The Stave River is a tributary of the

Fraser Fraser may refer to: Places Antarctica * Fraser Point, South Orkney Islands Australia * Fraser, Australian Capital Territory, a suburb in the Canberra district of Belconnen * Division of Fraser (Australian Capital Territory), a former federal ...

, joining it at the boundary between the municipalities of Maple Ridge and Mission, about east of

Vancouver, British Columbia Vancouver is a major city in Western Canada, located in the Lower Mainland region of British Columbia. As the List of cities in British Columbia, most populous city in the province, the 2021 Canadian census recorded 662,248 people in the cit ...

Canada Canada is a country in North America. Its Provinces and territories of Canada, ten provinces and three territories extend from the Atlantic Ocean to the Pacific Ocean and northward into the Arctic Ocean, making it the world's List of coun ...

, in the Central

Fraser Valley The Fraser Valley is a geographical region in southwestern British Columbia, Canada and northwestern Washington State. It starts just west of Hope in a narrow valley encompassing the Fraser River and ends at the Pacific Ocean stretching from th ...

region. Blocked since the 1920s by two dams built by the BC Electric Railway at

Stave Falls Stave Falls is a rural community located in northwestern Mission, British Columbia, Mission, British Columbia, Canada, about 40km east of Vancouver. Noted for the iconic Stave Falls Dam and beautiful Rolley Lake Provincial Park and Stave Lake rese ...

and one at

Ruskin Ruskin may refer to: People and fictional characters * Ruskin (surname), a list of people and fictional characters * Ruskin (given name), a list of people Places United States * Ruskin, Florida, a census-designated place * Ruskin, Georgia, an uni ...

, the only free-flowing parts of the Stave today are the between

Dam and the

and the from its source in Garibaldi Provincial Park to the head of Stave Lake. Prior to power development the total length of the river was c. .

History

The name Stave River was conferred in about 1828 by

Hudson's Bay Company The Hudson's Bay Company (HBC), originally the Governor and Company of Adventurers of England Trading Into Hudson’s Bay, is a Canadian holding company of department stores, and the oldest corporation in North America. It was the owner of the ...

employees at Fort Langley, as the forests lining its banks were preferred for the production of staves used in the making of barrels for the export of fish.

Terrain

The lower Stave valley comprises over half the surface territory of the District of Mission although it remains mostly forested mountainside. The terrain of the lower valley is gentle though hilly, with dense oldgrowth and dense deciduous second growth in some areas. Marginal farms, mostly pastures carved out of the forests, can be found in the Silverhill, Silverdale and Stave Gardens areas. The Stave delta, formerly an

oxbow lake An oxbow lake is a U-shaped lake or stream pool, pool that forms when a wide meander of a river is meander cutoff, cut off, creating a free-standing body of water. The word "oxbow" can also refer to a U-shaped bend in a river or stream, whether ...

, has been partly drained and dyked to form Silvermere Lake, part of a 1950s vintage real estate development; the oxbow's central island was transformed by the dredgings into a hill upon which the developer's private estate was built. It is now a

Royal Canadian Mounted Police The Royal Canadian Mounted Police (RCMP; , GRC) is the Law enforcement in Canada, national police service of Canada. The RCMP is an agency of the Government of Canada; it also provides police services under contract to 11 Provinces and terri ...

training facility. The waters of the lower Stave are semi-tidal, as the

tidal bore A tidal bore, often simply given as bore in context, is a tidal phenomenon in which the leading edge of the incoming tide forms a wave (or waves) of water that travels up a river or narrow bay, reversing the direction of the river or bay's cu ...

on the

Fraser River The Fraser River () is the longest river within British Columbia, Canada, rising at Fraser Pass near Blackrock Mountain (Canada), Blackrock Mountain in the Rocky Mountains and flowing for , into the Strait of Georgia just south of the City of V ...

ends farther upstream at Mission City. During the spring freshet of the Fraser the volume and force of that river's flow blocks the Stave, causing it to back up and forming a lake between the Fraser and Ruskin Dam. North of Stave Lake the Stave's valley is intensely mountainous, containing some of the most rugged terrain in the province and also some of its highest rainfalls; access is extremely difficult. Overlooking Stave Lake at its north end are Mount Judge Howay, elevation , and Mount Robie Reid, elevation , and nearby are Robertson Peak at and many other summits. The upper Stave basin forms the southeastern part of Garibaldi Provincial Park, and adjoining it on its southeast is the Judge Howay Provincial Recreation Area - designated for recreation but highly inaccessible other than to seasoned mountaineers.

Fishery

The original salmon fishery was severely affected by the damming of the river but its lower stretches remain popular with sport fishermen, especially in search of steelhead. The hydro corporation has worked in cooperation with the federal Department of Fisheries and Oceans to rework the gravel bars and channels below Ruskin Dam, but this has had only marginal effect relative to the former size of the salmon runs. Stave and Hayward Lakes have a kokanee population as well as other fish such as trout, and are sometimes stocked.

Industry

The Stave River's valley has been extensively logged. The only operating mills on its length are now near the

but there are a few ruins of mills lining its western shore, including the remains of a very large cedar shake mill adjacent to the

dam. Almost all of the mills on the Stave were focused on the production of shakes and some of its mills were among the highest-producing in the world. The north end of the lake can not be reached by road so the only option is by boat or air charter to a small bush strip.

Hydropower developments

There are Stave Falls Dam (1912), Ruskin Dam (1930) and the Alouette Dam (1928) on the shore of Stave Lake where a diversion from Alouette Lake comes through a low mountainside. On the upper Stave River, beyond the north end of Stave Lake there are two

run-of-the-river hydroelectricity 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 ...

projects, Lamont Creek (28 MW) and Upper Stave River (33.5 MW) both built in 2010 by Cloudworks Energy Inc.Cloudworks Energy Inc. website
a private company based around the BC government's Independent Power Projects (IPP's) legislation, which guarantees such producers sales to BC Hydro.

References

External links

Map of Stave Falls Branch, BC Electric Railway

Aerial view of lower Stave River and Hayward Lake, Stave Lake, Silverdale, Ruskin
fro
Randall & Kat's Flying Photos
{{coord, 49, 10, 00, N, 122, 25, 00, W, display=title Tributaries of the Fraser River Rivers of the Lower Mainland Garibaldi Ranges Rivers of the Pacific Ranges New Westminster Land District