Terrace...Flood of 1936 :(

We arrived in Terrace on June 30! Terrace is located on the traditional territory of the Tsimshian First Nation, the first people to occupy the area more than 10,000 years ago. They lived along the banks of the Skeena River, which they called the K’shian River (water from the clouds), and they travelled the river using canoes made from hollowed out cedar trunks molded with hot steam.

In 1905, the City of Terrace’s official founder, George Little, left the Yukon Gold Rush, and snowshoed over the Kitimat Trail to the shores of the Skeena River. When the government opened the land for sale, Little staked his claim on the site where Terrace stands today. Little donated nine acres of land so a new railway station could be built transforming Terrace into a busy commercial hub. In the mid 1950s Terrace’s economy focused on forestry until the 1980s. In the past decade, Terrace has seen an economic decline and began to diversify their economy, setting their sights on mining and tourism, including Indigenous tourism, and it shows! Terrace is a cool little town with tons of Indigenous history and culture. Terrace gets its name from the terraces or benches rising up from the Skeena River in that section of the valley. By the way, the Skeena River is North America’s largest undammed river and second longest river in B.C. with up to 5 million spawning salmon a year. Fun fact: The world record catch was in 2001 when a visitor from Germany landed a 99 pound Chinook Salmon on the Skeena River.

We spent the first couple of days exploring the area where we were staying, which was right across the highway from the Usk Pioneer Chapel, a replica of a church that was destroyed in the great 1936 flood.

We were also within walking distance to the Usk Ferry, a rare reaction powered ferry that travels across the Skeena River to the hamlet of Usk, which was also destroyed by the flood. Only about 25 people live in Usk today. The ferry is powered by the river’s current. As was the theme of our travels thus far, most days were heavy rain and therefore the Skeena River was extremely high and quite frankly, watching the Ferry take one truck across (it can only accommodate two vehicles at a time), it was scary!! We couldn’t imagine putting our truck, that supports our home, on that ferry with the water being that high and the current that strong.

We also spent a day exploring downtown Terrace, more specifically the Skeena Valley Farmers Market and Terrace Heritage Park Museum! Skeena Valley Farmers Market is the largest in northern B.C.. I have been on a search for traditional old fashion cinnamon rolls! There was a booth that indicated they were sold out, so I asked what they had been selling, and what do ya know…cinnamon rolls! Epic fail!!

We really enjoyed exploring the heritage park! Most of you know that Barry worked with Finning (CAT Dealership) for many years, retiring as a regional manager. He had lots of fun looking at the old machinery and noting that fundamentally they are comparable to the same machinery today. The old trucks and wagons were also very cool. And the work boots...sort of (safety aluminum toe caps)!!! Check out the pictures!

On my birthday I wanted to take a drive to Nass Valley to the Nisga’a Memorial Lava Bed Provincial Park and the Nisga’a Museum. The 4 hour round trip drive was supposed to be incredible and it certainly was! We stopped and did a couple of short hikes to beautiful waterfalls along the way. We also passed the Hlgu Isgwit hot springs which I wanted to check out, but unfortunately it was closed due to COVID and has not yet reopened.

The drive was beautiful, lush and green until it wasn’t. As far as you could see the lush and green landscape was suddenly and dramatically replaced with jagged grey and black volcanic landscape being blanketed by green moss and new vegetation! This was a result of Canada’s last volcanic eruption over 300 years ago. The vast lava beds serve as a memorial to the 2,000 Nisga’a people from two Nisga’a villages who lost their lives. It was just incredible to take a walk through the lava beds (designated areas of course!). You can see in many areas where the ground just opened out and spewed the lava that remains along the floor of the Nass Valley today. Over 39 square kilometres of the Nass Valley remains buried beneath this bed of lava. We wanted to take a guided tour to the volcanic crater, but unfortunately tours had been stopped due to COVID, and have not yet resumed.

The museum was incredible! The young lady who gave us a guided tour was very knowledgeable about the culture and legends of the Nisga’a people and the 300+ priceless artifacts that now live in the Nisga’a Museum.

Mask and totem carvings are highly valued traditions practised in Nisga'a society in the past, and today. Masks are used in performative storytelling, song and dance. totem poles are visual histories, shared and passed on to live in the hearts of Nisga'a youth today.

Next, Ferry Island (aka Enchanted Forest). The island, at one time, got its name because it was a major hub for two riverboat ferries during the early 1900s. A ferryman lived on the island, a First Nation riverboat captain, who operated the ferries. In 1936, the island was 8 feet underwater because of the Skeena River flood, which took out the bridge built in 1925 and was the last time anyone lived on the Island. Today it’s a 2.8 km trail system/off-leash dog park/walking paths around the perimeter of an RV campground. The cool thing was the 55 carvings by local artist Rick Goyette, hidden in the forest!! It was a lot of fun! Again, check out the pictures.

Overall, Terrace is a cool place to hang out for a week. Lots of history, learnings, and outdoor activities. Unfortunately due to weather we didn’t get to do as much as we would have liked, but we still took advantages of the days that we made Terrace our home!