Canadian Railroads > MLW Monday's-Once upon a time in the west redux.

It is late April, 1970 as M630 4579 & SD40 5516, with another pair of 4500's on a westbound unit coal train, approach Donald BC.

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Hard to tell, but Donald was a railway division point until the early 1900's.

During the construction years, North West Mounted Police Sergeant Sam Steele single handedly quelled a riot at Donald.

William Mackenzie's (of Canadian Northern fame) sister ran a hotel at Donald, while her brother and Donald Mann (also of CNor fame) built bridges in Rogers Pass.

A massive forest fire destroyed much of the town in 1913, by that time mostly abandoned as the Division point had been closed. The five houses occupied by trackworkers and their families were saved.

A large sawmill was built at Donald by Kicking Horse Forest Products, taking over much of the former townsite and railyard.
KHFP had their own logging railway which ran south to Golden along the west shore of the Columbia River.

The mill survived into the 1990's.



Edited 2 time(s). Last edit at 01/19/15 10:13 by eminence_grise.

Thanks for the background info Phil! Really adds to the post.

Craig
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