Grand Forks, British Columbia

An attractive Sunshine Valley town on the Crow's Nest Highway, Grand Forks is named for its location near the convergence of the Kettle and Granby Rivers. The town is overlooked by Observation Mountain to the north and the aptly named Rattlesnake Mountain to the east.

Kootenai Indians made their home in the Grand Forks Valley and Christina Lake area long before the settlement of European fur traders in 1865, as evidenced by pictographs and artifacts discovered.

The settlement was incorporated as the city of Grand Forks in 1897, during which era rapid growth was experienced when rich strikes of copper were discovered at Phoenix and Deadwood. The Granby Smelter, which opened in the year 1900, was the largest non-ferrous copper smelter in the British Empire. Grand Forks was born during an age of optimism, when all great things were considered possible!

Grand Forks was an important railway centre with 5 railways, including two continental lines. Discovery of gold and silver in the North Fork Valley contributed to the wealth of the area, and the Union Mine came into being. Mining prosperity reigned for twenty years, augmented by the developing agriculture and fruit-growing industry.

However, the decline of the copper market in 1919 forced the closure of the Phoenix Mines and the dismantling of the smelter, dealing a crippling below to the entire district. There was little growth in the area until new industries such as seed growing, logging and sawmill operations all combined to return prosperity to the community.

Grand Forks is the home of descendants of many of British Columbia's Doukhobors, a pacifist group of political refugee emigrants from Russia that imigrated to Canada in 1899 and settled in the Grand Forks Valley in 1909. The pride and rich culture of the Doukhobors is prevalent in the valley, and Russian is still taught in schools.

Today, Grand Forks is one of the fastest growing towns in the Kootenays.