Robson is an unincorporated community 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 former

steamboat A steamboat is a boat that is marine propulsion, propelled primarily by marine steam engine, steam power, typically driving propellers or Paddle steamer, paddlewheels. Steamboats sometimes use the ship prefix, prefix designation SS, S.S. or S/S ...

landing and railway terminal is on the northeast side of the

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

. The residential area is off Broadwater Road, within the northwest part of Greater Castlegar.

Established

In 1888, civil servant

Gilbert Malcolm Sproat Gilbert Malcolm Sproat (19 April 1834 – 4 June 1913) was a Scottish-born Canadian businessman, office holder, and author. Biography Born in Brighouse Farm Borgue near Kirkcudbright, Scotland, he arrived on Vancouver Island in 1860, where h ...

set aside a half-section of land for a government reserve. The water deeper, and high banks protecting the shore from flooding, the location was about upstream from the Norns (formerly Pass) Creek delta. Bordering in 1890, 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 ...

(CP) acquired around 70 acres about from the creek. The location was named after Premier John Robson for his support of CP endeavours. In 1891, the CP's

Columbia and Kootenay Railway The Columbia and Kootenay Railway (C&KR) was a historic railway operated by the Canadian Pacific Railway (CPR) in the West Kootenay region of British Columbia. This route, beside the unnavigable Kootenay River, linked Nelson on the west arm of ...

(C&K) reached its new western terminal. C&K opened a depot, installed a

turntable A phonograph, in its later forms also called a gramophone (as a trademark since 1887, as a generic name in the UK since 1910) or since the 1940s called a record player, or more recently a turntable, is a device for the mechanical and analogu ...

, and ran tracks along the new steamboat dock.

Flourished

Sproat's Landing diminished and Robson flourished. For overnight stays and mail, Louis Levesque was hotelier and postmaster. Otherwise, passengers transferred directly from train to

sternwheeler A paddle steamer is a steamship or steamboat powered by a steam engine that drives paddle wheels to propel the craft through the water. In antiquity, paddle wheelers followed the development of poles, oars and sails, where the first uses were w ...

. Freight cars rolled onto barges. The upstream route to

Arrowhead An arrowhead or point is the usually sharpened and hardened tip of an arrow, which contributes a majority of the projectile mass and is responsible for impacting and penetrating a target, as well as to fulfill some special purposes such as sign ...

connected with the spur from Revelstoke. However, low water and ice on the

Arrow Lakes The Arrow Lakes in British Columbia, Canada, divided into Upper Arrow Lake and Lower Arrow Lake, are widenings of the Columbia River. The lakes are situated between the Selkirk Mountains to the east and the Monashee Mountains to the west. Bea ...

made the water route unreliable. In 1897, the CP built a C&K branch line from

South Slocan South Slocan is an unincorporated community in rural British Columbia with a population of approximately 100 people, many of whom are followers of the Doukhobors religion. It is located on the northwest shore of the Kootenay River in the West Kooten ...

up the Slocan Valley diverting much lake traffic from Robson. That year, 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 invest ...

opened to West Robson on the opposite bank. Prior to the rail bridge, steamers and barges shuttled freight and passengers between the two Robsons. On timetables, and occasionally newspapers, the former terminal was called East Robson.

Reinvented

On the 1902 completion of the rail bridge across the

at Sproat's Landing, West Robson became the ferry terminal, and businesses and residents relocated. East Robson was reinvented as commercial orchard lots. The name eventually reverted to simply Robson. The railway tracks to East Robson were soon lifted. However, the CP steamers continued to call at both Robsons until the withdrawal of all Arrow Lakes services in the mid-1950s. By 1908, a general store opened, and that year the Baptists built a church and opened a school. Poultry farming intensified. In 1921, the school moved into the old hotel, which had been renovated. The orchards did not work out, but in 1919, the establishment of the Robson–Castlegar cable-guided

reaction ferry A reaction ferry is a cable ferry that uses the reaction of the current of a river against a fixed tether to propel the vessel across the water. Such ferries operate faster and more effectively in rivers with strong currents. Some reaction ferri ...

developed Robson into a bedroom community for the larger centre. Ferry service ended in 1988. The 1994 opening of the Robson–Castlegar bridge restored a direct link.

Recent decades

Since the dividing line between Robson and

Raspberry The raspberry is the edible fruit of a multitude of plant species in the genus ''Rubus'' of the rose family, most of which are in the subgenus '' Idaeobatus''. The name also applies to these plants themselves. Raspberries are perennial with w ...

to the east is debatable, Robson-Raspberry is the unofficial amalgamation for census and improvement district purposes. In 2014,

Robson/Raspberry Robson/Raspberry is a designated place located north of Castlegar across the Columbia River combining two historical communities, Robson, formerly a steamboat landing and railway terminal, and Raspberry, formerly encompassing Sproat's Landing an ...

opened a new water treatment plant, ending two decades of being on a boil water advisory. That year, Johnny's Groceries and Gas experienced an armed robbery. In 2016, the craft beer put the Lion's Head Pub on British Columbia Magazine's list of top ten establishments.

References

Populated places in the West Kootenay Unincorporated settlements in British Columbia British Columbia populated places on the Columbia River {{CentralKootenay-geo-stub