Furry Creek, British Columbia


Furry Creek is a community in the Canadian province of British Columbia, located on Howe Sound in the Squamish-Lillooet Regional District, north of Vancouver and south of Squamish.

History

The creek was named in the 1870s after early prospector and settler Oliver Furry. Loggers worked the slopes, and a two adits from the Britannia Creek mine opened into Furry Creek where logging camp supplied timbers for mine shoring in the early 1900s. Dams on Phyllis and Marion Lake and Furry Creek redirected water from Furry Creek to the Britannia mine for power generation. Later in the century a gravel pit operated in the area. Cabins and borstal at nearby Porteau Cove made the area sparsely populated for many years, with some camping and little other activity except for the highway and railroad that cut through the bottom of the watershed.

Furry Creek Golf & Country Club

Ribbon development along the Sea-to-Sky British Columbia Highway 99 is now infilling open areas like Furry Creek and Britannia Beach. The Furry Creek area saw significant changes with the addition of a golf course and luxury homes, starting in 1991 and opening in 1993, which was developed by a Japanese company, Tanac Land Development. Because its slopes are very steep and spread out nature of the links style course, golf carts are mandatory. Numerous films and commercials have been filmed there, including parts of Happy Gilmore.

Furry Creek Hydro

There is a run-of-river hydro plant located one kilometer up Furry Creek. Built in 2004, a weir in the creek diverts water to a 3km penstock dropping 366 meters to a powerhouse with a pelton wheel capable of generating 11 MW of electricity. In 2010 the plant was sold to Veresen Inc. an Independent power producer, who is contracted to sell power to BC Hydro.