The Interior Mountains or Northern Interior Mountains are the semi-official names for an expansive collection of mountain ranges that comprises much of the northern half of the Canadian province of British Columbia and a large area of southern Yukon .
7-994: There are four main groupings, the Skeena , Cassiar and Omineca Mountains to the north of the Interior Plateau between the Coast Mountains to the west and the Rocky Mountains to the east, and the Hazelton Mountains along the Interior Plateau's northwestern flank against the Coast Mountains, extending from the Bulkley Ranges south to the Bella Coola River . Included within the Interior Mountains system
14-582: A chapter heading describing the mountain system in question, is not present in the Geographical Names Database despite being a chapter heading and appearing on Holland's map of the province's landform systems. He suggests, also, the term "Northern Interior Mountains", partly because the mountain system is in a region also known as the Northern Interior , but also to potentially distinguish this mountain system from mountain ranges farther south in
21-695: Is the Stikine Plateau , which contains a number of sub-plateaus and various mountain ranges and is located west of the Cassiars, north of the Skeenas, and to the east of the Boundary Ranges of the Coast Mountains. Most of the thousands of summits in the Interior Mountains are unnamed, and they are mostly uninhabited and undeveloped. The terms Interior Mountains and Northern Interior Mountains were coined by British Columbia government geographer Stuart Holland in
28-569: The course of writing his Landforms of British Columbia , which is a definitive volume on the province's topography and toponymy written in 1964. This work is used as the basis for official toponymies such as those in the provincial gazette and the British Columbia Geographic Names Information System Database (BCGNIS), which is the official registry of the province's geographic names. The term Interior Mountains, used by Holland throughout his work and as
35-493: The province's Interior, including those of the Interior Plateau . In his exegesis, he decided on "Interior Mountains" for reasons of brevity. Major mountain ranges and plateaus that are considered part of the Interior Mountains are included. Skeena Mountains The Skeena Mountains , also known as the Skeenas , are a subrange of the Interior Mountains of northern British Columbia , Canada , essentially flanking
42-752: The upper basin of the Skeena River . They lie just inland from the southern end of the Boundary Ranges of the Coast Mountains , and also of the northern end of the Kitimat Ranges (another subrange of the Coast Mountains). Their southern limit is described by the Bulkley River (a major tributary of the Skeena; its valley and that of the lower Skeena River are used by BC Highway 16) and the upper northwestern reaches of Babine and Takla Lakes, and on their northeast by
49-763: The upper reaches of the Omineca River . To the north the Skeenas abut the southern Tahltan Highland and Klastline Plateau , part of the southern reaches of the Stikine Plateau and the Spatsizi Plateau , another subplateau of the Stikine Plateau, which includes the uppermost part of the course of the Stikine River. To the northwest, across the narrow confines of the Spatsizi Plateau, are the Stikine Ranges of
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