Today we are heading to Houston, B.C. The day started out cloudy with a temperature of 63 degrees, but soon it was sunny and 81 degrees.
Since we are on our way toward Prince George as we soon began see the mileage signs for Prince George (now 703 kilometers or 437 miles to this destination).
It was a beautiful coastal drive today as we traveled along the Yellowhead Highway toward Terrace, B.C.
We drove through the area with the double bridge. The low hanging clouds had not yet lifted.
We are now back to Terrace, so we continued on down the road following the signs toward Prince George.
Now Prince George is 567 kilometers or 352 miles away, while New Hazelton is 129 kilometers or 80 miles away.
And again we have run into road construction over a bridge (see below).
Now Prince George is 522 kilometers or 324 miles away, while New Hazelton is 65 kilometers or 40 miles away.
Above is a beautiful white church (not sure what it is called). We also see stretches of mountains.
We are now passing the Hazelton and New Hazelton turnoff. We decided to stop at New Hazelton and get a footlong steak sub and chips from Subway to share.
Hazelton is a village located at the junction of the Bulkley and Skeena Rivers in northern British Columbia. It was founded in 1866 and has a population of 305. The nearby larger community of New Hazelton is the northernmost point of the Yellowhead Highway, a major interprovincial highway which runs from Prince Rupert, British Columbia, to Portage la Prairie, Manitoba. The Hazelton area is comprised of two municipalities (the Village of Hazelton and District of New Hazelton), three unincorporated settlements (South Hazelton, Two Mile and the Kispiox Valley), four First Nation villages of the Gitxsan people Gitanmaax, Glen Vowell, Kispiox and Hagwilget.
Hazelton residents are a tough bunch and they feel a connection with the land and rivers. Famous locals include 2008 Olympic gold medal winner wrestler Carol Huynh, and local legend Simon Gunanoot, a prosperous Gitxsan merchant who was charged with the murder of two white men in the early 1900s. According to the tale, Gunanoot feared an unfair trial. Therefore he and his family hid in the Hazelton wilderness for more than 13 years before he was pardoned.
Hazelton is one of the oldest settlements in northern British Columbia; its European settlement dates back to 1866 when the Collins Overland telegraph went through. Hazelton developed at “The Forks” as an integral shipping point on the Skeena, and a wintering place for miners and prospectors. It was the original gateway and staging area for the Omineca Gold Rush of 1869-73. It also had another less appreciated distinction -- that of having dozens of roaming, foraging and howling sled dogs, as nearly everyone had their own team and many were allowed to run free.
Cataline, a famous pioneer packer and traveler, is buried near here in an unmarked grave in the Gitanmaax Cemetery. Jean Caux (his real name) was a Basque who, from 1852 to 1912, used loaded mules to supply mining and construction camps from Yale and Ashcroft to Hazelton, where he often wintered. Hazelton was founded in 1866, some years before the arrival of the railroad and highways, and functioned as an important part of the existing shipping route. Soon after 1868, Thomas Hankin, father of Constance Cox marked out a town site at confluence of the Skeena River and the Bulkley River. He named it Hazelton because of the large number of hazelnuts ripening at the time.
The 1903 announcement that the Grand Trunk Pacific Railway would come through near Hazelton, caused a flurry of excitement and hundreds of settlers poured into the district, buying whatever land they could. Everyone was certain there was a fortune to be made and Hazelton was widely advertised as the "Spokane of Canada". What made Hazelton even more attractive was her mines – the Silver Standard and the Rocher de Boule. In 1911, two rival townsites, Robert Kelly’s New Hazelton and the Grand Trunk Pacific’s South Hazelton, both came into existence and competed to sell the most lots. Thus, the original Hazelton was called "Old" and together they became known as the "Three Hazeltons".
Now Prince George is 435 kilometers or 270 miles away, while Smithers is 67 kilometers or 42 miles away.
We stopped in Smiters to get gas at the Chevron Gas Station. Smithers has a population of 5,504 and elevation of 1,636 feet. It is the largest town in the Bulkley Valley – located 229 miles west of Prince George and 218 miles east of Prince Rupert on Yellowhead Highway 16.
Sitting amidst rugged mountains, the downtown has alpine-themed storefronts and building murals. Incorporated as a village in 1921, Smithers officially became a town in Canada’s centennial year, 1967, but the original site was chosen in 1913 by construction crews working on the Grand Trunk Pacific Railway. The town was named for one-time chairman of the railway A.W. Smithers.
Houston, B.C. is now 130 kilometers or 81 miles away with more beautiful mountain driving ahead.
Telkwa is less than a mile away. Telkwa has a population of 1,474 and an elevation of 1,710 feet. It is located 9 miles east of Smithers and 30 miles west of Houston on Yellowhead Highway 16 at the confluence of the Telkwa and Bulkley rivers. Settlement in the area began around 1904 in a townsite known as Aldermere on the hill above Telkwa. Around 1907, people began to move down the hill to be closer to water supplies and the anticipated route of the Grand Trunk Pacific Railway. The name Telkwa is an Indigenous term for "meeting of the waters" which appropriately describes the confluence of the Bulkley and Telkwa Rivers in town.
Houston is now 48 kilometers or 30 miles away, while Prince George is now 353 kilometers or 219 miles away.
There appears to be a fire burning ahead as there is smoke in the hills (see above and below).
We are now less than a mile from Houston as we are at the turnoff for the Houston Industrial Park.
Houston has a population of 3,163 and elevation of 1,972, It is located on Yellowhead Highway 16, approximately 190 miles west of Prince George. Established in the early 1900s, Houston was a tie-cutting center during construction of the Grand Trunk Pacific Railway in 1912. It was named for Prince Rupert newspaperman John Houston, the former mayor of Nelson, BC. Logging continued to support the local economy with the rapid growth of mills and planer mills in the 1940s and 1950s. Houston was incorporated as a village in 1957. The main industry in Houston today is forest products with some mining.
We soon see the sign for the Shady Rest RV Park in Houston that we will be staying at tonight.
The Shady Rest RV park is a Good Sam park. We arrived at around 2:15 p.m. and got set up on site #6 for one night for $40.00 CA (or $29.14 US).
There were beautiful saskatoon berries at our campsite (see below).
The Saskatoon Berry is a medium sized shrub, or small tree, which belongs to the Rose family. It is closely related to the apple, hawthorn and mountain ash. The Saskatoon is native to the Canadian Prairies, the Northwest Territories, the Yukon, Alaska, British Columbia and the northwestern and north central United States.
The saskatoon plant gets its name from the word “misâskwatômina,” pronounced as mis-sack-qua-too-mina, from the Canadian language Cree. It means “the fruit of the tree with many branches”.
The berry from the Saskatoon was an important food source for both indigenous people and the early pioneers. Saskatoon berries are fresh and juicy -- with a earthy, sweet, tangy, or acidic taste. They're rich in antioxidants and other nutrients that are good for your health. Today Saskatoons are used in a wide variety of ways from pies, jams, jellies, syrups, ice cream toppings, wine, liquors and flavor concentrates. Saskatoons can also be used in baked goods like muffins and fruit crisps. They may be used fresh or frozen and can be dried to yield "raisins" or fruit leathers.
We enjoyed a peaceful afternoon, and for dinner we had grilled hamburgers on toasted bagels.
It was for sure a brilliantly beautiful saskatoon of a day!
Shirley & Mel
No comments:
Post a Comment