Windermere Townsite, Windermere District, Windermere Lake
“Windermere [was] a magnet for land speculation by government officials.”
Windermere (1)
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Tag Archives: Canal Flats
Hardie
Hardie Creek (flowing into Columbia Lake); Hardie Creek Road
A veritable parade of Hardie siblings lived in and/or visited the Windermere Valley from the mid 1880s into the early 1900s.
Canal Flats (?akamukul)
Canal Flats Village, South end of Columbia Lake
Other Names: ?akamukul, Yaqa•n Nukiy, McGillivray’s Crossing/McGillivray’s Portage, Grohman, Canal, Canal Flat
“We… coast[ed] along the low rush-grown shore [of Columbia Lake] towards the south-western corner … We soon became aware that this marshy waste of rushes, grass, willows, and water swarmed with every sort of moisture-loving bird, from geese down to sand-pipers. … we began to paddle up what we guessed to be the arm leading to the landing. More than a mile we followed this delusive stream, remarkable for the numerous springs which everywhere gushed up from crater-like basins at the bottom, while round them grew the most beautiful and luxuriant water-weeds ever seen, their delicate filigree-work of many-hued leaves and tendrils all clearly defined in the limpid water.” (Lees and Clutterbuck, B.C. 1887: A Ramble in British Columbia, p 178-179.)
Baillie Grohman
Baillie Grohman Avenue (Canal Flats)
After the canal flats project failed to succeed, the entire venture was titled as “The Grohman Canal Swindle” and Baillie Grohman himself was shouldered with much of the blame for it.
Gwendoline
Gwendoline Mountain, between Stockdale and Forster Creeks
The steamboat Gwendoline was merely a visitor to the Windermere Valley, having passed through only twice: once on her way up to Golden, and once going back down to the Kootenay River. Nonetheless, she does hold the title for being one of only two steamboats to successfully pass through the canal at Canal Flats.
In The Windermere 