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Sam Brewer had an adventurer's spirit. Gold fever had lured him north from his Indiana birthplace and into the Canadian wilds in search of a glittering dream. As he left his wife Helen in 1882 to face on his own the perils of the unknown North, he vowed he'd send for her as soon as he became settled. Five years passed before Helen Brewer got the letter. She was to meet Sam in Sandpoint, Idaho, and the pair would venture to the Columbia Valley together. By 1888, the Brewers had arrived at Fairmont Hot Springs (so dubbed by Mrs. John Galbraith, wife of a ferry operator, at Galbraith's Landing near Fort Steele), where they met a man by the name of George Geary, who had arrived the year before and homesteaded a vast track of land that included the hot springs.
As the area's first settler, Geary established a post office, a stagecoach stopping house, a ranch and a sawmill down Hot Springs Creek before partnering with the Brewers, who ultimately bought out Geary's horse ranch and roadhouse interest two years later. For the next decade, Helen Brewer managed the guests, and Sam ran the ranch. By the turn of the twentieth century, Sam had built a new roadhouse - 'Fairmont Castle' - and Helen Brewer was ready to retire. She had made her fortune, she told the Outcrop Newspaper, and would soon move to Peterborough (Wilmer, near Invermere) to live. Sam Brewer sold the Fairmont Hot Springs ranch and roadhouse and hot springs to John Barnard Hankey in 1909.
John Hankey named the roadhouse 'Fairmont Hotel Springs' and offered accommodation for $2 per day, including use of the hot springs. With the construction of the bathhouse (or 'palatial sanitarium' as it was described), the resort staked its claim as a hub of health, wellness and hospitality - a tradition very much alive today.
Hankey owned the ranch and roadhouse until 1912, shortly after William Heap Holland - a cotton-industry millionaire manufacturer from Manchester, England - arrived in the Valley. William Holland was an eccentric man, known for his eclectic dress and penchant for expensive cars. Intrigued by the flowing hot waters, he purchased the property and operated it as a ranch and resort. So enamoured by the landscape, Holland published a brochure extolling the Columbia Valley's virtues as the 'land of milk and honey.' The brochure made its rounds through England, attracting scores of adventure seekers to Holland's Utopia.
In the years from 1912 to 1915, Holland purchased the ranch and roadhouse from Hankey and the hot springs proper from Robert Randolph Bruce, who would play an instrumental role in the Columbia Valley's development before going on to become the province's Lieutenant Governor. Bruce's efforts in fostering mining and agriculture in the Valley would ultimately result in the creation of the Banff-Windermere road - a pivotal link joining the burgeoning resort with the rest of Canada.
Under Holland's ownership, Fairmont Hot Springs grew. Holland recognized the hot springs' vast potential, so he harnessed the water, built a swimming pool, erected the main Fairmont Hot Springs Ranch barn (which still stands), started a restaurant, opened a tenting camp and constructed bungalows. Fairmont Hot Springs had officially arrived.
Over the years, the resort blossomed. New amenities were added, and year-round tourist wellness adventures became Fairmont Hot Springs' driving force. Before long, tennis courts, a putting green, badminton and tetherball accompanied provisions for hunting, fishing, hiking and backcountry exploration. Through all the advancement, change and progress, Fairmont Hot Springs remained a place where families could escape their day-to-day lives and experience the healing power of nature's awesome splendour.
After William Holland's death, the resort remained in the family, with Holland's son taking over operations as an absentee landlord of sorts.
In the spring of 1957, Lloyd and Earl Wilder, two brothers from Saskatchewan, enjoyed a picnic at Fairmont Hot Springs. They got to talking with the resort manager, who mentioned he was too old for the work his job entailed and commented off the cuff that he'd like to see the owners sell so he could retire. The seed was planted - within the year, Lloyd, Earl and a group of investors became the proud owners of Fairmont Hot Springs. By 1965, Lloyd Wilder was the sole proprietor, and he immediately began major expansion that would transform the area into an internationally recognized resort.
Construction on the first phase of the existing lodge began in 1968. With a price tag of a million dollars, the move was a risky one - one that paid off, however, when Fairmont Hot Springs became a year-round adventure destination with the lodge's opening.
With winter accommodations presenting a bright new horizon for the resort, a ski hill was opened in 1969. That same year, the pool converted into a tri-pool complex in 1969. Then, just three years later, Mountainside Golf Course back nine welcomed its first golfers, and the second phase of the lodge added a new dining room and kitchen, a lounge, a convention centre, a gift shop and additional accommodations in 1972.
A town site sprung up. Vacation villas brought the concept of 'time share' to the Valley. Even an airport arrived. Fairmont Hot Springs was on the rise.
Now, nearly 120 years since George Geary and the Brewers first laid the foundations for a family gathering place that captured their hearts, Fairmont Hot Springs is poised to enter a brilliant new era - one infused with the spirit of all who have enjoyed the mystical curative powers of the hot springs and the soul-enriching beauty of this extraordinary place.
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