This week’s photo takes us back to a Rossland parade circa 1933, where a horse, centre stage and clearly unfazed by the crowd, pulls Jack McDonald and Emil Leduc in a West Kootenay Power and Light Company buggy.
It’s a fitting image for today, National Farm Animals Day (April 10), even if Rossland never quite earned its stripes as a farming hub.
With rocky soil, short growing seasons, and few flat plots to work with, the city wasn't built for agriculture.
Still, horses played a key role in Rossland’s development.
Before the railways arrived, the Trail–Rossland Wagon Road, built in the early 1890s, enabled horse-drawn wagons to haul ore down the mountain.
Horses remained essential for years, not just for transport but also for community events.
They were regulars at the Rossland Winter Carnival, competing in events like delivery races (where they hauled boys and 20-pound sacks), Roman chariot-style races down Columbia Avenue, and skijoring: skiers holding on for dear life as they were pulled through snow-packed streets.
Have photos of early Rossland?
The museum welcomes contributions.
Photos can be digitized for preservation and originals retained.
