Tulameen, originally known as Otter Flat, is a small community in

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, ...

Canada Canada is a country in North America. Its ten provinces and three territories extend from the Atlantic Ocean to the Pacific Ocean and northward into the Arctic Ocean, covering over , making it the world's second-largest country by tot ...

, about 26 kilometres northwest of the town of

Princeton Princeton University is a private research university in Princeton, New Jersey. Founded in 1746 in Elizabeth as the College of New Jersey, Princeton is the fourth-oldest institution of higher education in the United States and one of the ni ...

on 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 b ...

(Hwy 3), and about 185 kilometres northeast from the city of

Vancouver Vancouver ( ) is a major city in western Canada, located in the Lower Mainland region of British Columbia. As the List of cities in British Columbia, most populous city in the province, the 2021 Canadian census recorded 662,248 people in the ...

. Located at the south end of Otter Lake and just north of the

Tulameen River The Tulameen River is a tributary of the Similkameen River in the Canadian province of British Columbia. The Tulameen River is part of the Columbia River drainage basin, being a tributary of the Similkameen River, which flows into the Okanagan Riv ...

, it is on the lee side of the

Canadian Cascades The North Cascades are a section of the Cascade Range of western North America. They span the border between the Canadian province of British Columbia and the U.S. state of Washington and are officially named in the U.S. and Canada as the Cascad ...

mountain range and enjoys a slightly semi-arid climate, sheltered from the heavy rains west of that range.

Early history

The locality was known in fur trade times as Campement des Femmes (Woman's Camp, known as ''Tseistn'' in the native language) which was located in present day Tulameen, was native encampment of women while the men went hunting. In the decades of exploration of the remote areas of the province following the creation of the

Colony of British Columbia The Colony of British Columbia refers to one of two colonies of British North America, located on the Pacific coast of modern-day Canada: *Colony of British Columbia (1858–1866) *Colony of British Columbia (1866–1871) See also *History of Br ...

in 1858 and the flurry of exploration of back-country engendered by the nearby

Fraser Canyon Gold Rush The Fraser Canyon Gold Rush, (also Fraser Gold Rush and Fraser River Gold Rush) began in 1858 after gold was discovered on the Thompson River in British Columbia at its confluence with the Nicoamen River a few miles upstream from the Thompson's c ...

, prospecting activity led to the discovery of gold in 1885local history website
/ref> near the confluence of Granite Creek with the Tulameen River, near present-day Coalmont, about 8 km south of Tulameen and about 18 km northwest of Princeton, which lies at the confluence of the Tulameen and the

Similkameen River The Similkameen River runs through southern British Columbia, Canada, eventually discharging into the Okanagan River near Oroville, Washington, in the United States. Through the Okanagan River, it drains to the Columbia River. The river is said ...

. Around the site of the find, the boomtown of Granite Creek (also known by the misnomer Granite City) sprang from nowhere to celebrated status overnight, and was touted (as with so many other BC boomtowns) to become the next great city of the new province - and claiming for itself the status of third-largest town in the province . Some miners from this rush congregated by the amenable shores of Otter Lake, with the town that sprang up having the name Otter Flats or Otter Lake, which had a number of stores, two hotels, a saloon and post office.

The railway era

The name Otter Flats endured until 1901 when the name Tulameen was officially adopted as the town acquired some stability due to its being on the routing of the southern mainline of the Canadian Pacific Railway, constructed in 1896 after a potential routing of the US-based Great Northern Railway to the Tulameen. The southern mainline is commonly known today as the

Kettle Valley Railway The Kettle Valley Railway was a subsidiary of the Canadian Pacific Railway (CPR) that operated across southern British Columbia, west of Midway running to Rock Creek, then north to Myra Canyon, down to Penticton over to Princeton, Coalmont, Br ...

(KVR), and connected the original mainline at Hope with the Okanagan and Kootenay cities and boomtowns farther east; today much of its route has been converted from railbed to a public hiking and biking as part of the

Trans-Canada Trail The Trans Canada Trail, officially named The Great Trail between September 2016 and June 2021, is a cross-Canada system of greenways, waterways, and roadways that stretches from the Atlantic to the Pacific to the Arctic oceans. The trail extend ...

. During this period, a proper townsite with a street grid was laid out and the lure of the lake, mountain scenery and dry climate of the area encouraged the first recreational residents, as Tulameen enjoyed something of an advantage of being the first drybelt town after the rail journey had overcome the steep grades and

tunnel A tunnel is an underground passageway, dug through surrounding soil, earth or rock, and enclosed except for the entrance and exit, commonly at each end. A pipeline is not a tunnel, though some recent tunnels have used immersed tube cons ...

s of the

Coquihalla Canyon Coquihalla Canyon Provincial Park, popularly called the Othello Tunnels is a provincial park located near Hope, British Columbia focused on the canyon of the Coquihalla River and a decommissioned railway grade, now a walking trail, leading eventu ...

and

Coquihalla Pass Coquihalla Summit (el. ) is a highway summit along the Coquihalla Highway in British Columbia, Canada. It is the highest point on the highway between the cities of Hope and Merritt. It is located just south of the former toll booth plaza on the ...

; coal seams in the area also were useful to rail company operations and the town was a regular stopping-place for taking on coal and water during the Age of Steam. Although early tourism never really transformed Tulameen into the fashionable watering-hole it might have been, the town enjoyed another small boom with the discovery of a major coal deposit in the area, with a mine nearby Blakeburn opening in the 1920s, but lasting only about 1940.

Tulameen today

There are approximately 100 permanent full-time and 150 part-time residents. This number grows in the summer months. The community also has quad rentals, a community centre, an outdoor skating rink, a library, a volunteer fire department, a skidoo dealer and repair centre, and a general store. Tulameen is located in Electoral Area 'H' of the regional district of Okanagan-Similkameen (RDOS). Otter Lake This very popular 6 km long lake covers approximately 290 hectares (716 acres) at an elevation of 823 m (2700 ft.) It is a great recreational lake for swimming, water-skiing and fishing for lake trout, rainbow trout, brook trout and kokanee. The town of Tulameen is located at the south end of the lake and the provincial campsite borders the north-west side. A scenic bike ride will take you along the Trans Canada Trail, and stopping for ice-cream in Tulameen. "The Trading Post" The Tulameen General Store has a restaurant, a liquor store, a post office, and a gas station. "The Otter Sleep Inn" There is a motel with six rooms available, mostly vacant throughout the year, that books solid for the summer months. The motel has propane for sale, a public telephone, public pay showers and a small laundry facility. Summer events "Tulameen Daze" August Long Weekend. A parade takes place on Saturday at noon on the August long weekend. There are many activities and crafts for children and the younger people of the community; there's a beer garden for the adults, with a horseshoe tournament. The community puts on a baron of beef/cob of corn lunch at the town community hall. There are many sights, contests, duck races, raffles and booths to check out on the main street, in town. There's a pancake breakfast and town clean-up on Monday. All funds raised from the Tulameen Daze events supports the community of Tulameen and the Tulameen Fire Department. Miscellaneous note The name "Tulameen" is praised in the poem "Say the Names" by Canadian poet

Al Purdy Alfred Wellington Purdy (December 30, 1918 – April 21, 2000) was a 20th-century Canadian free verse poet. Purdy's writing career spanned fifty-six years. His works include thirty-nine books of poetry; a novel; two volumes of memoirs and four b ...

References

BCGNIS listing "Tulameen (community)"
maintained by the Tulameen Ratepayers Association {{Regional District of Okanagan-Similkameen Unincorporated settlements in British Columbia Ghost towns in British Columbia Populated places in the Similkameen