West Kootenay - Naming and Subdivision

Naming and Subdivision

Contingent on the above boundaries, the Kootenays are commonly split either into East and West, or East, Central and West.

• The usual East-West separator is the northward leg of the Kootenay River (mostly Kootenay Lake) with the Duncan River as a northern extension. This places Creston and points east in the East Kootenay (or East Kootenays) and Kaslo and points west in the West Kootenay (or West Kootenays). The Slocan Valley, though something of a region in its own right, is also considered to be part of the West Kootenay, and is in a strict geographic sense as the Slocan River is a tributary of the Kootenay River.
• The usual East-Central-West separators are the Purcell Mountains splitting East from Central and the Selkirk Mountains splitting Central from West.

It remains unclear why both Kootenay and Kootenays are used somewhat interchangeably to describe the area. The plural form is in reference to The Kootenays, both East and West, the singular is in reference to the Kootenay Region. In practice the two terms are used interchangeably, although one indicates a geographical region and the other a legal boundary, the Kootenay Land District, which was identical with the original federal and provincial Kootenay ridings.