and a gold discovery near present-day Salmo) would foreshadow the Slivery Slocan Rush in the 1890s, which would give rise to the first major influx of immigrants.[10] Kaslo, Silverton, New Denver, Slocan and Sandon were established as a result. Similarly, the discovery of silver at Toad Mountain in 1886, would lead to the development of Nelson. In context, this area was an exciting conversation piece across North America, which drew in considerable investments from prominent eastern families like the Gooderhams and Blackstocks.[11] Competing railways looking to capitalize on the transportation of resources flocked to the area and established sternwheeler routes and hotels, such as Canadian Pacific’s Kootenay Lake Hotel just north of Nelson.

However, resource extraction also served to pollute the area. A testament to this would be the smelters in Nelson and Trail. The latter is still in existence and has an extensive track record of polluting the Columbia River and contaminating nearby soils. At the turn of the 20^th century a tramline would have run directly over my house from Toad Mountain to the smelter. After the Silvery Slocan Rush, Nelson was rare in that it remained an active town. Others such as Sandon, Slocan and New Denver would wither away into ghost town status with the loss of their mining interests, though they would resurface as Japanese internment camps during WWII. One explanation for Nelson’s longevity is that it was not completely burned down or damaged by avalanches as was the case with neighbouring communities. As local historian Greg Nesteroff pointed out, the location of Sandon, with its unfettered timber clearings above it, solidified its fate for the ensuing disasters (avalanches, floods).[12] Meanwhile, Nelson city council passed a by-law that required that all new structures be built of stone or brick.[13]

The Doukhobors must also be mentioned. They were an integral part of the local economy. They set up sawmills, orchards, and grain elevators in the area (toward Creston). Jam would be a key export and Nelson’s Jam Factory remained in operation for several decades until closing in 1962.[14]  That said, the postwar years was a time of excitement and development, which paralleled the trends of infrastructure expansion across the country. It was during this time that the orange bridge—a key landmark—was built. My neighbourhood was annexed by the city in 1961, as was Upper Fairview.[15] It was also during this time that the Columbian Basin Trust agreement would lead to the expansion of damns and manmade lakes which would completely transform the environment (e.g., the creation of Duncan Lake).

While the oil crisis and national recession would be felt across Canada in the late 1970s and early 1980s, the closure of Nelson’s sawmill was the local catalyst for economic downturn. It was during this time, however, that a heritage proposal to return Nelson to its former glory was established. What followed suite, was a city that was rebranded as heritage tourist town. Dated false fronts and stucco were removed from buildings to allow for the Victorian architecture of yesteryear adorn its streets once again. By the 1990s, Nelson was becoming a growing hotspot for recreational attractions, such as biking and skiing. Illegal cannabis production provided a hidden economy, while entrepreneurs and remote workers were drawn to the area. These trends have continued until present. During the covid-19 pandemic, housing developments boomed and more building permits were issued in 2021 than in any other year on record.[16] Still, I wonder what sort of ecological consequences will arise from all the new development. Living on a new street in Nelson, I am ill-suited to pass judgement. To be frank, I am part of the problem.

[1] Eric Brighton and Greg Nesteroff, Lost Kootenays: A History in Pictures (Nova Scotia: Macintyre Purcell, 2021), 5.

[2] Loren Davis, et al., “Late Upper Paleolithic Occupation at Cooper’s Ferry, Idaho, USA, ~16,000 years ago,” Science 365 (August 2019): 1. https://doi.org/10.1126/science.aax9830.

[3] Yaqan Nukiy, “Our Story,” Yaqan Nukiy Lower Kootenay Band. Accessed January 28, 2022, http://lowerkootenay.com/our-community/our-history/; Sinixt Nation, “Chaptikwl Stories,” Sinixt Nation Organization, accessed January 28, 2022, https://sinixtnation.org/content/how-columbia-river-came-be

[4] Ibid.

[5] Ibid.

[6] Stephanie Wood, “I wanted to Show Them I Wasn’t Extinct,” The Narwhal, October 21, 2020, https://thenarwhal.ca/sinixt-people-fight-extinction-supreme-court-canada/.

[7] Ibid.

[8] Ibid.

[9] Parks Canada, “Kootenae House Historic Site,” Parks Canada, accessed January 28, 2022, https://www.pc.gc.ca/en/pn-np/bc/kootenay/culture/kootenae/info.

[10] Brighton, Lost Kootenays, 5.

[11] I digitized a photo album that I believe was attributed to the Blackstock family while volunteering at Nelson’s Touchstone Museum.

[12] Brighton, Lost Kootenays, 45.

[13] Nelson Touchstones Museum, “A Condensed History of Nelson,” Nelson Touchstones Museum, accessed January 28, 2022. https://www.touchstonesnelson.ca/getinvolved/history_of_nelson.php

[14] Waymarking, “The Jam Factory – Nelson, BC,” Waymarking, accessed January 28, 2021, https://www.waymarking.com/waymarks/WMHK35_The_Jam_Factory_Nelson_BC.

[15] Nelson Touchstones, “A Condensed”

[16] Bill Metcalfe, “Nelson Issued Record Number of Building Permits in 2021,” Nelson Star, January 20, 2022.