Tsolum River

Last updated

The Tsolum River is a short river on Vancouver Island, British Columbia, Canada. It joins the Puntledge River to form the Courtenay River in the City of Courtenay. [1]

Contents

Name origin

Originally identified on Admiralty charts as "River Courtenay" and given as "Courtney River" by Dr. Robert Brown of the Vancouver Island Exploring Expedition, and as "the Slough known as Tsalum", it first appeared as the Tzolum River on a BC Lands map in 1895, and again in 1905. The name Tsolum River was made official in 1922. [2]

The Tsolum River Upper Tsolum River.jpg
The Tsolum River

Loss of biodiversity

In 1964, the Mount Washington Copper Mining Co. had moved into its watershed and began a small copper mine. By 1966, the company had left the area after extracting 940,000 tonnes of waste rock. Even though their mining lasted only three year, the repercussions of their mining practices can still be seen today. What was once a river that was sprawling with 15,000 Coho Salmon had depleted to only 14 by 1984. [3] In 1997 the Tsolum River Task Force was formed by over 200 local residents with the goal of restoring Tsolum River's health and productivity. [4]

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Britannia Beach</span>

Britannia Beach is a small unincorporated community in the Squamish-Lillooet Regional District located approximately 55 kilometres north of Vancouver, British Columbia on the Sea-to-Sky Highway on Howe Sound. It has a population of about 300. It includes the nearby Britannia Creek, a small to mid-sized stream that flows into Howe Sound that was historically one of North America's most polluted waterways.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Comox, British Columbia</span> Town in British Columbia, Canada

Comox is a town on the southern coast of the Comox Peninsula in the Strait of Georgia on the eastern coast of Vancouver Island, British Columbia. Thousands of years ago, the warm dry summers, mild winters, fertile soil, and abundant sea life attracted First Nations, who called the area kw'umuxws.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Island Rail Corridor</span> Dormant railway operation on Vancouver Island

The Island Rail Corridor, previously the Esquimalt & Nanaimo Railway, is a dormant railway operation on Vancouver Island and is the only remaining railway there after the closure of the Englewood Railway in November 2017. The Island Corridor Foundation owns the former Esquimalt & Nanaimo Railway corridor. The railway line is 225 kilometres (140 mi) in length from Victoria to Courtenay, known as the Victoria Subdivision, with a branch line from Parksville to Port Alberni known as the Port Alberni Subdivision at 64 kilometres (40 mi) in length, for a total 289 kilometres (180 mi) of mainline track. In 2006, the Island Corridor Foundation acquired the railway's ownership from the Canadian Pacific Railway.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Courtenay, British Columbia</span> City in British Columbia, Canada

Courtenay is a city of about 26,000 on the east coast of Vancouver Island, in the Canadian province of British Columbia. It is the largest community and only city in the area commonly known as the Comox Valley, and the seat of the Comox Valley Regional District, which replaced the Comox-Strathcona Regional District. Courtenay is 4 km (2.5 mi) west of the town of Comox, 7 km (4.3 mi) northeast of the village of Cumberland, 5 km (3.1 mi) northwest of the unincorporated settlement of Royston, and 108 km (67 mi) northwest of Nanaimo. Along with Nanaimo and Victoria, it is home to The Canadian Scottish Regiment, a Primary Reserve infantry regiment of the Canadian Armed Forces.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Comox-Strathcona Regional District</span>

The Regional District of Comox-Strathcona was a regional district of British Columbia, Canada from 1967 to 2008. On February 15, 2008, the regional district was abolished and replaced by two successor regional districts, Comox Valley and Strathcona.

Anyox was a small company-owned mining town in British Columbia, Canada. Today it is a ghost town, abandoned and largely destroyed. It is located on the shores of Granby Bay in coastal Observatory Inlet, about 60 kilometres southeast of Stewart, British Columbia, and about 20 kilometres, across wilderness east of the tip of the Alaska Panhandle.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Comox Valley</span>

The Comox Valley is a region on the east coast of Vancouver Island, British Columbia, Canada, that includes the city of Courtenay, the town of Comox, the village of Cumberland, and the unincorporated settlements of Royston, Union Bay, Fanny Bay, Black Creek, and Merville. The communities of Denman Island and Hornby Island are also considered part of the Comox Valley. The Comox Valley contains the 47th largest metropolitan area in Canada with a population of about 76,000 as of 2022

Cumberland is an incorporated village municipality east of Perseverance Creek, near the east coast of central Vancouver Island, British Columbia. The Comox Valley community is west of BC Highway 19 and is by road about 105 kilometres (65 mi) northwest of Nanaimo and 10 kilometres (6 mi) southwest of Courtenay.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Strathcona Provincial Park</span> Provincial park in British Columbia, Canada

Strathcona Provincial Park is the oldest provincial park in British Columbia, Canada, and the largest on Vancouver Island. Founded in 1911, the park was named for Donald Alexander Smith, 1st Baron Strathcona and Mount Royal, a wealthy philanthropist and railway pioneer. It lies within the Strathcona Regional District. The Clayoquot Sound Biosphere Reserve, established in 2000, includes three watersheds in the western area of the park.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Georges P. Vanier Secondary School</span> High school in Courtenay, British Columbia, Canada

Georges P. Vanier Secondary School is a high school in Courtenay, British Columbia, Canada. The school was named after Georges P. Vanier, one of Canada's most popular Governors General.

The K'ómoks First Nation, also known as the Comox Indian Band, is the band government of the Island Comox or K'ómoks people of Vancouver Island, British Columbia, Canada. Closely allied to the Cape Mudge and Campbell River First Nations, historically they were a Coast Salish people since integrated into Kwakwaka'wakw society. Originally part of the Laich-kwil-tach Council of Chiefs, which is a treaty society, they are now negotiating independently in the BC Treaty Process. They remain a member government of the Kwakiutl District Council.

The Germansen River, formerly Germansen Creek, is a major south tributary of the Omenica River in the Northern Interior of British Columbia, Canada. The settlement and former gold-rush centre of Germansens Landing is located at its confluence with the Omineca. Along its course is Germansen Lake at 55°41′45″N124°51′10″W, south of which is the Germansen Range and Mount Germansen.

The Puntledge River is a small river on Vancouver Island, British Columbia, Canada. It joins the Tsolum River to form the Courtenay River, which enters the Strait of Georgia at the city of Courtenay.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Courtenay River</span>

The Courtenay River is a short river on Vancouver Island, British Columbia, Canada, being the name of the channel from the confluence of the Puntledge and Tsolum Rivers, in the City of Courtenay, and its outlet into Comox Harbour, which is a part of the Strait of Georgia.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Nanaimo River</span> River on Vancouver Island, Canada

The Nanaimo River is a river on Vancouver Island, British Columbia, Canada, located near the city of Nanaimo on the island's east coast. Its headwaters are in the Vancouver Island Ranges of central Vancouver Island and its mouth, the Nanaimo River estuary, is at the south end of Nanaimo Harbour in the Strait of Georgia. The estuary is part of the Pacific Estuary Conservation Program.

The Comox Land District is one of the 59 land districts of British Columbia, Canada, which are part of the cadastral divisions of British Columbia, created with rest of those on Vancouver Island via the Lands Act of the Colony of Vancouver Island. The British Columbia government's BC Names system, a subdivision of GeoBC, defines a land district as "a territorial division with legally defined boundaries for administrative purposes". All land titles and surveys use the Land District system as the primary point of reference, and entries in BC Names for placenames and geographical objects are so listed.

There are many lakes named Long Lake in British Columbia, Canada.

Waddington Harbour is a harbour at the head of Bute Inlet in the Central Coast region of British Columbia, Canada. Also issuing into the head of Bute Inlet and Waddington Harbour, just east of the mouth of the Homathko, is the Teaquahan River. Issuing directly into the inlet a few miles south on the harbour's southeast is the Southgate River, one of the major rivers of the central Pacific Ranges, which begins on the west side of the Lillooet Icecap. Its lower valley adjacent to the inlet's shores is called Pigeon Valley.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Nanaimo Lakes</span> Chain of lakes on Vancouver Island, Canada

Nanaimo Lakes are a chain of four lakes composed of three natural—First, Second, and Third Lakes—and one man-made, dammed lake, Fourth Lake, on the upper Nanaimo River, on Vancouver Island in British Columbia, Canada.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Teck Cominco smelter</span> Smelter in Trail, British Columbia

The Teck Cominco smelter, also known as the Teck Cominco Lead-Zinc Smelter, Cominco Smelter, and Trail smelter located in Trail, British Columbia, Canada, is the largest integrated lead-zinc smelter of its kind in the world. It is situated approximately 10 miles (16 km) north of the border between British Columbia, Canada and Washington, in the United States, on the Columbia River. It is owned and operated by Vancouver, British Columbia-based Teck Cominco Metals Ltd—renamed Teck Resources.

References

  1. BC Names entry "Tsolum River"
  2. BC Names entry "Tsolum River"
  3. "Mining and Water Pollution". Safe Drinking Water Foundation. Retrieved 2018-12-02.
  4. "Goals and History". Tsolum River Restoration Society. Retrieved 2018-12-02.

Coordinates: 49°41′45″N124°59′39″W / 49.69583°N 124.99417°W / 49.69583; -124.99417