In 1890, the discovery of gold and copper ore on the face of Red Mountain by Joe Moris and Joe Bourgeois was the single most important event in the history of Trail and Rossland area. The five claims then staked led to the rise of Rossland as the premier mining center in North America and the birth of Trail.

At the same time, Eugene Sayre Topping and his friend Frank Hanna purchased 343 acres at the mouth of Trail Creek on the Columbia River and surveyed a townsite. The Rossland mines proved to be very rich in gold and copper ore and the lots in the Trail Creek townsite sold briskly. In 1895, a smelter was built on the bench above Trail to process the Rossland ores. Trail's fate was thus sealed.

The town of Trail Creek was incorporated as a city in 1901. The smelter later grew to be the largest lead-zinc smelter in the world and with that, the City grew and prospered. Learn more about the history of Trail

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