Columbia and Western Railway

Fritz Augustus Heinze, who opened a smelter at Butte, Montana in 1893, was seeking investment opportunities. Attracted by the emerging mining boom on Red Mountain, Rossland, Heinze incorporated the British Columbia Smelting and Refining Company with a commitment to lay trackage between the mines and the Trail smelter. From the smelter, which opened in February 1896, boats could carry the metal concentrate to complete the purification at a refinery. However, his then competitor denied him access to rail transport downriver.

Fearful that further railway competition would capture the ore supply for the smelter, Heinze sought to enlarge the catchment area. He obtained a provincial charter for C&W in April 1896, which authorized a line from the Columbia River west through the metal-rich Boundary District to Penticton on Lake Okanagan. Both ends had river boat services that connected with Canadian Pacific Railway (CP) lines. Provincial land grants per completed mile were 10,240 acres (4,140 ha) for narrow-gauge trackage or 20,000 acres (8,100 ha) for standard gauge.[1][2]

In November 1895, crews began grading a 13-foot wide railbed from Trail along Trail Creek, and up Red Mountain, the final section having switchbacks. The C&W acquired five locomotives, and purchased used rails for laying the 3 ft (914 mm) narrow gauge line. The first loaded ore train ran in June 1896. In December that year, the three times daily Rossland–Trail passenger service commenced.[1]

In September 1897, C&W opened a Trail–West Robson line, terminating on the opposite shore to the CP Robson docks. Mixed trains soon ran on the route. From here, steamboat and rail could take concentrate from the Trail smelter to Butte for refining. However, the immediate value of his land grants were small, and Heinze lacked the necessary resources to extend the line westward.[2]

In May 1891, the Robson–Nelson rail link of the Columbia and Kootenay Railway (C&K) was completed.[7] Between July 1897 and October 1898, CP built westward from Lethbridge via the Crowsnest Pass to the Kootenay Landing terminal. Although the charter specified Nelson, lake boats completed this link until an all-rail route was opened in January 1931.[8] This section accessed the Crowsnest coal deposits.[3]

Advancing westward from Midway, the Kettle Valley Railway (KVR) connected to Penticton in October 1914, and Merritt in fall 1915, providing a link to Vancouver, with the more direct route via the Coquihalla Pass opening in July 1916.[9] Although technically, west of Midway is KVR, and east is C&W,[10] the Kettle Valley designation was later ascribed to the whole route.