Grand Forks is a city 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 ...

of the

West Kootenay The Kootenays or Kootenay ( ) is a region of southeastern British Columbia. It takes its name from the Kootenay River, which in turn was named for the Kutenai First Nations people. Boundaries The Kootenays are more or less defined by the Kootena ...

region of

British Columbia British Columbia is the westernmost Provinces and territories of Canada, province of Canada. Situated in the Pacific Northwest between the Pacific Ocean and the Rocky Mountains, the province has a diverse geography, with rugged landscapes that ...

, Canada. It is located at the confluence of the Granby and Kettle Rivers, the latter being a tributary of the

Columbia River The Columbia River (Upper Chinook language, Upper Chinook: ' or '; Sahaptin language, Sahaptin: ''Nch’i-Wàna'' or ''Nchi wana''; Sinixt dialect'' '') is the largest river in the Pacific Northwest region of North America. The river headwater ...

. The city is just north of the

Canada–United States border The international border between Canada and the United States is the longest in the world by total length. The boundary (including boundaries in the Great Lakes, Atlantic, and Pacific coasts) is long. The land border has two sections: Canada' ...

, approximately from

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 cit ...

and from

Kelowna Kelowna ( ) is a city on Okanagan Lake in the Okanagan, Okanagan Valley in the British Columbia Interior, southern interior of British Columbia, Canada. It serves as the head office of the Regional District of Central Okanagan. The name Kelowna ...

and west of the resort area of Christina Lake by road.

History

In 1894, a new settlement at the North Fork bridge, where the rivers join, was called Grand Forks. However, the valley, dominated by copper mining, was called Grand Prairie, and early settlers equally used that name for the town. The city was laid out in 1895 and Grand Forks was established as a city on 15 April 1897. The adjacent City of Columbia was incorporated on 4 May 1899. By 1902, Grand Forks had three railways, lumber mills, a smelter, mines, a post office, a school and a hospital. The railways servicing Grand Forks were the

Canadian Pacific Railway The Canadian Pacific Railway () , 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 Canadian Pacific Kansas City, Canadian Pacific Ka ...

's (CP)

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 and planning Fritz Augustus Heinze, who opened a smelter at Butte, Montana, in 1893, was seeking in ...

, the Kettle River Valley Railway, and the Great Northern Railway (GNR). Grand Forks and Columbia amalgamated in 1903, but only after lengthy disagreements over an acceptable name. In 1907, it was the home of a local branch of the

Western Federation of Miners The Western Federation of Miners (WFM) was a labor union that gained a reputation for militancy in the mines of the western United States and British Columbia. Its efforts to organize both hard rock miners and smelter workers brought it into ...

In 1908 and 1911, the downtown core was affected by a fire, because of wood-frame buildings and stores. Between the years of 1909 and 1913, a group of

pacifist Pacifism is the opposition to war or violence. The word ''pacifism'' was coined by the French peace campaigner Émile Arnaud and adopted by other peace activists at the tenth Universal Peace Congress in Glasgow in 1901. A related term is ''a ...

Russia Russia, or the Russian Federation, is a country spanning Eastern Europe and North Asia. It is the list of countries and dependencies by area, largest country in the world, and extends across Time in Russia, eleven time zones, sharing Borders ...

n immigrants known as

Doukhobors The Doukhobors ( Canadian spelling) or Dukhobors (; ) are a Spiritual Christian ethnoreligious group of Russian origin. They are known for their pacifism and tradition of oral history, hymn-singing, and verse. They reject the Russian Ortho ...

settled in the area because of the fertile farm land. Today, many residents of Grand Forks are descendants of the Doukhobors. In 1991, CP decommissioned their railway line through Grand Forks, and the former right-of-way became part of the

Trans Canada Trail The Trans Canada Trail is a cross-Canada system of greenways, waterways, and roadways that stretches from the Atlantic Ocean, Atlantic to the Pacific Ocean, Pacific to the Arctic Ocean, Arctic oceans. The trail extends over ; it is now the longe ...

. The Kettle Falls International Railway, the only remaining operator, which services the former GN route, plans to decommission the line north of

Laurier, Washington Laurier is a census-designated place in Ferry County, Washington that neighbors the Canada–United States border. The nearest school district is Orient School District. According to the 2020 census, Laurier had a population of four permanent re ...

by 2023. Grand Forks has been promoting industrial growth, which has been declining since the early 2000s. Over time, Grand Forks has gradually expanded in population and now has 4,049 residents within its city limits. The greater rural area, (Area D of the Regional District of Kootenay-Boundary), has another ~3,500 residents. In May 2018 Grand Forks, and the Boundary region as a whole, were affected by flooding of the Kettle and Granby Rivers. Low-lying areas, including part of the downtown core, saw extensive damage. The Ruckle neighborhood was most affected. The federal government is expected to buy out all the homes in North Ruckle and turn the area back into a natural flood plain.

Demographics

In the

2021 Census of Population The 2021 Canadian census was a detailed enumeration of the Canadian population with a reference date of May 11, 2021. It follows the 2016 Canadian census, which recorded a population of 35,151,728. The overall response rate was 98%, which is sli ...

conducted by

Statistics Canada Statistics Canada (StatCan; ), formed in 1971, is the agency of the Government of Canada commissioned with producing statistics to help better understand Canada, its population, resources, economy, society, and culture. It is headquartered in ...

, Grand Forks had a population of 4,112 living in 1,871 of its 1,969 total private dwellings, a change of from its 2016 population of 4,049. With a land area of , it had a population density of in 2021.

Ethnicity

Religion

According to the 2021 census, religious groups in Grand Forks included: *

Irreligion Irreligion is the absence or rejection of religious beliefs or practices. It encompasses a wide range of viewpoints drawn from various philosophical and intellectual perspectives, including atheism, agnosticism, religious skepticism, ...

(2,390 persons or 61.4%) *

Christianity Christianity is an Abrahamic monotheistic religion, which states that Jesus in Christianity, Jesus is the Son of God (Christianity), Son of God and Resurrection of Jesus, rose from the dead after his Crucifixion of Jesus, crucifixion, whose ...

(1,315 persons or 33.8%) *

Sikhism Sikhism is an Indian religion and Indian philosophy, philosophy that originated in the Punjab region of the Indian subcontinent around the end of the 15th century CE. It is one of the most recently founded major religious groups, major religio ...

(40 persons or 1.0%) *

Hinduism Hinduism () is an Hypernymy and hyponymy, umbrella term for a range of Indian religions, Indian List of religions and spiritual traditions#Indian religions, religious and spiritual traditions (Sampradaya, ''sampradaya''s) that are unified ...

(30 persons or 0.8%) *

Buddhism Buddhism, also known as Buddhadharma and Dharmavinaya, is an Indian religion and List of philosophies, philosophical tradition based on Pre-sectarian Buddhism, teachings attributed to the Buddha, a wandering teacher who lived in the 6th or ...

(20 persons or 0.5%) *

Islam Islam is an Abrahamic religions, Abrahamic monotheistic religion based on the Quran, and the teachings of Muhammad. Adherents of Islam are called Muslims, who are estimated to number Islam by country, 2 billion worldwide and are the world ...

(10 persons or 0.3%) *Other (75 persons or 1.9%)

Economy

Major industries in Grand Forks are limited and have become smaller over the past decade with the loss of major industries, such as Pope & Talbot, the industries in Grand Forks are

logging Logging is the process of cutting, processing, and moving trees to a location for transport. It may include skidder, skidding, on-site processing, and loading of trees or trunk (botany), logs onto logging truck, trucksagriculture Agriculture encompasses crop and livestock production, aquaculture, and forestry for food and non-food products. Agriculture was a key factor in the rise of sedentary human civilization, whereby farming of domesticated species created ...

rock wool Rock most often refers to: * Rock (geology), a naturally occurring solid aggregate of minerals or mineraloids * Rock music, a genre of popular music Rock or Rocks may also refer to: Places United Kingdom * Rock, Caerphilly, a location in Wale ...

manufacturing,

fabrication (metal) Metal fabrication is the creation of metal structures by cutting, bending and assembling processes. It is a value-added process involving the creation of machines, parts, and structures from various raw materials. Typically, a fabrication shop ...

and

tourism Tourism is travel for pleasure, and the Commerce, commercial activity of providing and supporting such travel. World Tourism Organization, UN Tourism defines tourism more generally, in terms which go "beyond the common perception of tourism as ...

. The city is close to the site of the former Phoenix

copper mine Copper extraction is the multi-stage process of obtaining copper from its ores. The conversion of copper ores consists of a series of physical, chemical, and electrochemical processes. Methods have evolved and vary with country depending on the ...

, which closed in 1935. The slag piles on the Granby River just outside town are remnants of a large copper smelting operation. The slag from the piles at the north end of town is owned by Pacific Abrasives, who sells it to the US Navy and ships it by rail to

San Diego San Diego ( , ) is a city on the Pacific coast of Southern California, adjacent to the Mexico–United States border. With a population of over 1.4 million, it is the List of United States cities by population, eighth-most populous city in t ...

, California, to use for sandblasting ships. The sawmill in Grand Forks is operated by Interfor (formerly Pope and Talbot) and ships forest products into the United States via rail. Tourism has declined in Grand Forks due to a lack of tourist attractions. However, it is in close proximity to the Okanagan, which is a large tourist destination. Christina Lake, which is 20 minutes east of Grand Forks, is home to many resorts and summer homes and its year round population of 1,000 increases to 6,000 during the summer.

Government

The City of Grand Forks has a seven-person elected council, with Everett Baker currently serving as mayor. The incumbent councillors are: Zak Eburne-Stoodley, Neil Krog, Christine Thompson, David Mark, Deborah Lafleur and Rod Zielinski. Provincially, Grand Forks is located in the constituency of

Boundary-Similkameen Boundary-Similkameen is a provincial electoral district in British Columbia, Canada. It was formed in 2008 out of parts of Penticton-Okanagan Valley, West Kootenay-Boundary and Yale-Lillooet. The riding's name corresponds to that of a form ...

, where it is represented by MLA Donegal Wilson (BC Conservative Party), who defeated the NDP incumbent, Roly Russell in this year's Provincial Election, and federally it is located in the South Okanagan—West Kootenay riding and represented by MP Richard Cannings.

Transportation

The short-line Grand Forks Railway is based out of Grand Forks. The company owns of track, which connects Roxul and Interfor with the Grand Forks Junction at the south end of town. It is the shortest railway in Canada. Train cars then get sent to the United States via the Kettle Falls International Railway. The city is also served by the Grand Forks Airport.

Climate

Grand Forks experiences a

humid continental climate A humid continental climate is a climatic region defined by Russo-German climatologist Wladimir Köppen in 1900, typified by four distinct seasons and large seasonal temperature differences, with warm to hot (and often humid) summers, and cold ...

(

Köppen climate classification The Köppen climate classification divides Earth climates into five main climate groups, with each group being divided based on patterns of seasonal precipitation and temperature. The five main groups are ''A'' (tropical), ''B'' (arid), ''C'' (te ...

'' Dfb'') with a similar climate to the Okanagan Valley to the west. However, the Boundary area usually receives slightly colder and snowier winters and slightly hotter summer temperatures, due to its location away from large lakes. Daytime highs during the summer often top and surpass at least once every few years. Night temperatures often fall rapidly in summer, and frost is rare but not unheard of in June or September. Winter temperatures are moderately (seldom severely) cold, but definitely mild by Canadian standards. Some years may see only a few light snowfalls and intermittent snow cover, whereas others receive several large snowstorms and snow cover from December to March. Precipitation is higher than many other drier Southern Interior locations, but still fairly low. The primary vegetation in the Grand Forks area is typical of the Southern BC dry belt. Sagebrush, bunchgrass, prickly pear cactus, arrowleaf balsamroot, ponderosa pine and douglas-fir dominate the valley bottom and south facing slopes. More mountainous species such as bearberry, lodgepole pine, western larch, Engelmann spruce, western red cedar and black cottonwood can be found along the Kettle and Granby Rivers and on north facing slopes. Though an official weather station no longer exists in Grand Forks, unconfirmed reports suggest the highest temperature ever recorded was in excess of , possibly as high as 48, on 29 June 2021, during the

2021 Western North America heat wave The 2021 Western North America heat wave was an extreme heat wave that affected much of Western North America from late June through mid-July 2021. The heat wave affected Northern California, Idaho, Western Nevada, Oregon, and Washington in ...

Sports

Education

Schools in the region are operated by School District 51 Boundary which has its main office in Grand Forks and also serves Midway, Greenwood, Beaverdell, and Rock Creek. There are two elementary ( Dr. D. A. Perley Elementary School, and John A. Hutton Elementary School) and one secondary school ( Grand Forks Secondary School). The District also operates an alternate learning centre in Grand Forks ( Walker Development Centre).

Selkirk College Selkirk College is a public college founded in 1966 with its main campus in Castlegar, British Columbia, Canada. The college has student housing at its Castlegar and Nelson campuses. Students frequently struggle to find accommodation. The col ...

, based in Castlegar, has a community campus in Grand Forks. Established in 1966, Selkirk College is BC's oldest community college. Students that study in Grand Forks have access to a variety of courses at both the High School and College level.

Notable residents

* Ron Areshenkoff * Vasily Balabanov *

Bill Barlee Neville Langrell "Bill" Barlee (October 6, 1932 – June 14, 2012) was a Canadian politician who was first elected to the Legislative Assembly of British Columbia as a New Democrat in 1988 (after unsuccessfully running in the 1969 and 197 ...

(1932–2012), politician, minister of small business, tourism and culture of

. *

Martin Burrell Martin Burrell (19 October 1858 – 20 March 1938) was a Canadian politician. Born in Faringdon, Berkshire (now Oxfordshire), Burrell emigrated to Canada as a young man, where he eventually became a fruit grower on a farm about two miles e ...

(1858–1938), politician, member of the

Canadian Parliament The Parliament of Canada () is the federal legislature of Canada. The Crown, along with two chambers: the Senate and the House of Commons, form the bicameral legislature. The 343 members of the lower house, the House of Commons, are styled a ...

. * Xiomara De Oliver (born 1967), painter. *

Edward Dmytryk Edward Dmytryk (September 4, 1908 – July 1, 1999) was a Canadian-born American film director and editor. He was known for his 1940s films noir, noir films and received an Academy Award for Best Director, Oscar nomination for Best Director for ...

(1908–1999), Hollywood film director. * Chris Loseth * Ted Reynolds * Brian Taylor

Freedom of the City

The following people and military units have received the Freedom of the City of Grand Forks. Individuals: * Jock and Betty Ann McKay 14 Sept 2011 * Les Johnson: 20 July 2020 * Larry Seminoff: 15 July 2022 * Gerry Foster: 15 July 2022

Notes

References

External links

* * {{authority control Cities in British Columbia Populated places in the Boundary Country