Walhachin

Walhachin is an unincorporated community in the Thompson Country region of south central British Columbia, Canada. The place is on a south shore bench of the Thompson River between Brassey and Jimmie creeks. The locality, off BC Highway 1, is by road about northeast of Spences Bridge, east of Cache Creek, and west of Kamloops.

Topography

At the end of the Last Glacial Period, a lake covered the valley. At the mouths of Deadman and Brassey creeks, large sand and gravel deltas formed. The Bonaparte River, which then drained eastward, deposited silt on the valley floor. The lowering lake reduced the deltas, revealed the terraces, and allowed the Thompson to carve a channel to flow westward. Later erosion in the drainage basins of the Brassey and Upper Ranch creeks overlaid these sand and gravel areas with fertile deposits.
The area is about wide stretching along the river. The plateaus set the north–south limits. A First Nations reserve to the east and then unavailable land to the west set the longitudinal limits.

Earlier settlements

In 1858, the arrival of placer miners transformed the river edges and prompted the displacement of First Nations in the vicinity. Evidence of former indigenous winter quarters is visible along the terraces. In 1868, the Skeetchestn Band reserve on Deadman Creek was surveyed.
Experiencing the vegetation associated with semi-arid conditions of Western North America, the land was most suited to cattle ranching. In 1865, John Wilson pre-empted property to the west on the north shore for winter grazing. He expanded his herd to thousands of cattle, unlike the pre-emptors, who had preceded him. On the south shore central parts, J.B. Greaves abandoned his herd in 1867, returned in the spring, and settled. Adjacent to his east, he also gained title to the Tingley property in 1872. He greatly expanded his holdings eastward in 1879.
On the south shore opposite Wilson, Charles Pennie pre-empted in 1870, acquiring and leasing more property over the following years. By 1876, he remained the only permanent settler west of Greaves. Overgrazing transformed the natural bunchgrass to sagebrush and cactus. Possessing water rights on Brassey Creek and storage at Twin Lakes, Pennie developed a apple orchard, having potential far exceeding the general area. After Charles died in 1900, his widow was open to selling the ranch. By this time, of hay was also under irrigation.

Railways

Canadian Pacific

In December 1884, the eastward advance of the Canadian Pacific Railway rail head from Port Moody passed through the locality.
Erected in 1884, the standard-design single-storey station building with gable roof and dormers was sold in 1965.
In 1901, a locomotive under tow and four freight cars toppled over an embankment. In 1908, a westbound freight train struck and killed a man near Semlin, which is named for Charles Augustus Semlin. That year, CP installed a wye. The station was at the highest point on the line west of Craigellachie. Consequently, 60-car freight trains were split into 30-car units for separate hauling up the steep grade from North Bend. In 1909, the body of a man who likely fell from a freight train was discovered to the west.
In 1910, a freighthopper died in an unspecified accident. In 1911, all the passenger cars of a train derailed on returning to the main line at Semlin, and CP built an engine house and plastered the station. On being evicted from a freight train that year, several freighthoppers hurled rocks at the train drawing a response in kind from the crew. The offenders were later arrested. In 1914, a freighthopper suffered a crushed arm and foot on being run over either when boarding or departing a CP train. Months later, an escaping jewels thief attempted to board a passing CP train but instead sustained scalp wounds and fell dazed beside the track.
In 1920, a CP train struck a man riding a horse along the track, causing severe injuries. In 1921, one defendant received three years and the other two and a half years for breaking into a CP baggage car near Walhachin. In 1927, the charge from a lightening bolt travelling along the wire to the headphones of the CP telegraph operator briefly knocked him unconscious.
In 1932, an eastbound train carrying a CP superintendent ran into a rockslide. That year, transients completely burned five boxcars at Semlin. In 1936, a fire burned the CP water tower, three telegraph poles, and some ties. The tank infrastructure was rebuilt.
In 1948, automatic block signalling was installed.
In 1955, the partial derailment of an eastbound CP passenger train caused no injuries.
In 1976, 28 westbound CP wheat cars derailed at Semlin, with four falling about into the Thompson.
In 1985, protests lodged after CP removed a private crossing over four tracks was resolved by a relocated crossing over a single track.
In 1998, the derailment of five rail cars of a CP freight train about east damaged approximately of track.
In 2010, a cultivator struck by a train at a crossing was destroyed.
The CP Walhachin passing track is.

Canadian National

In 1912 and 1913, a construction worker fell from the Canadian Northern Railway bridge and drowned.
In December 1914, the westward advance of the CNoR rail head from Kamloops reached Walhachin. The track follows the valley floor at a much lower elevation than the hamlet proper.
In 1915, a worker fell to his death from the CNoR bridge.
The Canadian National Railway passing track at Walhachin on the predominantly single-track subdivision was in 1916, progressively extending to the current.
In 1922, no injuries occurred when a passenger train hit a landslide, derailing the locomotive.
In 1947, five died and a crew member was scalded, when a CN freight train derailed at Anglesey.
In 1952, a freighthopper died as a result of falling from a CN freight train.
In 1973, the CN train station burned to the ground.

Creating the orchard subdivision

Few small BC communities have had as much written about them as Walhachin.
On the advice of C.E. Barnes, the British Columbia Development Association in 1908 purchased the Pennie Ranch and an additional formerly owned by J.B. Greaves. The $229,400 total price included buildings and livestock, the latter being on sold to free the land for orchard development.
The BCDA immediately formed two subsidiaries, the Dry Belt Settlement Utilities for the townsite and the BC Horticultural Estates for the agriculture. In summer 1908, 150 town lots were surveyed, planted with grass, and work began on developing irrigation systems from the creeks.
In 1909, construction commenced on a hotel, general store, bunkhouse, and three residences. By that fall, the London promotional campaign was underway. The elaborate brochures were directed toward the upper class, and most purchases were made sight unseen. An additional incentive was that immigrants could bring in their opulent possessions duty free.
The townsite was at the Upper Ranch. Reginald Pole was the inaugural postmaster 1909–1910.

Name origin

Although CP spelled the station name as Pennys from the 1880s, the Pennie Ranch settlement was generally called Pennies or sometimes Penniestown or Penniston.
The BCDA renamed its townsite of Sunnymede as Walhassen in February 1909, claiming this anglicization of a First Nations word meant "abundance of the earth". The spelling soon changed to Walhachin. An accurate translation as "land of round rocks", which better described the terraces capped with large concentrations of cobble gravel, never appeared in promotional materials.
Unlike other interior communities, Walhachin functioned as an elite English implant during its boom years, earning the unofficial name of Little England or Canada's Camelot, a second Eden in the desert.

Expansion and climax prior to World War I

Years of optimism in BC, accompanied by inaccurate and/or biased promotional material, triggered immigration, which was key to Walhachin's growth. Such literature claimed that fruit farming in the valley was highly profitable and an ideal pursuit for the upper class, while glossing over the isolation and harsh environment.
The British population totalled 6 in 1909, 79 in 1910, and 150 in 1914. In 1910, the general store opened, the townsite main square was laid out, 13 residences built, and the irrigation aqueduct was completed. The settlers lived at the townsite rather than at their orchard lots and fields, which were some distance away on both sides of river. That April, Prime Minister Wilfrid Laurier officially opened the hotel. The BCDA purchased an additional on the north shore from the Dominion Government for a dollar an acre. The Snohoosh Water Light and Power Co. was established mainly to supply water for this land.
In 1911, 12 residences were built and the Walhachin Chronicle published three editions. In 1912, The Walhachin Times printed a single edition. That year, a large town hall was erected. Two restaurants, a bakery, barber, butcher, dairy, livery stable, ladies store, two insurance offices, and three laundries, also existed. In May 1913, the government school opened. An unofficial school had operated since March 1911.

Decline and abandonment

Promoters buying cheap land, making minimal improvements, and selling to new settlers, often did not end well for the latter. Additionally in this instance, the unpaid debenture holders forced the BCDA into bankruptcy in 1912. These lenders eventually received nine pence on the pound sterling, making Walhachin also an investment failure for both stockholders and lenders.
When the Marquess of Anglesey began buying Walhachin land in 1913, the evidence suggested another bad investment. That year, he laid out the Anglesey townsite on the north shore. He introduced a degree of relaxation to the rigid class structure at Walhachin by changing the rules to permit public entry to the hotel. However, use of the swimming pool at his Anglesey residence remained restricted to the aristocracy.
One account claims about of potatoes were produced in 1911, whereas another states that only small volumes of vegetables were shipped out prior to 1917. That year, 15 acres of trees produced the first commercial apples. During World War I the infrastructure experienced neglect. In 1918, the Marquess gained a controlling interest in the venture.
In spring 1919, the men began returning from the war. As a remembrance, the community hall was renamed the Soldiers Memorial Hall. The provincial government and the attitude toward the English settlers had changed. Finding better prospects elsewhere, these owners advertised their properties for sale. Premier John Oliver refused the Marquess' offer of his holdings for soldier resettlement. That year, all fruit shipments ceased, because the orchards and infrastructure had badly deteriorated.
In 1920, the hotel was demolished. By 1921, with no improvements and falling fruit prices, most settlers left and the Marquess lost interest.
The DBSU entered bankruptcy in July 1922, the water system was abandoned, and by yearend, all the English gentry were gone. The CN railway point being the notable local survivor of the Anglesey family name, the Marquess returned permanently to England but revisited his ranch at least once.
After 1923, Chinese gardeners leased as orchard and also grew vegetables on the limited arable ground irrigated by the Twin Lakes Reservoir.