Population: 6,000
Highlights:
Lake Kathlyn
Bulkley Valley Museum
Smithers Art Gallery
Year Round Performances
Rivers & Fly Fishing
Traditional Canoeing
History:
The aboriginal people who first inhabited this area are know as the Wet’suwet’en, ("People of the lower hills"). Their are a Carrier people of the Athapaskan language group. This expansive territory is the original home to six distinct Wet'suwet'en communities; the Hagwilget, Moricetown, Broman Lake, Burns Lake, Skin Tyee and Nee Tahi Buhn. These clans were made up of a multiple number of family members and long houses. They have resided in and around this area for more than 5,000 years.
In the early 1900's, the first white settler was Gabriel Lacroix arrived to farm on the east side of the Bulkley River. Once the area began to see more adventurers of the fur trade, prospectors of the gold rush and the effects of the arrival of the railway in the province, Smithers began to truly take shape. Smithers was officially named in 1921 after Sir Alfred Smithers, who was the railway's board of directors' chairman.
Climate:
Summer average 17 degrees Celsius
Winter average -8 degrees Celsius