Skookumchuck, British Columbia
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Skookumchuck is a Canadian town in the Kootenay region of British Columbia, along Highway 95. Located nearby is Tembec's Crestbrook pulp mill which produces northern bleached softwood kraft. The area features fishing, canoeing, hiking, and hot springs. The name of the town of Skookumchuck dates from the time of fur trade explorer David Thompson and refers to the large rapids on the Columbia River in this area. The Church of the Holy Cross was designated a National Historic Site of Canada in 1981, as a fine example of Carpenter's Gothic Revival built by Salish carpenters, 1905-8.
Skookumchuck means "strong water", meaning effectively "big rapids" or "heavy current" in the Chinook jargon, and in ordinary use it is a generic name for any rapids, especially the great saltwater rapids at the mouths of the coastal inlets.
In common use, referring to Skookumchuck as a placename may refer to two other specific locations in British Columbia:
- The unrelated marine tidal rapids at Skookumchuck Narrows — the Skookumchuck, as it is the largest and most powerful of the British Columbia Coast's saltwater rapids — are several hundred kilometres west on the province's Sunshine Coast, where the narrow mouth of Sechelt Inlet spills out that fjord's contents into Jervis Inlet.
- The native community and historic Catholic mission ghost town of Skookumchuck Hot Springs, also known as Skatin in the St'at'imcets (Lillooet) language, lies on the Lillooet River south of Pemberton, about 20 miles nearly due east of the resort of Whistler on the inland side of the Garibaldi Ranges.
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