Radium Hot Springs

Radium Hot Springs is a municipality in the Canadian province of British Columbia. The village lies in the valley of the Columbia River at the intersection of Highway 95 with Highway 93, the town is surrounded by the Purcell Mountains to the west and from the Rocky Mountains to the east and is located at the output of Sinclair Canyon, the southern entrance to Kootenay National Park. Main source of income of the village is the timber industry, but also plays an important role in tourism. Many visitors come to the eponymous Hot Springs to enjoy a dip in the slightly radioactive hot springs.

History

The hot springs were already known to the First Nations. The first known bather was George Simpson, governor of the Hudson 's Bay Company, in a gravel basin took a bath in the hot water of the springs 1841. 1890 acquired the Englishman Roland Stuart the site of the hot springs. By 1914, a swimming pool and a first bath house was built. The First World War stopped the expansion until the establishment of Kootenay National Park in 1920 and the opening of the Banff - Windermere Highway, tourism took a significant upturn. 1920 built the Canadian Pacific Railway, the Radium Hot Springs Lodge, which soon followed by other hotels. The Canadian government took over in 1922, the hot springs and extended the swimming area. After the Second World War, the bathing facilities were expanded, and by the increasing tourism, the town grew rapidly.

The granting of local autonomy for the community incorporated as a Village Municipality, on 10 December 1990.

Demography

The census in 2011 showed a population of 777 inhabitants for the small community. The city's population has thereby increased since the census of 2006 at 5.7%, while the population in the province of British Columbia at the same time grew by 7.0%.

Nature

The town is located on the Columbia River, its wetlands are the largest in North America. In May the Bird Festival Wings over the Rockies is celebrated that bird watchers from around the world each year hosts.

Hot Springs

Because of its location at the Rocky Mountain Trench groundwater seeps into the earth's crust to a depth of over 2400 meters, where it is heated to the boiling point. By folding plans of the water vapor rises up again to the surface, where it cools down the road, so that the water is at a temperature of 44 ° C at the surface. On its way through the earth's crust, the water with minerals and gases accumulates at the Radium Hot Springs, among others, low-level radioactive radon. Studies have shown that the water needs three months to come to the surface again heated. The radioactivity of the water has already been demonstrated in 1913, since 1914, the sources will be used as a thermal bath. They were an important reason for the establishment of Kootenay National Park and were therefore included into the park. Today, the bathroom consists of two large open-air pool, a 39 ° C hot pool that is considered the largest thermal pool in Canada, and a larger, 27 ° C warm pool.

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