B.C. history society publishes book celebrating Cranbrook's century-old history

A non-profit society in B.C.'s East Kootenayregion has recently published a book onthe history of itsmajor town.

Early this month,Forgotten Cranbrook: A Photo History of Early Cranbrook and Districtwas published bythe Columbia Basin Institute of Regional History.

The instituteworks with museums and archives across the Kootenays from Valemount in the north to Rossland in the south to digitize some 100,000 historical photos.

The 120-page book features old photographs from the city and local archives to tell stories of Cranbrook residentsfrom the 1880s to 1960s.

Cranbrook, about 80 kilometres north of the border with the U.S. and about a 140-kilometre drive west of the border with Alberta,is home to nearly 20,500 people.

Author Keith Powell, whoowned and operated publishing houses for three decades before retiring and becoming a board member of the institute three years ago,selected 125 photos from the institute's digital collection for the book.

After seeing photo books on other cities, Powell says he felt the history of Cranbrook, incorporated in 1905, deserves to be honoured with a book of its own.

He started writing the book last summer.

"Some of the themes that we tried to highlight are early industry and commerce, particularly the logging and lumbering industry," he toldguest host Alya Ramadan on CBC's Daybreak South.

One of Powell's favourite photosis that of theCranbrook Hotel, which was built in 1897 and still stands today at the junction of Baker Street and 8th Avenue.

"We had this image of a young woman standing in front of the hotel when it virtually was empty, because they built it a year before the railway arrived and there was nobody staying there they were anticipating the arrival of CPR," he said.

In 1898, Col. James Bakerconvinced the Canadian Pacific Railway(CPR) to build a railway line through Cranbrook instead of the nearby mining town of Fort Steele.

Book editor Derryll Whitesays he and Powell spent a lot of time selectingthe best photos for the book.

White says he is particularly satisfied with those showing the town's cultural diversity: the Ktunaxa people and immigrants from China, Japan and Eastern European countries.

White, who founded the Institute of Regional History in 2004 and previously served for 30 years as thecurator of Fort Steele Heritage Town,says it's important for peopleto understand their regional history.

"It's really important for people to know where they live," he said.

"The more you know about the place you live in, the more you respect it. The more you protect it, the more you want it to grow in a really reasonable way and be something beautiful that you could hand onto your kids."