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Howser
Howser is located just off Hwy 31 on the Howser Station Road about
50 km (30 miles) north of Kaslo and 63 km
(39 miles) south of Trout Lake.
Duncan
City and Hauser
The small rural community went by both the names of Duncan City
in 1898 and Hauser, named after a local gold prospector, and later
changed to Howser in 1900. At one time, Howser was a booming city
with promise of gold fortunes being made, attracting large amounts
of people and the services to support them, including hotels, a
brewery, post office, general store, police presence, and sawmill,
plus fruit and vegetable farms were established with the possibility
of the Canadian Pacific and Great Northern Railways both creating
terminuses here.
Howser
Station Road
Today there are only a few homes in the area with most of them being
located on either side along Howser Station Road. Most of the homes
sit on small acreages generally with the inhabitants living off
the land with hobby farms and an agricultural presence combined
with a few small sawmills mainly specializing in cedar.
Duncan
Lake
Howser is situated on the west side near the south end of Duncan
Lake. Duncan River was dammed as part of the Columbia River Treaty
with the United States by BC Hydro during the 1960's. With the dam,
Duncan Lake is now regulated to control the flow of water into the
Columbia River downstream of Kootenay Lake and as such, the shoreline
level fluctuates throughout the year, showing stumps at low water
because of the demand for electricity in the USA.
Duncan
Dam
The original location of Howser had to be moved to higher ground
because of the erection of Duncan Dam and the subsequence flooding
and enlargement of Duncan Lake and the creation of a larger reservoir.
You can access a viewing platform of Duncan Dam by going south from
Howser on Hwy 31 by around 8 km (5 miles) to the Duncan Dam Lookout
Road.
Recreation
Sites on Duncan Lake
At the end of Howser Station Road is where you can find access to
Duncan Lake at either Howser Park Recreation Site or at Glayco Beach
day-use facility where there is a nice mixed sand and gravel beach
for boating, fishing, swimming, windsurfing, and other water sports.
Just remember there are no lifeguards present and swimming is at
your own risk. There is a concrete boat launch and there are 5 lakefront
campsites with pit-toilets found at Howser Recreation Site.
No
Services Available
There are no tourist or automotive services available in Howser
with the nearest store or fuel found to the south on Hwy 31 at nearby
Meadow Creek. Meadow Creek has a
Lucky Dollar Foods and White Service Station, a drinking establishment
called Drifter's Bar & Pub, and the Lardeau Valley Museum. In
Cooper Creek, there is Lardeau Valley Services which has gas, offers
very minor repairs, and a small selection of convenience items.
Grizzly
Country
The whole area around Howser is especially home to Grizzly bears
and proper wildlife precautions must be adhered to at all times.
Try
to avoid the rivers during heavy salmon spawning times unless you
feel comfortable with bears around and take the usual precautions.
There is also the possibilities of encounters with wolves or cougars
so please play it safe.
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