 Le Roi Gold Mine, Rossland
Watch trains weave through mountains at the spiral tunnels in Yoho National Park, or get a peek into a miner’s world at Kimberley's Underground Mining Railway or Rossland’s Le Roi Mine. Fort Steele Heritage Town, once a gold rush boomtown, is a must-visit for a look at pioneer life. Other boomtowns that went bust are crumbling naturally with age – Sandon is one of these ghost towns and is full of historic treasures.
To see beautifully restored structures, visit charming Nelson, known for its Victorian heritage buildings, or stop by Kaslo to hop aboard the SS Moyie, the world’s oldest intact passenger sternwheeler and a National Historic Site. For the ultimate in historic preservation, hike to 505-million year old fossils at Burgess Shale in the Canadian Rockies.
Many Visitor Centres have self-guided tour brochures that highlight local historic sites.
Learn more about Kootenay Rockies Culture and History, Museums, and Aboriginal & Cultural experiences.
Explore Historic Fort Steele and the Bull River Guest Ranch:
Ghost Towns and Mining Sites Fort Steele Heritage Town (near Cranbrook) is one of BC’s premier historic sites and has more than 60 buildings. Dive in to life circa the late 1800s: pan for gold, bite into warm, wood-fired bread or pat a team of giant Clydesdale horses. Enjoy the view of the Canadian Rockies from the lookout tower, take a “gossip tour” for historic anecdotes and hop on a steam train or horse-drawn wagon.
 At Kimberley’s Underground Mining Railway, ride an open railcar into the mountain while guides (sometimes ex-miners) tell mining tales and start up working mining equipment. Rossland’s Le Roi gold mine also gives an interesting look into the subterrain world.
Prefer history that's a bit rougher around the edges? Visit Sandon near New Denver. Today, it’s a ghost town, but in the 1890s Sandon was the raucous “Monte Carlo of the North.” Poke around the ruins, weathered wood and rusty artifacts. Also on site is a fleet of vintage Vancouver trolley buses.
Historic Railways
Today, the Trans-Canada Highway easily winds around and through mountains – but it wasn’t always this simple. Rogers Pass, a railway route through the Selkirk Mountains, played a major role in linking BC to the rest of Canada. The Rogers Pass Discovery Centre in Glacier National Park tells this epic transportation tale. A hiking trail in the park passes by stone pillars, evidence of the old railway.
Yoho National Park’s spiral tunnels were an ingenious solution to a railway engineering problem in the early 1900s. These tunnels are still are use – 2009 is their centennial year – and two viewpoints provide a chance to watch trains weave through the mountain (25 to 30 trains usually pass through the tunnels each day).
Fossils in the Canadian Rockies
Join a regularly scheduled interpretive hike to see one of the world’s most significant fossil discoveries: the Burgess Shale in Yoho National Park. These fossilized remains of soft-bodied (and sometimes bizarre-looking) marine organisms are more than half a billion years old, and are so exquisitely preserved that the Burgess Shale was designated as a UNESCO World Heritage Site.
Historic Buildings and Structures
 The SS Moyie once plied the waters of Kootenay Lake. Today, it’s the world’s oldest intact passenger sternwheeler. The ship is permanently berthed in Kaslo and has been carefully restored with displays, artifacts and even sound effects for a realistic on-board visitor experience.
Nelson has a particularly high concentration of restored Victorian-style buildings. More than 350 heritage buildings (both residential and commercial) boast intricate facades and decorative brickwork.
 The Nikkei Internment Memorial Centre in New Denver is a National Historic Site that preserves the story of more than 20,000 Japanese-Canadians who were interned in camps during World War II. Five original internment camp buildings, artifacts, interpretive displays and a serene Japanese garden are on-site.
Three Valley Gap Heritage Ghost Town, just west of Revelstoke, has an impressive collection of historic buildings and artifacts recreated as a heritage ghost town. Peer into windows to see displays depicting life in the late 1800s, and snap photos of antique cars (including a white 1912 Model T) and steam engines.
 In Castlegar, pop across a suspension bridge to Zuckerberg Island Heritage Park and see a unique house built in the style of a Russian Orthodox chapel. Look for the unusual “stump woman” sculpture carved by the house’s creator.
|