The Skyline Limited presents the dramatic story of the Kaslo & Slocan Railway - the Great Northern's narrow gauge - in the rugged Slocan Mountains of British Columbia's West Kootenay district. Here too is the story of the beautiful sternwheelers that connected the K&S with other Great Northern branch lines.

This is a fascinating account of railroading in the 1890s and early 1900s. Against a backdrop of silver mining booms, the overnight growth of mining towns such as Kaslo, Sandon, Cody and Three Forks, and rivalry between the Great Northern and the Canadian Pacific, the K&S crews fought a nearly constant battle against snow storms, slides, fires and washouts along the mountain grades.

Backed by James J. Hill of the Great Northern Railway, the K&S was built to haul the silver-lead ore of the "Silvery" Slocan. The CPR also built branch lines into the district and competition was fierce.

In the late 1890s, the West Kootenay mines were booming. The Kootenay Railway & Navigation Company was formed to take over the K&S and the connecting sternwheelers, and to build a railway from the GN main line at Bonner's Ferry, Idaho, to the southern end of Kootenay Lake. At the same time two new sternwheelers were built.

By 1910, after many slides and a devastating fire, the dreams had been shattered. The K&S was in ruins. It was taken over in a few years by the CPR and rebuilt as an isolated standard gauge branch line that survived into the 1950s.

The Skyline Limited is not only a portrait of the life and fortunes of a fascinating narrow gauge railway and a fleet of sternwheelers but also a chapter in the stories of the Great Northern and the Canadian Pacific.

This 296-page book contains over 300 outstanding photographs and illustrations, including 12 in full colour, 25 specially prepared maps and plans, together with carefully researched text, equipment rosters, fleet list, bibliography and index.

Railway/History, 296 pp
ISBN 1-55039-040-6, cloth, $55.00