An unpretentious building at Christina Lake with connections to the Japanese-Canadian internment might be added to the Regional District of Kootenay Boundary’s heritage register.
The wooden building at 154 Alpine Road is owned by the Christina Lake Alpine Resort Association, which uses it for storage. It was built in 1930 by George Charles Archibald Brown as part of the Alpine Inn and is both one of the few remaining buildings from that era at the lake and the only surviving building from the original resort.
According to background included with a proposed bylaw, Brown built the 30-room hotel at English Point to serve a growing tourist industry. His property also had a tennis court, bathing houses, a diving tower, and private cottages. The building in question was once a service station and garage for guests who arrived by automobile.
During the Second World War, over 100 Japanese-Canadians were interned at the Alpine Inn. (Neil Kishi has compiled a list of those people.) They used the building to store gas and keresone, which was used to heat and light the hotel. The BC Security Commission, which was tasked with administering the internment, also used the building as an office.
After the war, the building continued to be used to store gas. The Alpine Inn burned down in 1950 and the property was redeveloped as a campground. The gas pump was removed and the building was then used to store equipment to maintain the campground. The Christina Lake Alpine Resort Association was established in 1978 and became the building’s owner.
The building’s history was not well known, however, until association member Jamie Forbes began looking into it about six years ago. The group’s self-described “de facto archivist” was writing a book on the history of English Point.
“I got interested in the internment of Japanese Canadians at the hotel,” he said. “Then it sort of morphed into something bigger. That’s when I really got interested in the history of the property and the resort. But up until I published the book, I don’t think many people in Christina Lake even knew the building existed.”
Two of the building’s three windows are original, along with its roof supports, floorboards, and foundation support. Its siding may be original as well. It has been re-roofed and was recently repainted.
Although the building is generally in good condition, it needs work to prevent its wooden foundation from rotting and more rafters or trusses to strengthen the roof. Forbes said without those reinforcements they are concerned the roof may be damaged by heavy snow loads. Parts of the floor also need replacing.
Forbes said they hope heritage status will help leverage grants for the rehabilitation work. He added they want to preserve the building for their own purposes and as a piece of Christina Lake history. Area director Grace McGregor has been generous in helping them and supportive as they seek to have the building added to the RDKB heritage register, Forbes said.
The RDKB board has given two readings to a bylaw, which is now subject to a public hearing. If approved, this would be the fourth site on the RDKB heritage register, after the Makortoff Doukhobor village near Grand Forks (previously known as the Hardy Mountain museum), the Cascade cemetery, and the Franklin trail.
An interpretive panel describing the internment of Japanese Canadians at the Alpine Inn was put up last September. Forbes said he is pleasantly surprised at how much attention it has been getting. Recently, he met a woman who was looking at the sign and learned that her parents and other relatives were in one of the pictures. The next day, a family from Grand Forks came especially to see the sign.
“So it’s been really well received,” Forbes said. “I’m very, very pleased that it’s actually doing what it was supposed to do: inform people about the history of the Alpine Inn and our property.”
After the internment ended, about 10 Japanese-Canadian families stayed in Christina Lake and worked for the Sandner Brothers sawmill. While Christina Lake’s internment history is not nearly as well known as some other local places like Greenwood or New Denver, it does have a unique claim to fame: at least three of its roads are named after Japanese-Canadian families: Kimura Road, Ode Road, and Nishi Lane.
