Procter, British Columbia

In 1891, Thomas Gregg Procter bought land at the lake outlet, and subsequently enlarged his home into a hunting and fishing lodge. In early 1897, a British syndicate acquired nearby land to create the town of Kootenay City, in anticipation of the coming railway.[2] Between July 1897 and October 1898, the Canadian Pacific Railway (CP) built westward from Lethbridge via the Crowsnest Pass to the Kootenay Landing terminal (not Nelson as in its charter).[3] The townsite proposal lapsed when the northwestward extension, which would have served their property, was instead operated by lake boats. By mid 1898, the location was known as Procter's Landing.[2]

When CP opened the Nelson–Procter spur in 1900, the company created a townsite at the landing, called Procter, in honour of the original owner.[2] In early 1901, at Sunshine Bay, between Harrop and nearby Procter, CP opened a wharf complex to handle freight cars, redefining the lake boat route as Procter–Kootenay Landing.[4]

In 1913, Procter died in Oak Bay, in a hit-and-run, reputedly the first person to die in an automobile accident in BC.[2] From the beginning, the place name was often misspelled Proctor. The engineer in charge of the railway spur construction, Alexander Forbes Proctor, would use his spelling on documentation. In due course, this version appeared on timetables, maps, and the train station sign. Both spellings were used for decades before settling upon Procter.[5]

In 1903, the Gilbert Snows bought the Procter's lodge, refurbishing it as the Outlet Hotel. A sawmill came in 1906, and general store the next year. When the sawmill burned in 1912, employment existed at the recently opened jam factory, which itself closed around 1920.[6]

In 1931, the opening of the Procter–Kootenay Landing rail link ended the CP lake route, and most activity at the Sunshine Bay wharves. However, the east–west Kootenay Lake Ferry followed a Fraser's Landing–Procter–Gray Creek route. When changed to Balfour–Kootenay Bay in 1947, Procter was dropped.[6] Fraser's Landing and Balfour were also accessible by road from Nelson. In 1957, when the orange bridge replaced the cable ferry to the north shore at Nelson,[7] ferry services ceased at Procter.[4] In 1966, the Outlet hotel was demolished.[6] A barge continued to serve Kaslo and Lardeau until 1977, when Sunshine's piers closed permanently.[4]

Since 1977, Procter has primarily been a retirement and weekend retreat community.[6] The Kootenay Storytelling Festival is held each July.[8]