Valemount, British Columbia

Valemount is a village municipality of 1,018 people in east central British Columbia, Canada, from Kamloops, British Columbia. It is between the Rocky, Monashee, and Cariboo Mountains. It is the nearest community to the west of Jasper National Park, and is also the nearest community to Mount Robson Provincial Park, which features Mount Robson, the tallest mountain in the Canadian Rockies. Outdoor recreation is popular in summer and winter—hiking, skiing, snowmobiling, cross-country skiing, mountain biking and horseback riding are common activities. Valemount is one of 14 designated resort municipalities in British Columbia.

The name ''Valemount'' was coined for the Canadian National Railway station there in 1927 from the words ''vale'' and ''mount''.

History

The land that would become Valemount is in the traditional territory of the Kootenai, Shuswap and Rocky Mountain Cree. Other first peoples with ties to the area included the Lheidli T’enneh and the Mountain Metis.

In 1950, the Canoe River train crash occurred south of Valemount Station.

Valemount was incorporated as a village under the Municipal Act (no
Community Charter
, on December 13, 1962.
Until the construction of the Yellowhead Highway 5 in the 1960s, Valemount's population was small and mostly itinerant. Road conditions were poor in the wintertime and electric power unreliable.

Expansion and growth in the 1970s

Valemount's population increased from 600 people to 693, and from 693 people to 1,160 in the 1970s.
The sewer system was completed in 1975, a water tower of 300,000 gallons started to service the town in 1977, a clinic opened in 1978, and a new Community Hall was inaugurated in February 1979. A shopping mall (1978) and several hotels on Highway 5 were completed in the late 1970s.

Valemount in the 1980s

In the 1980s population growth slowed. In 1980, work began at the Starratt Wildlife Sanctuary with a clean-up operation at an old dumpsite.
The Canoe Robson Education Development Association (CREDA) was founded in 1984 to assist local residents with continued education and training.
Canyon Creek Forestry Products was replaced by Clearwater Timber Industries which employed 400 people between Clearwater and Valemount. After two mill crises in 1984 and 1986, Clearwater Timber Industries went bankrupt and was purchased by Slocan Forest Products in May 1987.

Peak of lumber production in the 1990s

The mill was closed for part of 1991–1992 but reached a period of peak production between 1993 and 1996 when three shifts were employed full-time (160 employees). The population increased in these five years by 17 percent. In 1998, Slocan reduced its work force by two thirds and by 2001 the local population had dropped by 7.7 percent. The sawmill, which had shut down by Slocan and then acquired by Carrier Lumber, never met its former production or employment levels, and closed permanently in 2006.

Improvement and expansion of village infrastructure

All streets in the village were paved between 1993 and 2000. Major projects, such as the Curling Rink and the Arena, were completed or renovated, and the airport terminal was completed in 1996. In 1995, Valemount was invited to join the Columbia Basin Trust, created by the Columbia Basin Trust Act to benefit the region most adversely affected by the Columbia River Treaty. The Mica Dam had been completed by 1974 and the whole Canoe River Basin flooded.
In 1997, the one-person office of CREDA grew into a busy Valemount Learning Centre; since then, the Valemount Learning Centre has been employing three full-time and three part-time staff, who provide various training and employment services to Valemount's residents.

21st century

Valemount has high speed wireless internet, train, bus and highway service. The village has one weekly newspaper, The ''Rocky Mountain Goat News'', locally owned and based in Valemount. It covers the communities of Valemount, McBride, Dunster, Tête-Jaune, and to a lesser extent Jasper and Blue River. The ''Goat'' was named the top newspaper in its circulation category in 2015 by the BC Yukon Community Newspapers Association.

Borealis Geopower obtained three permits October 27, 2010, to explore the Canoe Reach area of Kinbasket Lake south of Valemount for geothermal development. It is the second region of B.C. opened up to geothermal exploration.

Valemount has increased its infrastructure capacity by adding a second water tower () in 2003, and now has a water treatment plant.

A wireless wide-area network was established in September 1999 centred in Valemount and covering a three-kilometre radius area. ADSL service has been available since 2003, and cell phone service (only some providers) since July 2004. High-speed Internet services were available in rural areas by 2005.

Demographics

In the 2021 Census of Population conducted by Statistics Canada, Valemount had a population of 1,052 living in 513 of its 602 total private dwellings, a change of from its 2016 population of 1,021. With a land area of , it had a population density of in 2021.

Climate

Cariboo Lodge is a weather station about south-west of Valemount. It lies below Mount Sir Wilfrid Laurier in the valley of the Canoe River (British Columbia). Cariboo Lodge has a subarctic climate (Köppen ''Dfc'').

Transportation

As a flag stop Via Rail's ''The Canadian'' calls at the Valemount railway station two or three times (depending on the season) per week in each direction.

Media

Valemount is one of seven communities in English-speaking Canada with a license to broadcast over the air community television. The station is commonly referred to as VCTV within the community. In the event of a prolonged power outage or similar catastrophe where traditional communications are impossible or impractical, the society owning the station can use FM radio to provide critical messages to the people of Valemount.

See also

* Cranberry Marsh/Starratt Wildlife Management Area - just south of Valemount

References

External links

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Populated places in the Regional District of Fraser–Fort George
Populated places on the Fraser River
Robson Valley
Villages in British Columbia