Windermere, “claims justly, that there is no more beautiful townsite on earth than her own. She is modest about it, is Windermere, and she never institutes comparisons which are invariably odious.”53
“Windermere [was] a magnet for land speculation by government officials.”
Settlers would arrive with expectations of a rural British utopia, and so Edgewater was created in the image of an idealized English country village.
Although provincially classified as a small mine, the Mineral King Mine was the largest underground mining enterprise in the Windermere Valley.
Those who examined the Mineral King property in these early years agreed that that it was, “very encouraging”24, but as the scattered investment in the property suggests, there were a number of factors impeding development.
Other Names: Radium Springs, Radium Hot Springs, Brewer Springs
“From the springs a particularly fine view can be enjoyed, and to many it will prove a very novel experience to sit comfortably immersed up to one’s neck… enjoying with luxurious ease an open air hot bath, while at one’s feet is spread out one of the most glorious views imaginable, ranging far over lake, river, forest, and glacier-clothed peaks.”35
Other Names: Sinclair Hot Springs, Kootenay Mineral Springs
“If these Springs were properly developed they would be a great benefit to the public as well as an improvement and attraction to the Kootenay Park.”5
Other Names: Sinclair Hot Springs, Kootenay Mineral Springs, Radium Junction
Early settlers travelling through the area… make no reference at all to the springs… As the waters of Radium Hot Springs are odourless, it is reasonable to assume that groups could pass the springs without being aware of their presence.
Galena was a long-standing way point in the Windermere Valley, existing from about 1889, until it was abruptly replaced by Spillimacheen in 1946.
It seems that Captain Arthur Brisco, in searching for adventure in western British North America, was also in the right place at the right time to have a mountain range named after him.
In The Windermere 