A hot spring spa facility located within a national park. It has a historical connection with the famous French sparkling water, Perrier. A Richly International History Radium Hot Springs in British Columbia is located within Kootenay National Park, one of the seven parks that make up the Canadian Rocky Mountain Parks UNESCO World Heritage Site. Within Canada, it's a drive of about three hours from Calgary, Alberta, and about an hour and a half from Banff. From the United States, it's a three-hour drive from Bonners Ferry, Idaho. The facility is located in a valley 2 miles northeast of the village of the same name. The hot springs, said to have been used by the indigenous Kutenai people, may have been repeatedly passed by white settlers without notice due to their nearly odorless features. In 1890, a British settler purchased land around the hot springs from the state government, but due to its remote location, it appears to have been left undeveloped for some time. Full-scale development began after 1911, when the government started improving the surrounding roads. In 1914, a company named The Radium Natural Springs Syndicate Ltd was established, with British industrialist St. John Harmsworth as one of its principal investors. Harmsworth was known for his investment in the Perrier Springs in France and the success of his bottled mineral water business. Harmsworth, who had been paralyzed from the waist down due to a traffic accident, reportedly decided to invest after experiencing some improvement following a soaking in the hot springs. Subsequently, as ...
