Cottonwood Creek and Falls
DESCRIPTION OF HISTORIC PLACE
Cottonwood Creek is a watercourse that flows northwest from the Selkirk Mountains into the West Arm of Kootenay Lake along Nelson’s western edge. As noted in the Riparian Restoration Development Plan for Cottonwood Creek (R. Evans and J. Fuelkell, 2008) the headwaters originate from Cottonwood Lake approximately eleven kilometers south of the city of Nelson. Cottonwood Creek follows Highway 3 until it reaches Nelson. The Giveout Creek and Selous Creek sub-basin lie within the Cottonwood Creek watershed.
HERITAGE VALUE
The prominent watercourse at the west end of Nelson, Cottonwood Creek is important for its ecological and landscape features, its association with First Nations peoples who seasonally practiced their traditional culture in the vicinity, as the first location of the Chinese market gardens, and more importantly, for its predominate role in the settlement and development of the City of Nelson.
The creek and falls are an important record of the cultural modification of Nelson’s natural waterways associated with the city’s settlement and growth. The construction in 1895-96 of the first hydroelectric power plant in British Columbia below the falls on Cottonwood Creek took advantage of the change in elevation and was instrumental in Nelson’s early development. The creek and falls are important for their role in the expansion of early town industry (Nelson Coke and Gas Works) and transportation (Canadian Pacific Railway Yards and Terminus, the smelter, and the construction of the highway interchange).
The modifications to the creek, and the structures associated with them, show the history of the waterway’s continual alteration in support of the settlement, development and sustainability of Nelson. Features associated with this modification include the reservoir basin and diversion of the main portion of Ward Creek into the Cottonwood Creek waterway for power production, the original bridge south of Baker Street, the present Baker Street bridge, the bridge and culvert at the top of the falls to accommodate the highway interchange, the development of the former fish hatchery below the falls, and the location of a public market near the former homes and gardens of early Italian families. Together these features reveal the increasing manipulation of the landscape over time to serve the city’s population, infrastructure and growing transportation requirements. Current community initiatives to enhance the ecological value of the creek are the latest modifications in Cottonwood Creek’s history.
Social value is found in the park space below the falls, designed in the Japanese tradition as a sign of unity with Nelson’s sister city in Japan and intended to improve the civic life of the city by providing recreational opportunities within a natural setting. Ongoing community and government efforts to mitigate the impacts on the creek’s natural habitat from highway construction and maintenance, hydroelectric developments and sediment input from city storm drains acknowledge and enhance the social and ecological values of this important waterway.
From the City of Nelson Heritage Register, Page 1