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Kootenay Bay was formerly Lynchville

Kootenay Bay is the eastern terminal of the Kootenay Lake ferry (not Crawford Bay, as many people inexplicably believe).
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Kootenay Bay was named in 1908 when the post office opened. Prior to that it was called Lynchville after John Lynch.

One-hundred and sixth in a semi-alphabetical series on West Kootenay/Boundary place names

Kootenay Bay, the eastern terminal of the Kootenay Lake ferry (not Crawford Bay, as many people inexplicably believe) was originally known as Lynchville.

According to Terry Turner and Susan Hulland in Impressions of the Past, it was named after its only resident, a Mr. Lynch “who made his living by cutting cordwood for the Kootenay Lake steamboats.”

Ted Affleck in Kootenay Lake Chronicles writes that “J. Lynch … built a house on the lakeshore in the early 1900s. This part of the lakeshore, marked by a small rocky knob was renamed Kootenay Bay after Lynch departed, having lost his house and possessions in a fire.”

John Lynch applied in June 1897 with W.T. McDonald and George W. Orchard for land “on the east shore of Kootenay Lake about 3½ miles north of Pilot Bay.”

That summer he was also embroiled in a lawsuit against J.A. Sayward, “a claim under an agreement for fixing up the Pilot Bay sawmill,” which was settled out of court.

We don’t know anything else about him.

There are further references in 1901 to a John Lynch who was involved in mining around Rossland and a John Lynch who represented the Taylor air compressor company, but it’s not clear if either was the same man.

Lynchville never showed up in the civic directory but was referred to by that name in the BC government sessional papers from 1906-11.

The Kootenaian of May 7, 1908 reported: “The opening of a post office at Lynchville, giving direct mail connection with that section, places another lever in the hands of our merchants to corral the lake trade with …”

By then, however, the name had changed. The Kootenaian of May 28 added: “Kootenay Bay, as Lynchville has now been officially christened, boasts the dignity of a post office …”

But the old name hung on for a while, as demonstrated in the Nelson Daily News of Nov. 21, 1908: “A resident of Lynchville and his wife had what was to them an exciting experience one evening recently …”

Kootenay Bay was first mentioned in a dispatch that appeared in many US newspapers on July 25, 1897: “This afternoon the Omaha & Grant Smetling company announces that it has completed the purchase of the Pilot Bay Smelting company’s plant at Kootenay Bay, British Columbia.” However, there are no other known examples until 1908.

(The etymology of Kootenay is so complicated that we’ll leave it to the end of this series, but suffice it to say that it comes from the Blackfoot word for Ktunaxa.)

In 1947, the eastern Kootenay Lake ferry terminal moved from Gray Creek to Kootenay Bay. The post office closed May 31, 1990 despite community protests.

KRAFT

This is the now-seldom-used name of the railway siding at Castlegar’s Celgar pulp mill. A clipping from an unidentified newspaper of April 22, 1959 in the Elsie Turnbull fonds at Selkirk College states: “Kraft will be the name of the new CPR station on its Kettle Valley line. It will be at the site of Celgar …”

Bleached kraft pulp is Celgar’s principal product. Kraft is the German word for force. The kraft process was invented in 1879.

KRESTOVA

This is one of the few Doukhobor place names still in common use.

It’s first mentioned in Russian in a letter held by Simon Fraser University dated Oct. 22, 1909 and entitled: “A letter from Dolina Krestova to all brothers and sisters from Peter Verigin.”

The first known English transliteration is in the Trail News of Sept. 13, 1918.

According to Jon Kalmakoff’s Doukhobor Genealogy Website, the name meant “valley of the cross.” It was later known as Krestovoye and then Krestova.

For a long time, it was interchangeably transliterated as Crestova. Examples of the latter spelling can be found from the 1930s through the 1960s.

Previous installments in this series

Introduction

Ainsworth

Alamo

Anaconda

Annable, Apex, and Arrow Park

Annable, revisited

Appledale

Applegrove, Appleby, and Appledale revisited

Argenta and Arrowhead

Aylwin

Bakers, Birds, and Bosun Landing

Balfour

Bannock City, Basin City, and Bear Lake City

Beasley

Beaton

Bealby Point

Bealby Point (aka Florence Park) revisited

Belford and Blewett

Beaverdell and Billings

Birchbank and Birchdale

Blueberry and Bonnington

Boswell, Bosworth, Boulder Mill, and Broadwater

Brandon

Brilliant

Brooklyn, Brouse, and Burnt Flat

Burton

Camborne, Cariboo City, and Carrolls Landing

Carmi, Cedar Point, Circle City, and Clark’s Camp

Carson, Carstens, and Cascade City

Casino and Champion Creek

Castlegar, Part 1

Castlegar, Part 2

Castlegar, Part 3

Christina Lake

Christina City and Christian Valley

Clubb Landing and Coltern

Cody and Champion Creek revisited

Champion Creek revisited, again

Columbia

Columbia City, Columbia Gardens, and Columbia Park

Comaplix

Cooper Creek and Corra Linn

Crawford Bay and Comaplix revisited

Crescent Valley and Craigtown

Davenport

Dawson, Deadwood, and Deanshaven

Deer Park

East Arrow Park and Edgewood

Eholt

English Cove and English Point

Enterprise

Erie

Evans Creek and Evansport

Falls City

Farron

Fauquier

Ferguson

Ferguson, revisited

Fife

Forslund, Fosthall, and Fairview

Fort Shepherd vs. Fort Sheppard, Part 1

Fort Shepherd vs. Fort Sheppard, Part 2

Fort Sheppard, revisited

Fraser’s Landing and Franklin

Fredericton

Fruitvale and Fraine

Galena Bay

Genelle

Gerrard

Gilpin and Glade

Gladstone and Gerrard, revisited

Glendevon and Graham Landing

Gloster City

Goldfields and Gold Hill

Grand Forks, Part 1

Grand Forks, Part 2

Granite Siding and Granite City

Gray Creek, Part 1

Gray Creek, Part 2

Gray Creek, revisited

Green City

Greenwood

Halcyon Hot Springs

Hall Siding and Healy’s Landing

Harrop

Hartford Junction

Hills

Howser, Part 1

Howser, Part 2

Howser, Part 3

Howser, Part 4

Hudu Valley, Huntingtdon, and Healy’s Landing revisited

Inonoaklin Valley (aka Fire Valley)

Jersey, Johnsons Landing, and Jubilee Point

Kaslo, Part 1

Kaslo, Part 2

Kaslo, Part 3

Kaslo, Part 4

Kettle River, Part 1

Kettle River, Part 2

Kinnaird, Part 1

Kinnaird, Part 2

Kitto Landing

Kokanee and Keen