Eholt is in the

Boundary Country The Boundary Country is a historical designation for a district in southern British Columbia lying, as its name suggests, along the boundary between Canada and the United States. It lies to the east of the southern Okanagan Valley and to the west o ...

region of south central

British Columbia British Columbia (commonly abbreviated as BC) is the westernmost province of Canada, situated between the Pacific Ocean and the Rocky Mountains. It has a diverse geography, with rugged landscapes that include rocky coastlines, sandy beaches, ...

. This

ghost town Ghost Town(s) or Ghosttown may refer to: * Ghost town, a town that has been abandoned Film and television * Ghost Town (1936 film), ''Ghost Town'' (1936 film), an American Western film by Harry L. Fraser * Ghost Town (1956 film), ''Ghost Town'' ...

, on BC Highway 3, is by road about northwest of

Grand Forks Grand Forks is the third-largest city in the state of North Dakota (after Fargo and Bismarck) and the county seat of Grand Forks County. According to the 2020 census, the city's population was 59,166. Grand Forks, along with its twin city o ...

and northeast of

Greenwood Green wood is unseasoned wood. Greenwood or Green wood may also refer to: People * Greenwood (surname) Settlements Australia * Greenwood, Queensland, a locality in the Toowoomba Region * Greenwood, Western Australia, a suburb of Perth C ...

Name origin

Louis Eholt arrived in the early 1890s, and established a cattle ranch. The name of the new town, which George A. Rendell developed, is first mentioned in 1898. Louis Eholt did not remain long enough to become a resident. Eholt's name had once applied to Midway, and the title, Little Eholt, later applied to Columbia in the 1910s.

Railway

The

Canadian Pacific Railway The Canadian Pacific Railway (french: Chemin de fer Canadien Pacifique) , also known simply as CPR or Canadian Pacific and formerly as CP Rail (1968–1996), is a Canadian Class I railway incorporated in 1881. The railway is owned by Canadi ...

's (CP) West Robson– Midway extension of the

Columbia and Western Railway The Columbia and Western Railway (C&W) was a historic, and initially narrow gauge, railway in southern British Columbia. Heinze ownership Proposal & planning Fritz Augustus Heinze, who opened a smelter at Butte, Montana in 1893, was seeking inve ...

arrived in 1899. From Eholt Junction, a spur southward to the copper ore mines of

Phoenix Phoenix most often refers to: * Phoenix (mythology), a legendary bird from ancient Greek folklore * Phoenix, Arizona, a city in the United States Phoenix may also refer to: Mythology Greek mythological figures * Phoenix (son of Amyntor), a ...

opened in 1900. Eholt became an important CP location with a water tank, rail yard, seven-stall roundhouse, and bunkhouses. After the Great Northern Railway (GN) spur reached Phoenix in 1905, GN took the lion's share of ore traffic, and CP experienced train crew layoffs. GN passenger travel was also faster to

Vancouver Vancouver ( ) is a major city in western Canada, located in the Lower Mainland region of British Columbia. As the List of cities in British Columbia, most populous city in the province, the 2021 Canadian census recorded 662,248 people in the ...

. A May 1912 fire destroyed the roundhouse. The next year, Eholt lost significance when Grand Forks was developed instead as the

divisional point In Canada, a divisional point (or division point) is a local operational headquarters for a railway. Divisional points are significant in railway maintenance of way operations. Especially historically, they could be the location of facilities and in ...

, with a 10-stall roundhouse and machine shops. The former Eholt train station was northwest of Fisherman, and northeast of Greenwood. The Phoenix mines exhausted, CP lifted the spur in 1921. In 1991, the CP track was abandoned westward in its entirety, and eastward almost to Castlegar.

Early community

G.A. Rendell was the inaugural postmaster 1899–1900. At its peak, the five hotels, two sawmills, general store, dry goods/grocery store, butchers, barber, drug/stationery store, watchmaker/jeweller, blacksmiths, livery, and constable, served a population of about 250. In August 1912, a fire destroyed the Summit and Northern hotels, the drugstore, post office, and other buildings. Looters descended upon the ruins. The GN incursion of Phoenix in 1905, the fires of 1912, the CP relocation of 1913, and the Phoenix spur removal of 1921, each shrank Eholt and finally shuttered the remaining hotel. The death of David Oxley, postmaster 1921–1927 and storekeeper, permanently closed the general store. Anna Tofelt was the final postmaster 1928–1948, leaving a population of about 15 in the vicinity. The sole resident left in 1960.

Present site

A roadside marker at the highway pullout stands beside the former main street of the town. The foundations of the station and section house, and a cement pillar, lie among the trees that dot the farmland. The foundation of the third water tower exists about east of the station site. The former CP right-of-way is now a

rail trail A rail trail is a shared-use path on railway right of way. Rail trails are typically constructed after a railway has been abandoned and the track has been removed, but may also share the right of way with active railways, light rail, or streetcar ...

. In 2011, mining test drills were conducted in the area.

Television

Eholt was featured on the historical television series ''

Gold Trails and Ghost Towns ''Gold Trails and Ghost Towns'' is a Canadian historical documentary show, created and produced by television station CHBC-TV in Kelowna, British Columbia for Canadian syndication and hosted by Mike Roberts with historian/storyteller Bill Barlee. ...

'', season 3, episode 4.

Summit City

About south on the CP main line, this town, associated with nearby mining, existed 1899–1903, before being abandoned.

Footnotes

References

* Ghost towns in British Columbia {{KootenayBoundary-geo-stub