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81-739: During the Omineca Gold Rush , steamboat services ran from the sea to Hazelton , which was the jumping-off point for the trails to the goldfields. The Hudson's Bay Company established a major trading post on the Skeena at what became called Port Simpson, British Columbia ( Lax Kw'alaams ), where nine tribes of the Tsimshian nation settled about 1834. Other tribes live elsewhere in BC, and descendants of one group in Metlakatla, Alaska . The Skeena originates south of

162-504: A dog team . His first round trip took him six weeks: he left Quesnel on January 31, arrived at Vital Creek and returned to Quesnel on March 16 with part of his hands and face frozen. Nevertheless, he continued this service throughout the spring and summer of 1870, handling the Omineca mail for Wells Fargo and Barnard's Express . Each letter sent to or from the goldfields cost the sender a whopping $ 2.50. Lamont noted 250 new miners coming to

243-588: A group of more than twenty prospectors. In later years, some of these men would make major gold discoveries in the region, notably, Ezra Evans and Peter Toy . Along the Finlay River they discovered gold at a bar four miles from Finlay's Forks and named it Toy's Bar after Peter Toy. The bar would yield four ounces a day for each man. Another group of men on the Parsnip River , discovered 60 ounces of gold. Reports of these successes spread and in 1863, 150 men were in

324-526: A letter and parcel express service between the Omineca diggings and Quesnel. Two other mining parties were organized, one under "Twelve-foot" Davis and another led by Duncan McMartin . Sylvester's party returned in December to record that they had staked 56 claims and they reported that the original miners at Vital Creek had been incorrect and the discovery was richer than everyone had been led to believe. Upon hearing this news, many more miners decided to go north to

405-454: A mean annual discharge of 1,760 cubic metres per second (62,000 cu ft/s). The Skeena River originates at the southern end of Spatsizi Plateau , in a valley between Mount Gunanoot and Mount Thule, south of the Stikine River watershed. The abandoned track of BC Rail 's Dease Lake Extension runs along the river in its upper course. It flows south-east, between the shallow peaks of

486-509: A music hall, theatre, recreation center and a bakery. In the spring of 1873 Gold Commissioner WH Fitzgerald died of a seizure at his cabin in Dunkeld. By then rush was mostly over, even though there were still some claims that were doing well and Lost Creek was still yielding gold at the rate of 90 to 200 ounces a week. By the fall of that year, the news of the strike in the Cassiar district had reached

567-664: A navigable stream". His trip down the river convinced him that Fort Langley could not replace Fort Vancouver as the company's main depot on the Pacific coast. 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. It

648-505: A pound for baggage. By June 1870, 400 men were in the Vital Creek area. A man named Gillis had built a saloon to serve the population and "Twelve-foot" Davis built a bakery and a coffee house. Despite these new amenities, many of the miners were disillusioned by the lack of new discoveries and left the area. The price of supplies dropped dramatically, which had a negative effect, as pack trains and boats no longer wanted to bring supplies into

729-650: A regional position within the Canadian Heraldic Authority is named after the river. The Fraser River is known for the fishing of white sturgeon , all five species of Pacific salmon ( chinook , coho , chum , pink , sockeye ), as well as steelhead trout . The Fraser River is also the largest producer of salmon in Canada. A typical white sturgeon catch can average about 500 pounds (230 kg). A white sturgeon weighing an estimated 500 kilograms (1,100 lb) and measuring 3.76 metres (12 ft 4 in)

810-689: A short dam lifespan, but mostly because of strong opposition from fisheries and other environmental concerns. In 1858, the Fraser River and surrounding areas were occupied when the gold rush came to the Fraser Canyon and the Fraser River. It is also a popular fishing location for residents of the Lower Mainland. The delta of the river, especially in the Boundary Bay area, is an important stopover location for migrating shorebirds . The Fraser Herald ,

891-442: A significant spring freshet , primarily impacting regions around Prince George , Kamloops , Hope and Surrey . 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. Low-lying land in areas upriver such as Prince George suffered minor flooding. Evacuation alerts were given for

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972-480: A week was being taken from Germansen Creek alone. Again, these numbers may have been much higher, and very little was ever recorded on the Chinese miners, where they worked, or how they fared in their mining endeavours. 250 miners stayed in the region over the winter of 1871–72 and constructed cabins at Howellton. A music hall was built at Dunkeld and another town was built at Manson's Creek, Manson's Town, which featured

1053-453: A wide variety of fish and wildlife. The British Columbia Ministry of the Environment, through BC Parks, has designated a number of Ecological Reserves along the course of the river. The Skeena is well known for its sport fishing , most notably salmon . The Skeena is also very important to the commercial fishing industry. For example, numbering 5 million spawning salmon a year, the Skeena

1134-622: Is also home to many black bears and brown bears . Grizzly bears are less common in the area but the Khutzeymateen Grizzly Bear Sanctuary is located nearby. The Skeena River watershed is the ancient homeland of the Tsimshian , Gitxsan , and Wet'suwet'en people. During the 1862 Pacific Northwest smallpox epidemic thousands of indigenous people were evicted from large semi-permanent camps near Victoria and forced to return to their homelands, spreading smallpox throughout

1215-686: Is joined by the Bridge and Seton Rivers at the town of Lillooet , then by the Thompson River at Lytton , where it proceeds south until it is approximately 64 kilometres (40 mi) north of the 49th parallel , which is Canada's border with the United States . From Lytton southwards it runs through a progressively deeper canyon between the Lillooet Ranges of the Coast Mountains on its west and

1296-459: Is named Queensborough and is part of the City of New Westminster. Also in the lowermost Fraser, among other smaller islands, is Annacis Island , an important industrial and port area, which lies to the southeast of the eastern end of Lulu Island. Other notable islands in the lower Fraser are Barnston Island , Matsqui Island , Nicomen Island and Sea Bird Island . Other islands lie on the outer side of

1377-595: Is part of the Fraser Lowland and was formed also by sediment deposited from the Fraser, though most of the county is not in the Fraser drainage basin. Similar to the Columbia River Gorge east of Portland, Oregon , the Fraser exploits a topographic cleft between two mountain ranges separating a more continental climate (in this case, that of the British Columbia Interior ) from a milder climate near

1458-611: Is second only to the Fraser River in Canada in its capacity to produce sockeye salmon . However, in the last 40 years there has been a decrease in some of the fish species, leading to strict fishing regulations for the commercial fishery. The following types of Pacific salmon can be found in the Skeena: Other anadromous species: The rare Kermode bear lives in and near the Skeena Valley from Prince Rupert to Hazelton. The region

1539-599: Is to develop and implement a strategy for long-term stewardship of forest carbon in the Skeena watershed. Omineca Gold Rush The Omineca Gold Rush was a gold rush in British Columbia , Canada , in the Omineca region of the Northern Interior of the province. Gold was first discovered there in 1861, but the rush did not begin until late in 1869 with the discovery at Vital Creek . There were several routes to

1620-464: The Cascade Range on its east. Hell's Gate , located immediately downstream of the town of Boston Bar , is a famous portion of the canyon where the walls narrow dramatically, forcing the entire volume of the river through a gap only 35 metres (115 feet) wide. An aerial tramway takes visitors out over the river. Hells Gate is visible from Trans-Canada Highway 1 about 2 km (1.2 mi) south of

1701-512: The Finlay River to the Omineca River . The first recorded gold discovery in the Omineca district was made by William Cust and Edward Carey in the summer of 1861. The two men had traveled up from Alexandria that spring and returned in the fall with 60 ounces of gold between them. Despite such a small return for a summer filled with labor and hardship, they returned the following year with

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1782-557: The Hudson's Bay Company 's main Pacific depot. Simpson had believed the Fraser River might be navigable throughout its length, even though Simon Fraser had described it as non-navigable. Simpson journeyed down the river and through the Fraser Canyon and afterwards wrote "I should consider the passage down, to be certain Death, in nine attempts out of Ten. I shall therefore no longer talk about it as

1863-859: The Kitselas Canyon , and then through the Kleanza Creek Provincial Park . It then flows south-west through the city of Terrace , where the river widens. It continues westwards, followed by the Highway 16 and Canadian National Railway line, passes near the Exchamsiks River Provincial Park , then flows into the Dixon Entrance at Eleanor Passage, between Port Edward and Port Essington , facing De Horsey Island. Partial listing from Fisheries and Oceans Canada Upper Skeena Middle Skeena Lower Skeena The Skeena supports

1944-579: The Lower Mainland ( Fraser Valley and Metro Vancouver ) occurred in 1894. With no protection against the rising waters of the Fraser River, Fraser Valley and Metro Vancouver communities from Chilliwack downstream were inundated with water. In the 1894 floods, the water mark at Mission reached 7.85 metres (25.75 ft). After the 1894 flood, a dyking system was constructed throughout the Fraser Valley. The dyking and drainage projects greatly improved

2025-526: The Mount Robson Provincial Park , to Steveston in Vancouver at the river mouth. With an average flow at the mouth of about 3,475 cubic metres per second (122,700 cu ft/s), the Fraser is the largest river by discharge flowing into the Pacific seaboard of Canada and the fifth largest in the country. The average flow is highly seasonal; summer discharge rates can be ten times larger than

2106-534: The Peace , Smoky and Nation Rivers. McDame had made a discovery in the Cassiar district and McDame's Creek was named in his honor. Throughout 1864–1868, very little activity is recorded in the Omineca district, although many of these prospectors returned regularly and worked at Toy's Bar and other known areas where they knew they would find enough gold to be able to fund their other prospecting ventures. In 1868, four of

2187-720: The Rocky Mountain Trench and the Robson Valley near Valemount . After running northwest past 54° north, it makes a sharp turn to the south at Giscome Portage , meeting the Nechako River at the city of Prince George , then continues south, progressively cutting deeper into the Fraser Plateau to form the Fraser Canyon from roughly the confluence of the Chilcotin River , near the city of Williams Lake , southwards. It

2268-612: The San Juan Islands , gaining strength over the open water of the Strait of Juan de Fuca . The estuary at the river's mouth is a site of hemispheric importance in the Western Hemisphere Shorebird Reserve Network . The Water Survey of Canada currently operates 17 gauge stations that measure discharge and water level along the majority of the mainstem from Red Pass just downstream of Moose Lake in

2349-608: The Skeena Mountains , through the McEvoy and Jackson flats. It continues in this direction until it passes the Slamgeesh Range, then flows westwards to Fourth Cabin , when it turns south through a shallow canyon below Poison Mountain. After Kuldo it takes an eastward turn, then flows south again below Cutoff Mountain and Mount Pope. It continues through rolling hills to the community of Kispiox and then Hazelton , where it receives

2430-616: The Southern Tsimshian , 23% for the Coast Tsimshian , 37% among the Nisga'a , and about 22% among the Gitxsan . The Hudson's Bay Company 's local headquarters were at Port Simpson , although Port Essington was also used extensively as a port for its sternwheelers. While canoes played a crucial role on the Skeena for centuries, the age of the steamboat heralded a new era of boating on

2511-614: The Spatsizi Plateau Wilderness Provincial Park in north western British Columbia , forming a divide with the Klappan River , a tributary of the Stikine River . It flows for 570 km (350 mi) before it empties into Chatham Sound , Telegraph Passage and Ogden Channel , east of the Dixon Entrance , all part of the Pacific Ocean . The Skeena drains 54,400 km (21,000 sq mi) of land with

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2592-514: The Strait of Georgia just south of the City of Vancouver . The river's annual discharge at its mouth is 112 cubic kilometres (27 cu mi) or 3,550 cubic metres per second (125,000 cu ft/s), and each year it discharges about 20 million tons of sediment into the ocean. The river is named after Simon Fraser , who led an expedition in 1808 on behalf of the North West Company from

2673-500: The 21st century, mining is still being practiced in the Omineca, although all of the old gold rush towns are long gone, with the exception of Manson Creek, which still exists today. Fraser River The Fraser River ( / ˈ f r eɪ z ər / ) is the longest river within British Columbia , Canada, rising at Fraser Pass near Blackrock Mountain in the Rocky Mountains and flowing for 1,375 kilometres (854 mi), into

2754-558: The Fort St. James trading post. On October 29 the Peace River Prospecting Party and Ezra Evans' group left to return to Vital Creek, but they would not be alone for long. Gold rush fever had swept Quesnel and letters had been sent to nearby Barkerville urging friends and family to drop everything and head for Omineca. Among these newcomers was Rufus Sylvester , who would not only mine in the Omineca district but would also run

2835-577: The North Arm, which is the southern boundary of the City of Vancouver , and the South Arm, which divides the City of Richmond from the City of Delta to the south. Richmond is on the largest island in the Fraser, Lulu Island and also on Sea Island , which is the location of Vancouver International Airport , where the Middle Arm branches off to the south from the North Arm. The far eastern end of Lulu Island

2916-502: The Omineca River. To Germansen, this unknown creek, "seemed right", but his party was eager to get to Pete Toy's strike, so Germansen had to continue along with them. However, when they arrived at Pete Toy's strike they encountered little success and returned to Vital Creek. But Germansen had not forgotten the little unnamed creek and he returned there with Duncan McMartin, James May and "Blackjack" Smith. Germansen's instincts had been on

2997-462: The Omineca and many men left for these new, "greener pastures". Among those to go to Cassiar were Vital Laforce, Rufus Sylvester, "Blackjack" Smith and Henry McDame. James Germansen remained in the Omineca, while David Humphrey died from ingesting poisonous mushrooms . 80 miners were in the district in 1874 and the total reported gold they mined was 5000 ounces. In the Cassiar, 14,000 men produced 68,750 ounces. Therefore, if those estimates are correct,

3078-525: The Omineca area the following year. A group of miners was organized and after a concerted effort they raised more than $ 1000 from Quesnel farmers and businessmen and then the Colonial government gave the miners another $ 1000. The group of prospectors would be called the Peace River Prospecting Party. Strangely, the party was made up of only one of the original discoverers of Silver Creek, William Humphrey. The omission of Evans, Davis and Gaylord would be an error that

3159-514: The Omineca diggings and the rush was officially on. In January 1870, the Omineca region suffered very heavy snowfalls and extreme cold temperatures, and surface mining could not be performed. Shaft mining was attempted at various locations by Rufus Sylvester and Duncan McMartin, but both recovered insufficient gold and the shafts were abandoned. That January RJ Lamont started the Omineca Express and delivered mail from Omineca to Quesnel using

3240-979: The Pacific Northwest coast. Groups of Tsimshian thus brought smallpox from Victoria to the Fort Simpson area, whence it spread widely starting in June 1862. Through the summer indigenous people arrived regularly at the fort to trade, contributing to the spread of smallpox throughout the Northern Coast, up the Skeena River and the Nass River into the British Columbia interior, devastating the Wetʼsuwetʼen and other interior First Nations. All Tsimshianic peoples suffered high death rates from smallpox in 1862–63: About 67% among

3321-661: The Skeena. The first steam-powered vessel to enter the Skeena was the Union in 1864. In 1866 the Mumford attempted to ascend the river but was only able to reach the Kitsumkalum River . It was not until 1891 that the Hudson's Bay Company sternwheeler the Caledonia successfully negotiated through the Kitselas Canyon and reached Hazelton. A number of other steamers were built around the turn of

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3402-399: The area if they were going to make little or no profit on the venture. The miners who stayed at Vital Creek soon heard of a new strike made by Pete Toy off the Omineca River. One of the parties who decided to go to those new diggings was led by an American by the name of James Germansen . While he and his group were going to the new diggings, Germansen found an undiscovered creek coming off

3483-460: The area in the summer of 1871, a man named Elmore who was stationed at Omineca City. Elmore made a small fortune selling supplies to the miners. Food prices were very high and some items, like picks and shovels were not available at any price. Because of this high cost of living and the difficulty in procuring the necessary supplies, many miners left the area. Of those who stayed it is reported that some did very well. One report claimed that 500 ounces

3564-517: The area, Peter Cargotitch , and built a saloon at Omineca City and hired a group of entertainers called the McGinley Troupe to perform for his customers. At Germansen Creek, many good claims were being worked up and down both sides of the creek. One group of five men recovered 390 ounces in 13 days, while Duncan McMartin and his crew averaged 10 ounces a day and James Germansen and "Twelve-foot" Davis mined 20 to 120 ounces per week. Two sawmills were constructed, and sluice boxes were built by nearly all of

3645-469: The area, among them, James May and the famous "Twelve-foot" Davis who had once made a small fortune by staking out a twelve-foot section of ground between two rich claims. However, most of these newcomers were unsuccessful and, to make matters worse, supplies were scarce. Many prospectors had to leave the diggings and return to their homes in defeat. Two that stayed on and prospected at Toy's Bar were John Giscome and Henry McDame , both of whom had worked on

3726-464: The century, in part due to the growing fish industry and the gold rush . In 2007 SkeenaWild Conservation Trust was formed to promote projects and initiatives by conservationists, First Nations in Canada , and local communities to protect the natural sustainability of the Skeena watershed and its wild salmon ecosystems. The organization has a large payroll and is dependant on convincing the public that salmon are in crisis. One of SkeenaWild's main goals

3807-462: The coast. When an Arctic high-pressure area moves into the British Columbia Interior and a relatively low-pressure area builds over the general Puget Sound and Strait of Georgia region, the cold Arctic air accelerates southwest through the Fraser Canyon . These outflow winds can gust up to 97 to 129 kilometres per hour (60 to 80 mph) and have at times exceeded 160 kilometres per hour (100 mph). Such winds frequently reach Bellingham and

3888-437: The creek was named Vital Creek and the nearby mountains were named Vital Mountains . The party received unexpected company near the end of June with the arrival of two of Silver Creek's original discoverers, Ezra Evans and Gaylord. Now the party had a problem, they had promised that they would simply explore and prospect, not actually work claims. Evans and Gaylord were not bound by any such commitment and they moved upriver from

3969-483: The direction of the newly installed Gold Commissioner , WH Fitzgerald . Road builder Gustavus Blin-Wright proposed the construction of a road over the ten mile stretch of land at Giscome Portage, and appealed to the government for the funds to do so. Wright also suggested that a cattle trail be built from Fort McLeod . Later, in the spring of 1871, Captain William Meade would bring in a pack train from Hazelton, and he would make many improvements on that trail. Despite

4050-506: The discovery at Manson's Creek in July 1871, more large strikes were made on nearby creeks. Among these were Blackjack Creek, Kildare Creek, Mosquito Creek, Slate Creek and Nugget Gulch. One of this richest creeks was found by accident by James Carson, H. Guest and J Griffith, who had gotten lost while looking for Manson's Creek and literally stumbled across it, thus they called it Lost Creek . The very first panful taken from Lost Creek yielded 3/4 of an ounce of gold. With all these new strikes in

4131-443: The district that spring, and of that number he estimated that 60% of them were white, while the remaining 40% were experienced Chinese miners from the Cariboo region. The Quesnel Colonist reported that 350 men had passed through town on their way to the Omineca diggings. Still others arrived on Captain William Moore's barge , which had left Quesnel at the end of April. A road was built from Takla Landing to Fall River under

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4212-420: The district, new towns sprang up practically overnight: Manson's Creek, Howellton and Dunkeld . The residence of the Gold Commissioner's would be built at Dunkeld. There would be three Gold Commissioners for the Omineca district in the 1870s and they were, Peter O'Reilly , WH Fitzgerald and D. Ballentyne , who would also act as Stipendary Magistrates . Despite the building boom, there was only one trader in

4293-408: The estuary, most notably Westham Island , a wildfowl preserve, and Iona Island , the location of the main sewage plant for the City of Vancouver. After 100 kilometres (about 60 mi), the Fraser 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

4374-407: The exception of Patrick Kelly and Vital LaForce, who stayed at Fort St. James, the other miners all returned to Quesnel with the news that the venture had only been marginally successful. However, suspicions were raised when the men announced they were returning to Vital Creek for the winter and even more eyebrows were raised when it was discovered that LaForce and Kelly had spent an astounding $ 2500 at

4455-429: The fact that these roads were built and improved during the rush years, the trip was still perilous and very costly. Steamer fare on the Fraser River on the Enterprise or the Victoria was $ 25 and 12.5 cents a pound was added for baggage. Smaller boats near the gold fields charged $ 7 for the ride and 7 cents a pound for baggage. At Takla Landing, yet more money was required, as that was a road toll that charged 18 cents

4536-413: The first Europeans to find and enter it. The existence of the river, but not its location, had been deduced during the 1791 voyage of José María Narváez , under Francisco de Eliza . The upper reaches of the Fraser River were first explored by Sir Alexander Mackenzie in 1793, and fully traced by Simon Fraser in 1808, who confirmed that it was not connected with the Columbia River . The lower Fraser

4617-460: The flat flood plain . The islands of the delta include Iona Island, Sea Island, Lulu Island, Annacis Island, and a number of smaller islands. While the vast majority of the river's drainage basin lies within British Columbia, a small portion in the drainage basin lies across the international border in Washington in the United States, namely the upper reaches of the tributary Chilliwack and Sumas rivers. Most of lowland Whatcom County, Washington

4698-464: The flood problems, but over time, the dykes were allowed to fall into disrepair and became overgrown with brush and trees. With some dykes constructed of a wooden frame, they gave way in 1948 in several locations, marking the second disastrous flood. Flooding since 1948 has been minor in comparison. 1948 saw massive flooding in Chilliwack and other areas along the Fraser River. The high-water mark at Mission rose to 7.5 metres (24.7 ft). The peak flow

4779-443: The flow during the winter. The Fraser's highest recorded flow, in June 1894, is estimated to have been 17,000 cubic metres per second (600,000 cu ft/s) at Hope . It was calculated using high-water marks near the hydrometric station at Hope and various statistical methods. In 1948 the Fraser River Board adopted the estimate for the 1894 flood. It remains the value specified by regulatory agencies for all flood control work on

4860-415: The goldfields: two were from Fort St. James , one of which was a water route through the Stuart and Tachie Rivers to Trembleur Lake to Takla Lake and the other was overland, called the Baldy Mountain route. A third route came in overland from Hazelton on the Skeena River and a fourth route used the Fraser River and crossed over the Giscome Portage to Summit Lake , through McLeod Lake , and up

4941-470: The group's organizers would regret. The rest of the group was Vital Laforce and Mike Byrnes , both of whom had been scouts for the Overland Telegraph Company , along with Patrick Kelly , James Hawkins and Allen Hawkins . The arrangements for the trip were made by a committee of three well-known men, storekeeper Peter Dunlevy who owned stores at Soda Creek and Fort George , Edgar Dewdney and pioneer road builder Gustavus Blin-Wright who also owned

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5022-481: The local paddle steamers , Enterprise and Victoria . The Peace River Prospecting Party set out from Quesnel on May 3, 1869, having been supplied with a large boat, the necessary tools and a year's supply of food. The party followed the water route via the Fraser, Nechako and Stuart Rivers and up through Stuart, Trembleur and Takla Lake. When they arrived at Silver Creek, Vital Laforce discovered gold on one of its tributaries on June 21. In honor of this discovery

5103-476: The miners to aid in easier and faster gold retrieval. However, by June 1871, many of the miners at Germansen Creek were having little luck and they struck out to find new areas to prospect. On July 5, a man named Robert Howell made a discovery on Manson Creek , a small creek that was either named after Shetland Islander , William Manson . or Donald Manson of the Hudson's Bay Company . Robert Howell panned more than 20 ounces of gold in two hours. Manson's Creek

5184-458: The miners, Ezra Evans "Twelve-foot" Davis, William Humphrey and Gaylord went from Fort St. James up to Takla Landing via the Stuart, Trembleur and Takla Lakes. Along the way they discovered what they initially believed was silver but was actually arquerite, an amalgam of native silver and mercury . They named the creek where they made this discovery Silver Creek . The four miners went back to Quesnel that fall and appealed for funds to explore

5265-403: The money. Each man in the party could easily pan half an ounce to two ounces a day from Germansen Creek . The four men returned to Vital Creek in September with the good news and the migration from Vital Creek to Germansen Creek began. Rufus Sylvester constructed sluice boxes and his group's yield was often ten ounces of gold per day for each man. 4400 ounces of gold were reported in 1870, but

5346-447: The ones who remained, fared better at 62.5 ounces per man, than the ones who left and made only 49.1 ounces per man. Placer mining continued on a small scale in the Omineca for many years and then, in the 1890s large companies from Victoria and Ottawa came to the district and began hydraulic mining which continued well into the 1900s. The amount of activity fluctuated with gold prices, mining restrictions and economic conditions. In

5427-423: The party and commenced mining. In retaliation the party stayed at Vital Creek and mined until freeze up. One thing the two groups did agree on was that they wanted to discourage any more miners from coming up the following year. Though obliged to report their earnings, they all intended to report that the diggings were not very good and that more should be known of the country before any discoveries were reported. With

5508-437: The poorly maintained dyke systems failed to contain the water. At the height of the 1948 flood, 200 square kilometres (50,000 acres) stood under water. Dykes broke at Agassiz, Chiliwack, Nicomen Island, Glen Valley and Matsqui. When the flood waters receded a month later, 16,000 people had been evacuated, with damages totaling $ 20 million, about $ 225 million in 2020 dollars. Major flooding occurred once again in 1972 due to

5589-460: The real total may have been much higher as many of the miners were reluctant to reveal the true amount of gold taken from their claims. During the winter of 1870–71, Rufus Sylvester carried mails and gold between the Omineca district and Quesnel using a dog team. During this period a new settlement had been built at Germansen. Initially it was simply called Germansen, but it would later be called Omineca City . Another gold rush entrepreneur arrived in

5670-476: The river was designated as a Canadian Heritage River for its natural and human heritage. It remains the longest river with that designation. 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 partly because its high level of sediment flows would result in

5751-411: The river, not dissimilar to the Dakelh name, is ʔElhdaqox , meaning Sturgeon ( ʔElhda-chugh ) River ( Yeqox ) . The Fraser drains a 220,000-square-kilometre (85,000 sq mi) area. Its source is a dripping spring at Fraser Pass in the Canadian Rocky Mountains near the border with Alberta . The river then flows north to the Yellowhead Highway and west past Mount Robson to

5832-454: The river. Further studies and hydraulic models have estimated the maximum discharge of the Fraser River, at Hope during the 1894 flood, as within a range of about 16,000 to 18,000 cubic metres per second (570,000 to 640,000 cu ft/s). On June 14, 1792, the Spanish explorers Dionisio Alcalá Galiano and Cayetano Valdés entered and anchored in the North Arm of the Fraser River, becoming

5913-569: The site of present-day Prince George almost to the mouth of the river. The river's name in the Halqemeylem (Upriver Halkomelem) language is Sto:lo , often seen archaically as Staulo , and has been adopted by the Halkomelem-speaking peoples of the Lower Mainland as their collective name, Sto:lo . The river's name in the Dakelh language is Lhtakoh . The Tsilhqot'in name for

5994-760: The tramway. Simon Fraser was forced to portage the gorge on his trip through the canyon in June 1808. At Yale , at the head of navigation on the river, the canyon opens up and the river widens, though without much adjoining lowland until Hope , where the river then turns west and southwest into the Fraser Valley , a lush lowland valley, and runs past Chilliwack and the confluence of the Harrison and Sumas Rivers , bending northwest at Abbotsford and Mission . The Fraser then flows past Maple Ridge , Pitt Meadows , Port Coquitlam , and north Surrey . It turns southwest again just east of New Westminster , where it splits into

6075-611: The waters of Morice- Bulkley River , and turns south-west. The Yellowhead Highway and a Canadian National Railway track follow the course of the Skeena on this section. At Kitwanga , the river is crossed by Highway 37 , and then turns south around the Seven Sisters Peaks and Bulkley Ranges, through the Skeena Provincial Forest, then between the Nass Ranges and Borden Glacier, past the ferry crossing at Usk , through

6156-454: Was about 15,600 cubic meters per second. Cool temperatures in March, April, and early May had delayed the melting of the heavy snowpack that had accumulated over the winter season. Several days of hot weather and warm rains over the holiday weekend in late May hastened the thawing of the snowpack. Rivers and streams quickly swelled with spring runoff, reaching heights surpassed only in 1894. Finally,

6237-468: Was caught and released on the Fraser River in July 2012. In 2021, a white sturgeon was caught on the river weighing 890 pounds (400 kg), with a length of 352 cm (11.55 ft). It was estimated to be over 100 years old. The fish was tagged and released. The most significant Fraser river floods in recorded history occurred in 1894 and 1948. After European settlement, the first disastrous flood in

6318-461: Was only eight miles from Germansen Landing and when the news of Howell's strike was made, men rushed to this new site and staked their claims. Whether it was named after him or not, William Manson would do very well at Manson Creek, and would return to the Shetland Islands, becoming a prominent businessman there and employing hundreds of his countrymen in mills he built for wool processing. After

6399-632: Was revisited in 1824 when the Hudson's Bay Company sent a crew across Puget Sound from its Fort George southern post on the Columbia River . The expedition was led by James McMillan . The Fraser was reached via the Nicomekl River and the Salmon River reachable after a portage. Friendly tribes met earlier on by the Simon Fraser crew were reacquainted with. A trading post with agricultural potential

6480-486: Was the site of its first recorded settlements of Aboriginal people ( see Musqueam , Sto:lo , St'at'imc , Secwepemc and Nlaka'pamŭ ), the site of the first European-Indigenous mixed ancestry settlement in southern British-Columbia ( see Fort Langley ), the route of multitudes of prospectors during the Fraser Canyon Gold Rush and the main vehicle of the province's early commerce and industry. In 1998,

6561-462: Was to be located. By 1827, a crew was sent back via the mouth of the Fraser to build and operate the original Fort Langley . McMillan also led the undertaking. The trading post original location would soon become the first ever mixed ancestry and agricultural settlement in southern British Columbia on the Fraser (Sto:lo) river. In 1828 George Simpson visited the river, mainly to examine Fort Langley and determine whether it would be suitable as

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