Kettle Valley Route

MAP

The Kettle Valley Railway

Midway to Hope: 296 miles

Altitudes shown in feet

The Kettle Valley Railway is the connecting link inn the southern route between the parities and the Pacific Coast. The interesting and varied characteristics and resources of the country traversed claim the attention of the traveler, whether sportsman in search of hunting grounds, fisherman longing for the haunts of the speckled trout, sturdy miner, weary business man, hardy woodsman, fruit grower, or artistic temperament who delights in the marvelous scenic attractions of the Kettle Valley line. The "Coast Kootenay Limited" operates as a through train from Nelson to Vancouver.

Leaving Midway, the valley of the Kettle River is followed to its source, passing through rich agricultural districts where fruit and grain is extensively grown. At Carmi is considerable development in gold and silver mining. From here is a gradual ascent to the summit at McCulloch station. Within a mile and a half of this point are seven lakes, all of them abounding with trout. Bear hunting is good in this vicinity, also deer hunting in season. Descending the west slope of the mountains, the Kelowna Valley is soon seen in the distance, a panorama beautiful beyond comparison, the orchard tracts reaching from the shores of the Okanagan Lake to the foothills of the mountains, the blossoms of fruit trees mingling with the verdant green of the mountain side.

A very interesting section of the is part of the line is the Canyon Creek Loops, which present some novel engineering feats and some magnificent scenery. Through the rugged rock walls at the entrance to the canyon is seen a glimpse of the fertile valley below. Passing on along the shores of Chute Lake and down the mountain side, a view of the Okanagan Valley, "The California of Canada", suddenly bursts into sight the placid Okanagan Lake with the Lake Skaha to the south, and between them Penticton. Bordering the lake beautiful homes surrounded by orchards reach to the mountain background.

Penticton (population 4000), with its mild even climate, never excessively hot or cold, beckons one to forget care and become a child again among its fruits and flowers. Just across the street form the station is the Incola Hotel, operated by the Okanagan Hotel Company, a finely appointed hostelry. The dining room has in store a pleasant surprise—eggs, butter, cream, vegetables and fruit fresh daily from the railway's experimental farm. Facing the hotel and just across the Lake Shore Drive is the bathing beach, a most delightful fresh water beach, where bathing may be enjoyed from early spring until late autumn. The beach of pure sand slopes gradually out for several hundred feet. The Aquatic Club building is adjacent, and its privileges are available to visitors.

Excellent motor roads radiate in all directions, and drives may be taken along the Lake Shore Drive to Summerland and Peachland, among the orchards, where in proper season luscious peaches, pears, apricots, apples and grapes may be gathered. To the south, around Lake Skaha, a magnificent view of the surrounding country is obtained, on to the international boundary, or to the westward over a mountain pass to the Similkameen Valley, the roads over the mountains being almost the equal of a city boulevard. Near at hand from the Incola Hotel is a nine-hole golf course. Fishing for silverside trout is good in both the Okanagan and Skaha Lakes nearly all the year around, and mountain trout are found in abundance in any of the numerous streams flowing into the lake. In a two hours' journey by train up the east side of the lake, those who are fond of deer hunting will find splendid sport in proper season.

Penticton is the southern terminus of the Canadian Pacific Railway steamers on Okanagan Lake. A delightful trip up the lake and return the same day may be taken on the palatial steamers "Okanagan" or "Sicamous".

Leaving Penticton, some ten miles westward we suddenly skirt the edge of the West Summerland valley, one of the most prolific fruit districts of Canada. The entrance to this valley is seemingly guarded by "The Giant's Head", a rock projection of gigantic proportions. We follow up Trout Creek through a picturesque canyon, the summit being reached at Osprey Lake, where the fisherman will find his pursuit well repaid. Following along a timbered belt for some fifteen miles and past a fertile agricultural district near Jura, the descent is made to Princeton, a thriving little city at the junction of the Tulameen and Similkameen Valleys. Extensive coal fields are operated here.

Fourteen miles to the south is the famous Copper Mountain mining district, to which a branch line runs from Princeton.

Passing on along the Tulameen River we reach Coalmont, at the junction of Granite Creek which was the scene of much activity in placer mining in the earlier days. In this locality are deposits in more or less degree of almost every known mineral. After leaving Tulameen the train swings around Otter Lake, one of the most beautiful of British Columbia's many inland bodies of water. This lake also abounds with fish. From here we pass on through the Otter valley, a rich agricultural district where meadows and fields form a pleasant contrast to the mountain background. Passing another summit at Brookmere, we descend on the Coldwater River at Brodie.

From Brodie a branch line of the Kettle Valley Railway, 65 miles in length, runs to Spence's Bridge, on the main line of the Canadian Pacific Railway. The route is through a prosperous agricultural and mining district. From this branch another, 7 miles long, runs from Merritt to Nicola.

Leaving Brodie the ascent is made gradually to the Coquihalla Pass through the Cascade Mountains. Here is located Coquihalla Lake, another gem of the mountains, its water teeming with trout. The trail here begins a more abrupt descent. Following the Coquihalla River down the west slope of the Cascades, the scene changes to one of rugged grandeur; vegetation disappears, and the solid rock crags and peaks stand out in prominence as if defying the hand of man. But, typifying the supremacy of technical skill, the roadbed, as it follows down the gorge, is hewn out of solid rock. Here on a shelf on the mountain side, or there piercing a jutting promontory with a tunnel, it pursues its onward way. As we near Portia station, the character of the country again changes, the mountain peaks are higher, the tops tipped with snow and the sides covered with forests.

Coming on down to Othello station, we reach the crowning achievement of scenic attraction. Just beyond this station are located five tunnels in such perfect alignment that a view is obtained directly through all five of them at once. At the portal of each tunnel the walls rise sheer for hundreds of feet, while the gap to the next tunnel is bridged by a steel span. Underneath, the Coquihalla River, now a raging torrent zigzags its way between each of the tunnels. Hope, the western terminus of the Kettle Valley Railway, is reached in four miles. The train crosses the Fraser River on a half million dollar steel bridge and joins the Canadian Pacific Railway, on which it travels to Vancouver.

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