| 1896 | | B.C.: Oblates of Mary Immaculate sell their Mission in the Okanagan valley of BC. |
| 1896 | | B.C.: The Balfour Steam Navigation Company launches Angerona onto Kootenay Lake, BC. |
| 1896 | | John W. Cleaver, E.C. (Edwd.) Smith and W.C. Burchett sell the Sullivan group of mines at Mark Creek Crossing, BC, to consortium of Spokane businessmen headed by W.W. Ridpath and G.H. Turner for $24,000. |
| 1896 | | Calgary, N-WT.: The Calgary Indian Industrial School (St. Dunstan’s) opens. Anglican. |
| 1896 | | B.C.: The London and B.C. Goldfields, Limited, locates the Ymir mine. |
| 1896 | | The Boundary Mines Company of New York bonds the No. 7 near Greenwood, BC. |
| 1896 | | N-WT.: Arthur Wm. Gillingham’s new sawmill at the confluence of the Crowsnest and Oldman rivers destroyed by explosion. |
| 1896? | | N-WT.: School established at “French Flats” (now Cowley, AB). |
| 1896 | | N-WT.: Fr. Foisy opens Sacred Heart Residential School on the Piikani reserve. Staffed by the Grey Nuns. |
| 1896 | | Pincher Creek, N-WT.: Creek first bridged. |
| 1896 | | B.C.: E.E. Alexander files claim to the Betts and Hesperus properties on Hardy Mountain near Grand Forks. |
| 1896 | | Nakusp, B.C.: C&KSN launches the Columbia (50 tons). |
| 1896 | | B.C.: F.X. Richter planted the first commercial apple orchard in the Similkameen valley. |
| 1896 | | B.C.: The Jewel and the Denoro Grande staked near Greenwood. |
| 1896 | Jan. 7 | Rossland, B.C.: Electricity generated for domestic use. |
| 1896 | Jan. 14 | B.C.: Kaslo and Slocan Railway’s four mile long branch from Sandon to Cody opened for business. |
| 1896 | Jan. 21 | Nelson, BC.: Hall Mines blew in its first, small furnace in its smelter. |
| 1896 | February | Alberta Railway and Coal Company announces intention to build westward from Lethbridge, N-WT, through the Crowsnest Pass to Kootenay Lake, BC. |
| 1896 | Feb. 1 | Nelson Electric Light Company begins delivering power. |
| 1896 | Feb. 1 | Trail Creek Landing, BC.: First furnace in smelter blown in. |
| 1896 | Feb. 10 | British Columbia Mining and Smelting Company registered in B.C. |
| 1896 | Feb. 23 | Trail Creek Landing, BC.: Monday. Production begins at smelter. |
| 1896 | Mar. 7 | U.S.A.: President S. Grover Cleveland signs the bill dissolving the northern half of the Colville Indian Reservation in Washington. |
| 1896 | Mar. 31 | Waneta, B.C., “... erected into an Outport of Customs and Warehousing Port, and placed under the survey of the Collector of Customs at Nelson... .” |
| 1896 | Apr. 1 | Trail Creek Landing, B.C.: First shipment from smelter. |
| 1896 | Apr. 7 | Nelson, B.C.: C&KSN launches the Kokanee (348 tons). Dismantled 1923. |
| 1896 | Apr. 17 | B.C. political: The Mineral Act of 1896 read into law. |
| 1896 | Apr. 17 | B.C.: An Act to Incorporate the Columbia and Western Railway Company (C&W) receives royal assent: Capitalization of $5 million. |
| 1896 | Apr. 21 | CPR announces that it will not, after all, build into Rossland. |
| 1896 | Apr. 22 | Libby, MT.: aUpper Columbia Navigation and Tramway launches Ruth. |
| 1896 | Apr. 23 | Federal: 59 Victoria chapter 44, “An Act to revive and amend the Act to incorporate the Alberta Irrigation Company” receives royal assent. |
| 1896 | Apr. 26 | A Sunday. |
| 1896 | Apr. 26 | Ainsworth, B.C.: CBD levelled by fire. |
| 1896 | May | Great Britain: The London and British Columbia Goldfields Company Limited formed to buy Canadian mining properties. Re-structured in March of 1899; H.W. Forster, a close financial ally of J.J. Hill, director. |
| 1896 | May | B.C.: Road to Moyie from Rykert’s on the Boundary south of Kootenay Lake begun. Finished in October of 1897. |
| 1896 | May 1 | Charles Tupper succeeds as Conservative prime minister of Canada. Honourable H.J. Macdonald appointed Minister of the Interior and Superintendent-General of Indian Affairs. |
| 1896 | May 9 | Nakusp, B.C.: C&KSN launches the Trail (663 tons). Burned 1900. |
| 1896 | June | B.C.: Colonel Ridpath of the Sullivan Group Mining Company renames Mark Creek Crossing, “Kimberley.” |
| 1896 | June 11 | Rossland, B.C.: First train load of ore shipped to Trail Creek Landing smelter on the Columbia and Western Railway’s “Trail Creek Tramway.” |
| 1896 | June 12 | B.C.: The International Navigation and Trading Company incorporated provincially to absorb the assets of the the International Trading Company Limited. |
| 1896 | Summer | Christina Lake, B.C.: Charles Sandner pre-empts 320 acres. |
| 1896 | Summer | Trail Creek Landing, B.C.: B. Abernathy hired as constable. |
| 1896 | June 23 | Federal Election: Wilfrid Laurier leads Liberals to power in Canada; 117 of 213 seats. |
| 1896 | June 23 | H. Bosrock (Liberal) elected for the District of Cariboo and Yale, B.C. |
| 1896 | July | N-WT: Wild fires destroy much timber in the Old Man/Crowsnest River drainage area. |
| 1896 | July 7 | Kaslo, B.C.: International Navigation and Trading Co. launches International (525 tons) at Mirror Lake Yards. Withdrawn 1909. |
| 1896 | July 14 | Jerry Potts dead. Buried in Ft. Macleod Police Cemetery. |
| 1896 | July 17 | B.C.: Reports in the press that the CPR intended to build a 2500 ton/day smelter on the Columbia at Blueberry Creek. |
| 1896 | July 20 | D.C. Corbin lets $555,400 contract for construction of the Columbia and Red Mountain/Red Mountain Railway and the Northport Bridge. Takes it himself. |
| 1896 | July 24 | New Jersey: The British Columbia Smelting and Refining Company incorporated; $2.5 million in capitalization. |
| 1896 | August | N-wT: First recorded vacation trip by democrat on the waggon trail from Macleod to Crowsnest Lake. |
| 1896 | September | The AR&C agrees to sell the Dunmore–Lethbridge line to the CPR. |
| 1896 | Sep. 3 | WA: First C&RM/RMR construction train crosses the Columbia from Northport on Corbin’s cable-controlled reaction ferry. |
| 1896 | Sep. 5 | Nelson, B.C.: Hall Mines blew in its second, 275–300 ton-per-day furnace in its smelter. |
| 1896 | Sep. 16 | Pilot Bay, B.C.: Kootenay Mining and Smelting shuts down its smelter. |
| 1896 | Sep. 30 | I.R. 148A, N-WT.: Si'k-okskitsis—“Black Wood Ashes”—killed Nina'msko'taput-sikumi—Medicine Crane—lover of his wife, Anu'tsis-tsis-aki—“Pretty Wolverine Woman.” |
| 1896 | October | N-WT.: Marcella McFarland (né:e Sheran) dies. |
| 1896 | Oct. 2 | B.C.: The British Columbia Mining and Smelting Company incorporated. |
| 1896 | Oct. 7 | N-WT political: Responsible government instituted with Frederick William Aplin George Haultain as Premier, Attorney General and Territorial Treasurer. |
| 1896 | Oct. 12 | I.R. 148A, N-WT.: Si'k-okskitsis—“Black Wood Ashes,” translated as “Charcoal”—wounds Kainai farm instructor Edwd. McNeill and flees to the Kainai timber reserve with his nuclear family, including Pretty Wolverine Woman. |
| 1896 | November | Rossland, B.C.: Board of Trade organized. |
| 1896 | Nov. 9 | N-WT: Si'k-okskitsis (Charcoal) kills N-WMP Sergeant William Brock Wilde. |
| 1896 | Nov. 12 | I.R. 148A, N-WT.: Charcoal captured. |
| 1896 | Nov. 17 | Honourable Clifford Sifton (Liberal member from Brandon) appointed federal Minister of the Interior and Superintendent-general of Indian Affairs. |
| 1896 | December | N-WT: Western Stock Growers Association incorporated. |
| 1896 | Dec. 6 | B.C.: “Trail Creek Tramway” begins passenger service between Rossland and Trail Creek Landing. |
| 1896 | Dec. 9 | F.A. Heinze contracted Winters, Parson and Boomer to lay track on the C&W right-of-way from Trail Creek Landing, BC, to West Robson. |
| 1896 | Dec. 10 | Province of B.C. declares Red Mountain Railway complete. |
| 1896 | Dec. 16 | State of Washington declares Columbia and Red Mountain Railway complete. |
| 1896 | Dec. 31 | N-WT: CPR agrees to buy the “Turkey Track” rail line running from Medicine Hat, District of Assiniboia, to Lethbridge, District of Alberta, from the Alberta Railway and Coal Company for $976,590. |
| 1896 | Dec. 31 | N-WT: All range leases declared “open” and subject to forfeit. |
| 1896 | Late | (? See Apr. 16, 1897) Rossland, B.C.: Sisters of Saint Joseph of Peace opened Mater Misericordia hospital. |
| 1897 | | Princeton, B.C.: The first business, a saloon-hotel, opened on present townsite. |
| 1897 | | B.C.: Glencairn Campbell pre-empts and subdivides property into the townsite of Moyie. |
| 1897 | | Fernie, B.C.: CNP Coal organized the Elk Lumber Company, Limited, to cut mine props. |
| 1897 | | Rocky Mountain Trench, B.C.: Jas. Baker has surveyor F.W. Aylmer lay out the townsite of “Cranbrooke” on Joseph’s Prairie. |
| 1897 | | “Cranbrooke,” B.C.: Archibald Kenneth Leitch sets up settlement’s first sawmill. |
| 1897 | | Salmon Siding, B.C.: Name officially trimmed to “Salmo.” |
| 1897 | | Federal political: Hayter Reed dismissed from the Department of Indian Affairs. |
| 1897 | | Lethbridge, N-WT: Galt No. 2 converted to a ventilation shaft for Galt No. 3. |
| 1897 | | N-WT: Geo. G. Anderson of Denver, Colorado, contracted to plan what would be called the St. mary’s Main Canal and oversee its construction. |
| 1897 | | I.R. 147A, N-WT: Anglicans raise their Victoria Jubilee Home (aka the “Peigan Indian Residential School”) in the Pincher Creek’s valley near the stream’s confluence with the Old Man. Demolished in 1926. |
| 1897 | | Midway, B.C.: Canadian customs-house established on the Kettle River valley waggon road. |
| 1897 | | Fairview, B.C.: The Morning Star staked and opened by Steve Margott. |
| 1897 | | Fairview, B.C.: The Fairview Amalgamated Gold Mining Company buys the Stemwinder and the Morning Star. |
| 1897 | | Fairview, B.C.: The London-based Fairview Gold Mining Company buys the Joe Dandy group. |
| 1897 | | Trail Creek Landing, BC.: Name officially trimmed to “Trail.” |
| 1897 | | Trail, B.C.: C&W builds its new station downtown. |
| 1897 | | Marysville, B.C.: Wm. Meacham has townsite on his property officially surveyed. (? See 1894) |
| 1897 | | Crowsnest Lake, N-WT: N-WM Police establish a six-man detachment. Withdrawn in 1900. |
| 1897 | | B.C.: The Jewel and the Denoro Grande bonded by L.W. Hill for the British Columbia Prospecting Syndicate. |
| 1897 | | B.C.: J. Thurber raises his small hotel on the Penticton townsite. |
| 1897 | | Similkameen valley, B.C.: The old grist mill built by Barrington Price near waht is now Keremeos ceases operation. |
| 1897 | | Similkameen valley, B.C.: Peter Scott staked Rollo on Nickel Plate Mountain for R.R. Hedley. |
| 1897 | | Similkameen valley, B.C.: C. Johnston and Albert Jacobsen staked the Copper Cleft and the Mound on Nickel Plate Mountain for W.Y. Williams. |
| 1897 | | Kettle River Valley waggon road completed to Rock Creek, BC. |
| 1897 | | Macleod, N-WT.: Holy Cross RC Church built. |
| 1897 | | B.C.: The Spokane and Fort Steele Telegraph Company completes its line from Kalispell to Fort Steele. |
| 1897 | | East Kootenays, BC: Robert Henry Bohart erects a hotel on his property on Kootenay River at Big Sand Creek. |
| 1897 | | B.C.: R.A. Brown leases the Volcanic to the Olive Mining and Smelting Company. |
| 1897 | | Phœnix Mountain, BC: Knob-Hill Gold Mining Company oraganized by J.P. Graves of Spokane and F.P. Bucke of Sherbrooke, P.Q., to take over the Knob-Hill mine. |
| 1897 | | Phœnix Mountain, BC: Paddy Clark of Spokane bonds the Snowshoe. |
| 1897 | | Rossland, BC: Miners’ Union Hall built. |
| 1897 | | Lethbridge, N-WT: Town hires Corporal Thomas Lewis of the N-WMP to enforce the municipal by-laws in his spare time. |
| 1897 | | St. Eugene’s Mission, BC: Under the direction of Father Coccola, Jas. Matt. Easterbrook completes the Mission’s extant neo-Gothic church near Cranbrook. |
| 1897 | | B.C.: Albert Mutz, Fritz Sick and G.H. Scott form the Fort Steele Brewing Company. |
| 1897 | Circa | The “Cariboo Gold Mining and Milling Company” reorganized in Toronto as the Cariboo Consolidated Gold Mining Company to work the Cariboo-Amelia and buy up surrounding properties at Camp McKinney. |
| 1897 | January | W.G. Gooderham and T.E. Blackstock form a syndicate with senator G.A. Cox and buy the War Eagle Gold Mining Company for $850,000. |
| 1897 | Jan. 12 | The London and Vancouver Finance and Development Company formed in England to buy up B.C. mining properties; A.T. Nation, director. |
| 1897 | Jan. 14 | Preliminary agreement on Crow’s Nest Pass railroad announced. |
| 1897 | February | GN acquires control of the Kaslo and Slocan Railway. |
| 1897 | Feb. 1 | CPR buys Columbia and Kootenay Steam Navigation Company. |
| 1897 | March | Staking of the right-of-way of the Crow’s Nest Line east of the Rockies completed. |
| 1897 | Mar. 4 | Rossland, BC: Incorporated as a City. |
| 1897 | Mar. 5 | Lethbridge, N-WT: The Alberta Railway and Coal Company shuts down its “Galt No. 1” mine. |
| 1897 | Mar. 16 | Macleod, N-WT: Si'k-okskitsis (Charcoal) hung at for murder. |
| 1897 | Mar. 18 | Nelson, BC: Incorporated as a City. |
| 1897 | Mar. 18 | B.C.: Latimer’s townsite plan of Fairview filed (see June 9). |
| 1897 | Spring | B.C.: The provincial government passes the Loan Act of 1897. |
| 1897 | Spring | Trail, BC: Branch of the Bank of British North America opens. |
| 1897 | Spring | Revelstoke, BC: Kootenay Smelting and Trading Syndicate smelter building undercut by Columbia River; completely washed away by 1899. |
| 1897 | April | Nakusp, BC: CPR launches Kootenay (1117 tons). Withdrawn 1919. |
| 1897 | Apr. 5 | Captains Francis Patrick Armstrong and J.D. Miller partner with James F. Wardner to form the International Transportation Company. $60,000 in capital, headquarters in Spokane, Washington. |
| 1897 | Apr. 5 | Wardner, BC: Crahan and Company in the Rookery Building, Spokane, begin selling building lots. |
| 1897 | Apr. 6 | Maiden voyage of Kootenay. |
| 1897 | Apr. 6 | Trail, BC: Electric power generation begins for the smelter. |
| 1897 | Apr. 15 | Grand Forks, BC: Incorporated as a City. |
| 1897 | Apr. 16 | Rossland, BC: Construction of the Mater Miseracordia hospital begins.(see late 1896) |
| 1897 | May 1 | Wardner, BC: First settlers arrive on the townsite. |
| 1897 | May 6 | West Kootenay Power organization begins dam construction at the Lower Bonnington Falls on the Lower Kootenay River. |
| 1897 | May 7 | Gwendoline and Ruth of International Tranportation Co. smashed in the Jennings Canyon on the Upper Kootenay River. Gwendoline repaired, Ruth salvaged. |
| 1897 | May 8 | Vancouver, Victoria and Eastern Railway & Navigation Company incorporated in B.C. by William Templeton, W.L Nicol, G.L. Milne, J.T. Bethune, Alexander Ewan. |
| 1897 | May 8 | West Kootenay Power and Light Company incorporated in B.C.: Oliver Durant, president. |
| 1897 | May 8 | D.W. Moore, J.D. Munn and Franklin McKay obtain a B.C. charter for the Kaslo and Lardo-Duncan Railway. |
| 1897 | May 8 | Bedlington and Nelson Railway incorporated. |
| 1897 | May 8 | South Kootenay Water Power Company enchartered. |
| 1897 | May 12 | Rosebery, BC: CPR launches Slocan (578 tons) onto Slocan Lake. Re-built, re-registered, re-launched on September 30, 1905. Retired in 1928. |
| 1897 | May 28 | International Transportation Co. launches North Star at Libby, MT. |
| 1897 | June end | Captain M.D. McCall and the M.P. Zindorf Construction Company of Seattle set up the Kootenay Lumber and Manufacturing Company at Wardner, B.C. |
| 1897 | June 2 | N-WT: CPR takes possession of the “Turkey Track.” |
| 1897 | June 3 | CP and Ottawa reach accord on Crow’s Nest Pass railroad. |
| 1897 | June 4 | Rossland, BC: Sisters of St. Joseph of Peace open their new Mater Miseracordia Hospital. (see late 1896) |
| 1897 | June 9 | B.C.: Davidson & Russell’s townsite plan for Fairview filed. (see March 18) |
| 1897 | June 20 | Queen Victoria’s Diamond Jubilee. |
| 1897 | Summer | Simon and William Guggenheim make tour of appraisal in southern B.C. Buy the dean claim on North Star Hill. |
| 1897 | June 24 | Wardner International begins weekly publication: Fred. E. Simpson and Horace T. Brown. |
| 1897 | June 28 | Maiden voyage of the North Star on Upper Kootenay River. |
| 1897 | June 29 | The federal Act to authorize subsidy for Crow’s Nest Line (60-61 Victoria, Chap.5) Crow’s Nest Pass Agreement becomes Law. |
| 1897 | June 29 | The federal “An Act respecting the British Columbia Southern Railway Co.” (60-61 Victoria, Chap.36) permits the BC Southern to extend itself eastward to the “Calgary and Macleod Railway” and Lethbridge. |
| 1897 | June 29 | Federal political: 60-61 Victoria C 5 grants an $11,000/mile subsidy to the B.C.Southern and requires the line to pass within 500 yards of Macleod’s town limits. |
| 1897 | June 29 | Federal political: 60-61 Victoria C 66 “An Act to incorporate the Columbia River Bridge Company” granted royal assent. Capitalized to $500,000; headquarters, Trail, BC. F.A. Heinze, et al. |
| 1897 | June 29 | Federal political: Royal assent for 60-61 Victoria C 41 allowing the Columbia and Kootenay Navigation and Railway Company to connect its line to CP’s Mainline at Revelstoke. |
| 1897 | June 29 | Federal political: Alien Labour Act which had received royal assent. |
| 1897 | June 30 | Crown grants Arthur Burroughs Fenwick title to his pre-emption, the future Wardner, B.C., townsite. |
| 1897 | July 2 | Okanagan Landing, BC: The sternwheeler Fairview, launched in 1894, burns. |
| 1897 | July 10 | Grand Forks, BC: Fire Brigade organized. |
| 1897 | July 12 | Greenwood, BC: Incorporated as a City. |
| 1897 | July 14 | Lethbridge, N-WT: Sod turning for the Crow’s Nest Line. Grading begins east and west from “Haneyville” near Macleod, N-WT. |
| 1897 | July 17 | Lethbridge, N-WT: Work begins on Crow’s Nest Line. |
| 1897 | July 27 | B.C.: Draft of contract to build the B.C. Southern received governmental approval. |
| 1897 | July 30 | The “tripartite agreement” among CP, Kootenay Coal and the B.C. Southern Railway Company allowing the construction of the Crowsnest Pass railroad. |
| 1897 | August | CPR Vice-President Shaughnessy announces that CP will build into Rossland. |
| 1897 | Aug. 10 | Trail, BC: smelter pours its first ingot of gold. |
| 1897 | Aug. 14 | Lethbridge, N-WT: Bank of Montreal opens a branch. |
| 1897 | Aug. 16 | WA: The Kootenai River Transportation Company, Limited, incorporated. $50,000 in capital, headquarters in Spokane, John D. Farrell, Captain M.L. McCormack and W.J.C. Wakefield, trustees. |
| 1897 | Aug. 16 | Wardner, BC: Maria Howden Armstrong purchased Fenwick’s Lot 1901 for one dollar. |
| 1897 | Sep. 1 | B.C.: Spokane and Fort Steele Telegraph Company inaugurated service. |
| 1897 | Sep. 5 | Nelson, BC: Hall Mines blew in to then the biggest copper blast furnace in the world. |
| 1897 | Sep. 18 | Wardner, BC: Frank McCabe receives appointment as first post master. |
| 1897 | Autumn | London, England: J. Whitaker Wright has his London and Globe Finance Company set up the British-America Corporation, Limited, to channel investments into the Kootenays. |
| 1897 | Autumn | Rossland, BC: F.A. Heinze buys the Rossland Miner. |
| 1897 | Autumn | N-WT: The siding of “Livingstone” established by the CPR at what is now Burmis, AB. |
| 1897 | Sep. 23 | B.C.: Mackenzie and Mann et al buy the Vancouver, Victoria & Eastern Railway for $75000. |
| 1897 | Sep. 23 | B.C.: Lot 1901 registered as the townsite of Wardner. |
| 1897 | Sep. 27 | B.C.: Columbia and Western Railway trackage 21.1 miles from Trail to West Robson complete. |
| 1897 | Sep. 29 | Wardner, BC: First school class taught; Clara Warren, presiding. |
| 1897 | Sep. 29 | Wednesday. |
| 1897 | October | B.C.: Road to Moyie from Rykert’s completed. |
| 1897 | October | Lethbridge, N-WT: WFM delegation arrives from Montana to organize Lethbridge Miners Union for AR&C miners. |
| 1897 | Oct. 1 | N-WT: Responsible government proclaimed. |
| 1897 | Oct. 4 | Northport, WA: Corbin completes the Columbia River bridge on the Columbia and Red Mountain Railway. |
| 1897 | Oct. 6 | The contract between the federal government and the CPR to build the B.C. Southern signed. |
| 1897 | Oct. 20 | Kootenay Coal Company incorporated federally; headquartered in Montréal, Jas. Baker, president and Geo.A. Cox, vice. |
| 1897 | Oct. 27 | B.C.: F.A. Heinze opens his standard gauged Columbia and Western Railway to Robson West. |
| 1897 | Oct. 28 | Princeton, BC: John Fall Allison dies. (see Dec. 14) |
| 1897 | November | “the Springs,” District of Alberta, N-WT: CP crews grading the Crow’s Nest Line arrive at “tenth siding,” now Blairmore, AB. |
| 1897 | November | N-WT: Crews begin construction of the Crow’s Nest Line bridge over the Pincher Creek west of present-day Brocket, AB. |
| 1897 | November | Sand Creek Crossing, BC: Wm. Stewart establishes Sand Creek Crossing Hotel near the future site of Galloway on the right-of-way of the B.C. Southern. |
| 1897 | Nov. 8 | Jennings, MT: The Kootenai River Transportation Co. launches the J.D. Farrell onto the Upper Kootenay River. |
| 1897 | Nov. 11 | Swansea, BC: BC Southern tote road reaches Moyie Lake. |
| 1897 | Nov. 18 | BC political: Honourable T.R. McInnes commissioned lieutenant-governor. |
| 1897 | Nov. 18 | Nakusp, BC: CPR launches Rossland (884 tons). Sank 1917, raised, stripped and sold. |
| 1897 | December | Coal Creek, BC: Wm. Blakemore and his Nova Scotia coal miners arrive and begin sinking Crow’s Nest Pass Coal Co.’s first mine. |
| 1897 | Dec. 6 | Slocan City, BC: First train travels the C&K’s Slocan branch to Nelson and back. |
| 1897 | Dec. 14 | Princeton, BC: J.F. Allison dies at home nearby. (see Oct. 28) |
| 1897 | Dec. 14 | The J.F. Allisons’ son-in-law, S.D. Sandes, files claim to 331 acres on what is today the Princeton townsite. |
| 1897 | Dec. 15 | First meeting of the Trades and Labour Council of B.C. James Wilkes elected VP of the Trades and Labour Congress of Canada, and head of the B.C. Council. |
| 1897 | Dec. 16 | Captain M.D. McCall and John Sucksmith organize the Wardner Saw and Planing Mills Company. |
| 1897 | Dec. 23 | Arrowhead, BC: CPR’s B.C. Lake and River Service’s Naksup burns on Upper Arrow Lake. |
