Ashnola River

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Ashnola River

2017 09 23-18.27.38.216-CDT.jpg

Aerial view of the Ashnola River in 2017
Basin features
Tributaries

The Ashnola River is a tributary of the Similkameen River, rising in the northeastern part of the North Cascades in Washington, United States, and flowing north into British Columbia, Canada, to join the Similkameen River about halfway along that river's course between the towns of Princeton and Keremeos. The river crosses the international boundary at 49°00′00″N120°19′37″W / 49.00000°N 120.32694°W / 49.00000; -120.32694 and transits Cathedral Provincial Park. It has one main tributary, Ewart Creek, which is about 25 kilometres (16 mi) long and begins virtually at the border and is entirely within Cathedral Park.

Tributary stream or river that flows into a main stem river or lake

A tributary or affluent is a stream or river that flows into a larger stream or main stem river or a lake. A tributary does not flow directly into a sea or ocean. Tributaries and the main stem river drain the surrounding drainage basin of its surface water and groundwater, leading the water out into an ocean.

Similkameen River river

The Similkameen River runs through southern British Columbia, Canada, eventually discharging into the Okanagan River near Oroville, Washington, in the United States. The river is about 197 km (122 mi) long, with a drainage basin area of 7,600 km2 (2,900 sq mi). The river is said to be named for an indigenous people called <Similkameigh>, meaning "treacherous waters".

North Cascades mountains in the U.S. and Canada

The North Cascades are a section of the Cascade Range of western North America. They span the border between the Canadian province of British Columbia and the U.S. state of Washington and are officially named in the U.S. and Canada as the Cascade Mountains. The portion in Canada is known to Americans as the Canadian Cascades, a designation that also includes the mountains above the east bank of the Fraser Canyon as far north as the town of Lytton, at the confluence of the Thompson and Fraser Rivers.

Contents

A gravel road from its junction with BC Highway 3 at the locality of Ashnola flanking the river is the main, and virtually only, road access to the park. The locality of Ashnola was that of a mining camp from the days of the many gold rushes in the Similkameen Country and also the site of the Ashnola Indian Reserve (attached to the Lower Similkameen Indian Band). [1]

Ashnola is a locality and former railway point in the Similkameen Country of southern British Columbia, Canada, located at the confluence of the Ashnola River with the Similkameen. Ashnola Indian Reserve No. 10 is at the same general location.

The Similkameen Country, also referred to as the Similkameen Valley or Similkameen District, but generally referred to simply as The Similkameen or more archaically, Similkameen, is a region roughly coinciding with the basin of the river of the same name in the Southern Interior of British Columbia. The term "Similkameen District" also refers to the Similkameen Mining District, a defunct government administrative district, which geographically encompasses the same area, and in more casual terms may also refer to the Similkameen electoral district, which was combined with the Grand Forks-Greenwood riding by the time of the 1966 election. The Similkameen Country has deep historical connections to the Boundary Country and the two are sometimes considered one region, partly as a result of the name of the electoral district. It is also sometimes classed as being part of the Okanagan region, which results from shared regional district and other administrative boundaries and names. The term "Similkameen District" may also historically refer to the Similkameen Division Yale Land District, which also includes Osoyoos and the Boundary Country to Osoyoos' east.

The Lower Similkameen Indian Band or Lower Smelqmix, is a First Nations band government in the Canadian province of British Columbia. Their office is located in the village of Keremeos in the Similkameen region. They are a member of the Okanagan Nation Alliance.

Name variants and origin

Older name-variants includes Nais-nu-loh and Ashtnolow (both from Lord, 1860), Ashtnoulou (1861), Ashnoulou River, Trutch, 1871. An article in BC Motorist magazine [2] claims that the meaning of Ashnola is "white waters" but other sources say the meaning is unknown. British Columbia Place Names, a semi-authoritative work on the toponymy of British Columbia, says the original form of the name is that of the Indian village formerly at the Ashnola Indian Reserve, which in the modern spelling system of the Okanagan language is rendered Acnulox. [3]

Joseph Trutch politician

Sir Joseph William Trutch, was an English-born Canadian engineer, surveyor and politician.

Okanagan, or Colville-Okanagan, is a Salish language which arose among the indigenous peoples of the southern Interior Plateau region based primarily in the Okanagan River Basin and the Columbia River Basin in precolonial times in Canada and the United States. Following British, American, and Canadian colonization during the 1800s and the subsequent repression of all Salishan languages, the use of Colville-Okanagan declined drastically.

See also

Ashnola Pass

Ashnola Pass is a mountain pass in the North Cascades of northwestern Washington in the Pasayten Wilderness. See Ashnola River for name information.

Ashnola Mountain mountain in United States of America

Ashnola Mountain is a mountain in the Okanagan Range of the North Cascades in Washington state, located near Ashnola Pass and the headwaters of the Ashnola River, which flows north into British Columbia, Canada, to join the Similkameen River.

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References

The BC Geographical Names is a geographic name web service and database for British Columbia, Canada, which is run and maintained by the Base Mapping and Geomatic Services Branch of the Integrated Land Management Bureau. The database contains official names and spellings of towns, mountains, rivers, lakes, and other geographic places. The database often has other useful information, such as the history of geographic names, and their use in history.

Geographic Names Information System geographical database

The Geographic Names Information System (GNIS) is a database that contains name and locative information about more than two million physical and cultural features located throughout the United States of America and its territories. It is a type of gazetteer. GNIS was developed by the United States Geological Survey in cooperation with the United States Board on Geographic Names (BGN) to promote the standardization of feature names.

United States Geological Survey scientific agency of the United States government

The United States Geological Survey is a scientific agency of the United States government. The scientists of the USGS study the landscape of the United States, its natural resources, and the natural hazards that threaten it. The organization has four major science disciplines, concerning biology, geography, geology, and hydrology. The USGS is a fact-finding research organization with no regulatory responsibility.

  1. Living Landscapes website index, British Columbia Provincial Museum, item 14*04 SIMILKAMEEN INDIAN ADMINISTRATION (KEREMEOS), RECORDS EST. CA. 1971
  2. Wild Land of the Ashnola by Jennifer Maynard, BC Motorist magazine July-Aug 1971, p.14
  3. British Columbia Place Names, Akrigg, Helen B. and Akrigg, G.P.V, Sono Nis Press, Victoria 1986 /or University of British Columbia Press 1997.

Coordinates: 49°13′00″N119°58′00″W / 49.21667°N 119.96667°W / 49.21667; -119.96667

Geographic coordinate system Coordinate system

A geographic coordinate system is a coordinate system that enables every location on Earth to be specified by a set of numbers, letters or symbols. The coordinates are often chosen such that one of the numbers represents a vertical position and two or three of the numbers represent a horizontal position; alternatively, a geographic position may be expressed in a combined three-dimensional Cartesian vector. A common choice of coordinates is latitude, longitude and elevation. To specify a location on a plane requires a map projection.