A column by Bruce Uzelman
The mineral wealth of the Boundary Country seemed limitless as the 20th century dawned. The region between the Kootenays and the Okanagan was the largest mineral producer in British Columbia. Every small town newspaper trumpeted its community’s bright economic prospects.
In 1901, the nascent railway broadened its ambitions, proposing three branch lines, including a line to the Franklin mining camp. The federal government granted the charter under the name of the Kettle River Valley Railway. By then, the townspeople, impatient with construction delays, had creatively dubbed the railway the “Hot Air Line” and the first well-worn locomotive the “Tin Whistle”.
Hill watched the new KRVR. He resolved to build his own line to Republic. The race to get the first line to Republic became a fierce legal battle. Worse, the rival lines did not hesitate to break the law or resort to physical conflict when required. It turned out that Holland and the tiny KRVR-R&KR – the charter in the United States was the Republic and Kettle River Railway – could litigate and rumble just as well as their much larger rival.
The GNR then installed a diamond crossing on the KRVR line in Grand Forks, despite an injunction prohibiting it. The KRVR placed a locomotive directly over the diamond, preventing the GNR from crossing. Hill threatened to reignite the crossing dispute on the Republic line. Holland responded atypically. He conceded. He ordered the locomotive be moved.
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