Article

Selkirk Mountains

Published Online February 18, 2009

Last Edited March 4, 2015

Selkirk Mountains are ranges in southeastern BC between the Columbia River on the West and the valley of Kootenay Lake.
Rogers Pass
The all-weather Trans-Canada Highway opened over the pass in 1962 (Corel Professional Photos).
Selkirk Mountains
Alpine meadow in the Selkirk Mountains, BC, West Kootenay Region (photo by Pat Morrow).
Rogers Pass (Painting)
John A. Fraser, 1886, watercolour (courtesy NGC).
Selkirk Mountains
Glacier National Park, Mount Sir Donald (photo by John Woods).
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Selkirk Mountains are ranges in southeastern BC between the Columbia River on the West and the valley of Kootenay Lake. Around Rogers Pass in Glacier National Park and North to the Rocky Mountain Trench are many impressive peaks with spectacular relief, including Mt Sir Sandford, the highest at 3533 m.

Economic Importance

The more accessible southern ranges were settled in the 1880s, when mining activity drew prospectors from the northwestern US. A mine in the McNaughton Lk region produces copper-zinc ore. Successive waves of settlers in the Kootenay and Slocan valleys have included religious groups like the Doukhobors. Trail is the industrial centre of the Kootenay region; Nelson and Castlegar are forest-products manufacturing centres.