Kermode Spirit Bears

Took Gisela, Ron's sister to Terrace today and saw several decorated Kermode bear replicas around town. These bears are unique to the rainforests of northern B.C. and the official mark of the City of Terrace and now, the province as well. When 2 black bears with recessive white genes pass these to their offspring, the result is a white Kermode bear, known as Spirit Bears.
Last fall the B.C. Lion's Society invited anyone to sponsor a bear which are life-sized Kermode replicas, made of fiberglass and weighing about 120 pounds. They were uniquely designed and painted by local artists around the province and auctioned off, raising funds for disabled children. These have natue scenes, forest on the front, a totem pole on the side and native artwork. Clicking them will enlarge them. They are delightful pieces of art.

Alcan - Kitimat Works

Alcan is Kitimat's founding industry. There is a video and guided bus tour into the plant to see the major operations in pot rooms, where aluminum is produced, and casting where the metal is cast into ingots. It also includes a visit to the plant's deep-sea wharf. Shortly past Alcan and Hospital Beach is the end of the road. As a 10 year old, coming from Hamburg, Ron couldn't figure out how a city could just end.
Alcan is just embarking on a massive modernization and expansion project of this 52 year old smelter. They will invest about $1.7 billion , boosting the current production level of 245,000 tonnes per year to 400,000 tpy. This is expected to be fully operational by 2012, securing 1000 technologically advance jobs for the next 35 - 50 years and making this a world class aluminum producing facility.

Douglas Channel

This is the view of the Douglas Channel, the 80 mile fjord coming up from the ocean which makes Kitimat a deep sea port. You can see Kitimaat Village on the left which was a much older aboriginal settlement, before pioneers arrived here late 1800 to early 1900's. Today's Haisla population represents a mix of coastal Tsimshian and Kwakiutl people. They have a busy fishing harbor, traditional totem poles, canoes and the Haisla school, which represents an exceptional archectural mix of traditional and modern design.
Today's city of Kitimat wasn't really born until 1950 when Alcan started developing the aluminum industry. Invited by the B.C, government, Alcan established the Nechako Reservoir, behind the massive Kenney Dam, south of Vanderhoof. Water was carried through a 16 km tunnel through the Coastal Mountains to a hydro generating station built at Kemano. With no room there, the aluminum smelter and deep-sea port were built at the head of the Kitimat Arm. Power to supply the community and smelter was carried over a 60 km transmission line built thorough some of the most rugged mountain territory in B.C.
Kitimat's first inhabitants were an army of construction workers who cleared the thick coastal forest of the Kitimat Valley and forged a new industry and community for the future employees and residents. Today it is a modern, planned community with a hospital, school system and recreational facilities that are the envy of other established communities amidst beautiful nature.

Hospital Beach

I drove out to Hospital Beach today and it was packed with schoolchildren having a wonderful day out of school. It is located on the site of the original 'Smeltersite' area which housed the new pioneers while today's residential community was under construction. It is very popular offering broad views of the Douglas Channel, surrounding mountains, industrial wharves, Kitamaat Village, the original aboriginal settlement and MK Bay Marina. This was where the first hospital was set up. The next 3 storey hospital was built later and was demolished a couple of years ago when it's very modern substitute was opened. You can see Alcan in the background and the deep water dock where the aluminum ingots are chipped all over the world.
As original sites, here is the old Hudson's Bay site also.

Eurocan - pulp mill

This is the Pulp and Paper Mill where the guys are working on the shutdown, repairing what has been contracted to do. This is one of the 3 main industries that has provided jobs for the town since the 50's. It is one of the largest in West Fraser Timber's network of mills. It manufactures over 300,000 metric tonnes of Niche product linerboard and 10,000 metric tones of sack draft paper annually. When you see those chip trucks hauling down the road, some of them will be headed for here. The wood chips come by rail as well. This is the mill with a chip truck unloading. There is an immense pile of chips behind it, ready for production.
We also saw 2 people working on a small stream, outside of town, clearing the debris so it would run freely, draining the little lake. They were employed by West Fraser and that was their permanent job.

If you wish you can click on these smaller pictures to see the full detail.

the Sandhill

This is called the Sandhill and it is just that. When the glaciers retreated at the end of the last Ice Age, they left behind this huge pile of sand and gravel. What a bonus when you are building a complete town from scratch. This has now brought a new industry to town, Cascadia, which plans to ship up to four millions tones of sand and aggregate a year to California. Because of the size of the deposit, this means close to a 25 year life for the business. They are setting up now and should employ up to 45 people. It doesn't look that big from the bridge over the Kitimat River, a half a mile away, but when you drive by, it towers above you.
We walked from the trailer park across the bridge over the Kitimat river to service center and this is taken from the bridge. Radley park is on the right, the campground originally built by the Gyro Club. You can see where a 50 foot section of the bank was swept into the river and many tall trees went with it.

Welcome to Kitimat

This is the back of the welcome sign on highway 16 at the beginning of the Kitimat area. It is an aluminum snowflake which is the symbol for the town. Kitimat is an interesting place which was an 'instant' town created in the 1950's. It is located on B.C.'s widest, deepest coastal fjord, the Douglas Channel which extends 80 miles up here from the Pacific ocean. Sheer rock walls rise out of the dark green waters, towering above any boats with waterfalls cascading down the mountainsides. If you're out on the water, you can see seals, orcas, bald headed eagles, porpoises and sea lions most of the year.
Kitimat was created to be home to Alcan Aluminum, the Kitimat works, one of the largest export industries in B.C. producing about 250,000 tonnes of aluminum a year. It is the only aluminum smelter west of the B.C. Rockies.
Ron started his job today, working 10 hour shifts, so I got to work doing my spring cleaning, a little late I agree.