Brooklyn, British Columbia

The first appearance in print of the Brooklyn settlement name was 1898. William Parker, the townsite owner, had preempted the land a few years earlier. He reputedly named it after his native Brooklyn, New York. A natural arch in the vicinity is sometimes called after the more famous Brooklyn Bridge.[2][3]

In June 1898, Brooklyn became the Daniel Mann, Foley Bros., and Peter Larson[4] construction headquarters for the Columbia and Western Railway westward extension. Anticipating a secure future as a mining town, infrastructure included a newspaper, hospital, large wharf, meat wholesaler, laundry, brewery cold storage, several hotels, and multiple stores.[5] That month, a wagon road was constructed for conveying equipment and supplies from the wharf up Pup Creek to the Bulldog Tunnel project and other points along the imminent railway line.[6]

By July, 10 hotels were open, and five more were under construction.[3] That month, a police constable arrived.[7] By August, the Brooklyn–Robson steamboats departed four times daily. The same month, the town water supply system,[8] the two-cell jail,[9] and the opera house, were completed.[10]

L.M. Livingstone was the inaugural postmaster 1898–1899.[11] In November, the Brooklyn–Cascade City stage line was revived. The previous venture, launched in September, ended after a few trips.[12][13]

In January, 1899, a hotel and adjoining building burned to the ground. That month, the railway contractors' payroll office,[14] followed by the balance of headquarters staff, relocated to Cascade City.[15] By this time, the remaining hospital patients had largely transferred to the Cascade hospital.[16]

By March, Brooklyn was largely deserted, but the three times weekly boat arrivals unloaded supplies for haulage to the work camps along the line.[17] That month is the final mention of Constable Forrester being in residence.[18] Also, Frank Corte took over the stage line and mail delivery along the route to Cascade City,[19] likely closing down not long after the September opening of the railway line.[20]

From a peak of 15 hotels, closures left eight still operating in April,[21] but only one by July.[22] In September, a fortuitous fire destroyed the insured store and adjacent buildings.[23] The sole store and hotel receive no mention after this date.[24] The post office, which closed in August, possibly later reopened for several months, but the location is unclear.[11] After less than a one-year existence, the forming bustling town was stripped of doors, windows, and anything salvageable that could be carried away.[25]

A decade later, the vacant site was included in land subdivided for orchards,[2] but was submerged when the Keenleyside Dam flooded the area in 1968.[26]

• "1899 Kootenay map". www.library.ubc.ca. p. 1.

• Turner, Robert D.; Wilkie, J.S. David (2007). Steam Along the Boundary. Sono Nis Press. ISBN 978 1-55039-158-9.