Ainsworth Hot Springs

Ainsworth Hot Springs is a historic village of merely twenty inhabitants perched on the north shore of Kootenay Lake in British Columbia, Canada, situated along Highway 31 some eighteen kilometres north of Balfour and nineteen kilometres south of Kaslo. Founded on May 31, 1883, it claims the title of the lake’s oldest surviving community. Its terrain unfolds between steep forested slopes and the cerulean expanse of the lake, where mineral-rich waters surface in natural caverns. Today the settlement endures less as a bustling waypoint than as a testament to an age when enterprise and geography converged to yield momentary fortune and lasting heritage.

In the spring of 1883 George Ainsworth, a steamboat captain originally from Portland, Oregon, pre-empted 166 acres at what was then known simply as Hot Springs Camp. He and his father, John, had already amassed considerable wealth operating sternwheelers on the Columbia River and sought new prospects among the rugged peaks and waterways of the Kootenays. George christened the tract Ainsworth to honour his lineage, unaware that the murmurs of silver-lead ore discoveries would soon transform the region. He and his brother ventured north from Idaho via Bonners Ferry, drawn by word of subterranean riches glittering beneath the old-growth forests.

By 1884 the mountains above the nascent town thrummed with the pick and pan of prospectors staking claims from the lakeshore to the glacial ridges. A.D. Wheeler’s arrival, followed in the autumn of 1888 by G.B. Wright’s first general store, cemented Ainsworth’s evolution from tent-flanked camp to a clustered settlement of timber buildings and boardwalks. While the names Ainsworth and Hot Springs—or, on occasion, Warm Springs—were applied interchangeably to town and mine camp, the community steadily coalesced around both its thermal springs and the promise of ore.

Several mining operations were active by 1889, among them the Number One, Skyline, Little Donald and Krao claims, yet few of the early adventurers fared well. Gustavus Blin Wright, famed for his work on the Old Cariboo Road, carved rudimentary trails into the hills but found the mineral veins taciturn. It was not until 1891 that Eli Carpenter and John Seaton, returning from an unfruitful prospecting excursion, crossed Payne Mountain only to unearth ore samples valued at CN$170 to $240 per ton. Their find ignited the Slocan Silver Rush, forever branding the region the “Silvery Slocan” and drawing fresh waves of miners and merchants to the lakeshore.

Prosperity rippled through Ainsworth, prompting Gold Commissioner Henry Anderson to petition for infrastructure that would bind town and mine more tightly. By 1889 a wagon road carved its way toward the higher camps, while a wharf extended into the lake to welcome steamers. In 1891 the sternwheeler Nelson—crafted expressly for Kootenay Lake service—began to call at Ainsworth, linking the settlement to distant trading posts and delivering both goods and passengers with mechanical regularity.

Winter, however, remained a formidable barrier. The Nelson lay idle when ice pressed against the hull, and supplies reached Ainsworth only by packhorse and trail, sending food prices skyward and rendering spirits a prized rarity. To surmount this isolation the townsfolk pooled resources and launched their own vessel, the City of Ainsworth, on May 4, 1892. Its entry into the water was inauspicious—she slid stern-first before capsizing onto her starboard side—but with assistance from the steamer Galena she was righted and completed her maiden voyage in triumph.

The boom years saw saloons proliferate and houses of ill repute thrive alongside more quotidian establishments. Charles Olson, who had navigated the lake’s currents on a homemade raft in 1883, built a hotel at age twenty-one that would bear his name for decades. Its most notable feature was a two-story outhouse with glazed bowls warmed by coal-oil lamps—a concession to the harsh winters that froze lesser fixtures solid. Olson maintained the hotel until his death in 1926, and it stood as a symbol of rugged hospitality.

By 1893 the glare of the boom dimmed, for Kaslo had become the terminus of the Kaslo and Slocan Railway and usurped Ainsworth’s role as the lakeshore’s supply hub. Isolation deepened until April 26, 1896, when fire ravaged much of the town. The Green Brothers store and a handful of residences survived, but thirteen hotels, including Olson’s, succumbed to the flames. Reconstruction commenced almost at once, with the new Deering Hotel even boasting a swimming pool in its basement, yet challenges persisted: no overland roads until 1914, no electrical service until 1928, and no hospital—medical needs were attended by the local veterinarian, Dr. Henry.

Although the Olson Hotel was dismantled in 1960, its legacy endures in the name of Mount Olson within Kokanee Glacier Provincial Park. The Vancouver House, later dubbed the Silver Ledge and converted into a museum during the 1960s, survived into the twenty-first century before succumbing to fire in 2010. In 1963 the community formally adopted its contemporary name, Ainsworth Hot Springs, acknowledging the thermal waters that have been its constant lifeblood.

Modern Ainsworth Hot Springs draws visitors to its namesake pools, situated within a natural limestone grotto fed by the subterranean channels of Cody Caves. Temperatures at the cave entrance reach 42 °C (108 °F), cooled to an ambient 38 °C (100 °F) in the main pool. The soothing mineral waters, suffused with calcium and magnesium, have earned the springs a reputation as British Columbia’s premier commercial hot-spring experience.

Beyond the steamy refuge, the region offers further geological marvels. Cody Caves Provincial Park, perched on the Selkirk Mountains’ eastern flanks, comprises ancient limestone passages sculpted over millennia by an underground stream. Visitors traverse roughly 800 metres of illuminated corridors, where stalactites, stalagmites and soda-straw formations drape the chambers like natural sculptures, and hear the water’s hiss echo between the walls.

To the west, Kokanee Glacier Provincial Park grants access to more than thirty glacial lakes scattered across 32 035 hectares of wilderness. Anglers pursue kokanee, rainbow trout and burbot in crystalline waters, while paddlers canoes and kayaks on mirror-like surfaces. Hiking trails wind through subalpine meadows and across rocky saddles, and in winter the same routes become silent conduits for snowshoers and back-country skiers.

A short lakeside drive of some nineteen kilometres northward lies Kaslo, host to two National Historic Sites including the venerable SS Moyie, the world’s oldest intact sternwheeler. In the opposite direction, twelve kilometres to the south, Balfour offers access to the Kootenay Lake Ferry crossing—a toll-free passage of eight kilometres that links Highway 3A to Kootenay Bay and holds the distinction of the longest free vehicle ferry ride on earth.

Access to Ainsworth Hot Springs is straightforward by road: from Nelson one travels eastward along Highway 3A to Balfour, then turns north onto Highway 31 for a further fifteen minutes. Twice-weekly bus service connects the community with Vancouver, Kaslo and other West Kootenay centres, while a weekly Calgary–Kaslo run serves smaller stops en route. Those seeking an alternative to the ferry may skirt the lake by following the Crowsnest Highway through Salmo and across Kootenay Pass to Nelson—a circuit of roughly two hours in favorable summer conditions.

Within the hamlet itself the restored J.B. Fletcher General Store Museum stands at 3602 Sutton Street, offering both a window into pioneer mercantile life and a boutique of regionally crafted wares. A brief drive toward Kootenay Bay leads to Pilot Bay Provincial Park, where a 0.6-kilometre trail brings visitors to an isolated lighthouse perched on a rocky point, its viewshed sweeping across the lake’s expanse.

Recreational pursuits abound: guided Cody Caves tours range from gentle strolls for the faint-hearted to more demanding explorations for those fit enough to tackle narrow passages and uneven terrain. Boating and fishing facilities dot the shoreline, while both road and mountain cyclists find gradient and scenery in equal measure on the winding highways. A short journey upstream on Highway 3A delivers the Harrop Cable Ferry—an unmanned, on-demand floatation device linking the communities of Harrop and Procter.

Golfers find a pair of distinguished courses within easy reach: Balfour Golf Course, set along Queens Bay Road, and Kokanee Springs Resort in Crawford Bay, an 18-hole par 71 course framed by the Kokanee Glacier skyline. Each offers panoramic views that shift with the light and weather, reminding players that the region’s true wonder lies less in any single feature than in the convergence of geology, history and human endeavour.

What endures in Ainsworth Hot Springs is not merely the warmth of subterranean waters but the layered narrative of ambition and resilience. Here, in a clearing among cedar and fir, the echoes of sternwheelers and prospectors mingle with modern laughter and the soft hiss of mineral springs. Time moves differently at this latitude: once a fleeting boomtown, now a tranquil refuge, it stands as proof that places shaped by hardship and hope may endure far beyond the glare of fleeting fortune, finding new life in the quiet appreciation of those who seek both solace and remembrance in their depths.