TERRACE

TERRACE

Is a city, located in the Skeena Valley, 140 kilometers east of Prince Rupert. Terrace was created in 1910 when the Grand Trunk Pacific Railway arrived and because of this, a townsite was laid out at the confluence of the Kitsumkalum and Skeena Rivers. The community was named by George Little, a settler who named it after the terraced (benched) land along the Skeena River which was formed by a series of glaciations in the last Ice Age about 1,000 years ago. Terrace was incorporated as a city on December 31st, 1927 and was actually developed and constructed as a sawmill town. In the 1950s, Terrace boomed as a service center for the construction of the new community of Kitimat, located 60 kilometers south on Highway #37. The city’s location has made Terrace, one of the fast-growing cities in northern British Columbia, as well as a important transportation hub with the junction of the Yellowhead Highway (Highway #16), the Stewart-Cassiar Highway (Highway #37), in addition to the Nisga’a Highway (Highway #113). Tourism and forestry are the main industries, and its main attraction is the Riverboat Days, a family fun event that celebrates the city’s heritage as well as its ties with the Skeena River. Terrace has adopted the Kermode Bear as its main municipal symbol.

TERRACE’S POPULATION: 12,779