The ground base of the Grey Gables Farm area is river bed from thousands of years ago. Over the last hundred years Alouette Lake was created from the build up of water of the existing river, by the building of Alouette River Dam. This dam, closely monitored by BC Hydro, now controls the flow of water into the river, enabling wildlife to survive in its' natural habitat and allowing salmon the necessary water flow needed for their successful migration up stream each year, returning to their spawning grounds.

In 1980 after several weeks of torrential rains, the dam burst, sending millions of gallons of water downriver. Houses were flooded, and even swept away in the onslaught. This flood caused a natural change in the flow of the South Alouette, turning away from the bottom of the farm's bank, and swinging to the north. Before this happened, however, there was a small cabin, since demolished with all traces, situated closely to the immediate east of the existing house. The people who rented this cabin for a number of years have visited us and told us that they used to boat each day from the bottom of the steps down to their workplace at 216^th Street. Hard to imagine now!

When salmon stocks and habitat seemed to be diminishing, the Federal Department of Fisheries & Oceans, looked for areas to build salmon spawning channels. Fortunately, we were selected for the installation of one of these. 1988 saw the first round of construction of the channel as you see it today. It was not an easy task, requiring huge machinery and many manhours; not the least of the Department's problems were the beavers, who saw this as a new challenge, toiling daily to block the flow. Neighbours worked hard to clear these new dams as they were built, but if one day was missed, lookout! The beaver could build a dam overnight which would require a couple of hours of work with pitchforks, rakes, or whatever was available.

The channel is completely self-enclosed, having two pipes running into it at its' eastern end - one is a continual flow from big-o pipe running the length of the river for about 250 yards, the other is a pipe running from the river through a filtration system, and with an on-off control to it. At the western end of the channel, is a large box through which the water flows through a series of pipes into a small rocky channel. The box was built to deter the beaver from blocking the channel since they now cannot get at that water source. The rocks through which the water exits enable the salmon to successfully swim upstream and back into the channel to spawn. Surprisingly to us (obviously not to the experts!) the salmon have no problem swimming upstream through this pipe and through the box. Each year more and more salmon come to lay their eggs and die. In November and December, when the rains come, the dead fish not washed downstream provide food for their young struggling to survive.