One-hundred sixty first in an alphabetical series on West Kootenay/Boundary place names
Rhone, a former railway siding four miles west of Westbridge and 18 miles east of Beaverdell, was first mentioned in the Kelowna Record of June 10, 1915 on a list of names given to stations on the Kettle Valley Railway from Midway to Merritt.
The name was chosen by the Saunier family who moved there around 1909. Martial (1858-1940) and Victorie (1859-1947) and their ten children hailed from Saint-Remy, in the Rhône-Alps region of southeastern France.
According to a family history in the Boundary Historical Society’s fifth report (1967), son Eugene came to Canada first in 1904 to scout for a new home. He tried Alberta, where he worked on farms and in coal mines, but the Prairies didn’t appeal to him, so after four years he continued on to BC, arriving in Midway in the spring of 1908.
“He knew at once that the Kettle Valley was the place he had been looking for and his next letter home was full of enthusiasm about the Kettle Valley country,” the family history reads.
His brother Camille and sister Leontine arrived that fall and went to Isaac Fillmore’s farm near Westbridge, which Eugene rented for the family. This was the place that would become Rhone. The rest of the family came in May 1909 and a year later Leontine and Isaac married. They had four children, including daughter Renee, who died last month in New Westminster at 94.
The 1911 census listed the Sauniers as living simply on the west fork of the Kettle River, so the name Rhone was probably chosen around the time of railway construction.
The family worked the Fillmore farm for many years. Nearby Saunier Creek and Saunier Lake are named after them.
Today Rhone is best known for its Trans Canada Trail rest stop, built by longtime resident Paul Lautard and dedicated in 2000. It includes a shelter, picnic tables, replica caboose, and cenotaph.
The name is also perpetuated in Blythe-Rhone Road.
Rideau
This little-known siding on the Vancouver, Victoria, and Eastern Railway was first listed in the 1910 BC directory as nine miles east of Grand Forks. It’s not known why the name was chosen, but rideau is French for curtain.
The 1911 census found 14 residents at Rideau Station, of whom eight were Chinese and two were Austrian. Although it’s difficult to read, they appear to have been railway section hands.
In 1918, three residents were listed in the civic directory at Rideau: Clinton Arthur Strickland Atwood, James Anderson Harris, and Horace Knight, all farmers or ranchers. (Atwood was a well-known figure in the Boundary, at one time proprietor of Riverside Nurseries.)
On the 1921 census, Rideau was no longer considered a place unto itself — residents were simply included in the listings for Cascade. After 1922, it was still included as in the civic directory as a settlement along the railway, but no residents were named. It was gone by 1934.
Previous installments in this series
Applegrove, Appleby, and Appledale revisited
Bakers, Birds, and Bosun Landing
Bannock City, Basin City, and Bear Lake City
Bealby Point (aka Florence Park) revisited
Boswell, Bosworth, Boulder Mill, and Broadwater
Brooklyn, Brouse, and Burnt Flat
Camborne, Cariboo City, and Carrolls Landing
Carmi, Cedar Point, Circle City, and Clark’s Camp
Carson, Carstens, and Cascade City
Christina City and Christian Valley
Cody and Champion Creek revisited
Champion Creek revisited, again
Columbia City, Columbia Gardens, and Columbia Park
Crawford Bay and Comaplix revisited
Dawson, Deadwood, and Deanshaven
English Cove and English Point
Forslund, Fosthall, and Fairview
Fort Shepherd vs. Fort Sheppard, Part 1
Fort Shepherd vs. Fort Sheppard, Part 2
Gladstone and Gerrard, revisited
Hall Siding and Healy’s Landing
Hudu Valley, Huntingtdon, and Healy’s Landing revisited
Inonoaklin Valley (aka Fire Valley)
Jersey, Johnsons Landing, and Jubilee Point
Kootenay Bay, Kraft, and Krestova
Kuskonook (and Kuskanax), Part 3
Labarthe, Lafferty, and Longbeach
Makinsons Landing and Marblehead
McDonalds Landing, McGuigan, and Meadow Creek
Meadows, Melville, and Miles’ Ferry
Mirror Lake and Molly Gibson Landing
Montgomery and Monte Carlo, Part 1
Montgomery and Monte Carlo, Part 2
Poupore, Powder Point, and Power’s Camp