The SANDNESS Pages - Princeton, British Columbia, Canada V0X 1W0

Here's a puzzle for you:

What had the name, "Untitled",
measures about 30 feet by 60 feet,
started its public life in Vancouver, BC,
has travelled the Hope-Princeton Highway,
can be seen from the Trans Canada Trail in Princeton, BC
& was key in the matter, 'Dead' sculptor surfaces in Seattle?

Click if you give up!

More questions:

1. Where is Princeton, BC anyway?
2. How's the weather there?
3. What's there to do in Princeton, BC?
4. What does the area look like?
5. How's the Fishing?
6. What's it like to live in Princeton, BC?
7. Anything else we should know?

There is some duplication in the listings below:

1. Where is Princeton, BC anyway?

Where in the world is Princeton, BC? Take a closer look;
Princeton, BC Map from MultiMap.com;
Princeton in The Columbia Gazetteer of North America;
To be precise, Latitude - Longitude: 49° 27' 30" N - 120° 30' 30" W.
(Links below to three of the four "corners" of this area).
Handy British Columbia Distance Calculator from Ministry of Transportation.

Princeton, BC, once known as Vermilion Forks, is at the confluence of the Tulameen & Similkameen Rivers. The Vermilion Bluffs (203 KB) are on the Trans Canada Trail, a short hike from town. Sometimes we joke that "Princeton is beyond Hope!" meaning Hope, BC, a two-hour drive to the west (but we know that Princeton is a great place to live)!!

"Living in Hope": Hope & District Chamber of Commerce. Learn more on The Hope Slide of 09 Jan 1965 at Views of Hope Slide and highway landscapes. There is a photo, "Hope Slide" (Don Pirot).

~ Highway 3 (Check Road Reports here) - Princeton, British Columbia is on the map on Highway 3, the Southern Trans-Provincial, also known as the Crowsnest Highway (see also Crowsnest Highway: Hope to Osoyoos, AllGetAways.com) & yet again (in part) known as the Hope-Princeton Highway - about three-and-one-half hours' drive east of Vancouver, BC, (host city of 2010 Winter Olympic & Paralympic Games) & one-and-one-half hours' drive west of Penticton, BC (home of Ironman Canada). Another great "web sight" is Michael Kluckner's Hope-Princeton Highway.

See Allison Pass (BCGNIS Query Results);
Allison Pass (The Canadian Encyclopedia);
"Canadian Pacific Merchandise Services Kenworth taken along Highway 3 between Princeton, BC and Keremeos, BC in 1963" &
Hank Rabe Collection of Pictures of BC (HanksTruckPictures.com);
Check out The Coquihalla and Hope-Princeton Highways website;
Take the virtual drive on the Crow's Nest, Hope to Keremeos (MilebyMile.com);
This includes photos along the route, such as Rainbow over the town of Princeton.
Read about the First Trans-Canada Auto Trip, Halifax, NS to Victoria, BC, 1912;
Look at the Hope Princeton Highway Panoramic Map (Panorama-Map.com);
There is even a song about the Hope Princeton Road!!
(Just wondering: how can you drive three roads at once? The Crowsnest, Hope-Princeton & Southern Trans-Provincial? Hmmm . . .)
More views of the road: Manning Park to Keremeos (JohnHarveyPhoto.com);
And here are old photos of Princeton (Skookum Publications);
See Thompson Okanagan / BC Rockies Tourism.

Going east on Highway 3, from Princeton toward Penticton on the south side of the Similkameen River most of the way, you'll travel through Hedley which is "Famous for Gold":

Canada Day Exploring Mascot Mine (BC4x4.com);
The Columbia Gazetteer of North America;
Heading to Hedley (Greg's 4wd Page);
Hedley, BC (HedleyBC.com);
Hedley, BC (Hedley Heritage Museum Society);
Hedley, BC (RVTimes.com);
Hedley, BC "Famous for Gold" (Cfive.net);
Hedley, BC Stop of Interest (MileByMile.com);
Hedley - Keremeos Cliffs;
Mascot Gold Mine Tours, Hedley BC;
Mascot Mine (Trevor Hennessey);
Mascot Mine Feasibility & Planning Studies (Govt. of BC);
"Mascot Mine, Hedley" (Redivo PhotoArt);
Mascot Mine, Hedley, BC (Bryan H. Smith);
May 2002 4x4 Trip Hedley, BC (Lorilei & Bradley);
Nickel Plate - Mascot Mine (Skookum Publications);
Victoria Day 2001 Nickel Plate Mt., Hedley (BC4x4.com);

Just east of Hedley is Chuchwawa Indian Church; "Chuchuwayha"? or
St. Anne's Roman Catholic Church (Michael Kluckner painting).

~ The old road, known as - the Old Hedley Road! (225 KB) - runs on the north side of the Similkameen River. British Columbia Wildlife Watch has a website with a bit of info, and so does RockClimbing.com - Hedley bouldering. This is a very pretty drive, with "photo ops"!

Keremeos (take a look at their online "Photo Album"!) roughly translated, could be "a river runs through it"! More accurately, "Cut in two by a stream of water". Keremeos is between Hedley & Penticton, & is the Fruit Stand Capital of Canada. Stop by The Grist Mill - it's worth seeing (Don Pirot photo). So are these old photos of Keremeos (Skookum Publications), & these new photos, Manning Park to Keremeos (JohnHarveyPhoto.com). Similkameen Country is another site to check, as is Old Tower Farm, Keremeos, BC.

Links to pictures along the Similkameen River:

Farmland Outside Keremeos, BC (krohn-photos.com);
Former Railway Bridge, Keremeos, BC, (G. Horn);
Fruit Stand, Keremeos (Don Pirot);
Similkameen River (Paula Ho);
Similkameen River (Don Pirot);
Similkameen River, BC (G. Horn);
Similkameen River Just West of Keremeos (krohn-photos.com);
Similkameen River Near Princeton, BC (krohn-photos.com);
"Similkameen Roadside" (Tom Braithwaite painting);
Similkameen Valley, British Columbia (G. Horn);
Similkimeen Valley, Princeton, BC (Landscapes From Canada, Dave Belcher).

More Similkameen Links:

New Findings Fill in 'Missing Link' in Similkameen Prehistory (Langara Archaeology Summer Field School 2003);
South Okanagan-Similkameen Conservation Program.

~ Highway 40 - Another "Road of Many Names" is the Osprey Lake Road, known as the Summerland Back Road, the Five Mile or Highway 40. The Trans Canada Trail crosses over it a number of times. Visit the Osprey Lake Home Page. Take a virtual October drive along Highway 40 (475 KB). Beautiful weather, beautiful colors!

~ Highway 5A - "A Road of Many Numbers." Princeton, BC was at "Mile Zero No. Five Highway" (91 KB) according to the stone marker remaining in town, dated 22 Aug 1967. This road has since become Highway 5A to Merritt & Kamloops, but was formerly part of the Yellowhead Highway system, so that could be a bit confusing. (The 1992 Legislative Session: 1st Session, 35th Parliament Hansard also makes reference to "the Yellowhead Highway 5".) The present-day Highway 5, Coquihalla Toll Highway now runs from Hope to Kamloops. (Note: If you take that route, you'll miss Princeton, so beware!)

By now, you really ought to look at that map of Southern BC! (So should I.)
Here's another map with highway numbers (BCHighway.com).
And a really big BC Road Map (Travel-British-Columbia.com in .pdf).

Head north from Princeton on Highway 5A for an hour or so & you'll be in Merritt, "The Country Music Capital of Canada"! You may also visit Merritt Tourism. Here are a few early photos of Merritt (Skookum Publications). You'll drive through Aspen Grove en route. Here is another "rural shot" taken near Aspen Grove (krohn-photos.com), two of our photos of the old Stage Coach Stop (48 KB) & a painting of a house beside the Okanagan Connector, about 15km east of Merritt, by one of my favorite watercolour artists, Michael Kluckner. Not too far past Merritt on 5A (remember, this is the old road, not Coquihalla Highway 5) are lovely little Nicola & this wonderful house (76 KB), the historic Quilchena Hotel & the road to the Douglas Lake Ranch, the "Douglas Lake Cattle Company, largest working cattle ranch in Canada".

Another hour or so north of Merritt (on either Highway 5 or 5A) is the City of Kamloops. Read a bit about Highway 5A, Kamloops via Princeton & Merritt, the road that was in use before the Coquihalla Highway.

Send a postcard of Barnhartvale - Kamloops, BC!

~ Highway 97C (Check Road Reports here) - If you choose to head east from Aspen Grove, you'll be on British Columbia 97C, the Coquihalla Connector, one of the highest elevation highways in Canada. It meets Highway 97 between Peachland to the south, & the City of Kelowna to the north. Another website: Welcome to Kelowna.

~ Heading in another direction from Princeton, take the Coalmont Road & "Welcome to Coalmont"! Just past the Coalmont General Store & the Silent Spectators (from Flickr.com) is the Coalmont Hotel, established 1911. Coalmont's Last Stand . . . or is it? & The Coalmont Rises Again (CraigJacks.com). You may make a Visit to Coalmont, BC (Show-Control.com, four photo links). British Columbia Wildlife Watch makes mention of Coalmont, as does Hale Sweeny's Lapidary Digest.

Travel back in time with these links:

1891 Coal and Railway, Nicola, Kamloops, and Similkameen (Incorporation);
C.A.P.S. (The Canadian Ancestral Preservation Society);
Citizens of the Millenium (MissionArchives.com);
Coalmont, BC photo &
Coalmont, BC another photo (OldPhotos.ca);
Coalmont, BC Cemetery;
Coalmont Collieries Ltd., formerly Columbia Coal & Coke (Ministry of Energy & Mines);
Coalmont Courier and Tulameen Record (BC Archives Newpapers on Microfilm);
Coalmont, BC - the little city that never quite made it (This is a great site!) -
The Index for the Granite Creek Cemetery (near Coalmont, BC) is now on this site, kindly shared with permission of the above;
Erasing the Maps (Coalmont, Granite Creek);
Old Photos of Coalmont & Granite Creek (Skookum Publications);
Schools Rural & Assisted (The Homeroom British Columbia's History of Education Website).

"King Coal":

BC's Coal Heritage Coal Production Takes Off;
BC's Coal Heritage Dormant Coalfields;
Coalmont Collieries Ltd., formerly Columbia Coal & Coke (Ministry of Energy & Mines);
Explosion in the Colliery, Coalmont BC (1930);
Occurrences in the Similkameen Coalfield Area;
Similkameen Coalfield.

Also see The Columbia Gazetteer of North America as well as "Ghost Towns Nearby". As you head through Coalmont, look back - this is what you'll see.

A few miles beyond Coalmont is Welcome to Tulameen BC:

The Columbia Gazetteer of North America.
Loading Ice at Otter Lake Siding photo (OldPhotos.ca);
Visit the Pollard Wing at the Princeton & District Museum & Archives to see a world-class collection of fossils & more;
Tulameen (Skookum Publications);
Tulameen Platinum GeoQwest Excursions Ltd. is a newly-discovered website;
Tulameen even has its own Tulameen Raspberry!
Photos of Tulameen River, British Columbia (sgcomputes.com);
"Tulameen Shoe Tree" (You figure it out - 21 KB);
"The Tulameen Trail" (E. Pauline Johnson, Tekahionwake, 1862 - 1913);
Tulameen Valley, BC (G. Horn);
Where is Tulameen BC? (Maps)
& the Royal Engineers in this area.

The road north of Otter Lake is scenic (162 KB).

If you continue on the Kettle Valley Railway / Trans Canada Trail (KVR / TCT), northwest of Tulameen, you will find picturesque Brookmere, with its old railroad water tower & caboose (78 KB). More to look at:

Brookmere Boy mp3 ("Railway Tales");
Brookmere Water Tower (Michael Kluckner painting at bottom of page);
Kettle Valley Railway Princeton Subdivision / Penticton to Brookmere;
Mt. Thynne repeater (View west to Coquihalla Highway).

You may check the Provincial Highways Road Reports.

Or bchighway.com;
MilebyMile.com;
Online Highways may have something interesting, too.

The Town of Princeton website (*mentioned near the top of this page) has lots of links, local maps & information.
The Princeton & District Chamber of Commerce also has infomation on accomodations, restuarants, churches & more. Visit the Princeton & District Museum & Archives.

(There is a Church Page on this site.) More tourist info about Princeton, BC is online at:

BC Parks;
bctravel.com;
BritishColumbia.com;
John Cletheroe's USA and Canada Holiday Hints.

2. How's the weather there?

You may check with Environment Canada.
If you don't like what you see there, try The Weather Network ;-)
A picture is worth a thousand words: Weather in January & July 2005 (78 KB).

(The answer to the puzzle near the top of this page is . . . "Phifer's Fountain" 167 KB!)

There's no place like home.

E-mail: mmsandness@hotmail.com

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