Some people, not having seen the Kootenay River close up, may not be sure of which way it flows, north or south. It may seem somewhat logical to say it flows south as rivers flow down and south is “down”. However, the Kootenay River flows both south and north — south in the Columbia-Kootenay Valley near Cranbrook, north in the Creston Valley. Now, hopefully, without going and checking it out, some of the myths about this river are dismissed. (Go and check it out.)
East of Cranbrook, this lengthy river flows south into Montana, then west into Idaho, passing by Bonners Ferry where it swings north to ultimately flow into Kootenay Lake and into the Columbia River at Castlegar. Its waters are in and out of the United States and back in again, later dumping into the Pacific Ocean northwest of Portland, Ore. Of course, as with birds, it is somewhat inconsequential to the river which country it is passing through. It was something like that when David Thompson’s canoes plied this interesting river from about 1804-1806.
From either a standing or sitting position, on the banks of Kootenay River, I have wondered just where the once-upon-a-time big fish, the sturgeons, were lurking, carrying out their usual role of “vacuuming” the river bottom. Tall tales of this denizen of the river depths have entranced a lot of people. I have heard tales of them pulling deer into the river by the feet (sturgeon do have a resemblance to a crocodile). Then there is the story of the big one requiring a jeep to pull it out, which, on its immediate appearance, mysteriously “transformed” into a waterlogged tree trunk before the lucky fisherman’s very eyes.
Sturgeon are primarily bottom feeders, but their affinity for chicken has been their weakness; thus, their demise on a fisherman’s line. Actually, they are quite the survivors, for they have lived through tethering in shallow water while, over days, the community people have come and cut off pieces for the next meal. And the sturgeon lived on.
In the early ’70s, there was a meat shop on the south side of Canyon Street where behind the large old-fashioned storefront-type window was a large preserved sturgeon. With a little guessing, I would say it may have been somewhere around seven feet in length, quite large in today’s standards. With a little more guessing, I would venture to say it was of a smaller size compared to some, which, I recollect being told, measured up to around 12 or 13 feet.
One of my favorite spots on the banks of the Kootenay River is where it surges into Kootenay Lake. It doesn’t have to be a sunny day when I venture there. In fact, I have, on one occasion, purposefully waited for a stormy day to go out there, especially when the wind is coming from the north off the lake.
On this one occasion, there was a fine drizzle being driven almost horizontally on the wind. As I approached the gravel shoreline, near the railway bridge, I had to lean into the wind to maintain my balance. The surface of the river seemed to be lapped up or sending up “tongues” of water as the wind blew against the rivers flow and lake pushed back against its current. Interestingly there was a lot less moisture there, and, in fact, I wasn’t even getting very wet. But, I sought a more sheltered stretch of gravel behind a large log where I lay down facing the sky. While enjoying the calm, the wind howled over the log and overhead. It reminded me of a stormy day on an Atlantic shoreline.
The color of Kootenay River varies from spring to late summer. Probably the most striking appearance of the river occurs later in the summer when the mud of spring’s erosion has settled. Then the river may appear to have an almost turquoise-green hue, when glacial silts are much more predominate. Before industries became established up stream, this coloring was much more vivid.
Kootenay River, like many of our natural “scapes”, from one day to the next is never the same. As you have heard before, it is never a case of been there, done that. It deserves another visit!
Ed McMackin is a biologist by profession but a naturalist and hiker by nature. He can be reached at 250-866-5747.
