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(36 miles south of Radium Junction, Highway 93/93)
In 1808 David Thompson named this flat ‘McGillivray’s Portage’ as he crossed from Columbia Lake to the Kootenay River. In 1889 WA Baillie-Grohman joined the two waterways by a canal with a single lock. Regulations aimed at preventing Columbia River flooding so restricted the operation of the canal that only two steamboats passed through – the Gwendoline in 1894 and the North Star in 1902.
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(View point over the Creston Flats area several miles north of Creston)
It was the dream, in the 1880s, of WA Baillie-Grohman, British sportsman and financier, to reclaim these fertile flats from the annual river floods. His canal at Canal Flats diverted part of the Kootenary into the Columbia but was abandoned. The first successful reclamation was in 1893. Now 25,110 acres lie secure beyond 53 miles of dykes.
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(6.2 miles north of Warnder)
A colourful steamboat era preceded the railways. During mining boom days of 1893-98 a fleet of sternwheelers ran north from the railway at Jennings, Mont., to Fort Steele and vicinity.
Carrying prospectors, freight, and ore they battled treacherous currents, shoals, and canyons to provide a vital transport link.
The Kootenays owe them much!
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(On Highway 31A at Zincton)
Here beaver made a home for themselves and created an oasis of life for other creatures. They have dammed a stream, logged a forest, dredged canals, and built a house. Their pond, with its clear water, lush grasses, and dead trees, provided an attractive habitat for many insects, birds, and mammals. Beaver usually work and feed at dawn and dusk.
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(1 mile from the ferry terminal at Kootenay Bay, Kootenay Lake)
The orebody known to Indians as a source of lead for musket balls, was staked in 1882 by Bob Sproule, later restaked by Tom Hamill. The resulting lawsuit cost Sproule the property, and in revenge he murdered his rival, was convicted and hanged. Development included a smelter and townsite. This mine has the longest history in the province.
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