Galena Bay facts for kids

Not the Galena Bay on Kootenay Lake at Riondel

Quick facts for kids Galena Bay
Galena Bay Location in British Columbia
Country	Canada
Province	BC/BCE
Area code(s)	250, 778

Galena Bay is an unincorporated locality, on the bay of the same name, at the head of Upper Arrow Lake in the West Kootenay region of southeastern British Columbia.

The bay was formerly called Thumb Bay, because it had the appearance of a giant thumb on early maps, but was renamed Galena Bay by 1890. Significant galena mining occurred in this area. In 1897, a townsite called Rosenheim was cleared, and a hotel built, for a planned railway linking with Camborne and Trout Lake, but the project evaporated within a year. Galena Bay remained the name of the neighbourhood.

In 1957, the locality became the eastern terminal for the Arrowhead–Galena Bay ferry. Since 1968, the western terminal has been Shelter Bay. This ferry link forms part of British Columbia Highway 23 from Nakusp to Revelstoke. Galena Bay is also the terminus of British Columbia Highway 31, which runs northeast, then southeast via Trout Lake and Lardeau and then south down the west side of the north arm of Kootenay Lake to Balfour, near Nelson.