Museums

1. DAVID THOMPSON NARRATIVE

published by the Chaplain Society in 1916. It was presented by the Society in 1922, to the David Memorial Fort at its official opening. Only 550 copies were made and distributed to historical societies, universities and libraries.

2. WHERE THE CLOUDS GO BY

by Conrad Kain, world famous mountain guide who lived in the Valley.

3. A RAMBLE IN B.C. in 1887

by Lees and Clutterbuck, containing chapters on the Kootenays in 1887.

1958 An historical committee under the Board of Trade established itself as a society and became the Windermere District Historical society with Mrs. T.N. Weir its charter president. A.B.C. Centennial Time Capsule was buried and is to be opened in the year 2058. Directions for its opening are deposited with the B.C. Archives in Victoria. It contains messages, records and objects of interest to residents and descendants.

1964 The first Museum building was obtained. It was the cabin which had been built in 1942 by Charles Crook on the Crook homestead in Kootenay National Park It was one of several tourist cabins on the site. It is currently the pioneer Cabin on the Museum site and holds a display of many pioneer household items. The cabin was officially opened by MLA James Chabot, May 1965.

1971 The Legion Clubroom was purchased from the School Board for $1.00. This was the second Museum building. It originally housed display cases donated by families of early day settlers - Walkers, soles, Watkins, Tegarts, McKays, Blakleys and Clelands. The building had been build as a memorial to the veterans of WW I. A special addition to the Museum at that time came from Capt. James and Miss Jeanette Ogilvie-Wills. It is a beautifully bound Visitors Book of white buckskin decorated with Indian beadwork done by Mrs. Mary Jim of the Columbia Lake Band. Three important signatures are on the first page:

1. MARTIN MORIGEAU, chief of the Columbia Lake band, a grandson of Baptist Morigeau, the first white settler in this valley. Baptist married his Indian wife in 1842.

2. MARY MORIGEAU, age 86, wife of Martin. She was the last of the Indians to sign her name with a cross. She was born up here in the mountains.

3. MRS. LOUIS ARBEL, age 93, wife of the late Louis Arbel, the last of the Columbia Lake chiefs to be elected for life.

1975 A train derailment damaged the CPR station in Athalmer. This became the third Museum building and is today the main display, office and meeting space and houses the archives. The building had to be moved and rebuilt and required a lot of volunteer work and donations by the community. It was officially opened June 23, 1979.

1981 The original Brisco Schoolhouse became the fourth building at the Museum. It was donated by the Mitchell family of Brisco. The next building was the Jim Dilworth cabin moved from Athalmer. It is called the Mining Cabin and its exhibits are all related to mining history.

1986 A group of Calgary lawyers donated the Notary building to the Museum. This building was one of the original Athalmer buildings.

1987 The implement shed was the seventh and latest building on the site. The Windermere District Historical Society holds two meetings a month except in June, July and August. The business meeting is at 2 p.m. on the third Friday of the month. The general meeting has guest speakers, show and tell or field trips and refreshments to entertain and inform the members. Each summer has a different theme for its temporary display. These displays cover various aspects of local history: churches, schools, hospitals, forest industries etc. This year's display is done in conjunction with Kootenay National Park and will display the winning entries in the recent photo contest. Another focus during this summer will be on the history of the local Red Cross Society. Members of the "Friends of the Museum" receive a quarterly newsletter put out by the Historical Society. The newsletter focuses on local history.

ALSO: Waterproof and fireproof vault conta ining diaries, letters, business files, minute books and other archival material including history of pioneers residents. Collection of old maps of region.

MUSEUM HOURS:

June & September: Monday-Friday 1:00 p.m. - 4:00 p.m.
Call 342-9769 to confirm

July & August Tuesday - Saturday 9:30 a.m. - 4:00 p.m. Last entry 3:30 p.m.

HISTORY OF THE STOLEN CHURCH

Originally known as St. Peter's (Anglican) it was built in Donald, B.C. (115 miles North of Windermere) in 1887.

In 1897 the CPR decided to change their Railway divisional point from Donald to Revelstoke. It was agreed the several important buildings including the church would be moved.

Rufus Kimpton and his wife Celina loved the church so much that when they decided to move to Windermere, they took the church with them. Moving it piece by piece, by wagon and barge it was reassembled on a hill in Windermere, where it remains to this day. It is the only Church in Windermere.

PYNELOGS - VALLEY CULTURAL CENTRE

Pynelogs, now a valley cultural centre, operated by the Columbia Valley Arts Council, is an historic log building in a bay on the shore of Lake Windermere at Invermere.

It was build in 1914 to be the home of Robert Randolph Bruce, a mining engineer who had profited from the Paradise Mine in the Purcell Mountains.

Bruce went to England in 1913 to marry the Lady Elizabeth Norcott, daughter of the Earl and Countess of Iddesleigh. On their return they lived in a houseboat while their home was being completed and there is Lady Elizabeth became ill and died. She is buried in the grounds at Pynelogs.

Mr. Bruce later became Lieutenant-Governor of British Columbia an d still later Canadian Ambassador to Japan. Having lost contact with the valley, he was persuaded to donate the building to the community as a hospital. It was named "The Lady Elizabeth Bruce Memorial Hospital."

It served in that capacity from 1937 to 1956, when a new larger hospital was built. The Pynelogs Building sat vacant until 1961 when it reopend as the Pynlogs Community Care Facility. It operated as a home for mentally handicapped adults until 1989.

In May 1990 it was leased to the Columbia Valley Arts Council. It is now the venue for an arts gallery featuring local artists, and concerts, lectures and work shops are held there. During the summer lunches and teas are served and the gallery is open to visitors.

HISTORY OF THE EAST KOOTENAY AREA

From the earliest time, development was invariably tied to the exploration and e xploitation of resources - a relationship which continues today. The numerous small communities scattered about the landscape are reminders of a settlement pattern predicated on resource exploitation.

The existence of five Indian Reserves within the Region are tangible reminders of the original inhabitants of the area. Indian, the Kootenay River itself was named after the "coo-tinneh" - water people - who first entered the Region from the south.

David Thompson and his party from the North West Fur Company were the first Europeans to enter the area. Between 1807 and 1810 they traded for furs with various Indian encampments throughout the East and West Kootenays. Settlers were soon to follow.

The Region has also been significantly influenced by the discovery and development of mineral resources. In the early 1860's, placer gold was discovered on the Wild Horse River approximately 16 km northwest of the present location of Cranbrook. Several thousand prospectors and entrepreneurs joined in this gold rush and the famous Dewdney Trail was constructed across southern B.C. linking Vancouver to the gold fields.

With increased settlement occurring as a result of the gold rush, conflicts between settlers and the indigenous Indian population grew.

To ease these tensions, a detachment of North West Mounted Police was dispatched to Galbraith's Ferry on the Kootenay River where a fort was established along with a permanent settlement in 1887. The Fort was later renamed Fort Steele after its first commander, Sam Steele. Fort Steele remained the dominant community in the Region until the development of other mineral resources and railway expansion bypassed it and created the growth centers of Fernie, Kimberley and Cra nbrook.