“every man who can rustle a snare or spear puts in more or less time fishing for ‘red’ trout in Cottonwood...
and every one of them has a theory as to where the fish come from…”
The Miner, August 16, 1890
Young Fishermen With Their Bull Trout
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Gerrard Rainbow Trout Caught On Kootenay Lake In 1919
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When the early settlers arrived, they found a creek brimming with red fish. These are the region’s freshwater salmon, known as “kekeni” in the Sinixt-Salish language, which the settlers changed to “kokanee.”
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OTHER FISH ONCE NATIVE TO THE CREEK
Between 1890 & 1930, over-fishing, mining, and other settler activities strained the health of fisheries throughout the region. In 1938,the provincial government installed a hatchery on the banks of Cottonwood Creek. Until 1968,it produced eggs for the kokanee; the local Gerrard rainbow trout; and the eastern brook trout, an introduced species. The eggs were planted across the B.C. Interior with mixed results. The introduced species thrived and became a threat to native fish. 
The Provincial Fish Hatchery On The Banks Of Cottonwood Creek
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Bull Trout
Whitefish
Burbot
Rainbow Trout
Westslope Cutthroat Trout
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The kokanee spend their lives swimming in Kootenay Lake and its West Arm. In late summer, they return to spawn in the streams where they were hatched. While the kokanee do not come back to Cottonwood Creek now, the spawning channels created at nearby Kokanee Creek in 1985 have provided a much-needed refuge for these beautiful red fish.
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The Nelson Izu-shi Friendship Society thanks Eileen Delehanty Pearkes for researching and writing this story of Cottonwood Creek and also the Nelson Museum, Archives, and Gallery, Ernest Keeley, and Alistair B. Fraser for contributing these visual images.
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