History
Wardner began development in 1897 after Jim Wardner sold 144 acres to Simon and William Guggenheim. The two brothers built a smelter on the property and divided the remaining land into smaller sized lots, thus starting a boom town. In 1901 Jay A. Humphreys built a planer and saw mill to process the local lumber harvested from the area. Steamboats were used to move materials and people to the other local towns up until 1909 when a road bridge was built across the Kootenay River. Up until the early 1930s the town was thriving. It had two hotels, a couple general stores, an ice cream parlor, a barber shop, a drug store, a golf course, three schools, two churches, a cemetery, a post office, and a police station. In 1931 a fire erupted in the saw mill which ceased its operations temporarily. A depression then hit the town, with more random fires occurring. Many of the businesses were shut down and people were out of jobs; however, the mill began operating again and changed ownership multiple times until it was finally sold in 1962 for parts. With the construction of the Libby Dam, theExternal links
References
{{reflist Populated places in the Regional District of East Kootenay