The Victoria Hotel in 1898, shortly after the founding of the town. A crowd of people brave the winter temperatures to pose for a photo out front of the hotel. Scaffolding all around the hotel indicates it was still under construction at the time. The hotel would be burned down in one of the several gigantic fires that swept through Fernie in the 1900s.

A postcard view of Fernie's Victoria Avenue, which we today call 2nd Avenue. You can see a great crowd of people on the sidewalks, but surprisingly little vehicle traffic.

A large crowd of pedestrians crowd the sidewalks of Victoria Ave. On the right is P. Burns & Co. Meats. The rancher turned businessman Pat Burns was one of the richest men and most successful entrepreneurs in British Columbia at the time.

Two men stand amid great drifts of snow on Victoria Avenue, or as we know it today, 2nd Avenue.

A view of Fernie just after the great fire of 1908, which shows the only part of the city to have escaped the great conflagration.

This was the home of J.D. Hurd, General Manager of the Crowsnest Pass Coal Co. The home was built in 1901 and constructed in the Queen Anne style, which was popular at the time.

Stacks of lumber and building materials in Victoria Ave (today's 2nd Ave.) show the rapid work of rebuilding underway after the devastating fire of 1908.

This shows the temporary train depot quickly built just after the great fire of 1908. The station and water tower haven't been painted and have clearly just been constructed. The scaffolding around the water tower indicates that it hasn't been finished yet. These would be replaced shortly after once relief efforts had been completed.

Flooding on the Elk River has left Fernie's Ice Rink half submerged. The ice rink was used as a temporary internment camp in the summer of 1915 for miners from the Elk Valley and Crowsnest Pass who were deemed 'enemy aliens.'

This was Fernie's Canadian Pacific Railway station. The building has been preserved, but today it is a popular diner.

Fernie's Brewery, located on the western side of the Elk River. There is a Fernie Brewing Company that still operates today on the north side of town.

A train departs Fernie's station carrying men local men off to fight in France. The banner on the car indicates that they are from the 8th Platoon of B Company of the Kootenay Battalion. Smiling men poke their heads out of the windows, unaware of the horrors that await them in the trenches.

A funeral procession proceeds from the Holy Family Catholic Church. It is led by a horsedrawn hearst and a number of men walking alongside, and followed by a long convoy of cars. At right is Fernie's Meat Market.

This was once the site of Fernie's Municipal Building. It was demolished in 1972.

The choir of Knox United Church pose for a photo on the church steps.