The Stave River is a tributary of the Fraser, joining it at the boundary between the municipalities of Maple Ridge and Mission, about east of Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada, in the Central Fraser Valley region. Blocked since the 1920s by two dams built by the BC Electric Railway at Stave Falls and one at Ruskin, the only free-flowing parts of the Stave today are the between Ruskin Dam and the Fraser and the from its source in Garibaldi Provincial Park to the head of Stave Lake. Prior to power development the total length of the river was c. .

History

The name Stave River was conferred in about 1828 by Hudson's Bay Company employees at Fort Langley, as the forests lining its banks were preferred for the production of staves used in the making of barrels for the export of fish.

Terrain

The lower Stave valley comprises over half the surface territory of the District of Mission although it remains mostly forested mountainside. The terrain of the lower valley is gentle though hilly, with dense oldgrowth and dense deciduous second growth in some areas. Marginal farms, mostly pastures carved out of the forests, can be found in the Silverhill, Silverdale and Stave Gardens areas. The Stave delta, formerly an

oxbow lake An oxbow lake is a U-shaped lake or pool that forms when a wide meander of a river is cut off, creating a free-standing body of water. In South Texas, oxbows left by the Rio Grande are called '' resacas''. In Australia, oxbow lakes are call ...

, has been partly drained and dyked to form Silvermere Lake, part of a 1950s vintage real estate development; the oxbow's central island was transformed by the dredgings into a hill upon which the developer's private estate was built. It is now a Royal Canadian Mounted Police training facility. The waters of the lower Stave are semi-tidal, as the tidal bore on the

Fraser River The Fraser River is the longest river within British Columbia, Canada, rising at Fraser Pass near Blackrock Mountain in the Rocky Mountains and flowing for , into the Strait of Georgia just south of the City of Vancouver. The river's annual d ...

ends farther upstream at Mission City. During the spring freshet of the Fraser the volume and force of that river's flow blocks the Stave, causing it to back up and forming a lake between the Fraser and Ruskin Dam. North of Stave Lake the Stave's valley is intensely mountainous, containing some of the most rugged terrain in the province and also some of its highest rainfalls; access is extremely difficult. Overlooking Stave Lake at its north end are Mount Judge Howay, elevation , and Mount Robie Reid, elevation , and nearby are Robertson Peak at and many other summits. The upper Stave basin forms the southeastern part of Garibaldi Provincial Park, and adjoining it on its southeast is the

Judge Howay Provincial Recreation Area A judge is a person who wiktionary:preside, presides over court proceedings, either alone or as a part of a Judicial panel, panel of judges. A judge hears all the witnesses and any other Evidence (law), evidence presented by the barristers or s ...

- designated for recreation but highly inaccessible other than to seasoned mountaineers.

Fishery

The original salmon fishery was severely affected by the damming of the river but its lower stretches remain popular with sport fishermen, especially in search of steelhead. The hydro corporation has worked in cooperation with the federal Department of Fisheries and Oceans to rework the gravel bars and channels below

Ruskin Dam Ruskin Dam is a concrete gravity dam on the Stave River in Ruskin, British Columbia, Canada. The dam was completed in 1930 for the primary purpose of hydroelectric power generation. The dam created Hayward Lake, which supplies water to a 105 MW ...

, but this has had only marginal effect relative to the former size of the salmon runs. Stave and Hayward Lakes have a

kokanee Kokanee is a word from the Okanagan language referring to land-locked lake populations of sockeye salmon (''Oncorhynchus nerka''). It may also refer to: * Kokanee Range, a subrange of the Selkirk Mountains in British Columbia, Canada * Kokanee sal ...

population as well as other fish such as trout, and are sometimes stocked.

Industry

The Stave River's valley has been extensively logged. The only operating mills on its length are now near the Fraser at Ruskin but there are a few ruins of mills lining its western shore, including the remains of a very large cedar shake mill adjacent to the Stave Falls dam. Almost all of the mills on the Stave were focused on the production of shakes and some of its mills were among the highest-producing in the world. The north end of the lake can not be reached by road so the only option is by boat or air charter to a small bush strip.

Hydropower developments

There are

Stave Falls Dam Stave Falls Dam is a dual-dam power complex on the Stave River in Stave Falls, British Columbia, Canada. The dam was completed in 1912 for the primary purpose of hydroelectric power production. To increase the capacity of Stave Lake, the dam was ...

(1912),

(1930) and the

Alouette Dam Stave Falls Dam is a dual-dam power complex on the Stave River in Stave Falls, British Columbia, Canada. The dam was completed in 1912 for the primary purpose of hydroelectric power production. To increase the capacity of Stave Lake, the dam was ...

(1928) on the shore of Stave Lake where a diversion from

Alouette Lake Alouette Lake, originally Lillooet Lake and not to be confused with the lake of that name farther north, is a lake and reservoir in Maple Ridge, British Columbia, Canada. It is located at the southeast foot of the mountain group known as the Go ...

comes through a low mountainside. On the upper Stave River, beyond the north end of Stave Lake there are two run-of-the-river hydroelectricity projects, Lamont Creek (28 MW) and Upper Stave River (33.5 MW) both built in 2010 by

Cloudworks Energy Cloudworks Energy Inc. was a private, Vancouver-based run-of-river hydro developer formed in 1999. The firm's principals developed the 33MW Miller Creek run-of-river project (subsequently sold to Capital Power Corporation) and the 49.9MW Rutherford ...

Inc.Cloudworks Energy Inc. website
a private company based around the BC government's Independent Power Projects (IPP's) legislation, which guarantees such producers sales to BC Hydro.

References

External links

Map of Stave Falls Branch, BC Electric Railway

Aerial view of lower Stave River and Hayward Lake, Stave Lake, Silverdale, Ruskin
fro
Randall & Kat's Flying Photos
{{coord, 49, 10, 00, N, 122, 25, 00, W, display=title Tributaries of the Fraser River Rivers of the Lower Mainland Garibaldi Ranges Rivers of the Pacific Ranges New Westminster Land District