THE ROAD NORTH Chris Greaves is a Toronto-based com- puter consultant whose idea of a good va- cation was to stop for gas every sever hours along major highways of the USA. Having realized in 1994 that he'd driven . every state in the Lower 48, he set his heart on Alaska. Then he met the Skeena and Stikine Rivers, and the rest is history. A year ago I said J was determined to return to the Terrace area. ~ T came back, after a year in Toronto of reading maps and photos, re-living my - travels in the region between Prince Rupert “aid Dease Lake, ] had to come back, drawn by the sight of the Stikine River at Telegraph Creek. Last year, on my way back from Alaska, I stopped off for just fifteen minutes on the bank of the great river at Telegraph Creek, and fell in love. This year I made the trip from a base in Prince Rupert, but you can make it just as easily from Smithers or Ter- race, Cranberry Junction — Km 0 By road from Cranberry Junction (80 kilometres north of Kitwanga), to Telegraph Creek, allow eight hours. Km 81 — Meziadin Junction Meziadin Junction forms a "Tee", with the left-hand arm travelling §Westwards, past the Bear Glacier and into the towns of Stewart and Hyder, If you do make the side trip to Stewart, sit in the Cold-Comfort cafe and marvel at the 6,000 foot mountain that rises straight out of the sca just half a mile from the cafe window, Drive up to the Sal- mon Glacier. , Km 181 — Bell Il . At Bell IT I stopped for a quick snack, and got gas. "Km 382 — The Stikine Ever since you passed through Meziadin Junction you’ve been staring at the mighty wall of mountains off to your left. Now is your first view of the Stikine. Let your heart leap when you realize that the next time you see it, the Tanzilla, Tuya and Tahltan Rivers wil] have joined in. If it looks powerful now, imagine bow it will look when it reaches Telegraph Creek, downstream! ' Km 435 — Dease Lake Drive west through Dease Lake and you'll meet a "Tec" junction on the edge of town. You want to turn left, south, towards the airstrip, then past the airstrip. the first 80 Kim of this road are vaguely interesting to me, with the variety of vegetation, and the Tanzilla river flowing alongside, The scenic wonders don’t start until 2/3 the way along. Don’t be discouraged if you came here for scenery, It's going io come upon you so suddenly and so frequently that it will take your breath away. Km 516 — 1st steep hill At the 80 km mark on your journey from Dease Lake you'll come to the first of many steep and sharply-curved passes. Caution: Don’t override your brakes, Use a lower gear, even in an automatic, . Km 517 — The Tuya river ~ At the foot of the first valley you'll come to the Tuya river - the second of the three Major rivers to join the Stikine between “Dease Lake and Telegraph Creek. ' After climbing the far side of the valley “we travel once more through a plateau area, with groves of Aspen trees, and views of valleys clothed in many shades of green. Km 533 — The lava spit Words can nol prepare you for the experi- ‘ence of following a road which heads out onto a spit of lava some ten metres wide, with the Stikine gorge dropping 300 metres ‘off the Icft-hand side, and the Tahltan gorge ‘dropping 300 metres below off the right- ‘hand side, Park the vehicle in the road, and gingerly peer over the edge on both sides. Then ne- ‘gotiate the pass down to the vailey floor. About 100 metres after crossing the Tahltan “Creek youll find a pull-off spot where you can park the vehicle and explore the junc- tion of these twa wild rivers. Km 557 — Telegraph Creek Continic along the road until the road sign announcing "Telegraph Creek in 2 Km". You'll drive past the landing strip (oat planes land on a lake behind the ‘town), then drive past the school through the old Indian settlement, down the valley to cross and drive alongside Telegraph Creek itsclf, down into the old town, The Terrace Standard, Wednesday, August 21, 1996 - AS PERFECT PLACE: Toronto refugee from concrete and smog Chris Greaves soaks up the Stikine sunshine from the front porch of the Stikine River Song cafe and lodge. Enchanting Stikine brings him back A tourist eye’s look at the wonders in our backyard Stories by CHRIS GREAVES *M STANDING awestruck with my toes in the water. The flow varices, but on this trip, the guide told me the Stikine was 70 “Metres wide, fifteen to twenty feet deep, and running at about 12 miles per hour. That’s bank-to-bank speed. There are no river- edge slow spots here. - The volume flow is therefore about 60,000 cubic feet per second, About 1,700 metric tonnes per sec- ond, That’s about thirty fully-laden 30-ton ore trucks dumping muck every second, Except it's water, and the water carries the muck as a chocolate brown pudding. Every second of my life. And yours, I understand that 12 knots is about as fast as a river can flow. The speed is bome out by the white foaming rip- ples and waves on the surface, It’s fifteen or more feet deep here, remember. No large rocks make these waves. This river is breaking up on its surface at the physical limits of hydraulic flow, Back in Toronto I asked for an estimate of the flow of the Niagara River near the world-famous Niagara Falls. My source replied: ‘‘As for the volume of the water... I’d (wildly) guess the river to be 5 metres deep, 100 metres wide, and flowing at 5 metres per second, So that’s 2,500 cubic metres (or metric tonnes) per second,’ Hold your head up high, Stikine! We remember that people live and work here, so it's impolite to nose too closely to buildings. The Anglican church is here, and an RCMP detachment. ] drove from Prince Rupert Friday evening and Stayed the first night in Stewart. The next day was a "leisurely drive to Telegraph Creek, two nights stay, and a drive back returning through the Nass forest and the lava beds. Tsaw 16 black bear on this trip, including two sets of mother-and-cubs. I saw five of what I think were caribou, wild horses, and the usual skittering chip- munks and smaller wild life. The river district Edward Hoagland writes in Notes From The Century Before of the land and the people he met during his visils in the early sixtics. The people are mostly long gone, but some nine years ago in Toronto, reading his descriptions of the great rivers and mountains, I found within me a Strong desire to see the country. I made that short visit in 1995 and vowed to return. I returned in 1996, and vow to return yet again, “Coast range peaks ga 6,000 to 10,000 fi, to guusight peaks and to sailing, razory needle peaks. They're blue, cut with shadows and loaded with snow, and they carry small glaciers slung on their ~ hips,’ Hoagland wrote. ‘‘The mountains buik into The river is silent here. Sixty thousand cubic feet per second kissing my feet. My toes are wet in the silence, yet my ears detect a roar from downstream. **How far down are those rapids?”' ] ask, and the guide replies ‘‘Oh! Those aren’t rapids, That noise you hear is the river just turning the bend’’. Down at the bend it must sound like a freight-car derailment in Mississauga. We know about these - noises back in Toronto. The Lodge Delightful. I stayed in room 4, a double-bed room with easy chair and writing-desk, overlooking the Stikinc, My favorite pastime is to sit and stare at the great green river sliding silently by. , The kitchen is equipped for all basic cooking needs, with a gas range. Throughout the lodge the floors are red-painted and walking around bare-footed is simply wonder- ful. oo The town | Walking around the lower town doesn’t take Long. ° STIKINE COUNTRY unfolds like magic on the way to Telegraph Creek, is ee ‘sawlooth massifs too superb to be true,”? He's not lying. There are 80 kilometres of steep-walled canyon, soniclimes 300 metres deep, sometimes up to 200 metres wide. The Tanzilla, Tuya and Tabltan Rivers join in the waltz of water. The road from Dease Lake is unpaved but of good quality. It’s a 120 km drive, of which the first 80 Km are fairly boring, but the last 40 Km are non- stop breathtaking views of the gorge/canyon. I say they’re non-slop because we're advised not to stap in the rock-fall areas, and the road is up to 20 per cent (1 in 5} grade in places, The Stikine-Dease corridor carried construction matcrials for the Watson Lake (Yukon) aerodrome during World War IL. Trucks ran day and night over the 75-mile road, trips aking from eight hours to three days. Aa carly lask was to improve the road so that trucks could haul material to the far end! We enjoy some of those improvements today, The first white man arrived around 1835. The way to the interior ran from Wrangell, Alaska by - paddiewhecler to Telegraph Creek, by pack train to the. continental divide at Dease Lake, then by river to Lower Post on the Liard River, ~The old mining town of Glenora, down-river from Telegraph Creck, peaked at 10,000 residents. Most- ly all the buildings arc gone now, It looks more like an out-of-town sports field, The last regularly scheduled riverboat ran in the late 1960s, Mount Edziza at 2,800 metres is the district’s mighty mountain, Tours can be arranged from g Telegraph Creck. The former Hudson’s Bay store is 3 BC Heritage S building and now operates as the Stikine RiverSong Lodge. Fresh produce and groceries are available, aloug with catered meals in the cafe during the tourist scason, The lodge operates guided day hikes into the canyons, and overnight riverboat chatter tours. The cafe and lodge has been in operation since 1977. You can visit other places in Canada, but [ don't know why, when you've got this heavenly spot on " your doorstep, But there agai, (’'m now a con- firmed Stikine-the-mud! CORRESPONDENCE FOR THE TERRACE STANDARD The Mail Bag Brutal reality of gillnets Dear Sir: As president of the Steelhead Society of British Columbia. I am compelled to comment on your recent article of July 10 concerning the testing of modified gillnets, The irresponsible comments of Les Janz, a biologist for the Department of Fisheries and Oceans (DFO), are an example of why the DFO is underso much pressure to abdicate its responsibilities for the Management of salmon to the provincial government. While the Steelhead Society does not support the transfer of that jurisdiction at this time, there being no indication the provincial government would do a better job, Mr. Janz’s personal attacks on Mr, Hooton il- lustrate why DFO is in such disrepute. Mr. Hooton is justified in his skepticism. All the studies to date prove steelhead mortality as a result of gillnetting is about 70%. The overwhelming scientific proof is that Mr, Hooton’s comments are correct and entirely justified. Gillnets are in disrepute globally. British Columbia's newest fishery, the offshore squid jig fishery, created by the banning of gillnets in that fishery, is an example of the economic gains that can be created by moving to more selective, and therefore sustainable, fishing meth- ods. It is no surprise that Bob Hooton’s candor and professionalism brings dis- comfort to some politiclans and bureaucrats, and blologists with less integrity. But whose fault is that? Mr. Hooton's -~ or those that are made un- comfortable by the truth? The proper role of the scientist is to examine data and draw conclusions from it that are reasonable. Mr. Hoston, an award winning biologist and conservation- ist, did exacily that in commenting on gilinets, The les- ser talents within DFO choose to attack him personally for these comments in a desperate atiempt to discredit him. The only discredit they bring is to themselves and their ministry. On the other hand Mr. Janz has chosen to prejudge the success of this experiment, thereby compromising any resuits that may flow from the endeavor. This is the behavior of an advocate for the market fishery, rather than the actions of a public servant and scientist entrusted with stewardship of a public resource. Mr. Janz leaves the impression that their is some body of scientific evidence that suggests that some gillnets are selective. He knows full well that this is not so. His personal attack on Mr. Hooton and bis well known antipathy towards the conservation of steelhead and summer coho stocks, show he should be working where he would do less harm. The Steelhead Society agreed to the gillnet experi- ment as it is consistent with the Skeena Watershed Committees commitment to ‘‘made in the north’ solu- tions. We have little confidence these nets can be made less destructive but having said that, we recog- nize it is a good faith attempt on the part of commercial fishers to improve their chances of surviving in a world that demands more sustainable uses of public resources, The public and the media demands that public ser- vants and politicians be honest, frank and forthcoming. Bob Hooton has those attributes, ask him a straightfor- ward question and you will likely get a frank and direct response, Straight up, and based on the best knowledge available. It is no surprise that Bob Hooton’s candor and professionalism brings discomfort to some politicians and bureaucrats, and biologists with less in- tegrity. But whose fault is that? Mr. Hooton’s — or those thal are made uncomfortable by the truth? Bruce Hill, Terrace, B.C. MLA misses race point Dear Sir: Helmut Giesbrecht’s letter of August 14, ‘Just deal with it”’, in responding to the charge of racist dealings by government is flawed, arguing from the premise of the Canadian Constitution. The 1982 Constitution affirms aboriginal rights but does not define, nor identify the nature of those rights.; It also extended those vague rights the Inuit and Meti people, wha were excluded from the benefits of the In- dian Act, Meti, which means ’mixed blood’, and the present Canadian Constitution a poor premise for Land Claims, being a form of institutional sacism, More specifically, we're starting to see institutional racism increasing in our schools, where native children receive increased service based on race. Others, with similar needs, are left out and that is a fundamental in- justice. A child in identified need surely must be treated equally with any other child. The NDP secm to have forgotten thelr socialist roots of striving for social jus- tice and equality. The Nisga'a AIP is mainly a form of societal encor- poration, which has little to do with culture; and more to do with giving Nisga’a businessmen competitive ad- vantages and ways to articulate with corporations — as is presently proposed with Repap in relation to the Orenda takeover. The AIP could be positive, based on equality in com- munity and corporation — but not when cleavaged on racism. I do appreciate the NDP taking on this complex prob- lem; too many others have put the problem aside or simply ignored it. In tackling the situation, though, for fair resolution, it means working from first principles and definitions: with claims based on functional rights and responsibilities to resources. If compensation for past injustices by government in- stitutions is needed it can be dealt with through affir- mative action in specified cases — like it should be for anyone else, with claims against government's past in- justices, William Hayes Terrace, B.C.