Donald is an unincorporated community in the East Kootenay region of southeastern British Columbia. This almost ghost town is on the northeast shore of the Columbia River immediately southeast of the mouth of Marl Creek. The locality, on BC Highway 1, is by road about northwest of Golden and northeast of Revelstoke. Name origin During railway construction, a lively canvas town with numerous stores and saloons existed. The place was known as Columbia Crossing, First Crossing, or Third Siding. Numbered west from Golden, these sidings housed a section crew. On completion of the railway, the station was named after Canadian Pacific Railway (CP) director Donald A. Smith. Railway At Donald, CP received a grant and purchased a further . By November 1884, the westward advance of the CP rail head had passed through Donald and reached Beavermouth. That winter, Donald remained the terminus for rail service. Donald became a divisional point on the boundary between the Western and the Pacific Divisions and Mountain and Pacific times. The infrastructure included a 12-stall roundhouse and railway workshops. Ballasting of the track from Donald to Revelstoke did not occur until 1887. During the 1890s, the train station had refreshment rooms, a telegraph office, and indoor plumbing. CP had an icehouse, parts stores, workshops, and about 200 employees. In 1898, work commenced on rebuilding the rail bridge while the rail yard sidings were being lifted. The bridge ironwork comprised a centre span and girders at each end. Further bridge work occurred in 1900. The January 1899 Rogers Pass avalanche delayed the closure of the divisional point that year. In summer 1901, CP put a match to the eyesore remnants of company buildings. By 1902, little remained of the community apart from the station, which housed several CP employees until the new station was built at Golden in 1903. The next year, the CP repeating station moved to Golden. In 1905, a new tunnel was excavated about to the west. As part of upgrading in 1912, a gravel pit for ballast was established at Donald. The present passing track is long. . Waghorn's describes as the Anzac flag stop. At Mile 56.7, Redgrave is a passing siding. Although absent from timetables, it seems to have been an unofficial flag stop prior to 1910. Early community The courthouse was built in 1884 and replaced in 1890. The townsite was surveyed in 1886, and the Woodbine Hotel