"Headwaters of the Columbia River" Canal Flats by Darby2

Canal Flats lies on the southern end of Columbia Lake which is the headwaters and source of the mighty Columbia River. in the Rocky Mountain Trench.

The chief industry here is logging, with tourism a close second. There's also a wildfowl reserve in this area as thousands of waterfowl come to nest and breed in this part of the Columbia Valley. Some of the better trout fishing lakes are in this region too:

Whitetail Lake
Whiteswan Lake
Premier Lake
Rockbluff Lake
Wasa Lake (has bass as well)

In addition, it's the beginning of the Hotsprings Trail. There are at least a half dozen hotsprings in this part of the Columbia Valley and East Kootnays

Premier Lake

Preimier Lake is unique in that it's trout stock are used for rearing fingerlings for stocking other lakes in the province. There's a special wier at the south end of the lake to enable fisheries workers to trap the spawners for their eggs which are then taken to the rearing station at Wardner about 50 miles south of here. The young fingerlings are then taken to more than 300 lakes throughout the province for stocking.

Lussier hotsprings

This small hotspings is in the canyon of the Lussier River about 18 km up the Whiteswan Lake road.

All the facilities are natural here, with a few rocks moved to make two pools for soaking your aches away beside the babbling Lussier River.