Tulameen, British Columbia
Encyclopedia
Tulameen, originally known as Otter Flat, is a small community in British Columbia
, Canada
, about 26 kilometres northwest of the town of Princeton
on the Crowsnest Highway
(Hwy 3), and about 185 kilometres east-northeast from the city of Vancouver
, British Columbia
. Located at the south end of Otter Lake and just north of the Tulameen River
, it is on the lee side of the Canadian Cascades mountain range and enjoys a slightly semi-arid climate, sheltered from the heavy rains west of that range.
times as Campement des Femmes (Woman's Camp) and then, in the decades of exploration of the remote areas of the province following the creation of the Colony of British Columbia
in 1858 and the flurry of exploration of backcountry engendered by the nearby Fraser Canyon Gold Rush
, prospecting activity led to the discovery of gold in 1885 near the confluence of Granite Creek with the Tulameen River, near present-day Coalmont
, about 8 km. south of Tulameen and about 18 km. north-northeast of Princeton, which lies at the confluence of the Tulameen and the Similkameen River
. Around the site of the find, the boomtown of Granite Creek (also known as Granite City) sprang from nowhere to celebrated status overnight, and was touted (as with so many other BC boomtowns) to become the next great city of the new province - and claiming for itself the status of third-largest town in the province .
Some miners from this rush congregated by the amenable shores of Otter Lake, with the town that sprang up having the name Otter Flats or Otter Lake, which had a number of stores, 2 hotels, a saloon and post office.
, constructed in 1896 after a potential routing of the US-based Great Northern Railway to the Tulameen. The southern mainline is commonly known today as the Kettle Valley Railway
(KVR), and connected the original mainline at Hope with the Okanagan and Kootenay cities and boomtowns farther east; today much of its route has been converted from railbed to a public hiking and biking as part of the Trans-Canada Trail. During this period, a proper townsite with a street grid was laid out and the lure of the lake, mountain scenery and dry climate of the area encouraged the first recreational residents, as Tulameen enjoyed something of an advantage of being the first drybelt town after the rail journey had overcome the steep grades and tunnels of the Coquihalla Canyon and Coquihalla Pass
; coal seams in the area also were useful to rail company operations and the town was a regular stopping-place for taking on coal and water during the Age of Steam
. Although early tourism never really transformed Tulameen into the fashionable watering-hole it might have been, the town enjoyed another small boom with the discovery of a major coal deposit in the area, with a mine nearby Blakeburn opening in the 1920s, but lasting only about 1940.
There are about 250 permanent residents here but this number grows in the summer months. The community also has bike rentals (Crossroads Bike Rentals), community centre, outdoor skating rink, library, volunteer fire department, and skidoo dealer & repair centre.
Tulameen is located in Electoral Area 'H' of the Regional District of Okanagan-Similkameen, RDOS.
Otter Lake
This very popular 6km long lake covers about 290 hectares(716 acres) at an elevation of 823 m (2700 ft.) It is a great recreational lake for swimming, water-skiing and fishing for laketrout, rainbow, brook trout and kokanee. The town of Tulameen is located at the south end of the lake and the Provincial campsite borders the north-west side. A scenic bike ride will take you along the Trans Canada Trail, and stopping for ice-cream in Tulameen.
"The Trading Post"
The Tulameen General Store has a restaurant, liquor store, post office, and gas station.
"The Otter Sleep Inn"
There is a motel with several (6) rooms available, mostly vacant throughout the year, that books solid for the summer months.
The Motel has Propane for sale, a public telephone, public pay showers and a small laundry facility.
Summer Events
"Tulameen Family Fun Days" August Long Weekend.
A parade takes place on Saturday at noon on the August long weekend. There are lots of activities and crafts for children and the younger people of our community, theres a beer garden for the adults, with a horse shoe tounament.
The community puts on a baron of beef/cob of corn lunch at a great price at the town community hall. There are a lot of sights, contests, duck races, raffels and booths to check out on the main street, in town. Theres a pancake breakfast, and town clean-up on Monday.
All funds raised from the Tulameen Family Fun Days events, supports the community of Tulameen and the Tulameen Fire Department.
Miscellaneous Note
The name "Tulameen" is praised in the poem, "Say the Names" by Canadian poet Al Purdy
.
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...
, about 26 kilometres northwest of the town of Princeton
Princeton, British Columbia
Princeton is a small town in the Similkameen region of southern British Columbia, Canada. It lies just east of the Cascade Mountains, which continue south into Washington, Oregon and California. The Tulameen and Similkameen Rivers converge here...
on the Crowsnest Highway
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...
(Hwy 3), and about 185 kilometres east-northeast from the city of Vancouver
Vancouver
Vancouver is a coastal seaport city on the mainland of British Columbia, Canada. It is the hub of Greater Vancouver, which, with over 2.3 million residents, is the third most populous metropolitan area in the country,...
, 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...
. Located at the south end of Otter Lake and just north of the Tulameen River
Tulameen River
The Tulameen River is a tributary of the Similkameen River in the Canadian province of British Columbia. The Tulameen River is part of the Columbia River drainage basin, being a tributary of the Similkameen River, which flows into the Okanagan River, which flows into the Columbia River.-Course:The...
, it is on the lee side of the Canadian Cascades mountain range and enjoys a slightly semi-arid climate, sheltered from the heavy rains west of that range.
Early history
It was originally known in fur tradeFur trade
The fur trade is a worldwide industry dealing in the acquisition and sale of animal fur. Since the establishment of world market for in the early modern period furs of boreal, polar and cold temperate mammalian animals have been the most valued...
times as Campement des Femmes (Woman's Camp) and then, in the decades of exploration of the remote areas of the province following the creation of the Colony of British Columbia
Colony of British Columbia
The Colony of British Columbia was a crown colony in British North America from 1858 until 1866. At its creation, it physically constituted approximately half the present day Canadian province of British Columbia, since it did not include the Colony of Vancouver Island, the vast and still largely...
in 1858 and the flurry of exploration of backcountry engendered by the nearby Fraser Canyon Gold Rush
Fraser Canyon Gold Rush
The Fraser Canyon Gold Rush, began in 1858 after gold was discovered on the Thompson River in British Columbia at its confluence with the Nicoamen River. This was a few miles upstream from the Thompson's confluence with the Fraser River at present-day Lytton...
, prospecting activity led to the discovery of gold in 1885 near the confluence of Granite Creek with the Tulameen River, near present-day Coalmont
Coalmont, British Columbia
Coalmont is a tiny mining town, northwest of Princeton, British Columbia, Canada, on the north bank of the Tulameen River. It is near the community of Tulameen and Otter Lake and the Coldwater Junction of the Coquihalla Highway. The town was established in 1912 to serve as a supply point to the...
, about 8 km. south of Tulameen and about 18 km. north-northeast of Princeton, which lies at the confluence of the Tulameen and the Similkameen River
Similkameen River
The Similkameen River runs through southern British Columbia, eventually discharging into the Okanogan River near Oroville, Washington in the United States. The river is approximately long, and its drainage basin is in area...
. Around the site of the find, the boomtown of Granite Creek (also known as Granite City) sprang from nowhere to celebrated status overnight, and was touted (as with so many other BC boomtowns) to become the next great city of the new province - and claiming for itself the status of third-largest town in the province .
Some miners from this rush congregated by the amenable shores of Otter Lake, with the town that sprang up having the name Otter Flats or Otter Lake, which had a number of stores, 2 hotels, a saloon and post office.
The railway era
The name Otter Flats endured until 1901 when the name Tulameen was officially adopted as the town acquired some stability due to its being on the routing of the southern mainline of the Canadian Pacific RailwayCanadian 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...
, constructed in 1896 after a potential routing of the US-based Great Northern Railway to the Tulameen. The southern mainline is commonly known today as the Kettle Valley Railway
Kettle Valley Railway
The Kettle Valley Railroad was a subsidiary of the Canadian Pacific Railway that operated in the Thompson-Okanagan region of southern British Columbia....
(KVR), and connected the original mainline at Hope with the Okanagan and Kootenay cities and boomtowns farther east; today much of its route has been converted from railbed to a public hiking and biking as part of the Trans-Canada Trail. During this period, a proper townsite with a street grid was laid out and the lure of the lake, mountain scenery and dry climate of the area encouraged the first recreational residents, as Tulameen enjoyed something of an advantage of being the first drybelt town after the rail journey had overcome the steep grades and tunnels of the Coquihalla Canyon and Coquihalla Pass
Coquihalla Pass
Coquihalla Summit is a highway summit along the Coquihalla Highway in British Columbia, Canada. It is the highest point on the highway between the cities of Hope and Merritt...
; coal seams in the area also were useful to rail company operations and the town was a regular stopping-place for taking on coal and water during the Age of Steam
Age of Steam
Age of Steam is a strategy board game by Martin Wallace published in 2002 by Warfrog Games on license from Winsome Games. The game depicts the development of railroads in the United States, as well as several other countries using the expansion maps. It can be played by three to six players,...
. Although early tourism never really transformed Tulameen into the fashionable watering-hole it might have been, the town enjoyed another small boom with the discovery of a major coal deposit in the area, with a mine nearby Blakeburn opening in the 1920s, but lasting only about 1940.
Tulameen today
Tulameen is a small community in British Columbia, Canada, about 26 kilometres northwest of the town of Princeton on the Crowsnest Highway (Hwy 3), and about 185 kilometres east from the city of Vancouver, British Columbia. Located at the south end of Otter Lake and just north of the Tulameen River, it is on the lee side of the Canadian Cascades mountain range and enjoys a slightly semi-arid climate, sheltered from the heavy rains of the lower mainland.There are about 250 permanent residents here but this number grows in the summer months. The community also has bike rentals (Crossroads Bike Rentals), community centre, outdoor skating rink, library, volunteer fire department, and skidoo dealer & repair centre.
Tulameen is located in Electoral Area 'H' of the Regional District of Okanagan-Similkameen, RDOS.
Otter Lake
This very popular 6km long lake covers about 290 hectares(716 acres) at an elevation of 823 m (2700 ft.) It is a great recreational lake for swimming, water-skiing and fishing for laketrout, rainbow, brook trout and kokanee. The town of Tulameen is located at the south end of the lake and the Provincial campsite borders the north-west side. A scenic bike ride will take you along the Trans Canada Trail, and stopping for ice-cream in Tulameen.
"The Trading Post"
The Tulameen General Store has a restaurant, liquor store, post office, and gas station.
"The Otter Sleep Inn"
There is a motel with several (6) rooms available, mostly vacant throughout the year, that books solid for the summer months.
The Motel has Propane for sale, a public telephone, public pay showers and a small laundry facility.
Summer Events
"Tulameen Family Fun Days" August Long Weekend.
A parade takes place on Saturday at noon on the August long weekend. There are lots of activities and crafts for children and the younger people of our community, theres a beer garden for the adults, with a horse shoe tounament.
The community puts on a baron of beef/cob of corn lunch at a great price at the town community hall. There are a lot of sights, contests, duck races, raffels and booths to check out on the main street, in town. Theres a pancake breakfast, and town clean-up on Monday.
All funds raised from the Tulameen Family Fun Days events, supports the community of Tulameen and the Tulameen Fire Department.
Miscellaneous Note
The name "Tulameen" is praised in the poem, "Say the Names" by Canadian poet Al Purdy
Al Purdy
Alfred Wellington Purdy, OC, O.Ont was one of the most popular and important Canadian poets of the 20th century. Purdy's writing career spanned more than fifty years. His works include over thirty books of poetry; a novel; two volumes of memoirs and four books of correspondence...
.