Wardner in East Kootenay, British Columbia — Canada’s West Coast (North America)

Kootenay River Lumber Mills

Kootenay River and Lumber Mills Marker image. Click for full size.

B.C. Ministry of Transportation and Infrastructure via Flickr (CC BY-NC-ND 2.0), February 24, 2016

1. Kootenay River and Lumber Mills Marker

Inscription. Timber in abundance, woodsmen ready to work, a river to float logs, and a railway to transport products: ingredients critical to the emergence of early twentieth century mills in the Kootenay River basin. The Crows Nest Pass Lumber Company at Wardner was the largest, with impressive daily outputs. Like other local mills, it found ready markets in developing prairie towns. Economic setbacks and timber shortages during the 1930s signalled the industry's eventual demise. Portable mills came into prominence, as Shay locomotives, mighty workhorses, and wooden flumes were replaced by bulldozers and logging trucks. Though the mills have long disappeared, memories of that golden age abound.

Captions:
(Left) Crows Nest Pass Lumber crew, May 19, 1898 Steele & Co. photo - Fernie Museum
(Right) Crows Nest Pass Lumber Co. mill, ca. 1910 BCARS photo E-04690

Erected by Province of British Columbia.

Topics. This historical marker is listed in these topic lists: Horticulture & Forestry • Industry & Commerce.

Location. 49° 24.962′ N, 115° 25.309′ W. Marker is in Wardner, British Columbia, in East Kootenay. It is on Laurier Street 0.2 kilometers south of Daly Street, on the left when traveling south. Marker is in Wardner Provincial Park. Touch for map. Marker is at or near this postal address: 6197 Laurier St, Wardner BC V0B 2J0, Canada. Touch for directions.

Regionally, this marker is in the BC Interior

and in the Kootenay Rockies.

Globally, it is in North America,

in the Rocky Mountains,

on the Ring of Fire,

in the Pacific Rim,

in the Western Hemisphere,

in the Western World,

and in the Anglosphere.

Historically, it finds itself in what was once a British colony.

Other nearby markers. At least one other marker is within 10 kilometers of this

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marker, measured as the crow flies: Kootenay Steamboats (approx. 9.1 kilometers away).

Credits. This page was last revised on July 26, 2026. It was originally submitted on December 10, 2021, by Duane and Tracy Marsteller of Murfreesboro, Tennessee. This page has been viewed 288 times since then and 31 times this year. Photo 1. submitted on December 10, 2021, by Duane and Tracy Marsteller of Murfreesboro, Tennessee.

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