Fraser River

 

chief river of British Columbia, Canada, c.850 mi (1,370 km) long. It rises in the Rocky Mts., at Yellowhead Pass, near the British Columbia–Alta. line and flows northwest through the Rocky Mt. Trench to Prince George, thence south and west to the Strait of Georgia at Vancouver. Its chief tributaries are the Nechako, Quesnel, Chilcotin, and Thompson rivers. It is navigable to Yale, c.80 mi (130 km) upstream. The Fraser River canyon, which begins at Yale, is noted for its scenery; its mountain walls rise more than 3,000 ft (914 m). The river contains the chief spawning grounds in North America for the Pacific salmon. Logging is important along the upper course. The Fraser delta is the most fertile agricultural region of British Columbia; dairying and truck farming are important. The delta has the largest concentration of people in W Canada. Sections of the river are followed by oil and gas pipelines as well as transcontinental rail and highway routes. The Fraser River was visited by Sir Alexander Mackenzie, the Canadian explorer, who followed its upper course on his expedition (1793) to the Pacific Ocean and takes its name from Simon Fraser, the Canadian explorer and fur trader, who followed (1808) the river to its mouth, establishing fur-trading posts along the way. The river valley was the domain of the fur traders until the gold rush of 1858. After the discovery of gold (1859) in the Cariboo dist., on the river's upper reaches, the government built a road to serve the valley, and settlement of the region followed.

Fraser River
The Fraser River, near Mission, British Columbia
Country	Canada
Province	British Columbia
Length	km ( mi) [1]
Watershed	km² ( mi²)
Source	Continental Divide
- location	Rocky Mountains, Mount Robson Provincial Park, British Columbia, Canada
- coordinates	52°31.1′N 118°19.0′W / 52.5183, -118.3167
Mouth	Fraser River Delta
- location	Strait of Georgia, Greater Vancouver Regional District, Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada
- coordinates	49°7′N 123°11.5′W / 49.117, -123.1917
- elevation	m ( ft)
Fraser River watershed

For other uses of this name see Fraser River (disambiguation).

The Fraser River is the longest river in British Columbia, Canada, rising near Mount Robson in the Rocky Mountains and flowing for 1,400 km (870 mi), into the Pacific Ocean at the city of Vancouver.

Geography

The Fraser drains a 220,000 km² (85,000 sq mi) area. Its source is near Yellowhead Pass, and for the first part of its course it runs northwest, reaching past 54° north before making a sharp turn to the south. At the city of Prince George it is joined by the Nechako River, then continues south and slightly east. It is joined by the Thompson River at Lytton, where it proceeds south until it is approximately 40 km (25 mi) north of the 49th parallel, which is Canada's border with the United States. It then issues from the Coast Mountains from a deep canyon (the Fraser Canyon) about 270 km (170 mi) long. The river then turns west through a lush lowland valley, known as the Fraser Valley, past Chilliwack, Abbotsford, Mission and the eastern suburbs of Vancouver.

After 100 kilometres (about 60 mi), it forms a delta where it empties into the Strait of Georgia between the mainland and Vancouver Island. The lands south of the City of Vancouver, including the cities of Richmond and Delta sit on the flat flood plain. The islands of the delta include Iona Island, Sea Island, Lulu Island, Annacis Island, and a number of smaller islands.

The river's volume at its mouth is 112 km³ (27 cu mi) each year (about 800,000 gal/s or 3550 cubic metres per second), and it dumps 20 million tons of sediment into the ocean.^[2] It is the tenth longest river in Canada.^[3]

History

On June 14, 1792, the Spanish explorers Dionisio Alcalá Galiano and Cayetano Valdes entered and anchored in the north arm of the Fraser River, becoming the first Europeans to find and enter it.^[4]

The upper reaches of the Fraser River were first explored by Sir Alexander Mackenzie in 1793, and fully traced by Simon Fraser in 1807, who confirmed that it was not connected with the Columbia River.

Much of British Columbia's history has been bound to the Fraser, partly because it was the essential route between the Interior and the Lower Coast after the loss of the lands south of the 49th Parallel with the Oregon Treaty of 1846.^[5] It was the site of its first recorded settlements of Aboriginal people (see Stó:lō, St'at'imc and Nlaka'pamux), the route of multitudes of prospectors during the gold rush and the main vehicle of the province's early commerce and industry.

This river has been designated a Canadian Heritage River for its natural and human heritage.^[1]

Uses

The Fraser is heavily exploited by human activities, especially in its lower reaches. Its banks are rich farmland, its water is used by pulp mills, and a few dams on some tributaries provide hydroelectric power. The main flow of the Fraser has never been dammed so as not to interfere with salmon spawning. Today, Fraser Herald at the Canadian Heraldic Authority is named after the river.

The delta of the river, especially in the Boundary Bay area, is an important stopover location for migrating shorebirds^[6]

Flooding

Due to record snowpacks on the mountains in the Fraser River catch basin which began melting, combined with heavy rainfall, water levels on the Fraser River rose in 2007 to a level not reached since 1972.^[7] Low-lying land in areas upriver such as Prince George suffered minor flooding. Evacuation alerts were given for the low-lying areas not protected by dikes in the Lower Mainland.^[8] However, the water levels did not breach the dikes, and major flooding was averted.

Major tributaries

• McGregor River
• Nechako River
• Quesnel River
• West Road River
• Chilcotin River
• Bridge River
• Thompson River
• Nahatlatch River
• Anderson River
• Coquihalla River
• Harrison River
• Chilliwack River
• Stave River
• Pitt River

See also

• List of crossings of the Fraser River

References

External links

• Map and photographs

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