With K Mountain as a backdrop, Keremeos is a community whose “Wild West” looks date back to 1909 when the postmaster of the now-abandoned community of Upper Keremeos, Mr. George Kirby, purchased land alongside the Similkameen River in anticipation of the V.V. & E. Railway passing through the area.[5] Eventually the Great Northern Railway from the US built a branch line up to Hedley and other businesses soon followed. Keremeos was incorporated in 1956.