| Feature Type: | Community - An unincorporated populated place, generally with a population of 50 or more, and having a recognized central area that might contain a post office, store and/or community hall, etc, intended for the use of the general public in the region. |
| Status: | Official |
| Name Authority: | BC Geographical Names Office |
| Relative Location: | S end of Kootenay Lake on the E shore, N of Creston, Kootenay Land District |
| Latitude-Longitude: | 49°18'00"N, 116°39'41"W at the approximate population centre of this feature. |
| Datum: | WGS84 |
| NTS Map: | 82F/7 |
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Origin Notes and History:
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Kuskonook (Post Office and Railway Station) was adopted in the 5th Report of the Geographic Board of Canada, 30 June 1904, as labelled on BC Mines Map "Southern portion of East & West Kootenay Districts" published in 1898 to accompany their 1897 Mines Report, as identified in 1898 Voters Lists, as labelled on BC Lands map of British Columbia, 1899, and as labelled on CPR's map of Southern British Columbia, 1903; not Kuskanook, as spelled on Geological Survey map 771, 1902. Form of name adjusted to Kuskonook (settlement) in the 18th Report of the Geographic Board of Canada, 31 March 1924. Re-approved 4 September 1947 on Columbia River Basin manuscript #7. (file N.1.47) Source: BC place name cards, or correspondence to/from BC's Chief Geographer or BC Geographical Names Office |
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Promoters of a townsite here had considered naming the place Goat River Landing, Armstrong's Landing, Kalama; they settled on Kuskonook - derived from an Indian word meaning "end of lake." Kuskonook Post Office was opened 1 October 1898. The Bedlington & Nelson Railway (subsidiary of GNR) opened their Kuskonook Station in mid-1900 (exact date not cited). Kuskonook identified in the 1909 BC Gazetteer as the terminus of the Bonners Ferry-Creston Branch of the GNR [this is incorrect: GNR records indicate that the last train left Kuskonook on 14 January 1904, although siding, turntable & engine house remained on site for 12 more years.] Kuskonook Post Office was closed 31 March 1918. Source: BC place name cards, files, correspondence and/or research by BC Chief Geographer/Geographical Names Office. |
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"One of GNR's abandoned station houses is now the home of Imperial Oil agent Sam BySouth, who has lived in the district almost all of his 74 years. He remembers Kuskanook [sic] in 1895.....6 saloons and a population of several hundred." (Imperial Oil Review, April 1958) Source: included with note |
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Some area residents maintain that the spelling should be "Kuskanook" - a closer approximation of the pronunciation (1998). The proprietor of End of the Lake guest house uses the spelling "Kuskanook" (2011) Source: BC place name cards, files, correspondence and/or research by BC Chief Geographer/Geographical Names Office. |