‘Lost Kootenays: A History in Pictures’ depicts life in the Kootenays from 1860s to 1950s

This story first appeared in print in Revelstoke Mountaineer Magazine’s December 2021 issue. Read the entire e-edition here:

A Facebook page sharing historical photos of life in the Kootenays has now made the group’s moderators, Greg Nesteroff and Eric Brighton, into published co-authors. Their book, Lost Kootenays: A History in Pictures, documents life in the Kootenays through a collection of more than 130 photographs spanning from the 1860s to the 1950s.

The book is described as a definitive photographic account of the Kootenays, providing a window into the past and exploring themes from the region’s First Nations communities to its mining, forestry, fruit farming, railroading and steamboating industries.

The original Facebook page has grown to over 54,000 followers since it started in 2013 and was initially geared to more contemporary photos of the Kootenays from the 1950s onward, serving as a kind of nostalgic collection until it expanded to cover a wider range of the region’s history.

Eventually, the page caught the attention of Nova Scotia-based MacIntyre Purcell Publishing, who reached out to Nesteroff and Brighton early this year with the request to compile a book of photos. The publisher has now published several books based on popular Facebook pages, particularly ones focused on local history.

Nesteroff and Brighton gathered photos for the book from several sources, scouring the City of Vancouver archives, their own personal collections, and the BC archives. The book’s cover photo is an image of the Arlington Hotel in Slocan City in its declining years. The authors describe the image as evoking a ghost town vibe like few other pictures do.

The book has found success so far, hitting ​​Amazon’s main Top 100 chart in October and making the Facebook group an even more popular spot for history buffs interested in a glimpse into historic Kootenay life.

Lost Kootenays: A History in Pictures hit shelves on September 30 and is currently available at local retailers in the Kootenays, Amazon, as well as Chapters, Indigo and Coles book stores. Check out the Lost Kootenay’s Facebook page for more information about the book and where to buy it.