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NATURE
· Rich Wetlands in the Creston Valley
FIRST PEOPLES
· Yaqan Nukiy, People of the Water
HISTORY
· Too Much Water
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FOCUS  Southeastern Valleys -- Fresh Waters
Too Much Water
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The Creston Valley. RBCM 1MA292.
The Kootenay River, before flowing into Kootenay Lake near Creston, is a web of marshes and streams yielding an abundance of water that can periodically inundate the landscape. Successful agriculture required that this abundant water be controlled by a series of dykes. Now 8,000 hectares of rich agricultural land are under cultivation in the Creston area.
Harvesting barley near Creston,1943. BC Archives I-21305.
harvester cutting grain
The first attempt at water management was W.A. Baillie-Grohman's canal project in the 1880s, but protests curtailed his ambitious plans. In 1892 the Alberta and British Columbia Exploration Company built a series of dykes that partially controlled flooding. It was up to Guy Constable, a local mining engineer, to launch the first dyking program to successfully control flooding and reclaim the soggy land for agriculture. Leading a group of Creston citizens, he devoted a great deal of his energy and time to the project.
Working on W.A. Baillie-Grohman's Kootenay Canal at Canal Flats, 1887. BC Archives C-04284.
crew with wheelbarrows
Guy Constable installing the first milepost in Creston, 1910. BC Archives B-01447.
Guy Constable
Current meters were used to measure the flow of water. RBCM 987.117.
impellor
Too Much Water - 
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