The Elk River is a long

river A river is a natural stream of fresh water that flows on land or inside Subterranean river, caves towards another body of water at a lower elevation, such as an ocean, lake, or another river. A river may run dry before reaching the end of ...

, in the southeastern Kootenay district of the

Canadian province Canada has ten provinces and three territories that are sub-national administrative divisions under the jurisdiction of the Constitution of Canada, Canadian Constitution. In the 1867 Canadian Confederation, three provinces of British North Amer ...

British Columbia British Columbia is the westernmost Provinces and territories of Canada, province of Canada. Situated in the Pacific Northwest between the Pacific Ocean and the Rocky Mountains, the province has a diverse geography, with rugged landscapes that ...

. Its

drainage basin A drainage basin is an area of land in which all flowing surface water converges to a single point, such as a river mouth, or flows into another body of water, such as a lake or ocean. A basin is separated from adjacent basins by a perimeter, ...

is in area. Its mean discharge is approximately , with a maximum recorded discharge of . It is a tributary of the

Kootenay River The Kootenay River or Kootenai River is a major river of the Northwest Plateau in southeastern British Columbia, Canada, and northern Montana and Idaho in the United States. It is one of the uppermost major tributaries of the Columbia River, ...

, and falls within the basin of the

Columbia River The Columbia River (Upper Chinook language, Upper Chinook: ' or '; Sahaptin language, Sahaptin: ''Nch’i-Wàna'' or ''Nchi wana''; Sinixt dialect'' '') is the largest river in the Pacific Northwest region of North America. The river headwater ...

Course

The Elk River originates from the Elk Lakes near the

Continental Divide A continental divide is a drainage divide on a continent such that the drainage basin on one side of the divide feeds into one ocean or sea, and the basin on the other side either feeds into a different ocean or sea, or else is endorheic, not ...

in the

Rocky Mountains The Rocky Mountains, also known as the Rockies, are a major mountain range and the largest mountain system in North America. The Rocky Mountains stretch in great-circle distance, straight-line distance from the northernmost part of Western Can ...

. It flows through the Elk Valley in a southwesterly direction, joining the

Lake Koocanusa Lake Koocanusa () is a reservoir in British Columbia (Canada) and Montana (United States) formed by the damming of the Kootenai River by the Libby Dam in 1972. The Dam was formally dedicated by President Gerald Ford on August 24, 1975. The ...

, just north of the British Columbia-

Montana Montana ( ) is a landlocked U.S. state, state in the Mountain states, Mountain West subregion of the Western United States. It is bordered by Idaho to the west, North Dakota to the east, South Dakota to the southeast, Wyoming to the south, an ...

border. Its waters ultimately join the

and flow towards the

Pacific Ocean The Pacific Ocean is the largest and deepest of Earth's five Borders of the oceans, oceanic divisions. It extends from the Arctic Ocean in the north to the Southern Ocean, or, depending on the definition, to Antarctica in the south, and is ...

. The Elk River runs through the communities of

Elkford Elkford is a district municipality in the southeast region of the Canadian province of British Columbia in the Rocky Mountain range. It is north of the junction at Sparwood, on provincial Highway 43. Outdoor recreational activities take place ...

, Sparwood, Hosmer, Fernie, and Elko.

History

David Thompson travelled along the Elk River in 1811, and called it the Stag River. James Sinclair's second settlement expedition to the

Pacific Northwest The Pacific Northwest (PNW; ) is a geographic region in Western North America bounded by its coastal waters of the Pacific Ocean to the west and, loosely, by the Rocky Mountains to the east. Though no official boundary exists, the most common ...

from the

Red River Colony The Red River Colony (or Selkirk Settlement), also known as Assiniboia, was a colonization project set up in 1811 by Thomas Douglas, 5th Earl of Selkirk, on of land in British North America. This land was granted to Douglas by the Hudson's Bay ...

made a difficult crossing from the

Kananaskis River The Kananaskis River is a mountain river in western Alberta, Canada. It is a tributary of the Bow River, crossing the length of Kananaskis Country. The river was named by John Palliser in 1858 after a Cree. Course The Kananaskis originates in th ...

valley into the Columbia–Kootenays via the Elk in 1854. The river was labelled Elk River on

John Palliser John Palliser (29 January 1817 – 18 August 1887) was an Irish-born geographer and explorer. Following his service in the Waterford Militia and hunting excursions to the North American prairies, he led the British North American Explorin ...

's 1857–58 map and "Stag or Elk River" on Arrowsmith's 1862 map.

Elko Dam

Elko Dam was built by East Kootenay Power Company on the Elk River in 1924. It is a

run-of-the-river Run-of-river hydroelectricity (ROR) or run-of-the-river hydroelectricity is a type of hydroelectric generation plant whereby little or no water storage is provided. Run-of-the-river power plants may have no water storage at all or a limited amou ...

dam tall and long. The powerhouse has two Francis turbines producing 12MW of electricity. It is about upriver from the Elk's confluence with Lake Koocanusa. It is operated by

BC Hydro The British Columbia Hydro and Power Authority, trade name, operating as BC Hydro, is a Canadian electric utility in the province of British Columbia. It is the main electricity distributor, serving more than 4 million customers in most areas, wi ...

Coal mining impacts

The Elk River Valley is home to five large open-pit coal mines, supplying a third of the world's steel-making coal. For many years increased

selenium Selenium is a chemical element; it has symbol (chemistry), symbol Se and atomic number 34. It has various physical appearances, including a brick-red powder, a vitreous black solid, and a grey metallic-looking form. It seldom occurs in this elem ...

, phosphate and nitrate levels have been linked to the continued expansion of the mining. Selenium levels continue to exceed the guidelines for human health. The selenium pollution has heavily impacted the

cutthroat trout The cutthroat trout (''Oncorhynchus clarkii'' clade) is a clade of four fish species of the Family (biology), family Salmonidae native to cold-water Tributary, tributaries of the Pacific Ocean, Rocky Mountains, and Great Basin in North America. ...

in the river, which suffer from deformation of their

gill A gill () is a respiration organ, respiratory organ that many aquatic ecosystem, aquatic organisms use to extract dissolved oxygen from water and to excrete carbon dioxide. The gills of some species, such as hermit crabs, have adapted to allow r ...

Teck Resources Teck Resources Limited is a diversified natural resources company headquartered in Vancouver, British Columbia, that is engaged in mining and mineral development, including coal for the steelmaking industry, copper, zinc, and energy. Secondary ...

, as the operator of the coal mines that are the source of the selenium pollution, is working to implement selenium management strategies. They operate the West Line Creek Active Water Treatment Plant. British Columbia provincial officials agreed to involve to International Joint Commission in 2024. While tribes in the U.S. and Canada have long desired this, BC officials have previously resisted commission involvement.

Fishing

The fishing in the Elk River is known to be some of the best fly-fishing in North America, with large, wild cutthroat and bull trout.

Tributaries

* Fording River * Michel Creek * Coal Creek * Lizard Creek * Wigwam River

References

External links

Elk River Alliance
{{authority control Rivers of British Columbia Elk Valley (British Columbia) East Kootenay Tributaries of the Kootenay River Rivers of the Canadian Rockies Kootenay Land District