Salmo

Salmo is a village of 1,100 people (2016) in the West Kootenays region of interior southeast British Columbia. Known as "the Hub of the Kootenays", the village is about 30 minutes from Trail, Castlegar, and Nelson.



Understand
Salmo is the eastern terminus of the Salmo-Creston highway, which is part of the Crowsnest Highway, constructed in the 1960s as a shortcut to avoid the long route north to Nelson and crossing Kootenay Lake by ferry between Balfour and Kootenay Bay.

Originally known as Salmon Siding (named for the original name of the Salmo River, i.e. the Salmon River), the village was founded as a small mining town near the Nelson and Fort Sheppard Railway during a gold rush in 1896. The name of the town was changed to Salmo to avoid confusion with other places with similar names. Before the dams on the Columbia River were built, the Salmo River was teeming with large salmon giving the river and the townsite its original name.

Get in
Salmo is at the junction of Highway 3 (Crowsnest Highway) and Highway 6, the main route through southern British Columbia.

Salmo is about a 30-minute drive from the communities of Castlegar, Nelson, and Trail. It is about east of Vancouver and  west of Cranbrook. It is also just north of the USA/Canada border crossing at Nelway, BC, and Metaline Falls, Washington, and is about north of Spokane. A private vehicle is the most common and most convenient way to reach Salmo.

Go next

 * Nelson -
 * Trail -
 * Castlegar -
 * Creston -