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CASTLEGAR |
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Some 27km north of Trail on Hwy 22, CASTLEGAR is a strange diffuse
place with no obvious centre, probably because roads and rivers - this
is where the Kootenay meets the Columbia - make it more a transport hub
than a community. In its time it was famous for its immigrant Doukhobor
or "Spirit Wrestler" population, members of a Russian sect who fled
religious persecution in 1899 from Russia and brought their pacifist-agrarian
lifestyle to western Canada. By the 1920s BC had around ninety Doukhobor
settlements, each with a co-operative, communal population of around
sixty. They arrived in Castlegar in 1908, establishing at least 24
villages in the area, each with Russian names meaning things like "the
beautiful", "the blessed" or "consolation". Accomplished farmers, they
laboured under the motto "Toil and a Peaceful Life", creating highly
successful orchards, farms, sawmills and packing plants. Although their
way of life waned after the death of their leader Peter Verigin in 1924,
killed by a bomb planted in his railway carriage, the Doukhobors'
considerable industry and agricult-ural expertise transformed the
Castlegar area; many locals still practise the old beliefs - Doukhobor
numbers are around 5000 across the region - and Russian is still spoken.
These days there's also a breakaway radical sect, the Freedomites, or
Sons of Freedom, infamous for their eye-catching demonstrations - of
which fires and nude parades are just two - against materialism and
other morally dubious values.
Much of the community's heritage has been collected in the Doukhobor
Village Museum (May-Sept daily 9am-5pm; $3.50; tel 365-6622), just off
the main road on the right after you cross the big suspension bridge
over the Kootenay River. A Doukhobor descendant is on hand to take you
through the museum, which houses a winsome display of farm machinery,
handmade tools and traditional Russian clothing that's intriguing as
much for its alien context as for its content. For a further taste of
Doukhobor culture, visit the evocative Zuckerburg Island Heritage Park
off 7th Avenue, named after a local teacher of Doukhobors who built a
log Russian Orthodox Chapel House here: it was bought and restored by
the town in 1981, and is reached by a ninety-metre pedestrian suspension
bridge.
Castlegar's infocentre (Sept-June Mon-Fri 9am-5pm; July & Aug daily
9am-5pm; tel 365-6313, www.castlegar.com ) is at 1995 6th Ave off the
main road as you leave town for Grand Forks. There are some half-dozen
motels in and around town: the best motel - small, and with a nice view
- is the Cozy Pines on Hwy 3 on the western edge of town at 2100
Crestview Crescent (tel 365-5613; $40-60). Closer in, the modern and
attractive Best Western Fireside Motor Inn , 1810 8th Ave at the
junction of hwys 3 and 22 (tel 365-2128 or 1-800/499-6399; $60-80), is a
touch more expensive. Three kilometres out of town to the west on Hwy 3
is the Castlegar RV Park and Campground , 1725 Mannix Rd (tel 365-2337;
$15-20; April-Oct), with rural setting, separate tenting area, free hot
showers, laundry and restaurant. There are also a regional and a
provincial park campsites in the vicinity: Pass Creek Regional Park ,
which has a nice, sandy beach (tel 365-3386; $12; May-Sept), 2km west
off Hwy 3A at the Kootenay River Bridge; and the Syringa Provincial Park
(reservations possible, $15; mid-May to mid-Sept), 19km north of Hwy 3
at Castlegar on the east side of Lower Arrow Lake. For cheap eating ,
Café Friends back in town at 1102 3rd St has good home-cooked basics.
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