BackHISTORY


Complements of the Cranbrook Chamber of Commerce

Cranbrook has a long and colorful history involving natives, land barons, railroads and gold. The first people to inhabit the Cranbrook region were the Ktunaxa ("Too nah' hah") native people; they have lived in this area for more than ten thousand years. David Thompson, an early explorer, was the first white man to explore the Kootenay River in the early 1800's. He established trade with the Ktunaxa. The early contacts between Ktunaxa and white explorers were peaceful and characterized by friendship and respect.

An 1860's gold find on the Wildhorse Creek brought miners, land hungry barons and pioneers to the area. It has been said that more gold was taken from this small corner of B.C. than was taken from the entire gold fields of California. The burgeoning population led to increased unrest between the natives and the settlers. In 1887 Superintendent Samuel B. Steele was brought to the settlement of Galbraith's Ferry, later renamed Fort Steele in his honor, and successfully negotiated a peaceful arrangement between the natives and the settlers.

The town of Cranbrook was originally the ranch of Colonel James Baker, a retired colonel from the British navy, who named the area after his ancestral home in Cranbrook, Kent, England. Cranbrook replaced Fort Steele as the principle community in the area after the Canadian Pacific Railway bypassed Fort Steele in favor of Cranbrook in 1898. Cranbrook was incorporated in 1905.

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