It Came to Pass 50 Years of Highs and Lows on the Salmo-Creston
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Bringing the FREE Creston Valley together. October 2013 It Came to Pass 50 years of highs and lows on the Salmo-Creston Mayor’s Desk Toyota becomes firefighter for a day The Arts Health Music teachers present Cold and flu season Mosaic of Sound inspires comparison It’s Deere Season *4.9% for 48 months-Oer valid from March 1, 2013 until July 31, 2013. Subject to John Deere Financial approval and dealer participation. In the event you default on this or any John Deere Financial Multi-Use Account transaction, interest on all outstanding balances on your Multi-use accounts (including on this and all special Term transactions on your Multi-use Account) will begin to accrue immediately at 19.75% AIR from the date of default until paid in full, and you will be required to make monthly payments on your Multi-use Account equal to 2.5% (personal use); 3.0% (commercial use) of the original amounts nanced plus interest. Taxes, set-up, delivery, freight, and preparation charges not included and may increase price or monthly payment(s). Minimum purchase and nance amount may be required. See your dealer for details. Program subject to change, without notice, at any time. For purchases on your Multi-use Account for personal, agricultural and commercial use. For eligible purchases of goods and services: 1) a minimum monthly payment of $342.65 is required; and 2) nance charges will begin to accrue immediately on amount nanced at 17.9% per annum. †0% for 72 months-Oer valid from February 1, 2013 until April 30, 2013. Down payment may be required. A $50.00 documentation fee may apply. Monthly payments and cost of borrowing will vary depending on amount borrowed and down payment. Minimum nance amount may be required. The charge for amounts past due is 24% per annum. Taxes, set-up, delivery, freight, and preparation charges not included. Dealers are free to set individual prices. Additional fees may apply. Subject to John Deere Financial approval. See participating dealer for details. Program subject to change, without notice, at any time. 310% purchase nancing for 6 years on new 5E Utility Tractors 45-75HP with cab or PR Transmission. Representative Example: Model 5075E with cab or PR Transmission at $41,969, plus a $50 documentation fee, less a down payment of $8,403.80, at 1.45% APR, semi-annual payment is $2,801.27 for 6 years, total obligation is $33,615.24, cost of borrowing is $1,526.54 (includes foregone cash rebate of $1,500 in order to take advantage of oer). Down payment may be required. More Models, More Parts, More Knowledgeable Sta contents magazine Sales Sally Hall cell: 250.402-9111 [email protected] Graphic Design Wendy Franz cell: 250.402.8711 [email protected] Financials Justin Ziola cell: 250.428.6772 [email protected] The Magazine I Love Creston Magazine is produced monthly and distributed free of charge by I Love Creston Marketing Ltd. Reproduction in whole or in part without permission is prohibited. feature story Any advertisements or graphics designed in-house are property The good, the bad and the slippery of I Love Creston Marketing Ltd. and may not be used in any other Canada’s highest all-weather highway marks its 50th anniversary medium without permission. 5 this month. Views expressed in the magazine does not necessarily reflect those of the company. what’s inside Letters to the Editor Letters to I Love Creston Magazine Town Hall Wildlife may be emailed to office@ 10 22 ilovecreston.com or mailed to Mayor feels the heat. Sights and sounds of Box 143, Creston, BC, V0B 1G0. the bittern. First Nations Letters may be edited for clarity 11 Columbia Basin and space. LKB team busy. 23 Health Free event focuses on I Love Creston Marketing Ltd. 12 community collaboration. Box 143, Creston, BC V0B 1G0 Distinguish a cold from flu. Finances Ph/Fx: 250.428.2631 Fire Prevention [email protected] 14 24 Student tax breaks. www.ilovecreston.com Get cookin’ with fire safety. All Hallow’s Eve Agriculture 25 19 Count your blessings. Creepy Tidbits and more. Hockey Labour 28 20 Teamwork essential on the job. High cost of junior B. Sports COOLEST Music KOOTENAY 29 Roller derby recruiting. Printed in Canada. WEBSITE 21 Teachers take to stage. www.ilovecreston.com October 2013 3 this issue at Nelson) were removed and, voila, pipeline and power line now exist, but Guest a scenic, tourist-friendly option was there was a fairly significant pass they had From the editor born. Locals could take visiting relatives to get over and they were probably going “around the loop,” going one way to have to tunnel through it. There was aybe it was the thin air, or just the on what has ever since been billed as some reluctance on the Ministry’s part to Manticipation of a national record- the world’s longest free ferry ride and commit to tunneling. setting feat of engineering. For whatever returning via the Skyway (or vice versa). reason, the opening of Canada’s highest “After the first winter there was a realignment survey put in on the (north- all-season commercial highway 50 years It opened up some of the region’s most facing) side of the valley on the east ago inspired some giddy thoughts. accessible backcountry terrain for skiing, snowshoeing, hiking and snowmobiling. side of the pass. There is a logging road The body of water in what would there.” become Stagleap Provincial Park was In more recent years the highway has That option was revisited in 1992 after a called Summit Lake, until it came time undoubtedly drawn attention to the car was struck by a slide, but “it proved for the Salmo-Creston Highway to open plight of an isolated herd of endangered to be very expensive,” he says. “One of in 1963. mountain caribou, which the occasional lucky motorist can observe. the proposals was a five-star gravel road “It was renamed Bridal Lake as part that would only be used in the winter of this ‘marriage’ of East and West Not bad for one 82-kilometre stretch of blacktop, even if it was built on the kind of thing. It didn’t get a whole lot of (Kootenays),” says Creston Museum air time.” manager Tammy Hardwick, who wrong side of the draw. Alas, despite what Hardwick describes as A snowshed in the North Fork avalanche researched Kootenay Pass history for a zone, to the east of the summit, was also special exhibit commemorating the road’s “a lot of enthusiasm and a lot of hype” over the highway at the time it opened, deemed too costly at $60,000 per linear anniversary this month. “There was talk metre, per lane. of having two weddings at the top. One “it wasn’t long before we start to have the couple from Creston, one couple from tragedies. You know, the avalanches, the “We have 1.6 kilometres of avalanche Salmo, would get married up at the top cars going off, the winter maintenance area (and) three lanes of highway,” and they would each name their first- problems. People were killed up there. Tweedy says. “Do the math. It comes out to a really large number. born child ‘Kootenay.’ “By the late 1960s there are a lot of letters “And that never happened.” to the editor (saying), ‘This should not “The emerging avalanche control technologies were starting to get more Then there was the tale of a runaway be a year-round highway. It is far too dangerous.’ ” consideration that this might be a better lane, upon which a chicken farmer whose way to go.” brakes failed saved his life but ditched his Longtime Kootenay Pass avalanche load. technician John Tweedy, who retired The cover story in this month’s I Love from the Transportation Ministry in Creston magazine relates how avalanche “There were chickens everywhere,” control evolved and much more about Hardwick relates, “and a year later there 2010, says, “The highway alignment was looked at very critically. ‘How could we the highway that knocked a couple of were some really weird-looking grouse hours off the trip between Creston and running around there.” best avoid the problem as opposed to buying into it?’ Salmo – except during the worst of Yes, what Kootenay residents in the winter conditions, when it’s nice that 1960s and ’70s knew as the Skyway “One of the stories I heard was that one the Kootenay Lake ferries remain as a transformed the regional transportation of the reasons the highway is on that side backup. of the valley, south-facing all the way, (is landscape forever, no portion perhaps “They definitely do the job they were more so than the East Shore, whose because it) has more sun time. Therefore, you might have warmer temperatures intended for,” says veteran highways Kootenay Lake ferry system immediately worker Brian Wert, referring to the became the alternate, rather than that would assist in melting compact conditions.” avalanche technology, “but sometimes only, route connecting East and West Mother Nature has that ace up her for truckers, motorists and even the Unfortunately, that same factor elevates sleeve. Greyhound bus. the avalanche risk, which in hindsight “Mother Nature, she can be wicked.” Hardwick found evidence of “the same is a strong argument for building the Hopefully no unpleasant environmental arguments (against the Skyway) that highway on the opposite, north-facing surprises will be in store Oct. 6, when we see with the bypass around Creston side. an auto cavalcade to the top is planned.