paintings for sale

Whisper of a Breeze

Oil on canvas 

40cm x 50cm, 16” x 20”

Break of dawn in Rossland, British Columbia.

Tucked high in the Monashee Mountains, this sleepy town was once the largest city in Western Canada. Near the turn of the century, gold was discovered in Rossland and the population of the town exploded, the promise of riches bringing fevered masses from around the world. Infrastructure sprang up rapidly: mines, railways and a busy central business district.

As fast as it started, the fever that brought so many to Rossland broke. By 1930, the mines had all but been depleted, the railways pulled. Rossland became, like so many settlements during the frenzied gold rush, a ghost town.

Relics of the past litter the streets of modern Rossland. This gold-rush-era building, now a coffee shop with upper level residences, was a feast for the eyes. The warm dawn light and long shadows off the wood slating made me catch my breath, a curtain lolling lazily out the window of one of the apartments, dancing ever so gently in the summer breeze.

Today, the town may not be big nor booming, but the historic sights and fascinating history still manage to draw people in.