TRAIL

TRAIL

^{Trail is a small-sized city, straddled on the Columbia River, 18 kilometers north of United States border and 28 kilometers south of Castlegar in the southeast corner of British Columbia.}

^{Founded in 1890 by Colonel Eugene Topping and Frank Hanna as a landing for steamboats where it was used as a shipping point for ore mined from the Le Roi Mine in nearby Rossland, to be shipped here to smelters at the Montana town of Butte. In 1896, American entrepreneur F.A. Heinze opened an ore smelter above the townsite to treat and extract ore from the mines at Rossland. A couple of years, just before the First World War (WWI), The Canadian Pacific Railway bought the smelter and later combining it to form the Consolidating Mining and Smelting Company (later Cominco and now Teck Resources).}

^{The smelter than became the largest non–ferrous smelting operation in the world, as well as making the entire Kootenay region, of where the city of Trail is located, economically dependant on the Cominco operations. Producing over 700,000 tonnes of concentrate a year, Teck Resources also conducts tours of this smelter to visitors as well. There are exhibits and video presentations describing the methods and practice of mining exploration.}

^{Trail is known for its sporting and Italian heritage and in fact, in 2005 Trail was named British Columbia’s number one sports town with athletes such as, Jason Bay (baseball player), Ray Ferraro (hockey player), Barrett Jackman (hockey player) have lived here past and present.}

The city is also home to the Trail Smoke Eaters, a British Columbia Junior Hockey League team who play their games at the Trail Memorial Centre (also known as the Cominco Arena), a 2,537 seat multi-purpose facility. There have been 2 variations of this hockey team. They started out in 1926 as a senior team and won many championships including 2 World Ice Hockey Championships and have won more championships in the senior level than any other team in Canada.

^{The junior version of this hockey team has been around since 1969, however unlike the senior team, haven’t seen that much success although it did win championships in the KIJHL (Kootenay International Junior Hockey League) 4 different times. They officially became a member of the British Columbia Hockey League in 1995 after a 4 year existence in the now-defunct Rocky Mountain Junior Hockey League. The history of hockey in Trail is told in the Sports Hall of Memories and on a mural, both located at the vicinity of the arena.}

^{During the summer months, the city of Trail often enjoys a hot and dry summer with temperatures that can exceed 35 degrees Celsius. The reason for this dry and year-round climate is that Trail is located on lower-level elevation (about 440 meters above sea level) compared to places such as Rossland, as well as the Beaver Valley areas of Montrose and Fruitvale, (whom receive more precipitation especially in the winter they receive a heavier amount of snow), are more higher up. Despite this, Trail still can receive a fair dusting of winter snowfall. In addition, it is common for Trail to receive an occasional thunderstorm that can often originate from the south, from the Spokane Valley area into the valley during the spring and summer months. During the fall months of late-September, October and November, a cold air inversion brings thick, dense and heavy fog into the city during the overnight and morning hours of the day and can last all day.}

^{Trail became incorporated as a city on July 14, 1901 and is named after nearby Trail Creek which in turn is named after the famous Dewdney Trail, a 747-kilometre long trail that originates in Hope and ends at Wild Horse Creek, near Fort Steele where it was a factor in powering the new colony of British Columbia in the 1860s, moreover it also helped construct mining towns and small towns during the Gold Rush era during the same time. Today, most of the trail (about 80% of it precisely) has been incorporated into today’s version of the Crowsnest Highway (Highway #3).}

   

TRAIL’S POPULATION: 7,696