Meeting the Tower Along the Skeena

When driving along Highway 16 between Terrace and Prince Rupert you come to a point where this big red and white electrical tower sits large on the side of the road, glaring at drivers and cars as they whiz past. It is strange to think that 50 years ago (or less) the highway threaded through the uprights of that same tower. Sometimes I think that maybe it misses that time, where it was an important part of the transportation route. It is lonely.

In this watercolour painting, we are looking east toward Terrace on a cloudy day. Somehow the tower seems brighter on cloudy days, popping out from the greenery that it’s pushed up against. The sky was so grey that day and almost dark, but the clouds were not as low as they can get on a cloudy day. And the Skeena River was not still, but mirrored the sky none the less.

The Skeena….when I first drove up to Prince Rupert more than 20 years ago this river was that thing that I used to gage how close to Prince Rupert I was getting. I don’t know if that makes sense, but I knew that as I got closer to my destination, the closer I was getting to the place I would eventually call home. The Skeena is a part of home to me, and seeing this tower means I am almost home.