city, southeastern corner of British Columbia, Canada. It lies in the Kootenay River valley on the western edge of the Rocky Mountain Trench. The region was first settled about 1863 by gold prospectors. Cranbrook was probably named for a town near the farm home in Kent, Eng., of one of the settlers, Colonel James Baker. The Canadian Pacific Railroad's Crowsnest branch line reached the site in 1898.
Now a highway and railway junction and a service centre for ranchers, farmers, lumbermen, and miners, the city is the principal administrative headquarters for East Kootenay district. Its economy is based on forest industries, lead-zinc mining, and tourism. The Kootenay Indian Reservation is immediately to the north, and Fort Steele Historic Park (which includes a restored Kootenay village of 1890–1905) is 10 miles (16 km) northeast. Inc. city, 1905. Pop. (2006) 18,267.
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