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Description

British Columbia's Progress Illustrated Graphically (and a Great Map of the West Kootenay District)

Fine large Canadian government publication, illustrating the West Kootenay Mining District on the front side of the map and the Klondyke, Cassiar, Omineca and Cariboo Gold Fields on the verso, with a fine set of graphs depicting regional economic growth in British Columbia between 1873 and 1896.

The map shows Mining recording divisions overprinted in red, along with roads and trails, railways, location of some mines and camps.

The maps and graphs were published by the Department of Lands and Works, promoting the region in the first year of the 1897 Alaska Gold Rush.

The map was printed by The Colonist Litho., in Victoria, under the direction of Tom Kains, Surveyor General.

West Kootenay District

The first gold strike in the Kootenay region occurred in 1863, at the confluence of the Wild Horse and Kootenay Rivers in the East Kootenay region, which resulted in the Wild Horse Gold Rush and the founding of the region's first gold rush town, Fisherville, B.C. When it was discovered that the original town site was on a rich deposit, it was moved and the new town's site was officially named Kootenai (though still known as Fisherville). Galbraith's Ferry was established across the Kootenay near Fort Steele to facilitate crossing by the incoming rush of prospectors and merchants. Most of the gold was mined out by 1864.

Other gold rushes on the Moyie and Goat Rivers, tributaries of the Kootenay, were followed by the discovery of silver and galena mines in the Kootenay Lake and Slocan Valley areas (Silvery Slocan), leading rapidly to the settlement of the region and the creation of various "silver city" boomtowns, notably Nelson, at the outlet of Kootenay Lake, Kaslo, midway up its north arm, New Denver, Silverton, Slocan City and Sandon in the 1880s and 1890s. By 1889, a smelter had been constructed close to the mouth of the Kootenay, near Revelstoke, to process ore from the mines. Serving the mines and settlers, steamer companies plied the Kootenai River from Bonner's Ferry, Idaho to Nelson and to the Lardeau or "Lardo" district at the north end of Kootenay Lake, and also on the upper Kootenay River between the Cranbrook-Fort Steele area and points in Montana.

Condition Description
Minor loss at one fold intersection.