Luxor Creek Outfitters - British Columbia Big Game Hunts & Guide Outfitting

An excerpt from "The Eastern Kootenay - A History of Exploration & Adventure," by Ken Tyson.

The gateway to Luxor Creek Outfitters is Radium Hot Springs, which itself has a unique place in natural as well as human history. Geologically, the springs are the result of a crack along a fault line that runs over a mile deep into the Earth's crust. Melt water from winter snows and glaciers seeps down through the geologic strata and collects in the crack. This water is then heated by the Earth's mantle, which forces it back to the surface.

The water temperature at Radium Hot Springs ranges from 98.4 to 113.9 degrees Fahrenheit, and contains sufficient concentrations of radium to qualify it as the most radioactive natural spring in Canada. With a radium concentration of 96 parts per liter, however, the radioactivity is far too low to be unsafe for human exposure.

Long before the arrival of the first Europeans, Native peoples, such as the Piegans, Bloods, Stoneys and

Ktunaxas bathed in the rich waters of Radium Hot Springs. . . and pictographs still adorn hidden rock faces; subtle reminders left by the Natives who enjoyed the waters so long ago. According to Ktunaxa legend, bathing in the waters of the springs was believed to ease the pain from arthritis. The waters were also said to have medicinal properties that would cleanse and heal the injuries that warriors sustained in battle.

During the 1880s, John McKay staked a homestead along the Columbia River in the vicinity of what is now Luxor Creek Outfitters. The claim included the as yet "undiscovered" Radium Hot Springs.

In 1890, an entrepreneur by the name of Roland Stuart recognized the commercial value of the springs, and paid one dollar per acre to the Crown for a land grant consisting of the 160 acres that surrounded and included the pool. Initially, he expected to harvest a profit from bottling and selling the water for consumption, rather than charging admission to bathers.

In 1911, a British medical journal published the findings that there might be radium in the waters of the hot spring, which was later proven by a McGill University study in 1913. Stuart, ever mindful of profits to be made, drew a comparison between the slightly radioactive waters of Radium Hot Springs with those of the famous Bath Springs in England,

and wondered if they might have similar healing properties. He then sought the partnership and funding of millionaire St. John Harmsworth, and together they build the first concrete pool at Radium, as well as a log bath-house.

Harmsworth held a personal interest in the development of Radium Hot Springs in that he was paralyzed from the neck down, and hoped that the waters might cure him. After four months of treatment in the radioactive waters, it was said that he was again able to move his feet of his own accord.

Stuart departed for England at the outset of World War I, and by 1920 he had still not returned. As his whereabouts could not be established, the Crown expropriated the springs for the sum of $40,000, and has retained ownership ever since. In the years that followed, the pool over Radium Hot Springs was expanded and modified, and more elaborate and permanent bath-houses were built. The structure burned down in a fire that occurred in the winter of 1948, and was replaced with the stone building that still serves the public today. In 1951 new facilities were opened, which included a cool pool for recreational swimming. With the new construction, the natural inlet of the springs was hidden from view under the concrete floor of the hot pool. We always offer our guests the opportunity to relax in the evening at Radium Hot Springs, which is only a 30-minute drive from our Kindersley Creek Base Camp.