Savona ( ) is an unincorporated community in the Thompson Country region of south central British Columbia. The place is on the western end and south shore of Kamloops Lake, adjacent to the outlet into the Thompson River. On BC Highway 1, the locality is by road about east of Cache Creek and west of Kamloops. The surrounding countryside is semi-arid grasslands and hills, which support cattle ranching.
First Nations For thousands of years, First Nations used trails and waterways to travel between hunting, fishing and trading areas. Prior to the 1860s, French was probably more common in parts of the interior than English. Consequently, Boute du Lac (meaning foot of the lake) Indians was the name initially assigned to this indigenous group. Since the Hudson's Bay Brigade Trail crossed the Thompson at Kamloops, these people would have experienced limited exposure to the French-speaking fur trade era.
During the 1860s, the Savona Ferry Indians became the new name and the people gravitated to the Deadman Valley to build a small church and few houses. Having previously wintered in the valley and at the lake outlet, the establishment of the reserve in the late 1860s, revised the name to the Deadman Creek Band. In 1985, the traditional name of Skeetchestn Band was reinstated. Archaeological sites are scattered throughout the area. The main reserve is northwest of Savona on the Deadman River.
Ferries and bridges About 1858, during the Fraser Canyon Gold Rush, François Saveneux established a ferry across the fast current of the Thompson. The small ferry could likely carry two packhorses accompanied by riders. Herded cattle would swim across. Place names quickly anglicized, resulting in the Savona spelling. Lieutenant Mayne's 1859 sketch of the Fraser Canyon identifies but does not name the ferry. The family lived on the south shore and François died in 1862. His widow continued the ferry, which Ned Roberts took over in the mid-1860s, residing on the north shore. James Uren was the operator when the government assumed control in 1870. He built a large scow to carry a four-horse rig.
The 1875 flood snapped the rope, which was replaced by a steel cable in 1876. High water set the ferry adrift in 1878. The next year, when the cable broke, two occupants were saved, but one drowned. The long bridge, with a Howe truss main span, opened in 1884. This swing bridge experienced severe flood damage in 1888 and complete destruction in 1894. When reinstated in 1895, the ferry remained free, but a charge was levied for after hours service. In the late 1890s, hordes travelling to the Klondike Gold Rush created a busy period.
In 1903, high water sent the ferry to destruction downstream. Almost a year later, a replacement was installed.
In 1906, the second bridge opened east of the 1884 site. Three small spans flanked three ones. After being largely swept away in 1908, the third bridge was quickly built upon the existing piers. In 1929, a two-lane steel bridge, about downstream, replaced the wooden bridge. The next year, the former bridge was dynamited.
Widening of the 1929 bridge to began in 1957 and was completed the following year.
In 1972, a pickup truck and trailer jackknifed on the bridge. After colliding with a semi-trailer on the bridge in 1979, an RV plunged about , killing the two occupants. In 1982, a semi-trailer crashed through a guardrail on the bridge and fell to the riverbed, killing the driver.
In 1991, a two-lane concrete bridge replaced the one-lane Bailey bridge over the railway track at the Savona East access. In 1993, Cortez Construction adopted the "Highline" method to install the girders for the river bridge replacement.
Roads and steamers The Big Bend Gold Rush of 1865 prompted the construction of the wagon road from Cache Creek to Savona. Gustavus Blin Wright built the , wide road, which opened in April 1866. A stage coach service began immediately. That month, ten mules hauled the boiler for the SS Marten over this route. The boat hull had been built at Shuswap Lake and floated down to Savona for installation of the machinery. Launched in May 1866, this first steamboat on Kamloops Lake provided a link to Seymour on Shuswap Lake, from where prospectors proceeded to the Big Bend.
In 1869, the wagon road from Savona to Kamloops was completed.
In 1872, the Canadian Pacific Railway (CP) built the small steamer SS Kamloops to carry supplies for surveyors from Savona. Mara and Wilson, Kamloops merchants, bought the Marten from the Hudson's Bay Company (HBC) in 1875. The next year, the vessel smashed into the HBC warehouse, demolishing the east wing. In 1877, the Marten was wrecked.
After the railway opened, a steamer service from Kamloops still operated for over a decade.
By 1915, a good road existed south to Lower Nicola.
In 1931, a new piece of road known as the eight-mile hill, about halfway between Cherry Creek and Savona, opened to traffic.
In 1953, the realignment from the highway bridge to the viewpoint, which included the Savona bypass, opened.
Largely paved by 1937, the road westward was replaced by a more elevated highway in the 1960s.
Prior to Greyhound Canada ceasing all interprovincial routes in 2018, an application the prior year included a service reduction via Savona. Ebus provides a three times weekly bus service.
Earlier north shore community
The settlement grew adjacent to the HBC post. In 1867, the post office opened. Named Savona's Ferry, the place was a postage zone boundary. When the Colony of British Columbia changed from sterling to decimal currency in 1867, the postage rate to this boundary was 12.5 cents and beyond was 25 cents. The post office was closed 1870–1881.
In 1870, James Uren purchased the W.H. Kay stopping house, which he refurbished and later extended. In the early 1870s, James Sabiston operated a store. Uren managed the HBC warehouse 1873–1878, which held freight awaiting lake transport to Kamloops. About 1882, he renamed the lodgings as Savona House. John Jane's general store, which opened in 1881, soon faced competition from the various stores across the lake which sprang up to serve the CP construction crews. Around this time, Abraham Thomas opened a saloon, which became known as the Central Hotel. In fall 1883, James A. Newland and Adam B. Ferguson opened a hotel called Lakeview House, which thrived during the CP construction period. The location of the cemetery on the north shore suggests its existence by this time.
In 1886, Barnard's Express relocated headquarters to Ashcroft, James Uren died in England, Ferguson bought out his hotel partner, and many of the residences lay abandoned. Ferguson closed the hotel in 1891, and one account claims the building was hauled across the frozen lake, possibly to be used as a family residence. That year, John Jane closed his store. By then, the north shore settlement was largely deserted. Thomas may have continued his hotel as late as 1904.
Earlier south shore community No buildings existed in 1882 at what became the CP townsite in 1884. H.F. Keefer's general store, a little log structure at a site which for several years was known as Keefers Point, was the first business. Many more followed but soon disappeared once the railway construction moved on. When the jail was built, John Kirkup became the initial jailer and constable.
The Savona brewery, which opened in 1885, burned down in 1889. Laid out in 1885, the townsite never rose to significance but remained a small hamlet.
In 1886, Mat Finlay took over management of the Van-Horne Hotel from Mr. Crotty. In 1891, Ferguson acquired the Finlay hotel, which he renamed Lakeview House, and John Jane opened his large new store. Successive storekeepers ensured the ongoing presence of a general store in the community. An attempt to start a school around 1889 appears to have failed, probably due to insufficient students. In 1894–95, the first school opened in a former brewery residence that was dragged uptown. The first proper schoolhouse was erected in 1900.
In 1904, a community hall opened. In 1909, brothers Jack and Jake Christian bought the hotel.
Prior to 1910, the names Savona's Ferry, Van Horne, Savonas, and Savona, were used interchangeably until settling upon the latter. Although a provincial constable was resident at that time, it is unclear whether the presence had been intermittent since the 1880s.
In 1911, Savona became a Canadian Northern Railway (CNoR) construction base, which temporarily boosted the population. That year, the new community hall opened.
In 1913, a tender was published for a new jail/courtroom/constable's quarters. Around 1915, St Hilda's Anglican church was built. A resident constable remained until the mid-1920s. In 1924, fire destroyed the hotel.
Advertised for sale In 1930, the 1913 jail complex was sold and converted in 1932 to a private residence. In 1937, a new one-room school replaced the old one. In the later 1930s, Savona Lodge and Savona Hotel were established.
In 1953, St Hilda's Anglican Church was moved across the CP tracks to a more central location. About 1954, BC Hydro transmission lines introduced electricity to the area. That summer, Dey's new store and café opened on the new bypass, replacing the building destroyed by fire months earlier.
In 1959, a voluntary fire department was established. In 1963, the new firehall opened and the department received a new pumper truck.
By the 1960s, the CP water tank was no longer used by trains but remained for several more years to supply Savona prior to the installation of its own water system. The new parish house of St Hilda's church was dedicated in 1965.
BC Tel extended the toll-free calling areas in 1982 and 1990. In 1998, the remaining customers on party lines switched to direct dialing.
Railways Canadian Pacific CP chose the name Port Van Horne (after William Cornelius Van Horne, CP general manager) for the proposed railway siding, steamboat landing, warehouses, and community. In December 1884, the eastward advance of the CP rail head from Port Moody halted about one mile east.
CP assigned little prominence to the new name, preferring to use some variation of Savona. Assumedly, a spur connected to the landing, from where supplies were forwarded farther up the lake. Restarted in the summer, the tracklaying reached Kamloops in July 1885.
Andrew Onderdonk was awarded the government contracts for Emory Bar–Savona in 1880 and Port Moody–Emory Bar in 1882 and the CP contract for Savona–Craigellachie in 1884 (although the location of the latter would depend upon where the two advancing rail heads met).
Built in 1884, the station and agent's residence were unimpressive and have been mistakenly identified as the standard-design (Bohi's Type 5) single-storey station building with gable roof and dormers (identical to Keefers). The replacement in the late 1890s was the standard-design Plan H-I-20-6 (Bohi's Type 1) split level station building, which was destroyed in 1969 or 1972. (The latter was similar to Gleichen station).
In 1898, a train struck a man, who sustained fatal injuries.
By 1900, the station was a significant shipping point for livestock.
In 1908, a man died on falling from a train about east.
In 1910, a brakeman, who was jolted from the top of a car, when the emergency brakes inexplicably engaged, received severe lacerations to the head and was knocked unconscious. A court awarded $3,000 in damages. Later that year, a freight train ran over a man, causing fatal injuries.
In 1911, a locomotive and several passenger cars derailed about east. That year, CP erected a new freight shed.
In 1912, a locomotive struck a landslide and plunged down an embankment. Two men died, several cars were derailed, and significant track was destroyed.