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Alice Arm - across the bay from Kitsault is a silver mining town that throve during the 1920s and '30s.  That was before the price of silver plummetted, forcing the mine to shut down — an economic condition that Kitsault would mirror less than fifty years later.  A television episode featuring the two ghost towns was produced for the aviation series, Wings Over Canada, and is included in both their Best of BC and their Ghost Towns box sets.

Anyox - another Observatory Inlet ghost town, once used for mining copper.  The electrical powerhouse, erected in 1911, remains standing as a historical monument to this day.  Anyox was also a major port because Granby Bay, on which the town is located, forms a natural harbour for mooring ships.

Terrace - the nearest active city to Observatory Inlet and most accessible from there by land, located on a series of natural flat benches, or terraces (hence the name), on the edge of the Skeena River.  Terrace is also currently involved in the owner's current plan for Kitsault's future.

Kitlope Valley - location of the world's longest unlogged coastal temperate rainforest, now a heritage conservancy.

Smithers - next town inland from Terrace, located half-way between Prince Rupert and Prince George.  Home to about 6000 people, Smithers is a regional service centre for the Buckley Valley between the Babbin Mountain Range to the east and Hudson Bay Mountain to the west.

Prince George - otherwise known as BC's Northern Capital, located at the crossroads of Highways 97 and 16.  The latter, as you head westward, also passes through Smithers and Terrace all the way to the coastal city of Prince Rupert.

Barkerville - not far from Prince George is this heritage town, featured in Wings Over Canada (Best of BC, Part 3) and one of their producers' other TV shows, Discovering Great Towns. Both are currently available for DVD purchase.

Nass Harbour - located just inside the mouth of the Nass River Valley, which meets the southern tip of Observatory Inlet right where it merges into Portland.

Gitlaxt'aamiks (formerly New Aiyansh) - largest of the First Nations communities in the area, located in the Nass Valley near Kitsumkalum Lake and Nisga'a Memorial Lava Bed Park, where BC's most recent volcanic activity took place over 250 years ago.

Prince Rupert - "Where Canada's Wilderness Begins".  This is the largest city on the northern BC coast, located just 55 km south of Portland Inlet.  Here you will also find the third deepest natural harbour in the world.

Haida Gwaii - also known as the Queen Charlotte Islands, located just off the coast from Prince Rupert, this archepelago has been labelled "a world class destination for the adventurous traveller"... in other words, anybody who enjoys the Great Outdoors.  Incidentally, Wings Over Canada made an episode about these islands, along with Prince Rupert (above), during their Second Season (now available as a DVD box set), and Discovering Great Towns revisited the area almost ten years later.

Stewart - a former mining town located at the source end of the Portland Canal, right on the BC-Alaska border.  Both the canal and Observatory Inlet emerge into Portland Inlet, which in turn drains into the Pacific Ocean.  Just across from Stewart is the Alaskan mining town of Hyder.  Both communities are now popular tourist destinations.

Pearse Island - one of two islands separated from Alaska by the Pearse Canal, which parallels Portland Inlet.  Both were objects of a Territorial Dispute between Canada and the U.S. until 1903, when the British Crown resolved it through arbitration.

Local Wildlife - a park ranger's guide to safe co-existence with other species that inhabit the BC wilderness, including black bears and grizzlies, which are frequently sighted in and around Kitsault.

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