Kootenay River

Kootenay River

The Kootenay (Kootenai in the U.S. and historically called the Flatbow) is a major river in southeastern British Columbia, Canada and the northern part of the U.S. states of Montana and Idaho. It is one of the uppermost major tributaries of the Columbia River, which is the largest North American river that empties into the Pacific Ocean. The Kootenay River runs 781 kilometres (485 mi) from its origins in the Kootenay Ranges of the Canadian Rockies, exiting British Columbia's East Kootenay region via northwestern Montana and the northernmost Idaho Panhandle to return to Canada in the West Kootenay region, where it ends at the city of Castlegar, British Columbia.

Born in glaciers and flowing through a rugged landscape of mountains and valleys, this river drains an isolated and sparsely populated region of the Pacific Northwest. Between the highest headwaters and the Columbia River, the Kootenay’s elevation dips by over two kilometers. Although comparable by length, watershed and discharge to the Columbia above where the two rivers meet, the Kootenay is of a very different character. Its dramatic drop, caused by a steep gradient, results in the formation of many rapids.

People of the Ktunaxa (Kootenai) tribe were the first to live along its banks, and for hundreds of years, they hunted and fished on the river, quite isolated from neighboring indigenous groups. In the 19th century, a Canadian explorer, David Thompson, became the first recorded European to reach the Kootenay and established trading posts throughout the region. A gold rush on the Kootenay and later silver and galena strikes in its western basins in the late 19th century attracted thousands of miners and settlers to the region, who soon were followed by the arrival of railroads and steamboats. As mines, mills and factories continued to operate on the river, the Doukhobors, a Russian religious sect established a short-lived colony, Brilliant, at the Kootenay's mouth. The people dispersed into many settlements, quickly becoming a major influence to the lumber and food industries in the region.

As with many Pacific Northwest rivers, dams were built on the Kootenay in the 20th century to generate hydroelectricity, and protect against floods and droughts. Today, over 150 kilometres (93 mi) of the river have been impounded behind five dams — and a sixth to raise the level of Kootenay Lake, the largest natural lake formed by the Kootenay, and one of the largest in British Columbia.