Elko is located at the junction of Highway 93 and the

Crowsnest Highway The Crowsnest Highway is an east-west highway in British Columbia and Alberta, Canada. It stretches across the southern portions of both provinces, from Hope, British Columbia to Medicine Hat, Alberta, providing the shortest highway connection ...

, to the north of the Roosville

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' ...

crossing. A small sawmill town, Elko is situated near the southern end of the

Rocky Mountain Trench The Rocky Mountain Trench, also known as the Valley of a Thousand Peaks or simply the Trench, is a large valley on the western side of the northern part of North America's Rocky Mountains. The Trench is both visually and cartographically a ...

at the edge of a plateau at the base of the

Canadian Rockies The Canadian Rockies () or Canadian Rocky Mountains, comprising both the Alberta Rockies and the British Columbian Rockies, is the Canadian segment of the North American Rocky Mountains. It is the easternmost part of the Canadian Cordillera, w ...

, in the

East Kootenay The Regional District of East Kootenay (RDEK) is a regional district in the Canadian province of British Columbia, Canada. In the 2016 census, the population was 60,439. Its area is . The regional district offices are in Cranbrook, the large ...

region of southeastern

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 ...

Location

Elko is located in the extreme southeastern corner of British Columbia, in the

Regional District of East Kootenay The Regional District of East Kootenay (RDEK) is a regional district in the Canadian province of British Columbia, Canada. In the 2016 census, the population was 60,439. Its area is . The regional district offices are in Cranbrook, the large ...

, at the junction of Highway 93 and Highway 3, south of Fernie and approximately north of the

border crossing at Roosville. Angling is available on the

Kootenay River The Kootenay River or Kootenai River is a major river of the Northwest Plateau in southeastern British Columbia, Canada, and northern Montana and Idaho in the United States. It is one of the uppermost major tributaries of the Columbia River, ...

and the nearby Bull River. The population of Elko is 163.

History

The

Kutenai The Kutenai ( ), also known as the Ktunaxa ( ; ), Ksanka ( ), Kootenay (in Canada) and Kootenai (in the United States), are an indigenous peoples of the Americas, indigenous people of Canada and the United States. Kutenai bands live in so ...

(Ktunaxa) had for generations mined

argillite Argillite () is a fine-grained sedimentary rock composed predominantly of Friability, indurated clay particles. Argillaceous rocks are basically lithified muds and Pelagic sediment, oozes. They contain variable amounts of silt-sized particles. T ...

in the neighbourhood, there was nothing at Elko but a few

survey stakes Construction surveying or building surveying (otherwise known as "staking", "stake-out", "lay-out", or "setting-out") is to provide dimensional control for all stages of construction work, including the stake out of reference points and markers t ...

and a crude tote road before the Foley Brothers' grading crews worked through here towards the end of May, 1898, building the roadbed of the B.C. Southern. When the railroad went through in July, 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 ...

erected what it called a "Crowsnest Pass Branch Standard Second Class Station" and Elko began to grow as Charles E. Ayre's North Star Lumber Company commenced operations in the woods. North Star soon built a 100,000 board foot-per-day planer mill on the BC Southern near the Elko station to finish the rough lumber coming out of their mill near Jaffray, while nearby the Leask and Johnson saw mill screamed out 60,000 per day. Eventually at least nine timbering outfits were at work along the railway, on the delta of the Elk and the shores of the Kootenay River. As the last of the easy timber was cut or burned away in the several fires which ravaged the area between 1904 and 1910, the smaller lumber companies began to shut down. Though ranching and orchard industries sprung up on the deforested acres, they did not employ nearly the numbers that logging had and the pace of commerce in Elko slowed. The recession following the Great War diminished coal exports from the mines farther up the Elk and the railroads scaled back their operations.

Fires

As it was in so many pioneer settlements built mostly from wood, fire was Elko's nemesis. A blaze in 1914 gave a foretaste of the conflagration of Monday, 8 September 1919, which consumed the old Melbourne House, Fred Roo's general store and post office, the telephone exchange, and the pool hall. In 1924 a "hurricane" ripped through the valley damaging the town, and a fire in early December 1925 wiped out more of the central business district. It was nothing, however, compared to the inferno that blew into the community from the delta on Tuesday, 18 August 1931.

Wildlife

The most common wildlife in the Elko area are mainly elk, whitetail deer, mule deer, big horn sheep, turkey, grouse, and black bear. Which can be commonly and often seen throughout the area. Uncommon animals that are located in the area but are more elusive includes wolves, cougar, grizzly bear, moose, and a large assortment of birds and rodents.

Local media

Radio stations

* 102.9 FM - CHDR-FM, Rock, Cranbrook * 104.7 FM - CHBZ-FM, Country, Cranbrook * 101.3 FM -

CBC Radio One CBC Radio One is the English-language news and information radio network of the publicly owned Canadian Broadcasting Corporation. It is commercial-free and offers local and national programming. It is available on AM and FM to 98 percent o ...

, Kelowna

Cable television stations

* Channel 5: CFCN, CTV * Channel 13: CBUT,

CBC CBC may refer to: Media * Cadena Baja California or Grupo Cadena, a radio and television broadcaster in Mexico * Canadian Broadcasting Corporation, Canada's radio and television public broadcaster ** CBC Television ** CBC Radio One ** CBC Music ** ...

References

External links

Elko
{{Webarchive, url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110522053838/http://www.elko.ca/ , date=22 May 2011
www.crowsnest-highway.ca
Elk Valley (British Columbia) Populated places in the Regional District of East Kootenay