Pioneering in Kootenay. 261 



flows into the Columbia river at a point (Robson) more than 

 400 miles from its source, and about 5ooft. lower in altitude than 

 the Kootenay lake, and i2ooft. lower than Canal Flat. 



Curiously enough, the source of the Columbia river is less than 

 a mile from the Kootenay river at the already mentioned Canal 

 Flat. This latter is a level sandy flat a mile or so wide, which 

 separates the stream from the Columbia lake, which is the source 

 of the Columbia river. In other words, the erratic courses of the 

 two rivers form a great " O," some 800 miles in length, round 

 the Selkirk Mountains. It is certainly an unique instance of two 

 rivers, at one point less than a mile apart, taking opposite courses, 

 then turning back and meeting, each river having performed a 

 journey of some 400 miles through some of the most formidable 

 mountain systems on the broad continent of North America. 



My land concession in the Lower Kootenay valley comprised 

 every inch of valley land between the boundary and the lake. 

 In autumn and spring no finer stretches of rich alluvial grass land 

 could be discovered in any part of America, but in summer the 

 enormous freshets, which caused the river to rise from loft, to 2oft., 

 turned these flats into swamps and lakes, the duration of the 

 overflow depending on the amount of snow in the high mountains 

 and the rapidity with which it melted. The American and English 

 engineers who examined into the feasibility of preventing this 

 overflow pronounced the idea I had formed a practical one. It was 

 to turn the Kootenay river at Canal Flat into the Columbia lake. 

 The piece of land lying between the two waters was a level stretch 

 of gravel shelving from the river to the lake, the latter being about 

 1 1 ft. lower than the Kootenay. With such a fall in less than a 

 mile it practically needed very little work, for. once a big ditch was 

 cut, the rushing Kootenay, at that point a rapid stream some 3ooft. 

 wide, would soon do the rest. By turning off such a large quantity 

 of water it was expected that the overflow of the bottom land 

 300 miles further down would be prevented. It was really 

 restoring things to their original condition, for there is no doub< 

 that a comparatively short time back the Kootenay river forked at 



