Feb 10, 2018 — GREENWOOD, BC (BG)

From the Phoenix Pioneer, 1904 Holiday Edition:

"In a publication of this character it is quite in keeping that something should be said about the cities and towns of the Boundary country. Nearly all of them, in the last five or ten years, have had their times of prosperity and otherwise. They would not be typical of western mining camps if they had not. But it is pleasant to record the fact that general business all over the Boundary was never before on as substantial a basis as it is today — which means, as a matter of course, that legitimate mining was never in a better condition.

Phoenix — the most important point in the Boundary because the bulk of the ore tonnage originates here — which was originally known as Greenwood camp, and from which the town of that name was called, was virtually established in 1899. When the gigantic ore bodies of the Old Ironsides and Knob Hill mines began to be appreciated on the outside, that and the building of the C.P.R. into the district attracted a great deal of attention to this camp.

About the same time McKenzie & Mann and associates took over the Brooklyn and Stemwinder groups for the Dominion Copper Co., the Snowshoe began active development, and other properties also came to the front, to add to the fame of the camp.

Geo. W. Rumberger platted the Cimeron mineral claim in the fall of 1899, J. B. McArthur also platting the New York claim as a townsite in the same year. In November of that year the Miner-Graves syndicate, as the owners of the present Granby mines were then known for brevity, placed the Old Ironsides sub-division to Phoenix on the market, all of the Phoenix property having one of the most remarkable sales in the history of townsite selling in British Columbia. It is within the memory of the writer that some persons travelled hundreds of miles to buy Phoenix business lots at the opening sale, only to find them already sold, much to their disappointment.

As far as the records show, the first townsite platted in the Boundary creek district, as it was then called, after the creek of the same name, was Midway, first called Eholts. This was acquired by Captain R. C. Adams, of Montreal, and associates, in 1893. It is now the Boundary terminus of the C.P.R.

The site of the present town of Greenwood was acquired by Robert Wood and associates in 1895, who immediately founded the town and platted the lots, the town being incorporated in 1897. Anaconda, adjoining, was founded previously, and Mr. Wood made an unsuccessful attempt to purchase it first.

Grand Forks, located at the junction of the main Kettle river and its North Fork, was one of the earliest settlements, being a diverging point. The site, which was owned by George McRae, was sold to John A. Manly in 1893, who shortly thereafter founded the town by platting it. Grand Forks is fortunate in being the location of the immense Granby smelting works, now about to be enlarged for the third time.

Small settlements also grew up at Deadwood, Carson, Boundary Fails, Eholt, etc., the latter when the railway was built, and it was found that the Phoenix line of the C.P.R. would branch off there.

Cascade is one of the oldest towns in the Boundary, having been platted in the very early nineties, and during the railway building enjoying a genuine "boom," and being at that time one of the most important of Boundary towns.

A conservative estimate of the population of the Boundary district has placed it at about 10,000 persons. As is well known, the most important industry is that of mining, being the industry on which all others practically depend. Other industries and occupations are well represented, lumbering being carried on to a considerable extent, and farming becoming more important each year, with a splendid market close at hand, being the numerous mines and smelters of the district, and the communities growing up around them. The valleys are admirably adapted to fruit raising, and fruits of all kinds are cultivated in the greatest profusion."