My family and I moved to the small village of Valemount in 1981. I grew up in this beautiful place and graduated there before moving on to the 'big city".
This is only a brief introduction to the history of Valemount but there are more sources and further reading listed at the bottom of the blog post.
For those who grew up or lived in Valemount much of this information will already be known but I decided to put it into a blog format for ease of reading and the ability to share conveniently.
The Indigenous Peoples
Long before any white settler came to the Valemount area, there lived the Simpcw (part of the Secwepemc, or Shuswap) people. They had a village in Tete Jaune. Tourism Valemount tells us that “Their traditional territory covers approximately 5,000,000 Ha in the North Thompson region, including Valemount.”
“Mountain Robson Spiral Road of Art” records that the Shuswap people came to the aid of the Overlanders (around 1862) and traded them salmon and berry cakes, saving them from starvation.
The Robson Valley Story tells us that the Simpcw village was still in existence when the railroad came (around 1914). In a dark part of this area’s history though, it was decided by the government that the Simpcw people would be forcibly moved to reserves around the Kamloops area.
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| Canoe Mountain to the South of Valemount |
First White Settler
Born in Toronto, Fulton Alexander McKirdy (1874-1960), became the first permanent white settler in Valemount. He staked a claim at the Cranberry Lake Township (now Valemount) in 1906.
Before this he worked for the CPR in the Crow’s Nest Pass where he almost died of Typhoid fever. He also prospected and trapped around the Canoe River.
He later became a fire warden for the Valemount area, a justice of the peace and was known for his dentistry skills. In 1919 Fulton married Margaret Waite (1900-1983), a school teacher from Vancouver who had moved to Valemount.
The Railroad
The Canadian Northern Railway finally connected Jasper and Kamloops via Valemount in 1914. A train station was built at Swift Creek. The station remained there until 1927 when it was moved about a mile down the tracks and renamed “Valemount” as the location was a “valley in the mountains”.
The original Swift Creek station (then on Main Street in Valemount) was later bought for $1 by the Valemount Historic Society and moved behind the present library. In 1992, it re-opened as the Valemount Museum.
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| McKirdy Mountain |
The Highways
Apart from the railroad, transportation was difficult around Valemount. Finally in the 1960’s both Highway 16 and Highway 5 began construction.
When Highway 5 between Avola and Jasper was being built it was decided that 5th Avenue in Valemount would be the main connector between the old highway (Main Street) and the new one. Later in 1984, 5th avenue was paved.
Incorporation
Finally in 1964 Valemount was incorporated as a village in British Columbia. This came about largely as a result of the efforts of the Community Club and its chairman, Alister (Sandy) Maclean, who also became Valemount’s first mayor.
Today the village boasts several businesses and amazing outdoor activities including world class snowmobiling in the winter and a renowned bike park in the summer. “With a population of 1020 you’ll find we are a strong and eclectic bunch, from artists to back country experts, from farmers to white water rafters.” (Tourism Valemount)
You may also like these articles:
Mount Robson: A Historical Timeline
5 Fascinating Facts About Tete Jaune Cache: Historic Treasure of the Robson Valley
Sources and Further Reading:
Down Memory Lanes: Tour of Valemount (Valemount History Society 2012)
The Robson Valley Story (Marilyn Wheeler 1979)
Mount Robson: Spiral Road of Art ( Jane Lytton Gooch 2013)
The Yellowhead Pass and Its People
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