Clearwater River (British Columbia) - Oddities

Oddities

• Many rivers that have meanders have several of them. The Clearwater River has only one meander, called The Horseshoe. See 'Geography' section above.
• Every major tributary to the Clearwater River has a waterfall on it. Falls Creek Falls even drops directly into the Clearwater River.
• 97% of the Clearwater River shoreline is protected by Wells Gray Provincial Park.
• There are only two private properties on the Clearwater River within Wells Gray Park. One was owned by industrialist H.R. MacMillan and was his private fishing retreat starting in 1934. He donated the property and cabin to Westminster Abbey, east of Vancouver, in 1972. The other property is Clearwater River Chalet, a wilderness rental cabin operated by Wells Gray Tours. The properties consist of about 70 acres each.

• White Horse Bluff rises 200 m (656 ft) vertically from the east bank of the Clearwater River about 32.5 km (20.2 mi) north of Clearwater. The south side of the cliffs has a rare volcanic formation called the Rock Roses. Unlike most formations of columnar basalt which are like organ pipes, these are horizontal and the ends of the columns point out, rather like the tiles on a shower wall. Further west, the columns suddenly change direction and resemble the wall of a log house.
• Beside the Clearwater River at the base of White Horse Bluff, there is a natural refrigerator. The McDiarmid family operated four fishing camps along the river from 1944 to 1970. One summer, they noticed a cold draft of air blowing outward from some cracks here. They enlarged it, built some walls and were able to keep ice solid and perishable foods cold even in the summer heat, truly a luxury in the wilderness. The refrigerator is still there today (although partly fallen in) and, when measured by this writer in June 2003, was 2 degrees Celsius inside.
• There is an abandoned donkey engine in the forest near the west bank of the Clearwater River at Marcus Falls. It can be seen from the viewpoint in late fall when leaves are off the trees, but otherwise it is not accessible. It was moved here in the winter of 1912-13 when the Canadian Northern Railway was being planned and some loggers figured they could get the contract for the Clearwater River bridge at Bailey's Chute if they had a donkey on site. The 10-ton machine was skidded over the ice of Canim Lake, rafted along Mahood Lake in the spring, then winched to this location. The men had already cut 9000 cubic meters of timber when the railway was confirmed along a different route.