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Wikipedia / Golden, British Columbia

Golden is a town in southeastern British Columbia, Canada, west of Calgary, Alberta, and east of Vancouver.

History

In 1807, David Thompsonrenowned fur trader, surveyor, and map makerwas tasked by the North West Company to open a trading route to the lucrative trading territories of the Pacific Northwest. He first crossed over the Rocky Mountains and travelled along the Blaeberry River to the future site of Golden.

In 1881, the Canadian Pacific Railway (CPR) hired surveyor A. B. Rogers to find a rail route through the Selkirk and Rocky Mountains, and in 1882, he found the pass now named for him. Rogers established a base camp for his survey crew led by a man named McMillan. Initially known as McMillan's Camp, the settlement was the beginning of the town of Golden.

In the late 1890s, the CPR began importing Swiss mountain guides to assist travellers drawn to the area, Glacier National Park, Yoho National Park and the Rogers Pass region, as part of their efforts to promote tourism to the area's mountain parks. The railway built a group of chalet-style houses in an area known as Edelweiss, some of them still standing, to encourage guides to bring their families to Canada and remain year-round. The men were some of those early ascenders of local mountains and helped pioneer the ski industry in the region.

Golden is also the site of notable South Asian Canadian history, after Sikh settlers first arrived in Golden in 1902 to work at the Columbia River Lumber Company. These early settlers built the first (Sikh temple) in North America in 1905, which burned down in 1926.

Much of the town's history is tied into the CPR and the logging industry. The town's economy still relies heavily on those two influences, but the development of Kicking Horse Mountain Resort, along with other outdoor adventure companies, has allowed the town to diversify into tourism. Mount 7, which is just southeast of town, is also an outdoor activity destination. The town forms part of the Golden Triangle cycle route.

Kicking Horse Pedestrian Bridge is the longest freestanding timber-framed bridge in Canada. Planned as a community project by the Timber Framers Guild, volunteers from Golden were joined by carpenters and timber framers from the United States and from Europe. The bridge structure is long, with a Burr arch structure. The bridge was completed in September 2001. In June 2021, the Golden Skybridge opened. The bridge is the highest suspension bridge in Canada.

The Golden meteorites fell there on October 4, 2021.

Geography

Golden is nestled in the Rocky Mountain Trench, built around the confluence of the Columbia and Kicking Horse rivers, surrounded by three different mountain ranges (most notably the Dogtooth Range of the Purcell Mountains and the Rocky Mountains) and five national parks: Yoho National Park, Banff National Park, Jasper National Park, Glacier National Park, and Kootenay National Park.

Golden is on Highway 1 (the Trans-Canada Highway), and it is the northern terminus of Highway 95, connecting it to the United States via the rest of the East Kootenay region and the city of Cranbrook, British Columbia (B.C. Highway 95 is a continuation of U.S. Route 95, which runs north-to-south through the U.S. and into Mexico). The Trans-Canada Highway east of Golden has numerous upgrade projects ongoing to greatly improve the roadway west of the Yoho National Park boundary. The Ten Mile Hill section of the project was recently completed and is a major upgrade to the old highway.

Climate

Golden has a climate with influences of the humid continental (Dfb) and semi-arid (BSk) varieties. Summers are warm but rarely hot, with winters being somewhat moderated in comparison to areas east of the Rockies. Annual snowfall is heavy, averaging .

Demographics

In the 2021 Census of Population conducted by Statistics Canada, Golden had a population of 3,986 living in 1,734 of its 1,892 total private dwellings, a change of from its 2016 population of 3,708. With a land area of , it had a population density of in 2021.

Ethnicity

Religion

According to the 2021 census, religious groups in Golden included:

Economy

Golden has a service and resource-based economy.

Education

Public education is provided by School District 6 Rocky Mountain which operates 3 primary schools and one secondary school. Community College education is offered by the Golden Campus of the College of the Rockies.

Sports

Notable people

See also

Notes

References