The Valley That Was Sold a Dream (And Built Something Better)

There is not, and arguably never really was, much fruit in Fruitvale. In 1906, a land corporation called Fruitvale Limited purchased a great deal of land along the railway stop and changed the name from Beaver Siding to Fruitvale — a name that played an important part in what their own records describe as a “propaganda scheme” depicting the area as the best fruit growing area in the West Kootenays. Settlers arrived full of optimism and jam-making ambitions. Sadly, the growing season turned out to be not quite long enough to be prosperous. The fruit, largely, did not cooperate.

And yet — here’s the thing — Fruitvale thrived anyway. Originally a railway stop on the Nelson and Fort Sheppard Railway established in 1893, the community that grew up around that stop turned out to be made of sterner stuff than its optimistic name suggested. Today Fruitvale has blossomed — the word feels appropriate — into a bedroom community of approximately 2,000 people, offering a small town rural setting with a surprisingly full roster of services, amenities, parks, sports facilities and community spirit.

The fruit may have been a scam. The valley absolutely was not.