In the 40-odd miles from Death Rapids to Boat Encampment 

 at the mouth of the Canoe River on the Big Bend, there are 3 

 more rapids. Rocks lide Ranids just above Death Rapids are at 

 the narrov/est point on the whole Columbia below V/indermere Lake, 

 the river narrovdng to 70 feet in width betv/een nearly per- 

 pendicular rook walls, with a sharp bend at the foot of the chute. 

 One mile above is Twelve t.'ile Rapids, which is white water but not 

 as rough as those below. Gordon Rapids further up is a vicious 

 tumble of wild, white water, but has a fast and comparatively 

 clear back channel. 



At the Big Bend, the Canoe River empties in a chocolate 

 brown flood, and Wood River also discolors the Columbia. Above 

 this point the Columbia has sparkling clonr water, where it was 

 translucent in the canyons below. 



In the first 5 miles above the Canoe River, the Columbia 

 is deep and swift, vdth a current of 8 to 12 miles per hour 

 betvffeen boulder banks or cliffs in a timbered canyon. The 

 next 16 miles have a fall of 260 feet in the long Kinbasket 

 Rapids, a chain of small, successive rapids, Kinbasket Lake, 

 at the head of the rapids, is 6 to 7 miles long and x to 2 miles 

 wide. A slight current is noticeable, and a big eddy at the 

 upper end colleots all the drift of the upper river, just as 

 did "Deadman's Eddy* just above Northport, Yfeshington. 



There is a drop of 64 feet in the 16 miles immediately 

 above Kinbasket Lake followed by Surprise Rapids, which have 

 a total drop of 100 feet in 3 l/2 miles. The upper cascades 

 has the greatest fall, 21 feet in 750 feet. There is an 8 

 mile-an-hour current betv/een this and the second cascade, l/2 

 mile belov/, which has a drop of 15 feet in 1200 feet. At the 

 third cascade there is a drop of 25 feet in 2500 feet, and the 

 stream is choked with barely submerged rocks. A power dam has 

 been proposed to be located below the rapids; it would back 

 water tc Beavermovth over 20 miles upstream. 



Except for a bir riffle known as Eight Mile Rapids, the 

 Columbia generally flows auietly in a widening valley for the 

 next 50 miles to Golden, B. C. In the 90 miles betv/een Golden 

 and the foot of Windermere Lake there is but 25 feet of fall, 

 so that the winding river is hardljr more than a series of lagoon- 

 like stretches with a current of from 1 to 4 miles per hour. Lake 

 7?indermere is a wider basin on the plateau and is about 10 to 12 

 miles long. Several miles of faster river channel connect it with 

 ColimbiP. Lake which is similar to Windermere Lake. There is a 

 smaller emba^Tnent abo-^^e Colvinbia Lake knovm as Mud Lake, and the 

 river above this is of small volume but is continuously fed by 

 springs and seepage in the vicinity of Canal Flats. The entire 

 area from Golden to Canal Flats is on a wide, nearly flat, saucer- 

 shaped, moiintain-bordered plateau, rather thinly settled by ranchers 

 and farmers, 



102 



