'Back on Track: Kootenay Railways'

Back on Track: Kootenay Railways

September 16, 2022 - February 5, 2023
Opening Monday, September 19, 2-4 pm

From the copper mines of the Boundary District through to the coalfields of the Crowsnest, railways shaped the development of social, political, and economic life in the Kootenays. As the various and competing rail lines created a vast transportation network that connected east to west, it also brought calamity – cutting through Indigenous territories, causing environmental distress, and exploiting First Nations people and Chinese immigrants in work camps.  

Back on Track, the latest history exhibition at the Nelson Museum, Archives & Gallery explores both the vast opportunities and the detrimental practices that accompanied the expansion of the railways in the west. The exhibition, features artifacts, photographs, maps, and other documents from museums, archives, and individuals around the region and beyond.

Back on Track runs from September 16, 2022 to February 5, 2023, with an opening reception Monday, September 19 from 2-4 pm. Admission is free.