Heritage

Heritage Home -:- Heritage Photos 

FIRST NATIONS PEOPLE

First Nations People have been visiting this valley for many, many years. You only have to canoe the lakeshore to observe their numerous rock carvings and paintings or petroglyphs. These People were fishing, hunting and gathering in the valley and most probably moved south in the winter. There have been no archeological digs in or around New Denver. Nor have their carvings been dated. It has to be concluded that they would use the beaches formed by streams and creeks along the lake edge, including Carpenter Creek. This is a subject in our heritage that is crying out to be researched.

MINING

Prospectors and entrepreneurs first discovered the area in 1892. Non-native people first accessed the area through Kootenay Lake and, due to a major mining boom, the town of New Denver was established. Mining was New Denver's primary industry for many years, but by 1920, the mining boom was over. Mining had a brief revival in the late 1940's, but then logging replaced it as the main industry. Our neighbour villages of Sandon and Silverton should be included in any visit to the area for evidence of the mining activities. Look for small samples, on sale in the Silvery Slocan Historical Museum, of the Galena Ore that was mined in this era. The ore consisted of silver, lead and zinc in varying proportions. These samples are popular with school children for show and tell.

NIKKEI

During World War II, New Denver became a Japanese-Canadian internment camp. Not long after the attack on Pearl Harbour in December of 1941, men between 18 and 45 were sent to labour camps in Eastern Canada. A large number of women, children, and elderly men were sent to the "Orchard", a small section of New Denver set up for their arrival. They lived in small shacks, often with no heat and little money for food, but were not confined behind wire fences. Many of these Japanese Canadians still live here in New Denver

The "LANCET"

Attention physicians, sailors, boat builders and students of our provincial heritage, this is an artifact worth studying.

When you visit our museum, go into the east garden courtyard. Here an open-air structure has been built that protects an old eighteen feet, carvel-built, inboard, engine powered vessel which was built by Dr. J. E. Brouse in 1912. The vessel was used on the lake for many years and local gossip has it that it was still afloat in 1940.

Dr. Brouse was born in Yale, BC in 1868 and graduated from McGill University in 1892 as a medical practitioner. He was appointed as the medical Officer for the Nakusp and Slocan Railway in 1895 and he settled in New Denver that same year. There is no record of when he began building the "Lancet" in the attic of the Slocan Hospital but a photograph dated 1912 shows his effort to remove it from the building.

In 1995, the Silvery Slocan Historical Society acquired the remains of the Lancet from across the lake together with the old 4 cylinder inboard motor. Restoration of the vessel has been started. This exhibit must be viewed as a "work in progress" project. Continuing restoration of this artifact is dependent on voluntary donations.

For more information on the biography of Dr. Brouse or on the structure of the "Lancet" or to make a donation please contact:

Ms. Agnes Emary, Treasurer,

Silvery Slocan Historical Society,

Box 301,

New Denver, BC, V0G 1S0

All contributions over $50.00 will be recognized by an inscribed small brass platen on a wall plaque adjacent the vessel. A tax receipt will also be issued for all donations.