| Radium Hot Springs is at the gateway to
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| | growing communities and has become a four
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| the Kootenay National Park (KNP) which
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| | season resort town.Not counted among the
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| has long been an east-west travel route.
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| | village's 750 residents are some 200
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| It is believed that the area encompassed
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| | members of a Rocky Mountain bighorn sheep
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| by the park, some 1406 sq. km., was
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| | band. Few other communities can match
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| traveled on a seasonal basis by First
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| | Radium for the numbers of sheep. Built
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| Nations. The Ktunaxa regularly crossed
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| | on part of the band's winter range,
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| the Rockies via Whiteman Pass, Simpson
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| | Radium and valley residents have learned
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| Pass and Vermilion Pass to hunt buffalo
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| | to live and work side-by-side with the
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| on the plains.The first non-native people
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| | sheep and appreciate the blue-listed
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| in the area were trappers and fur traders
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| | species. The sheep are commonly seen in
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| with the first recorded visit by Sir
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| | the village only from late autumn to
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| George Simpson in 1841. Hard on
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| | mid-spring.Like most valley communities,
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| Simpson's heels was James Sinclair who
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| | Radium has an interesting past. Human
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| came over Whiteman Pass leading a
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| | beings have been making the most of the
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| cavalcade of Red River settlers en route
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| | healing waters for hundreds of years,
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| to Walla Walla, Washington. In 1858
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| | beginning with the First Nations people
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| geologist James Hector led a branch of
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| | who used Sinclair Pass for access between
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| the Palliser expedition into the north
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| | the Columbia and Kootenay valleys. In
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| end of the Kootenay area.By the early
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| | 1920, when its population consisted of a
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| 1900s local businessmen were lobbying for
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| | handful of construction workers and
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| a road linking Windermere to Banff.
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| | lumberjacks, accommodations neither so
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| Eventually the road was completed by the
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| | plentiful nor civilized as they are
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| federal government in exchange for title
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| | today. Two dollars a week bought you
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| to a strip of land on either side of the
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| | space shared with strangers in a tent
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| route. In 1920, this land was set aside
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| | with a bed made of clean hay, illuminated
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| as Kootenay National Park.The best known
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| | by candles stuck in empty whisky bottles.
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| built up area in the region is Radium Hot
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| | Use of the hot pool cost 50 cents or $1
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| Springs which is just at the south
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| | a day for as many soaks as you wanted.In
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| entrance to the park through the narrow
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| | 1923 an analyst from the Canadian
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| gorge of the Sinclair Canyon. Although
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| | government did some tests that showed the
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| it has a reputation for being perhaps the
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| | waters were radioactive, hence the name
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| petunia and bighorn sheep capital of BC,
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| | Radium. It is believed that the water is
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| Radium is most famous for which it was
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| | therapeutic, particularly for arthritis
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| named, the healing, hot water springing
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| | sufferers. Even for completely healthy
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| from the earth and captured in a huge
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| | people, the water is certainly relaxing
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| soaking pool.Known internationally as a
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| | and soothing and the view provided from
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| resort town, it has more than 30 motels
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| | the pools of the red walls of Sinclair
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| and hotels, all geared to providing
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| | Canyon is sheer beauty. Geographical
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| accommodation for the thousands of
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| | formations are the order of the area, as
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| visitors who pass through every year.
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| | witnessed by the redrock wall and the
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| They arrive on one of three highways, Hwy
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| | dramatic crack which you pass through
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| 95 south from Golden, Hwy 93 southwest of
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| | upon entering Radium.The village of
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| the TransCanada Highway between Lake
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| | Radium is also now synonymous with golf
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| Louise and Banff, or north on 93/95
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| | as it boasts two top-rated 18-hole golf
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| coming in from Montana and Idaho. The
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| | courses; the Springs at Radium and the
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| Village of Radium Hot Springs with a
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| | Radium Resort. Radium is also the
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| current population of 750 year round
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| | gateway to a will Purcell Mountain
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| residents, was incorporated in 1992. It
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| | backcountry rife with recreational
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| remains one of the province's fastest
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| | opportunities.
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