Two hundred twenty-second in a series on West Kootenay/Boundary place names
Perry’s Mining Map of West Kootenay, dated March 1893, includes a place on the East Shore of Kootenay Lake called Marysville, a little south of LaFrance Creek.
The earliest newspaper mention of this spot was in the Nelson Miner of Aug. 26, 1893 in reference to silver and copper strikes on White Grouse Mountain: “This new mining country which is reached by Marysville landing at LaFrance creek would appear from the discoveries made up to date to bid to equal the richest of the many rich portions of this district.”
This was a different Marysville than the one that’s now part of Kimberley, but both were named for the St. Mary’s River. By one account the name was chosen by Father Pierre-Jean DeSmet in 1845 after he celebrated mass on the feast day of the Holy Heart of Mary at Tobacco Plains. In any case, the river’s name was in use by 1867.
W.H. Walby and B.H. Lee of Kaslo staked a townsite called Maryville (not Marysville), first advertised in the Miner on Sept. 30, 1893. The ad, which indicated the town was at the mouth of LaFrance Creek, only ran until November.
On Jan. 6, 1894, the first ad appeared in the Nelson Tribune for another townsite called Davie — doubtless after Theodore Davie (1852-98), then BC’s premier. The ad ran until April. Although some references suggest it was the same place as Maryville, others indicate it was further south, near the mouth of Lockhart Creek. If either townsite was actually surveyed, the plans do not survive.
An anonymous correspondent from Kaslo explained in the Miner of April 14: “This spring Marysville is no more. It is the townsite of Davie, as you see advertised in the Tribune, decorated with the words ‘crown grant title.’ That pre-emption was taken up by David Black of Pilot Bay and George Nowell of Victoria, as we see on their advertisement, but Nowell being an American, his name does not appear on the record of pre-emption, only as agent for the townsite at Victoria. This pre-emption was taken up before they pre-empted it.”
The correspondent further accused of Black and Nowell of pushing out two prospectors who built a cabin in the area and of stopping the construction of a trail up LaFrance Creek. Black and Nowell instead started a petition asking the government to build the trail from their townsite via Lockhart Creek.
A letter to the Miner of Feb. 16, 1895 groused about the route of the proposed White Grouse trail, but James Black, a brother to David, replied that Lockhart Creek was the more sensible option.
The following year Davie was replaced or upstaged by Sanca, which we’ll look at later in this series. Ads in June 1896 for the SS Angerona indicated the boat sailed between “Pilot Bay, Davie, and Sanca (Granite Creek),” so it seemed like they were separate places.
The last mention of the Davie townsite was in The Ledge of June 17, 1897, although Mount Davie, presumably named after the townsite, survives. It was so called by 1900.
DEEP CREEK
This spot in the Boundary, six miles east of Cascade City, earned its own entry in the 1915 civic directory, even though it only had three residents: Murt Carroll, Thomas J. Carroll, and Robert F. Page, all ranchers. The 1911 census found the Carrolls living there along with a Colbran family.
Deep Creek wasn’t in the 1918 civic directory; the Colbrans were listed under Cascade while the Carrolls were missing. On the 1921 census, the Carrolls and Colbrans were both listed at Fife.
While there are six Deep Creeks in BC, this one is not officially on the books.
DEEP WATER LANDING
This place, also spelled Deepwater Landing, was somewhere on the northeast arm of Upper Arrow Lake near Beaton. It was where ore from the local mines was deposited to await transportation to the Trail smelter.
It was mentioned several times in the Lardeau Eagle and Revelstoke Herald, but usually spelled lower case, which suggests it wasn’t considered a proper name.
The first reference was in the Herald of Sept. 11, 1897: “Dan Keen and a few men are repairing the road to the deep water landing.”
The last known mention was in the Revelstoke Mail Herald of April 29, 1908: “The provincial government are now construction a road from the end of the present Camborne-Beaton road to the deep water landing at Beaton.”
