Christina Lake, British Columbia
Encyclopedia
Christina Lake is an unincorporated recreational area in the Boundary Country
Boundary Country
The Boundary Country is a historical designation for a district in southern British Columbia lying, as its name suggests, along the boundary between Canada and the United States. It lies to the east of the southern Okanagan Valley and to the west of the West Kootenay. It is often included in...
of the West Kootenay
West Kootenay
West Kootenay was a provincial electoral district in the Canadian province of British Columbia. It was formed along with East Kootenay from a redistribution of the old Kootenay riding, which was one of the province's original twelve.- Demographics :...
region of British Columbia
British Columbia
British Columbia is the westernmost of Canada's provinces and is known for its natural beauty, as reflected in its Latin motto, Splendor sine occasu . Its name was chosen by Queen Victoria in 1858...
, Canada
Canada
Canada is a North American country consisting of ten provinces and three territories. Located in the northern part of the continent, it extends from the Atlantic Ocean in the east to the Pacific Ocean in the west, and northward into the Arctic Ocean...
. It is located on Highway 3
Crowsnest Highway
The Crowsnest Highway, also known as the Interprovincial or, in British Columbia, the Southern Trans-Provincial, is an east-west highway, in length, through the southern parts of British Columbia and Alberta, providing the shortest highway connection between British Columbia's Lower Mainland and...
, 12 miles (19 km) east of Grand Forks
Grand Forks, British Columbia
-Schools:Schools in the region are operated by School District 51 Boundary which has its main office in Grand Forks but also serves Midway, Greenwood, Beaverdell, and Rock Creek....
and 44 miles (70 km) southwest of Castlegar
Castlegar, British Columbia
Castlegar is the second largest city in the West Kootenay region of British Columbia, Canada. It is located within the Selkirk Mountains at the confluence of the Kootenay and Columbia Rivers. It is a regional trade and transportation centre, with a local economy fueled by forestry, mining and tourism...
.
History
Originally an important fishing ground to the SinixtSinixt
The Sinixt are a First Nations People...
, Sanpoil, Okanagan
Okanagan people
The Okanagan people, also spelled Okanogan, are a First Nations and Native American people whose traditional territory spans the U.S.-Canada boundary in Washington state and British Columbia...
and other tribes, pictographs can still be found around the north-east shore of Christina Lake
Christina Lake (British Columbia)
Christina Lake is a lake located along the Crowsnest Highway in the south-central area of British Columbia known as Boundary Country, which separates the Okanagan region from the West Kootenays. It is located 23 kilometers east of Grand Forks, just 1 km north of the United States border...
.
The village and the lake were named after Christina McDonald, daughter of fur-trader Angus McDonald, who ran the Hudson's Bay Company
Hudson's Bay Company
The Hudson's Bay Company , abbreviated HBC, or "The Bay" is the oldest commercial corporation in North America and one of the oldest in the world. A fur trading business for much of its existence, today Hudson's Bay Company owns and operates retail stores throughout Canada...
trading post at Fort Colville
Fort Colville
The trade center Fort Colville was built by the Hudson's Bay Company at Kettle Falls on the Columbia River, a few miles west of the present site of Colville, Washington in 1825, to replace Spokane House as a regional trading center, as the latter was deemed to be too far from the Columbia River...
from 1852-1871.
The arrival of the Canadian Pacific Railway
Canadian Pacific Railway
The Canadian Pacific Railway , formerly also known as CP Rail between 1968 and 1996, is a historic Canadian Class I railway founded in 1881 and now operated by Canadian Pacific Railway Limited, which began operations as legal owner in a corporate restructuring in 2001...
in the late 1890s brought a number of townsites to the area around Christina Lake and it became a popular recreational area for visitors who came by rail from places like Grand Forks or Phoenix
Phoenix, British Columbia
Phoenix is a ghost town in the Boundary Country of British Columbia, Canada, 11 km east of Greenwood. Once called the “highest city in Canada” by its citizens it was a booming copper mining community from the late 1890s until 1919...
.
In the early 1900s there were summer cottages, fishing and other activities. When the Cascade-Rossland Highway was completed in 1922, more tourists visited the region. During Prohibition in the United States
Prohibition in the United States
Prohibition in the United States was a national ban on the sale, manufacture, and transportation of alcohol, in place from 1920 to 1933. The ban was mandated by the Eighteenth Amendment to the Constitution, and the Volstead Act set down the rules for enforcing the ban, as well as defining which...
, many American visitors from north-east Washington made the trip across the border to enjoy the local saloons and dance halls.
During World War II
World War II
World War II, or the Second World War , was a global conflict lasting from 1939 to 1945, involving most of the world's nations—including all of the great powers—eventually forming two opposing military alliances: the Allies and the Axis...
, approximately 100 Japanese people were relocated in a summer resort hotel and its adjacent cabins, the Alpine Inn, on nearby English Point, where a school was established to teach Japanese and English. After the war and the restrictions were lifted, some of the families remained in the area.
Present day
Since the years following World War II, Christina Lake has again become a recreation community. Opened in 1963 and expanded in 1986, the Christina Lake Golf Course was built at the location of the old ghost townGhost town
A ghost town is an abandoned town or city. A town often becomes a ghost town because the economic activity that supported it has failed, or due to natural or human-caused disasters such as floods, government actions, uncontrolled lawlessness, war, or nuclear disasters...
of Cascade City
Cascade City, British Columbia
Cascade City or Cascade was a Canadian Pacific Railway construction era boom town in the Boundary Country of the West Kootenay region of British Columbia, Canada...
. The course was designed by
golf course architect Les Furber and it is the first course in Canada to offer the rare feature of black sand
Black sand
Black sand is sand that is black in color. One type of black sand is a heavy, glossy, partly magnetic mixture of usually fine sands, found as part of a placer deposit. Another type of black sand, found on beaches near a volcano, consists of tiny fragments of lava.While some beaches are...
traps
Bunker (golf)
A hazard is an area of a golf course in the sport of golf which provides a difficult obstacle. which may be of three types: water hazards such as lakes and rivers; man-made hazards such as bunkers; and natural hazards such as dense vegetation. Special rules apply to playing balls that fall in a...
.
The Trans Canada Trail
Trans Canada Trail
The Trans Canada Trail is a proposed corridor in Canada. The creation of the trail was announced as part of Canada's 125th anniversary celebrations in 1992. It is expected that when complete, it will be the longest recreational trail in the world...
and the historic Dewdney Trail and Kettle Valley Railroad Trail meet at Christina Lake, attracting hikers and tourists from around the world.
The summer of 2011 will see the opening of the new Christina Living Arts Centre which will act as the town's visitor's centre as well as an art gallery. The centre was built to LEED standards. Accompanying the Centre is the district's first Solar Aquatics water water treatment facility. This is the second cold-climate Solar Aquatics built to date, completed two years after the first cold climate Solar Aquatics built in Cynthia, Alberta by the same company.