The lake that could have been

Kimberley came within an inch (actually one vote) of having a man-made resort lake one mile north of town in the late 1960s. There used to be a garbage dump up the hill in Meadowbrook, behind where the Mainroad Yard now sits. The land behind there going north to the McBeth Trailer Park was full of numerous springs and beaver ponds — basically lots of water. Kimberley Mayor Bud Buckle, along with councilmen Russ Lytle and Pat Oakley had proposed extending the city limits out to where the Meadowbrook School is now located. Behind the scenes, brothers Milo and Al Fabro along with Wilf Mason and Dickie Bovo were lining up support for the project from the local business owners. Fred Holmes gave an inspired speech about the new lake at a town meeting in the McKim Auditorium.

The eight houses on the highway in Meadowbrook were in agreement to sell their properties to the City. The lake would be constructed by opening up the many springs by drag line, then in the first winter, sand would be trucked in and dumped. In the Spring when the ice had melted, bulldozers would level it all out, and voila, an instant beach. The lake was to be roughly the size of Wasa and all of the building lots on the water were to be sub-divided and sold by the City of Kimberley. My dad owned the motel across the highway and had a number of his own lots there as well. He was going to build a Smitty’s Pancake House on the acre next to the North Star Motel.

So it seemed to be all systems go. At the City council meeting in Kimberley the vote was 7 yes and 1 no. That being Art Howard from Cominco, who objected that in Cominco’s best interests there could possibly be mineral deposits under the proposed lake, which the Company held the rights to, regardless of how far the city limits extended to. So for reasons I personally have never understood, 7 votes yes and 1 vote no and that was all she wrote — the project died right there. Bill Taylor of the Daily Bulletin wrote a scathing editorial the next day about the missed opportunity Kimberley had just kicked away.

In the aftermath of the Resort Lake vote, Bud Buckle did not stand for re-election and nor did Russ Lytle, Pat Oakley and I believe Don Torgeson. My father sold out in Meadowbrook immediately and moved to Invermere, quite disgusted with the dictatorial power of Cominco.

So the next time you want to take dip on a hot summer day, just think there was almost a nice little lake three minutes from Kimberley.

Now times have changed and a resort lake would probably be met with open arms. Come to think of it the water and beaver ponds are still probably up there. It’s always nice to have a lake close to home.

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