Retallack is on the north side of the

Kaslo River Kaslo River is a river in the West Kootenay region of southeastern British Columbia. The village of Kaslo was founded at the river mouth on the western shore of Kootenay Lake. The river valley was mined by European and Chinese miners. Many theorie ...

, west of the junction with Whitewater Creek, in 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 Kootenay ...

region of southeastern

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, ...

. The settlement, on Highway 31A, is about northwest of

Kaslo Kaslo is a village on the west shore of Kootenay Lake in the West Kootenay region of southeastern British Columbia. A member municipality of the Central Kootenay Regional District, the name derives from the adjacent Kaslo River. At 2016, the ...

and northeast of

New Denver New Denver is at the mouth of Carpenter Creek, on the east shore of Slocan Lake, in the West Kootenay region of southeastern British Columbia. The village is west of Kaslo on Highway 31A, and southeast of Nakusp and northeast of Slocan on ...

Bell family

In the early 1890s, the place was called Bell's Camp, The Bells, Bellsville, or some variation of the latter. James (Jim) Bell, and his sons John Warren Bell, and James Allan Ward Bell, operated a sawmill and were prospectors and miners. When the

Kaslo and Slocan Railway The Kaslo and Slocan Railway (K&S) is a historic railway that operated in the West Kootenay region of southeastern British Columbia. The K&S connected Kaslo and Sandon. Initially a narrow-gauge railway, the line was later rebuilt to standard gauge. ...

opened in 1895, the siding was called Whitewater Creek or The Bells. The creek was named after the mine. In 1891, prospectors Eli Carpenter and J.L. (Jack) Seaton discovered a silver-lead ore deposit near the source of Slocan Creek, which triggered the mining boom of the following year. Seaton recovered almost a million dollars in ore. The 1895 approval for Jim Bell to open a post office under the name Bellona was rescinded, when the Kaslo postmaster informed the postal inspector, "Mr. Bell is an honest man, but he is drunk a good part of his time … I also understand that he can hardly write his own name." Two years later, J. Warren Bell was successful in opening the post office as Whitewater. In 1903, Jim burned to death in a cabin fire, and his sons left the area a couple of years later.

Final rename

Major John Ley Retallack leased the Whitewater mine, buying the claim after the 1910 fire that destroyed the camp, and burned railway bridges and snowsheds, ending the Great Northern Railway running of the line. Instrumental in the 1911 revival, the major was acknowledged by

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 ...

(CP). On acquiring the line in 1912, CP named the siding Retallack. In due course, the postal authorities followed suit for the settlement. The several hotels in the town catered to the workers at the mine, the second largest silver/lead/zinc operation in the British Empire. After the 1956 mine closure, Retallack soon became a

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'' ...

. However, two bunkhouses from the 1940s survive on the highway.

Present community

Some much later houses border the highway. In 1996, the timberframe Retallack Lodge was built on a city block of the old townsite. By 2009, Retallack was ranked as one of the best

heliskiing Heli-skiing is off-trail, downhill skiing or snowboarding where the skier reaches the top of the mountain by helicopter, instead of a ski lift. History In the late 1950s, helicopters were used in Alaska and Europe to access remote terrain. The i ...

operations in the world. Five years later, the enterprise expanded into helibiking.

References

{{Reflist Ghost towns in British Columbia