09393

NEW PRICE $119,000

Lt.8, Pl.NEP70437, DL6498, LD26, PID 025-253-069

$394

None

Balfour is a pretty little village on the north shore of the West Arm of Kootenay Lake, at the junction of the lake’s North, South and West arms. Balfour serves as the western ferry terminal for the ferry route across Kootenay Lake to Kootenay Bay on the east shore of the lake.

From Vancouver – approx. 8 hours
From Calgary – approx. 7 hours.
From Castlegar Airport – approx. 1 hour & 20 min
From Spokane, Washington – approx 4hrs.

Local early settlements included Harrop and Proctor (accessible by ferry) Sunshine Bay, Queens Bay, Longbeach, and further north to Ainsworth Hot Springs. All allow access to Kootenay Lake and offer numerous outdoor activities.

Golf: Three golf courses to choose from in the area. Balfour Golf Course on Queensbay Road is a prestigious 18 hole (6510 yards, par72) Les Furber designed facility. Players will find the front nine carved neatly through a forested region with sand and water hazards strategically placed, while the back nine uses the mountains to provide elevation from tee to green, with a scenic view across Kootenay Lake to the Purcell Mountains. Also on Queensbay Road in Balfour is the Eagle View Golf Course, a par 3 course that’s perfect for working on your short game. In Crawford Bay, on the eastern shore of Kootenay Lake is the championship 18 hole Kokanee Springs Golf Resort.

Fishing: Kokanee Creek and Kootenay Lake maintain considrablepopulationsof various fish species, including kokanee, rainbow and cutthroat trout, dolly varden, burbot and whitefish. Kootenay Lake supports record size Gerrard Rainbow trout.

Skiing: In winter, blast out of some of the legendary bottomless powder at Whitewater Ski Resort located a short drive south of Nelson. The community ski hill in Nelson, Morning Mountain, also offers grat family and beginners skiing.

Over 25 km of cross-country skiing trails at Whitewater Ski Resort are maintained by the volunteer operated Nelson Nordic Ski Club. Many of the nearby golf courses also offer cross-country trails in the winter months.

Snowmobilers can head for the Cedar Creek Forest Service Rd. To Cody Cave Park.

Camping/Hiking: Kokanee Creek Provincial Park south of Ainsworth has facilities that include hiking and ski trails and the largest campground in this part of the West Kootenay (168 vehicle/tent campsites) Canoeing/Kayaking are popular and there is a boat launch located east of the day use area. The large 1 km sandy beach makes this one of the best places for swimming and sunbathing in the area.

Balfour was the favoured site for a possible terminus of the Columbia and Kootenay Railway as early as 1883 and later, in 1888, it was touted as a smelter site for the Hendryx (Bluebell) Mine. Both these proposals fell through,but in 1889 Charles Wesley Busk pre-empted 200 acres on the north side of the Outlet where he built a rustic hotel and general store and planted some fruit trees. In 1890 he surveyed a townsite and gave it the name “Balfour” after Lord Balfour, whose family held mining interests in the area. By 1892 the Balfour House Hotel included,besides the hotel and general store, a post office and telephone service. A few years later the hotel became a CPR telegraph station.There were two floats in front of the hotel, one of which served as the steamer landing while the other accommodated the many small boats used by sportsmen and commuters to Pilot Bay on the east side of Kootenay Lake.