AVOLA
Is a small unincorporated settlement, located 68 kilometers northeast of Clearwater on the Yellowhead Highway (Highway #5). The community is home to the Log Inn, and is known by locals, as “the largest and friendliest pub in town” is a watering hole for loggers, rail workers and residents from the valley. The old schoolhouse is now home for to the Avola library. Avola is absolutlely worth taking pictures of as it near the banks of the North Thompson The community games it name from a Sicilian village.
AVOLA'S POPULATION: 160
CANIM LAKE
Is a small unincorporated community and first nations reserve, 38 kilometers east of 100 Mile House in the South Cariboo region of British Columbia. The community is the gateway approach to many resorts including Mahood Falls and Canim Beach. The lake itself is very large about 37 kilometers long and is home to many fish including “laker” or char and also it touches the western end of Wells Grey Provincial Park. The community has many activities including horseback riding, bird-watching, fishing, and water activities, like water-skiing and tubing. The Shuswap (Secwepemc) First Nation has a base in the community and the name Canim is a Chinook Jargon trade language term for “canoe”.
CANIM LAKE'S POPULATION: 492
PORT ESSINGTON
Is a former salmon cannery and forestry community, located at the junction of the Skeena and Ecstall Rivers. It was established as a campsite and homebase for the Kitsumkalum, Kitselas, and Tsimshian First Nations, who knew it as Spokeshute or Spukshut which meant “autumn camping place” in Tsimshian language. In 1871, a fur trader by the name of Robert Cunningham (1835-1905), a Irish-born entrepreneur, founded Port Essington established a Hudson’s Bay Company trading post which in turn, developed into a small village. In its heyday and glory, Port Essington was once home to 12 salmon canneries and even had its own sawmill and was even a stopover point for steamboats operating on the Skeena River, but was only accessible by anything that travels over water and had only wooden streets. Port Essington also flourished during many fishing periods and boasted hotels, restaurants, stores, had its own red light district. Between 1906 and 1910, The Grand Trunk Pacific Railway was constructed on the north of the river and brought massive economic activity and had peak population of 2,000 residents. However, the town’s life died when the railway chose Prince Rupert as its main terminus and basically abandoned the community of Port Essington. Fires in both 1961 and 1965 destroyed the last buildings and as of today only charred fragments remain of the community of Port Essington.
HUDSON’S HOPE
Is a small district municipality located beside the Peace River in the foothills of the Rocky Mountains, 90 kilometers west of Fort St. John. In 1805, A jumping-off spot for the Northwest Company’s expansion across the mountains into the Interior of British Columbia was established and created by Simon Fraser and was located at the head of a portage trail running west around the sometimes unstable and tumultuous Peace River and in the process attracted several series of fur traders and gold prospectors to the area. Before the First World War (WWI), homesteaders as well as settlers began pre-empting land for a townsite and during the 1960s, Hudson’s Hope began booming as a center of construction for a new nearby dam. The dam, known by locals as the William Andrew Cecil (W.A.C. for short) Bennett Dam began producing power in 1968 and is capable of producing and generating about 2,800 megawatts of electricity at peak capacity. In addition the dam also created the Williston Lake Reservoir, British Columbia’s largest body of fresh water. The location for this dam is located 19 kilometers west from here. The details on how Hudson’s Hope got its present-day name are sketchy but one theory is that it comes from Hudson’s derived from the Hudson’s Bay Company and hope which is actually Scottish for a small enclosed valley. Hudson’s Hope was incorporated as an actual district municipality in 1965 and is known to be the third-oldest community. Not only does the dam contribute to the local economy but so does timber logging and agriculture. Hudson’s Hope official slogan is Land of Dinosaurs and Dams.
HUDSON’S HOPE’S POPULATION: 1,012
DECKER LAKE
Is a settlement located 8 kilometers northwest of Burns Lake along Highway #16 (Yellowhead Highway), near the geographical center of British Columbia. It started out in 1913, when a post office was established to serve the gangs from the Grand Trunk Pacific Railway and is named after a foreman from the Collins Overland Telegraph party that passed through here in 1866. During the mid-1920s, Sivert “Bull River Slim” Anderson, and 3 of his partners set up a substantial operational here that cut ties with the Canadian National Railway. Today Decker Lake is unincorporated, with tourism being the only benefactor for the economy.
OOTISCHENIA
is a small village located just east of the city limits of Castlegar in the southeast corner of British Columbia. Ootischenia was founded as a Doukhobour colony for immigrants who came from Russia to take part in farming and other agricultural activities just before the First World War (WWI), a small cemetery on private property and a Doukhobour Museum in downtown Castlegar reflects this era of time. Today, Ootischenia basically serves as a suburb of Castlegar with the location of Castlegar’s two golf courses as well as the Castlegar Airport which serves daily flights to Calgary, Kelowna and Vancouver. The name Ootischenia means “Valley of Consolation” in Russian.
OOTISCHENIA’S POPULATION: 856
WALHACHIN
Is a small hamlet located on the South shore of the Thompson River near the Trans-Canada Highway (Highway #1), 10 kilometers west of Kamloops Lake west of Kamloops. In its heyday, the community was founded by the English and referred to many residents as “Canada’s Camelot”. Today’s community only boasts an approximately population of 100 and its name means “land of the round rock” in Nlaka’pamux (Thompson Indian) language. With an annual rainfall less than of 20 centimeters annually, Walhachin holds the distinction of being one of the driest places of all of British Columbia. Back in the day, many residents lived in fine homes with stone with high ceiling and large fireplaces and by this time Walhachin had a hotel, a Laundromat, a skating rink, a swimming pool, and a polo field. By the early 1900s, however, Walhachin’s population began to decline as the residents had problems irrigating the orchards due to absolutely no water supply, caused by a major drought, and decided to build a flume that would carry water from the mountains to the irrigation ditches, but this proved to be too much and by 1914 there were only 300 residents and to make matters even more worse, many of the male residents fought during World War 2 (WWII), putting the entire community of Walhachin into virtual abandonment.
WALHACHIN’S POPULATION: 104
SAANICH
Is a district municipality, perched on Vancouver Island just north of Victoria, British Columbia’s capital city and part of Greater Victoria. Saanich’s history dates back to thousands of years ago when the Saanich First Nation arrived, but it was not until the 1840s that the Hudson’s Bay Company arrived in the process non-native settlement began. in 1852, Kenneth Mackenzie, who came over from Scotland on a boat and established farm for the Puget Sound Agriculture Company as well as the Craigflower School (formally known as Maple Point School), which is Western Canada’s oldest surviving school. Between the 1996 and 2001 censuses, Saanich has achieved a growth rate of 2.2% and is one of Vancouver Island’s most densely-populated communities with a rate of 1,002.2 people per square kilometer. Like most other communities near Victoria like Oak Bay and Langford, Saanich is mostly a residential suburb of Victoria and consists of many neighborhoods including Gordon Head, Ten Mile Point, Queenswood and Prospect Lake. Saanich was incorporated on March 1st of 1906 and relies mostly on tourism as its main economic benefactor and contributor.
SAANICH’S POPULATION: 108,265
BUFFALO CREEK
Is a rural and tiny settlement, 15 kilometers northeast of 100 Mile House on the road to
BUFFALO CREEK AND GATEWAY’S POPULATION (COMBO): 636
INVERMERE
Is a small town located in
INVERMERE’S POPULATION: 3,002
HAGENSBORG
Is a small and unincorporated community, located 22 kilometers east of Bella Coola, along Highway #20 in the heart of the Chilcotin region of
HAGENSBORG’S POPULATION: 606
Is a tiny settlement and junction point on the Canadian National Railway, just 63 kilometers west of Jasper Alberta and just east of Tete Jaune Cache along Highway #16 (Yellowhead Highway). During the 1920s, it started out as a small hunting and fishing community and later had a school and a police station that later served as a headquarters building for
FANNY BAY
is a small Oceanside community located about 83 kilometers on the east coast of Vancouver Island and along the Island Highway (Highway #19A). Fanny Bay’s history dates back to 1792 when sea captain George Vancouver first sailed the waters surrounding the vicinity of Vancouver Island. Packs of California and Stellar sea lions often flock to either Fanny Bay’s main government dock or the Brico. This dock is used for fisherman who fish mainly for cod, salmon and other fish. The Brico, meanwhile is a old vessel was used as a homebase for the British Columbia Telephone Company (formerly BC Tel, now TELUS Communications) to repair and lay telephone cables and during the 1990s, it was used mainly as a seafood restaurant. The origin of Fanny Bay’s name is a mystery and is somewhat unknown sopme legend has it that it honors a wife of a former British Naval officer as well as former native woman who drowned while swimming near the bay. Fanny Bay is unincorporated and strictly relies on oyster and commercial fishing, in addition to tourism.
FANNY BAY’S POPULATION: 744
ZEBALLOS
Is a small deep-sea port community located on the delta of Zeballos Inlet, an arm of Nootka Sound on the Western Coast of Vancouver Island. It appeared unexpectedly in 1936-1936 due to a gold rush and the opening of several mines. During the gold rush, $13,000,000 worth of gold bricks was shipped out of Zeballos and because of this (even though it varies) the population grew to about 5,000 people. During World War (WWII), Zeballos began to lose many of the mine’s employees The last gold mine was shut down in 1948 and the community was just about to become a ghost town when an iron mine opened in 1962 and operated until 1969 when that too shut down. Since then, Zeballos still survives and is now a small logging community as well as been named from Ciriaco Cevallos, one of Spanish naval officers who founded Zeballos Inlet in 1791. Following the demise of the Kootenay region mining community of Zincton in the1930s, Zeballos is the only community in British Columbia that starts with “z”, that is still in existence Zeballos wasn’t linked with other communities on Western Vancouver Island until 1970 when a small road was built, linking the community with small towns, such as Port McNeill and Woss.
ZEBALLOS’ POPULATION: 232
SISKA FLAT
Is a tiny and unincorporated First Nations community in the Fraser Canyon, 12 kilometers south of Lytton. Because of deep and narrow terrain and being impossible to occupy the same bank of the Fraser River, Siska is where the Canadian National Railway and the Canadian Pacific Railway cross from one bank of the Fraser River to the other. Back in the Second World War (WWII), these bridges were considered a big, national transportation junction, so much so it made security guards watch it very closely. Siska is one of 11 Nlaka’pamux First Nations communities, and its where several artists are becoming well known for their sculptures in high quality soapstone made from ancient rock quarries deep into Siska’s customary mountain colonies, this is just many of pieces of artwork are on display at the Siska Art Gallery, which is located just west off of the Trans-Canada Highway (Highway #1). Siska Flat is sometimes referred to sometimes simply as Siska and the name comes from a first nations word meaning “uncle” in reference to the nearby bridges.
SISKA FLAT'S POPULATION: 74
BOWSER
Is a tiny community located 66 kilometers, north of Nanaimo on Highway #19A on the central part of Vancouver Island overlooking Georgia Strait. Bowser is named in honor of William John Bowser, a former politician, who was premier of British Columbia from 1915-1916. The community’s hotel was made famous in the 1930s by a dog named “Mike” who was trained to deliver beer to patrons. Bowser started out in 1914 by construction of the Esquimalt and Nanaimo Railway and a post office opened one year later. Logging boasted Bowser’s economy for years, but now it is a commercial town for tourism and travelers alike. Due to its location near the ocean, Bowser is a part of a group of communities on the eastern coast of Vancouver Island that are simply known as Oceanside.
BOWSER’S POPULATION: 131
100 MILE HOUSE 100 Mile House's population: 1,980 100 Mile House is a district municipality located in the South Car...
