Seymour Arm, known historically also as Ogdensville or Ogden City and Seymour, is an
unincorporated area and former town located at the head of the inlet of the same name on
Shuswap Lake in
British Columbia,
Canada. Located at the mouth of the
Seymour River, adjacent to
Silver Beach Provincial Park
Silver Beach Provincial Park is a provincial park in British Columbia, Canada, located at the head of the Seymour Arm of Shuswap Lake in that province's Shuswap Country, adjacent to the settlement of Seymour Arm
Seymour Arm, known historicall ...
, and functioning as the disembarkation point for trails over
passes across the
Monashee Mountains connecting that river's valley to that 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 ...
, and navigable by water from
Savona
Savona (; lij, Sann-a ) is a seaport and ''comune'' in the west part of the northern Italy, Italian region of Liguria, capital of the Province of Savona, in the Riviera di Ponente on the Mediterranean Sea.
Savona used to be one of the chie ...
at the farther end of
Kamloops Lake,
History
Seymour Arm became the location of a bustling
boomtown serving travellers to the
Big Bend Gold Rush on the Columbia which grew up around a
Hudson's Bay Company post founded at the start of the rush in 1865. With a peak population of 5000, Seymour Arm had 13 stores, 11 shoemakers, 8 wash houses, 6 barber shops, 6 physicians, 6 saloons, 5 bakeries, 3 restaurants, 2 blacksmiths, 1 bath-house, 1 drug store, 1 stationery shop, a coffee and doughnut stand, and a livery stable. The town was destroyed by fire in the late 1860s but was revived again by English developers promoting the
Seymour Arm Fruits Land Company
Seymour may refer to:
Places Australia
*Seymour, Victoria, a township
*Electoral district of Seymour, a former electoral district in Victoria
*Rural City of Seymour, a former local government area in Victoria
*Seymour, Tasmania, a locality
...
, and a post office, hotel, school and hotel were established in 1910. The hotel closed in 1925 and by 1940 the town was largely abandoned, save for a few remaining settlers.
During and following the Vietnam and Korean Wars circa 1960-70, Seymour Arm drew significant numbers of "draft dodgers" from the United States, known to produce large clandestine outdoor Cannabis plantations in the area and with active smuggling routes to California. Cannabis cultivation continued into modern times with large indoor off-grid diesel-electric "grow-ops" culminating in a famous "bust" in 2004, the largest single Cannabis law enforcement action in Canadian history, involving hundreds of law enforcement officers.
Today the hotel, since reopened with a restaurant and pub, and one of the orchard-era mansions remain, and the locality is a farming and summer-recreational community.
Climate
Seymour Arm has a
humid continental climate (
Dfb) with warm, sometimes hot summers coupled with cool nights, and cold, rainy winters, though mild by Canadian standards.
See also
*
List of ghost towns in British Columbia
References
CBC NewsSeattle Times
External links
{{authority control
Populated places in the Columbia-Shuswap Regional District
Ghost towns in British Columbia
Unincorporated settlements in British Columbia
Canadian gold rushes
British Columbia gold rushes
Shuswap Country
1865 establishments in Canada
Designated places in British Columbia