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TransCanadaHighway.com Golden, British Columbia
This 4,000 resident community lies at the point the Kicking Horse River joins the Columbia. Golden is the popular jumping-off point for both Glacier and Yoho national parks. There are a number of white water rafting companies offering exciting one day or multi-day adventures.
The road from Golden to Radium winds along a fairly level roadway along the
Columbia River valley. To the east are the Tockies and the continental divide,
to the west are the Selkirks and the Purcells, the holy grail of deep powder heli-skiiers.
The valley here is tall and deep, but the river is
still small, compared to the size it gets by the time it passes Revelstoke (and
having drained several more hundred miles of Rockies slopes). To the west of town you see the tree-cleared runs of Golden's ski hill, with Canada's second highest vertical drop.
To the east of Golden is the Ten Mile Hill, which is in the process of being "twinned", and features a stunning bridge over the Kicking Horse River, which is best seen from the Kicking Horse Rest Area before that climb (or at the bottom of the hill if travelling across the bridge westwards). This hill winds caustiously down the mountainside, and has a number of impresive rockslide protection features, ranging from concrete barriers several feet thick to chain link fences draped over the cliffside to keep small rocks burting from the wall from juping out to damage cars on the highway
To the west of Golden is the small town of Donald, lying just north of the Trans-Canada Highway, on the east bank of the growing Columbia River. The area is best know for the lush Blaeberry Marchlands south of town, as well as the gateway to the Lake Kinbasket, which was creted when the COlumbia Rver was dammed by the Mica Dam in 1973. You can see this lake as the Trans-Canada Highway blimbs west of the Columbia River.
Golden History
Golden was first known as The Cache and Kicking Horse Flats.
In 1883, when Canadian Pacific Railway surveying asistant Frederick W Aylmer
heard about a development west of Banff being called Silver City, thought to call this community
Golden City. The term "City" was dropped when the CPR arrived in 1885.
FoundLocally's Business listings for Golden
Annual Events: Kinsmen Home & Trade Fair (April), Bear & Bird Festival (May), Mt7 Psychosis Mountain Bike race (June), Show'n'Shine Car Rally (July), Canadian Paragliding Championship (August), Golden Rodeo (August),
Golden Image Gallery
Donald Image Gallery
Golden Attractions
Golden and District Museum
11th Avenue & 13th Street
This museum is housed in an a restored on-room schoolhouse and contains many local historical items.
Spillamacheen-Brisco
Brisco is 29 km north of Radium (70 km south of Golden) and named for Captain Brisco, who accompanied Captain John Palliser on his early explorations in 1959. The first settlers cam in the 1880s, mainly by miners. Spillamacheen, named for the Indian word for "white water," is located at the confluence of the Spillamacheen River and Bugaboo Creek. Lead and silver were mined at the Silver Giant Mine, and transported out by steamboat on the Columbia River. A road was built joining Spillamacheen and Brisco in 1885, and in 1913 the first train came from Golden
Radium
Radium was first known as Sinclair Hots Springs, after an adjacent canyon named for trader James Sinclair (1806-1586) who brought Oregon-bound emigrants through the Canyon in 1841. The place was renamed in 1915 after high radioactivity was detected in the area's springs.
Community Map
Click on "Hybrid" to view satellite image with map.
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