Rossland today is an active outdoor recreation hotspot. But in the 19th century, people came here more for the valuable gold mining than anything else. When the gold rush started in 1893 the population of Rossland was about 75 people, but between the mines and the smelter in Trail, by 1897 the population had boomed up to 7000 people, and Rossland was the third largest city in BC (Vancouver, and Victoria). The first settlement in Rossland was mostly temporary cabins or campsites that the miners erected in the short term. However the town grew quickly, and by 1897 Ross Thompson officially incorporated Rossland as a city, by that time there were 40 hotels, 5 churches, 4 breweries, and 3 banks in Rossland. Over the next little while Rossland suffered three terrible fires that ruined many of these original buildings, but many of them do still stand today.