Misplaced Pages

#94905

84-574: The rapids are among the fiercest on the Fraser and are generally considered impassable to canoes and river-rafting expeditions and are formed by the narrowing of the Fraser's banks by rock ledges at this point. However the diversion of the Bridge River in 1958 with the Bridge River Power Project severely curtailed the flow of the Bridge River, and the combined flows of the river no longer produce

168-621: A humid continental climate with widely variable precipitation. For example, the average daily low in Prince George (roughly in the middle of the province) in January is −12 °C (10 °F). Small towns in the southern interior with high elevation such as Princeton are typically colder and snowier than cities in the valleys. Heavy snowfall occurs in all elevated mountainous terrain providing bases for skiers in both south and central British Columbia. Annual snowfall on highway mountain passes in

252-524: A barrier for salmon and places for people to fish. The location is the most important aboriginal fishing site in the British Columbia Interior and historically it and neighbouring sites along the stretch of river between Fountain and Lillooet attracted over 15,000 people at a time to fish at the site during key salmon runs from the many different peoples of the Interior. It was here early in

336-475: A cofferdam, which had been built across the Bridge River to force its flow into the Powerhouse No. 1 diversion tunnel, which was open and operating in 1948. The rising lake waters flooded out several large ranches and homesteads in the valley, some of which dated back to the 1890s, and also the short-lived company town of Minto City , which lay at the confluence of Gun Creek with the former Bridge River, despite

420-442: A combined rink and tennis court, lavish guest houses for visiting executives, parks, a school, a private beach and a full-service hotel which served the busy travel trade over the mountain to the goldfields towns of Bralorne, Pioneer and Minto. Mostly abandoned during the 1930s, the townsite - known as "Bridge River" (although not actually on that river) - was used during the war as a relocation centre for Japanese-Canadians exiled from

504-696: A large presence in the Metro Vancouver region. The Franco-Columbian community is an officially recognized linguistic minority, and around one percent of British Columbians claim French as their mother tongue . British Columbia is home to at least 34 distinct Indigenous languages . Major sectors of British Columbia's economy include forestry , mining , filmmaking and video production , tourism , real estate , construction , wholesale , and retail . Its main exports include lumber and timber , pulp and paper products, copper , coal , and natural gas . British Columbia exhibits high property values and

588-525: A local famine among the area's populous fishery-dependent native bands. It was hoped that the returning Bridge River salmon would follow the smell of Bridge River water up the Seton-Cayoosh system, where a fish ladder and also a set of hatchery channels were constructed, but the fish attempted to swim directly into the tailrace of the Lillooet Powerhouse. To ameliorate this, a tunnel was bored through

672-464: A long holdout by Wally O'Keeffe; owner of the Rexmount Ranch and his attempts to rally the people of Minto against the project. Seton Lake existed before the project, but a small diversion dam at its outlet raised the level of the lake by about 10 feet (3.0 m). From the lake's outlet, a specially built canal carries the diverted flow of the Bridge River to the last possible bit of "head" before

756-516: A series of devastating epidemics of diseases the people had no immunity to. The population dramatically collapsed, culminating in the 1862 smallpox outbreak in Victoria that spread throughout the coast. European settlement did not bode well for the remaining native population of British Columbia. Colonial officials deemed colonists could make better use of the land than the First Nations people, and thus

840-437: A serpentine flat-bottomed valley framed by its tributary canyons and ranges, the valley had been home to a number of prospectors, settlers, lodges and others who were forced from their homes by the rising waters of Carpenter Lake, which also drowned what was left of Minto City (there were no residents in the area of what is now Downton Lake). Acrimony over the evictions continued for many years, and feelings from old-timers about

924-827: A small island off the coast of Haida Gwaii . Many healthy populations of fish are present, including salmonids such as several species of salmon , trout , steelhead , and char . Besides salmon and trout, sport-fishers in BC also catch halibut , bass , and sturgeon . On the coast, harbour seals and river otters are common. Cetacean species native to the coast include the orca , humpback whale , grey whale , harbour porpoise , Dall's porpoise , Pacific white-sided dolphin and minke whale . Some endangered species in British Columbia are: Vancouver Island marmot , spotted owl , American white pelican , and badgers. White spruce or Engelmann spruce and their hybrids occur in 12 of

SECTION 10

#1732844491095

1008-712: A sun-face with a salmon-shaped mouth, overlooks the main part of the site, which is a series of rock formations in the angle of the Bridge and Fraser Rivers. Fishing by non-natives is not permitted unless permission is granted by the Bridge River Indian Band. Historically natives used spears and dip nets to catch salmon, which are readily visible in their attempts to leap the rough waters of the gorge. 50°45′00″N 121°56′00″W  /  50.75000°N 121.93333°W  / 50.75000; -121.93333 Bridge River Power Project The Bridge River Power Project

1092-655: A very wide range of birds, has long been popular. Bears ( grizzly , black —including the Kermode bear or spirit bear) live here, as do deer , elk , moose , caribou , big-horn sheep , mountain goats , marmots , beavers , muskrats , coyotes , wolves , mustelids (such as wolverines , badgers and fishers ), cougars , eagles , ospreys , herons , Canada geese , swans , loons , hawks , owls , ravens , harlequin ducks , and many other sorts of ducks. Smaller birds ( robins , jays , grosbeaks , chickadees , and so on) also abound. Murrelets are known from Frederick Island,

1176-455: A wholly unorganized area of British North America under the de facto jurisdiction of HBC administrators; however, unlike Rupert's Land to the north and east, the territory was not a concession to the company. Rather, it was simply granted a monopoly to trade with the First Nations inhabitants. All that was changed with the westward extension of American exploration and the concomitant overlapping claims of territorial sovereignty, especially in

1260-616: Is a hydroelectric power development in the Canadian province of British Columbia , located in the Lillooet Country between Whistler and Lillooet . It harnesses the power of the Bridge River , a tributary of the Fraser , by diverting it through a mountainside to the separate drainage basin of Seton Lake , utilizing a system of three dams, four powerhouses and a canal. The potential for

1344-627: Is a significant centre for maritime trade : the Port of Vancouver is the largest port in Canada and the most diversified port in North America . Although less than 5 percent of the province's territory is arable land , significant agriculture exists in the Fraser Valley and Okanagan due to the warmer climate. British Columbia is home to 45% of all publicly listed companies in Canada. The province's name

1428-548: Is generally in the subarctic climate zone, but even there, milder air can penetrate far inland. The coldest temperature in British Columbia was recorded in Smith River , where it dropped to −58.9 °C (−74.0 °F) on January 31, 1947, one of the coldest readings recorded anywhere in North America. Atlin in the province's far northwest, along with the adjoining Southern Lakes region of Yukon , get midwinter thaws caused by

1512-485: Is home to First Nations groups that have a deep history with a significant number of indigenous languages. There are more than 200 First Nations in BC. Prior to contact (with non-Aboriginal people), human history is known from oral histories, archaeological investigations, and from early records from explorers encountering societies early in the period. The arrival of Paleoindians from Beringia took place between 20,000 and 12,000 years ago. Hunter-gatherer families were

1596-528: Is now the United States include Vancouver, Washington ( Fort Vancouver ), formerly the "capital" of Hudson's Bay operations in the Columbia District, Colville, Washington and Walla Walla, Washington (old Fort Nez Percés ). With the amalgamation of the two fur trading companies in 1821, modern-day British Columbia existed in three fur trading departments. The bulk of the central and northern interior

1680-462: Is the only province in Canada that borders the Pacific Ocean. British Columbia's highest mountain is Mount Fairweather ; the highest mountain entirely within the province is Mount Waddington . British Columbia's capital is Victoria , located at the southeastern tip of Vancouver Island . Only a narrow strip of Vancouver Island, from Campbell River to Victoria, is significantly populated. Much of

1764-593: Is the westernmost province of Canada . Situated in the Pacific Northwest between the Pacific Ocean and the Rocky Mountains , the province has a diverse geography, with rugged landscapes that include rocky coastlines, sandy beaches, forests, lakes, mountains, inland deserts and grassy plains. British Columbia borders the province of Alberta to the east; the territories of Yukon and Northwest Territories to

SECTION 20

#1732844491095

1848-537: The 2021 census recording 2.6   million people in Metro Vancouver . British Columbia is Canada's third-largest province in terms of total area, after Quebec and Ontario . The first known human inhabitants of the area settled in British Columbia at least 10,000 years ago. Such groups include the Coast Salish , Tsilhqotʼin , and Haida peoples, among many others. One of the earliest British settlements in

1932-548: The British Isles , many British Columbians also trace their ancestors to continental Europe , East Asia , and South Asia . Indigenous Canadians constitute about 6 percent of the province's total population. Christianity is the largest religion in the region, though the majority of the population is non-religious. English is the common language of the province, although Punjabi , Mandarin Chinese , and Cantonese also have

2016-991: The Chinook effect, which is also common (and much warmer) in more southerly parts of the Interior. During winter on the coast, rainfall , sometimes relentless heavy rain, dominates because of consistent barrages of cyclonic low-pressure systems from the North Pacific. Average snowfall on the coast during a normal winter is between 25 and 50 centimetres (10 and 20 in), but on occasion (and not every winter) heavy snowfalls with more than 20 centimetres (8 in) and well below freezing temperatures arrive when modified arctic air reaches coastal areas, typically for short periods, and can take temperatures below −10 °C (14 °F), even at sea level. Arctic outflow winds can occasionally result in wind chill temperatures at or even below −17.8 °C (0.0 °F). While winters are very wet, coastal areas are generally milder and dry during summer under

2100-609: The Columbia in the name Columbia Rediviva came from the name Columbia for the New World or parts thereof , a reference to Christopher Columbus . The governments of Canada and British Columbia recognize Colombie-Britannique as the French name for the province. British Columbia is bordered to the west by the Pacific Ocean and the American state of Alaska , to the north by Yukon and

2184-638: The Dakelh (Carrier) and the Tsilhqotʼin . The inlets and valleys of the British Columbia coast shelter large, distinctive populations, such as the Haida , Kwakwakaʼwakw and Nuu-chah-nulth , sustained by the region's abundant salmon and shellfish. These peoples developed complex cultures dependent on the western red cedar that included wooden houses, seagoing whaling and war canoes and elaborately carved potlatch items and totem poles . Contact with Europeans brought

2268-529: The Fraser Canyon , close to the confluence of the Fraser and Thompson rivers, where the terrain is rugged and covered with desert-type flora. Semi-desert grassland is found in large areas of the Interior Plateau , with land uses ranging from ranching at lower altitudes to forestry at higher ones. The northern, mostly mountainous, two-thirds of the province is largely unpopulated and undeveloped, except for

2352-460: The Inside Passage 's many inlets provide some of British Columbia's renowned and spectacular scenery, which forms the backdrop and context for a growing outdoor adventure and ecotourism industry. 75 percent of the province is mountainous (more than 1,000 m [3,300 ft] above sea level ); 60 percent is forested; and only about 5 percent is arable. The province's mainland away from

2436-520: The North Coast just south of Southeast Alaska . The exception to British Columbia's wet and cloudy winters is during the El Niño phase. During El Niño events, the jet stream is much farther south across North America, making the province's winters milder and drier than normal. Winters are much wetter and cooler during the opposite phase, La Niña . There are 14 designations of parks and protected areas in

2520-607: The North West Company and the Hudson's Bay Company (HBC), effectively established a permanent British presence in the region. The Columbia District was broadly defined as being south of 54°40 north latitude, (the southern limit of Russian America ), north of Mexican-controlled California, and west of the Rocky Mountains . It was, by the Anglo-American Convention of 1818 , under the "joint occupancy and use" of citizens of

2604-649: The Northwest Territories , to the east by the province of Alberta , and to the south by the American states of Washington , Idaho , and Montana . The southern border of British Columbia was established by the 1846 Oregon Treaty, although its history is tied with lands as far south as California . British Columbia's land area is 944,735 square kilometres (364,800 sq mi). British Columbia's rugged coastline stretches for more than 27,000 kilometres (17,000 mi), and includes deep, mountainous fjords and about 6,000 islands, most of which are uninhabited. It

Bridge River Rapids - Misplaced Pages Continue

2688-574: The Oroville–Osoyoos Border Crossing , is one of several wine and cider -producing regions in Canada. Other wine regions in British Columbia include the Cowichan Valley on Vancouver Island and the Fraser Valley . The Southern Interior cities of Kamloops and Penticton have some of the warmest and longest summer climates in Canada (while higher elevations are cold and snowy), although their temperatures are often exceeded north of

2772-608: The fur trade , rather than political considerations. In 1794, by the third of a series of agreements known as the Nootka Conventions , Spain conceded its claims of exclusivity in the Pacific. This opened the way for formal claims and colonization by other powers, including Britain, but because of the Napoleonic Wars , there was little British action on its claims in the region until later. The establishment of trading posts by

2856-549: The united colony's capital. In 1871, British Columbia entered Confederation as the sixth province of Canada, in enactment of the British Columbia Terms of Union . British Columbia is a diverse and cosmopolitan province, drawing on a plethora of cultural influences from its British Canadian , European , and Asian diasporas , as well as the Indigenous population . Though the province's ethnic majority originates from

2940-677: The "fountain" of combined waters during spring freshet which led to the location's frontier-era name of the Lower Fountain. (The Upper Fountain was a longer but equally difficult but not as narrow gauntlet of whitewater a few more miles upstream, below the community of Fountain, which was formerly known as the Upper Fountain; those rapids today are the Upper Fountain Rapids). The narrows in aboriginal legend were formed by Coyote leaping back and forth from bank to bank so as to make

3024-1101: The 14 biogeoclimatic zones of British Columbia . Common types of trees present in BC's forests include western redcedar , yellow-cedar , Rocky Mountain juniper , lodgepole pine , ponderosa or yellow pine , whitebark pine , limber pine , western white pine , western larch , tamarack , alpine larch , white spruce , Engelmann spruce , Sitka spruce , black spruce , grand fir , Amabilis fir , subalpine fir , western hemlock , mountain hemlock , Douglas-fir , western yew , Pacific dogwood , bigleaf maple , Douglas maple , vine maple , arbutus , black hawthorn , cascara , Garry oak , Pacific crab apple , choke cherry , pin cherry , bitter cherry , red alder , mountain alder , paper birch , water birch , black cottonwood , balsam poplar , trembling aspen . First Nations peoples of British Columbia used plants for food, and to produce material goods like fuel and building products. Plant foods included berries, and roots like camas . Environment Canada subdivides British Columbia into six ecozones : The area now known as British Columbia

3108-577: The 14 different designations that includes over 800 distinct areas. British Columbia contains seven of Canada's national parks and National Park Reserves: British Columbia contains a large number of provincial parks , run by BC Parks under the aegis of the Ministry of Environment. British Columbia's provincial parks system is the second largest parks system in Canada, the largest being Canada's National Parks system. Another tier of parks in British Columbia are regional parks , which are maintained and run by

3192-608: The 19th century, that an insult by the chief of the Lakes Lillooet to the chief of the Okanagan people , Pelkamulox, led to the death of the latter and an eventual war of revenge against the St'at'imc by his son, the famous Nicola in the late 1830s. During the Fraser Gold Rush the site was the location of a boomtown known as Bridge River . That name came from the toll-bridge built over

3276-550: The Coast in the wake of the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor . Its most notable resident during that period was Masajiro Miyazaki , an osteopath who was engaged by the provincial police in Lillooet to serve as coroner despite wartime restrictions, and stayed on as the town doctor for years after. Miyazaki was conferred an Order of Canada award for his service to that community. Following

3360-627: The Fraser River, a differential of only 140' but enough to generate 42,000 kilowatts. The canal, known as Seton Canal , is highly unusual in that it bridges both Seton and Cayoosh Creeks before being briefly tunneled through a low rock bluff to the Seton Powerhouse , which is right on the Fraser River just below the town of Lillooet. The British Columbia Electric Company , successor to the Bridge River Power Company on this project and

3444-630: The Fraser salmon runs, was abandoned, along with another at Glen Fraser and an even larger dam at Moran Canyon , which would have backed the Fraser up to Williams Lake and beyond. Today located on an Indian reserve under the administration of the Bridge River Indian Band (Xwisten First Nation, Xwisten being the name of the Bridge River in St'at'imcets), the site is shared by the area's various Indian bands, with certain families having long-standing rights to certain rock platforms and campsites, though few come from other First Nations people in

Bridge River Rapids - Misplaced Pages Continue

3528-654: The Interior during mid-summer, with the record high of 49.6 °C (121.3 °F) being held in Lytton on June 29, 2021, during a record-breaking heat wave that year . The extended summer dryness often creates conditions that spark forest fires, from dry-lightning or man-made causes. Many areas of the province are often covered by a blanket of heavy cloud and low fog during the winter months, in contrast to abundant summer sunshine. Annual sunshine hours vary from 2200 near Cranbrook and Victoria to less than 1300 in Prince Rupert , on

3612-536: The Pacific Ocean, inscribing a stone marking his accomplishment on the shoreline of Dean Channel near Bella Coola . His expedition theoretically established British sovereignty inland, and a succession of other fur company explorers charted the maze of rivers and mountain ranges between the Canadian Prairies and the Pacific. Mackenzie and other explorers—notably John Finlay , Simon Fraser , Samuel Black , and David Thompson —were primarily concerned with extending

3696-781: The United States and subjects of Britain (which is to say, the fur companies). This co-occupancy was ended with the Oregon Treaty of 1846. The major supply route was the York Factory Express between Hudson Bay and Fort Vancouver . Some of the early outposts grew into settlements, communities, and cities. Among the places in British Columbia that began as fur trading posts are Fort St. John (established 1794); Hudson's Hope (1805); Fort Nelson (1805); Fort St. James (1806); Prince George (1807); Kamloops (1812); Fort Langley (1827); Fort Victoria (1843); Yale (1848); and Nanaimo (1853). Fur company posts that became cities in what

3780-753: The area east of the Rockies , where the Peace River Country contains BC's portion of the Canadian Prairies , centred at the city of Dawson Creek . British Columbia is considered part of the Pacific Northwest and the Cascadia bioregion , along with the American states of Alaska, Idaho, (western) Montana, Oregon , Washington, and (northern) California . Because of the many mountain ranges and rugged coastline, British Columbia's climate varies dramatically across

3864-715: The area was Fort Victoria , established in 1843, which gave rise to the city of Victoria, the capital of the Colony of Vancouver Island . The Colony of British Columbia (1858–1866) was subsequently founded by Richard Clement Moody , and by the Royal Engineers, Columbia Detachment , in response to the Fraser Canyon Gold Rush . Moody selected the site for and founded the mainland colony's capital New Westminster . The colonies of Vancouver Island and British Columbia were incorporated in 1866, subsequent to which Victoria became

3948-527: The basins of the Bridge and Seton systems. This tunnel was completed in 1931, but work on the project was suspended due to the Great Depression and the Second World War . Construction of a powerhouse to utilize the diversion did not begin until 1946. A townsite, or employees village, was built in the 1920s adjacent to the construction site. It was developed as a model community, with a community hall,

4032-587: The blocking presence of successive mountain ranges, the climate of some of the interior valleys of the province (such as the Thompson, parts of the Fraser Canyon, the southern Cariboo and parts of the Okanagan) is semi-arid with certain locations receiving less than 250 millimetres (10 in) in annual precipitation. The annual mean temperature in the most populated areas of the province is up to 12 °C (54 °F),

4116-584: The coast in 1775. In doing so, Pérez and Quadra reasserted the Spanish claim for the Pacific coast , first made by Vasco Núñez de Balboa in 1513. The explorations of James Cook in 1778 and George Vancouver in 1792 and 1793 established British jurisdiction over the coastal area north and west of the Columbia River. In 1793, Sir Alexander Mackenzie was the first European to journey across North America overland to

4200-426: The coastal regions is somewhat moderated by the Pacific Ocean. Terrain ranges from dry inland forests and semi-arid valleys, to the range and canyon districts of the Central and Southern Interior , to boreal forest and subarctic prairie in the Northern Interior. High mountain regions both north and south have subalpine flora and subalpine climate . The Okanagan wine area , extending from Vernon to Osoyoos at

4284-408: The fate of their valley remain strong among their offspring. Much of Carpenter Lake today is mudflat when reservoir levels are low, and for many years it was a stark reminder of older environmental standards, with vast forests of dead trees sticking out of the frigid, milky-blue glacial waters. Some feel that the shift in temperature regimes in the two river basins affected local climate patterns, with

SECTION 50

#1732844491095

4368-438: The foot of Seton Lake colder than it already was. Unscheduled releases of water from Terzaghi Dam during spawning seasons in the 1990s caused a furor amongst local residents and First Nations, with a major investigation launched and Hydro now operating under strict rules for releasing water. The most immediate and visible environmental impact of the project, however, was the inundation of the upper Bridge River Valley. Formerly

4452-424: The gold-mining district's supply town of Gold Bridge , was built at Lajoie , 60 kilometres above the diversion dam . Construction of Lajoie Dam began in 1949 as a simple storage dam to regulate reservoir levels for the Bridge River plants, but in 1955 it was raised to its full height of 287 feet (87 m), creating Downton Lake, 534,300 acree-feet of water, elev. 2,460 feet (750 m). A one-generator powerhouse

4536-427: The influence of stable anti-cyclonic high pressure. Southern Interior valleys are hot in summer; for example, in Osoyoos , the July maximum temperature averages 31.7 °C (89.1 °F), making it the hottest month of any location in Canada; this hot weather sometimes spreads towards the coast or to the far north of the province. Temperatures often exceed 40 °C (104 °F) in the lower elevations of valleys in

4620-425: The islands of southern Alaska and northern British Columbia. The Na-Dene language group is believed to be linked to the Yeniseian languages of Siberia: the Dene of the western Arctic may represent a distinct wave of migration from Asia to North America. The Interior of British Columbia is home to the Salishan language groups such as the Shuswap (Secwepemc) , Okanagan and Athabaskan language groups, primarily

4704-423: The land should be owned by the colonists. To ensure colonists would be able to settle properly and make use of the land, First Nations were forcibly relocated onto reserves , which were often too small to support their way of life. By the 1930s, British Columbia had over 1500 reserves. Lands now known as British Columbia were added to the British Empire during the 19th century. Colonies originally begun with

4788-455: The main electrical utility in the province, was taken over and nationalized by the British Columbia government in 1961 and became the larger part of BC Hydro and Power Authority, a Crown Corporation . A full official assessment of this project's impact on the local and provincial environment has never been completed, and was not required at the time of its construction. Seton Lake, once pristine and renowned for its crystalline sky-blue colour,

4872-559: The main social structure from 10,000 to 5,000 years ago. The nomadic population lived in non-permanent structures foraging for nuts, berries and edible roots while hunting and trapping larger and small game for food and furs. Around 5,000 years ago individual groups started to focus on resources available to them locally. Coast Salish peoples had complex land management practices linked to ecosystem health and resilience. Forest gardens on Canada's northwest coast included crabapple, hazelnut, cranberry, wild plum, and wild cherry species. Thus with

4956-429: The mildest anywhere in Canada. The valleys of the Southern Interior have short winters with only brief bouts of cold or infrequent heavy snow, while those in the Cariboo , in the Central Interior , are colder because of increased altitude and latitude, but without the intensity or duration experienced at similar latitudes elsewhere in Canada. Outside of the driest valleys, the Southern and Central Interior generally have

5040-406: The moraine at the foot of Seton Lake to feed water from Cayoosh Creek into the lake near the diversion, so that the mix of waters coming out of Cayoosh Creek's confluence with the Fraser would confuse the fish and some of them would choose the creek instead, thereby finding the hatchery. This was of mixed success, and as far as many locals concerned only served to make the water at the public beach at

5124-410: The native population of what became British Columbia. The arrival of Europeans began around the mid-18th century, as fur traders entered the area to harvest sea otters . While it is thought Sir Francis Drake may have explored the British Columbian coast in 1579, it was Juan Pérez who completed the first documented voyage, which took place in 1774. Juan Francisco de la Bodega y Quadra explored

SECTION 60

#1732844491095

5208-421: The north; the U.S. states of Washington , Idaho and Montana to the south, and Alaska to the northwest. With an estimated population of over 5.6   million as of 2024, it is Canada's third-most populous province . The capital of British Columbia is Victoria , while the province's largest city is Vancouver . Vancouver and its suburbs together make up the third-largest metropolitan area in Canada , with

5292-406: The passage of time there is a pattern of increasing regional generalization with a more sedentary lifestyle . These indigenous populations evolved over the next 5,000 years across a large area into many groups with shared traditions and customs. To the northwest of the province are the peoples of the Na-Dene languages , which include the Athapaskan-speaking peoples and the Tlingit , who live on

5376-461: The project was first observed in 1912 by Geoffrey Downton, a land surveyor, visiting the goldfield towns in the area who noticed the short horizontal distance between the flow of the Bridge River, just above its impressive canyon, and the much-lower Seton Lake. It was fifteen years before this observation was put to task, and not until 1927 that a private company first bored a tunnel through Mission Ridge (also known as Mission Mountain), which separates

5460-401: The province that reflect the different administration and creation of these areas in a modern context. There are 141 ecological reserves, 35 provincial marine parks, 7 provincial heritage sites, 6 National Historic Sites of Canada , 4 national parks and 3 national park reserves. 12.5 percent of the province's area (114,000 km or 44,000 sq mi) is considered protected under one of

5544-458: The province's regional districts . The Ministry of Forests operates forest recreation sites. In addition to these areas, over 47,000 square kilometres (18,000 sq mi) of arable land are protected by the Agricultural Land Reserve . Much of the province is undeveloped, so populations of many mammalian species that have become rare in much of the United States still flourish in British Columbia. Watching animals of various sorts, including

5628-489: The province. Coastal southern British Columbia has a mild and rainy climate influenced by the North Pacific Current . Most of the region is classified as oceanic , though pockets of warm-summer Mediterranean climate also exist in the far-southern parts of the coast. Precipitation averages above 1,000 mm (39 in) in almost all of the coastal region, and Hucuktlis Lake on Vancouver Island receives an average of 6,903 mm (271.8 in) of rain annually. Due to

5712-414: The rest of the Interior anymore. Pole-built fishing platforms jut out over the narrows of the rapids, which form a small waterfall, especially during spring run-off, and fish-drying racks are scattered around the surrounding area (wind-dried salmon is a local specialty, the area being so subject to dry winds pouring down the canyon no smoking is required). A modern pictograph created by Saul Terry , showing

5796-411: The river at this point in 1859 to replace a native-built pole bridge. The town only lasted a few years, as an easier crossing to the Old Cariboo Road was Miller's Ferry , closer to today's Lillooet, at the site of a 1913-built suspension bridge. A 1950s era proposal to build a dam at Lillooet Canyon, just above the site of today's suspension bridge, which would have inundated the fishing spot and ended

5880-424: The southern Columbia Basin (within present day Washington and Oregon ). In 1846, the Oregon Treaty divided the territory along the 49th parallel to the Strait of Georgia , with the area south of this boundary (excluding Vancouver Island and the Gulf Islands ) transferred to sole American sovereignty. The Colony of Vancouver Island was created in 1849, with Victoria designated as the capital. New Caledonia, as

5964-404: The southern interior rivals some of the snowiest cities in Canada, and freezing rain and fog are sometimes present on such roads as well. This can result in hazardous driving conditions, as people are usually travelling between warmer areas such as Vancouver or Kamloops , and may be unaware that the conditions may be slippery and cold. Winters are generally severe in the Northern Interior which

6048-591: The support of the Hudson's Bay Company (Vancouver Island, the mainland) were amalgamated, then entered Confederation as British Columbia in 1871 as part of the Dominion of Canada. During the 1770s, smallpox killed at least 30 percent of the Pacific Northwest First Nations . This devastating epidemic was the first in a series; the 1862 Pacific Northwest smallpox epidemic killed about half to two-thirds of

6132-453: The tortuous Mission Mountain Road, which was also shared with industrial and passenger traffic to and from the busy mine towns. The only access to the railhead for that road, at Shalalth, was via the rail line itself from Lillooet and, to get there, via the old pre-Trans-Canada " Cariboo Highway " from Hope to Lytton that had not been upgraded much since it was built in the 1920s. The first generator

6216-415: The tunnels bored through Mission Mountain. Terzaghi Dam was immediately above the pass, just below the tunnel intakes and Mission Creek, which is the valley on the north side of the pass. It was often known as Mission Dam before being officially named Terzaghi Dam, after Karl Terzaghi , the "father of modern soil mechanics " who was the chief consultant. Another dam, Lajoie Dam , three kilometres above

6300-482: The upper valley now more moderate in climate and the Seton valley considerably cooler. Programs in the 1980s to engage prisoners and others in the removal of these trees were launched during low-water levels, and the lake today is largely safe for boating, and while stocked for fishing it is still inadvisable for swimming due to its icy-cold water. British Columbia British Columbia (commonly abbreviated as BC )

6384-438: The war, growing power requirements led to a fast-tracking of the project, which was the largest at the time and one of the most staggering ever undertaken because of the terrain and spectacular setting of the project. Materials for the diversion dams in the Bridge River and all equipment for the powerhouse to be built at Lajoie, near Gold Bridge, had to be trucked over the 3,500-foot (1,100 m) climb and dozens of switchbacks of

6468-548: The western part of Vancouver Island and the rest of the coast is covered by temperate rainforest . The province's most populous city is Vancouver, which is at the confluence of the Fraser River and Georgia Strait , in the mainland's southwest corner (an area often called the Lower Mainland ). By land area, Abbotsford is the largest city. Vanderhoof is near the geographic centre of the province. The Coast Mountains and

6552-467: Was being bored, and it would have four generators, officially opening in 1960 with a generating capacity of 248,000 kilowatts. Geoffrey Downton, the "discoverer" of the project, was invited to push the "start" button to fire up the No. 2 generators. The No. 1 Powerhouse is fed by four penstocks, the No. 2 Powerhouse by two much larger ones, which supply the water from Carpenter Lake, created by Terzaghi Dam , from

6636-657: Was chosen by Queen Victoria , when the Colony of British Columbia (1858–1866) , i.e., "the Mainland", became a British colony in 1858. It refers to the Columbia District , the British name for the territory drained by the Columbia River , in southeastern British Columbia, which was the namesake of the pre- Oregon Treaty Columbia Department of the Hudson's Bay Company . Queen Victoria chose British Columbia to distinguish what

6720-530: Was completed in 1957 with a capacity of 22,000 kilowatts, much of that destined to feed the power demands of the Bralorne and Pioneer Mines and their associated towns, only ten miles away, as well as other residents and towns elsewhere in the upper Bridge River valley. Terzaghi Dam, lower in crest than Lajoie Dam at 180 feet (55 m) but also the most important structure in the project, was completed in 1960, creating Carpenter Lake . It replaced an earlier structure,

6804-429: Was installed at what would become Bridge River Powerhouse No. 1 in 1948, with three more generators added by 1954, giving the plant a total output of 180,000 kilowatts - easily the largest in the province at that time. A second tunnel, with two large penstocks, was built to supply a second powerhouse on the far side of the townsite. Work on this powerhouse (called No. 2) was carried out while the tunnel that would supply it

6888-833: Was organized into the New Caledonia district, administered from Fort St. James. The interior south of the Thompson River watershed and north of the Columbia was organized into the Columbia District, administered from Fort Vancouver on the lower Columbia River. The northeast corner of the province east of the Rockies, known as the Peace River Block, was attached to the much larger Athabasca District , headquartered in Fort Chipewyan , in present-day Alberta. Until 1849, these districts were

6972-520: Was the British sector of the Columbia District from the United States' ("American Columbia" or "Southern Columbia"), which became the Oregon Territory on August 8, 1848, as a result of the treaty. Ultimately, the Columbia in the name British Columbia is derived from the name of the Columbia Rediviva , an American ship which lent its name to the Columbia River and later the wider region;

7056-423: Was turned cold and opaque by the diverted waters of the Bridge River, which are glacial and milky-green in colour. Damage to the fishery on both river systems involved was incalculable. Although a fish ladder was built at the Seton diversion, it is generally conceded that the project virtually wiped out the entire Bridge River salmon runs, once one of the river's largest and most important and, in so doing, caused

#94905