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PLACE NAMES: Rhone and Rideau

Rhone, a former railway siding four miles west of Westbridge, was first mentioned in the Kelowna Record of June 10, 1915.
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Paul Lautard is seen in front of the war memorial at the Rhone rest stop that he created along the Trans Canada Trail.

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

Introduction

Ainsworth

Alamo

Anaconda

Annable, Apex, and Arrow Park

Annable, revisited

Appledale

Applegrove, Appleby, and Appledale revisited

Argenta and Arrowhead

Aylwin

Bakers, Birds, and Bosun Landing

Balfour

Bannock City, Basin City, and Bear Lake City

Beasley

Beaton

Bealby Point

Bealby Point (aka Florence Park) revisited

Belford and Blewett

Beaverdell and Billings

Birchbank and Birchdale

Blueberry and Bonnington

Boswell, Bosworth, Boulder Mill, and Broadwater

Brandon

Brilliant

Brooklyn, Brouse, and Burnt Flat

Burton

Camborne, Cariboo City, and Carrolls Landing

Carmi, Cedar Point, Circle City, and Clark’s Camp

Carson, Carstens, and Cascade City

Casino and Champion Creek

Castlegar, Part 1

Castlegar, Part 2

Castlegar, Part 3

Christina Lake

Christina City and Christian Valley

Clubb Landing and Coltern

Cody and Champion Creek revisited

Champion Creek revisited, again

Columbia

Columbia City, Columbia Gardens, and Columbia Park

Comaplix

Cooper Creek and Corra Linn

Crawford Bay and Comaplix revisited

Crescent Valley and Craigtown

Davenport

Dawson, Deadwood, and Deanshaven

Deer Park

East Arrow Park and Edgewood

Eholt

English Cove and English Point

Enterprise

Erie

Evans Creek and Evansport

Falls City

Farron

Fauquier

Ferguson

Ferguson, revisited

Fife

Forslund, Fosthall, and Fairview

Fort Shepherd vs. Fort Sheppard, Part 1

Fort Shepherd vs. Fort Sheppard, Part 2

Fort Sheppard, revisited

Fraser’s Landing and Franklin

Fredericton

Fruitvale and Fraine

Galena Bay

Genelle

Gerrard

Gilpin and Glade

Gladstone and Gerrard, revisited

Glendevon and Graham Landing

Gloster City

Goldfields and Gold Hill

Grand Forks, Part 1

Grand Forks, Part 2

Granite Siding and Granite City

Gray Creek, Part 1

Gray Creek, Part 2

Gray Creek, revisited

Green City

Greenwood

Halcyon Hot Springs

Hall Siding and Healy’s Landing

Harrop

Hartford Junction

Hills

Howser, Part 1

Howser, Part 2

Howser, Part 3

Howser, Part 4

Hudu Valley, Huntingtdon, and Healy’s Landing revisited

Inonoaklin Valley (aka Fire Valley)

Jersey, Johnsons Landing, and Jubilee Point

Kaslo, Part 1

Kaslo, Part 2

Kaslo, Part 3

Kaslo, Part 4

Kettle River, Part 1

Kettle River, Part 2

Kinnaird, Part 1

Kinnaird, Part 2

Kitto Landing

Koch Siding and Keen

Kokanee

Kootenay Bay, Kraft, and Krestova

Kuskonook, Part 1

Kuskonook, Part 2

Kuskonook (and Kuskanax), Part 3

Labarthe, Lafferty, and Longbeach

Lardeau, Part 1

Lardeau, Part 2

Lardeau, Part 3

Lardeau, Part 4

Lebahdo

Lemon Creek, Part 1

Lemon Creek, Part 2

Lemon Creek, Part 3

Makinsons Landing and Marblehead

McDonalds Landing, McGuigan, and Meadow Creek

Meadows, Melville, and Miles’ Ferry

Midway

Mineral City and Minton

Mirror Lake and Molly Gibson Landing

Montgomery and Monte Carlo, Part 1

Montgomery and Monte Carlo, Part 2

Montrose and Myncaster

Nakusp, Part 1

Nakusp, Part 2

Nashville

Needles

Nelson, Part 1

Nelson, Part 2

Nelson, Part 3

Nelson, Part 4

Nelson, Wash.

Nelway and New Galway

New Denver, Part 1

New Denver, Part 2

Niagara

Oasis and Oatescott

Ootischenia

Oro

Park Siding and Pass Creek

Passmore

Paterson

Paulson

Perry Siding

Phoenix

Pilot Bay

Pingston

Playmor Junction

Poplar and Porcupine

Porto Rico and Pottersville

Poupore, Powder Point, and Power’s Camp

Procter, Part 1

Procter, Part 2

Queens Bay, Rambler, and Raspberry

Remac and Renata

Retallack