It's time for your history and geography lesson, mixed in with a whole bunch more photos from my last trip into the east Kootenays.
Canal Flats is the centre of this story, but don't even consider erasing the 'C' on their highway sign!
Canal Flats sits just south of 16km long Columbia Lake, which is the headwaters of the mighty Columbia river.
It flows for more than 1960 kilometres (1200 miles) before reaching the Pacific ocean at Astoria, Oregon. It drains a 259,000 square mile basin that includes areas in seven US states, as well as parts of British Columbia.
From it's humble beginnings at Canal Flats, it flows northward for over 420 kilometres, past Invermere and Golden, where it enters Kinbasket lake which almost reaches Valemount to the north. Then it swings southward, through Revelstoke into the Arrow Lakes (see previous post), and south to Castlegar (*), and Trail, then into the US for the remainder of it's course.
Coincidentally, the Kootenay River, which originates to the north in Kootenay National Park, flows southward right past Canal Flats in the opposite direction from the Columbia - which is headed north. It then flows southward for 200 Km into Montana, before coming back north into Canada. It flows north past Creston (home of Kokanee beer) and into Kootenay Lake before heading west where it flows to Castlegar (*), ... and joins the Columbia! So the two rivers pass within 1.2 km of each other, then actually travel hundreds of kilometres in opposite directions, before deciding to join.
That's it for geography, now for the history. Because of the proximity of the two rivers, and the importance of rivers in early transportation, a canal was constructed between the two rivers.
The canal was also part of an attempt in the 1880's to divert water from the Kootenay into the Columbia, thus lowering the level of Kootenay Lake to reclaim thousands of hectares of valuable farm land.
But the plan was abandoned after only two boats passed through the canal and lock system because of fears of flooding of the Canadian Pacific railroad and farmland around Golden.
And now for the modern portion of the story. The two rivers join in Castlegar, right by Zuckerberg island - which I visited when I passed through that area. I did not erase the 'C' on the Canal Flats sign!
So, .... I too went southward past Trail along the Columbia river, where I watched a number of modern voyageurs, in brightly coloured plastic kayaks playing in a wave just north of the border.
Kayakers on Columbia south of Trail, BC.
At the border, I turned east along the Pend Oreille river which flows out of Washington State, past a dam just a few hundred meters from the border. Though the river only flows in Canada for about 25km, there are an additional two more hydro dams in the Canadian section.
As you drive east from Waneta (south of Trail), there is a dam right where the Pend Oreille flows into the Columbia, then the next dam is the 7 mile (pictured).
Seven Mile Dam on Pend Oreille river south of Trail, BC.
When I used to live in Trail around the time of the dinosaurs, I used to come down here with my jurassic gold pan and find a few flakes in the tributaries in the area.
A large forest fire came out of the States this fall and burned a lot of the bush and riverbank in this area.
Fire along Pend Oreille river that came from the US.
The road has been blocked several times over the years from both natural and man-made barriers. There are two man-made barriers that have simply been covered with dirt so you can drive over!
The road ends at Nelway, which is a two-horse town that consists of a border crossing, and the two horses.
Canada Customs - Nelway, BC.
Leaving the border crossing at Nelway, the route was back east, over the Salmo-Creston summit, or Kootenay Pass as it is officially known. The pass starts at about 2100' on the Salmo side, tops out around 5823' before dropping to 1700' in Creston. If you prefer meters, click on the pass profile pic.
If you prefer a live pic from the pass, there is a BC Highways web cam to be seen - here.
Next blog entry - visit to Lussier Hot Springs and more web cams.
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