Cariboo Plateau

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Cariboo Plateau
South BC-NW USA-relief CaribooPlateau2.png
Location of the Cariboo Plateau proper
Coordinates: 51°42′32″N121°33′00″W / 51.709°N 121.550°W / 51.709; -121.550
Location British Columbia, Canada
Part of Fraser Plateau
Geology Flood basalt

The Cariboo Plateau is a volcanic plateau in south-central British Columbia, Canada. It is part of the Fraser Plateau which is a northward extension of the North American Plateau. The southern limit of the plateau is the Bonaparte River although some definitions include the Bonaparte Plateau between that river and the Thompson, but it properly is a subdivision of the Thompson Plateau. The portion of the Fraser Plateau west of the Fraser River is properly known as the Chilcotin Plateau but is often mistakenly considered to be part of the Cariboo Plateau, which is east of the Fraser.

As a region and historical identity, the Cariboo is sometimes considered to extend to the Thompson River to the south of that, and to border on the city of Kamloops at its southeastern corner and even as far as Lytton, at the confluence of the Fraser and Thompson Rivers. The town of Lillooet is generally considered to be in the Cariboo, while the Bridge River Country to its west was sometimes referred to as the West Cariboo, as were also the ranches along the west side of the Fraser northwards towards the Gang Ranch. Broader meanings of "the Cariboo" sometimes include the Chilcotin, west of the Fraser. The geographic region known as the Quesnel Highland, which forms a mountainous series of foothills between the plateau proper and the Cariboo Mountains, is likewise considered to be part of the Cariboo in a cultural-historical sense – not the least because it is the location of the famous Cariboo goldfields and the one-time economic capital of the Interior of British Columbia, Barkerville.

The Cariboo is commonly divided into North Cariboo, Central Cariboo and South Cariboo. The commercial centre of the north is Quesnel, of the central Williams Lake and of the south 100 Mile House. The Cariboo region is generally considered to reach as far southeast as the city of Kamloops and to include the Cache Creek and Lillooet areas in the south. The region west of the Fraser River north of Lillooet, the Chilcotin, is often considered to be a part of the Cariboo; the country south of it immediately west of Lillooet is sometimes referred to as the West Cariboo.

The Cariboo Plateau is made of Late Miocene flood basalt lavas of the Chilcotin Group, a group of related volcanic rocks that is nearly parallel with the Fraser Plateau. [1] [2] It extends along the adjacent Garibaldi Volcanic Belt in the Coast Mountains. Volcanism of the Cariboo Plateau is considered to be a result of extension of the crust behind the coastal Cascadia subduction zone.

The Last Chance Lake and the Goodenough Lake beside it in the Bonaparte Plateau, [3] as well as the Probe Lake and the Deer Lake in the Cariboo Plateau, are soda lakes. [4]

Important events in the history of the Cariboo region:

The Cariboo Trail is a 1950 film about the gold rush era of the 1890s in the area. The film is based on a story by John Rhodes Sturdy, screenplay by Frank Gruber, directed by Edwin L. Marin, and starring Randolph Scott and Gabby Hayes.

Bowron Lake Provincial Park is a popular canoeing destination in the Cariboo Mountains east of Quesnel. Wells Gray Park to its south is partly in the Cariboo.

See also

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Index of British Columbia–related articles</span>

The following is an alphabetical list of articles related to the Canadian province of British Columbia.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Chilcotin Group</span> Large area of basaltic lava in south-central British Columbia, Canada

The Chilcotin Group, also called the Chilcotin Plateau Basalts, is a large area of basaltic lava that forms a volcanic plateau running parallel with the Garibaldi Volcanic Belt in south-central British Columbia, Canada.

Cariboo was a federal electoral district in British Columbia, Canada, that was represented in the House of Commons of Canada from 1871 to 1892.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Fraser Canyon</span> Canyon in British Columbia, Canada

The Fraser Canyon is a major landform of the Fraser River where it descends rapidly through narrow rock gorges in the Coast Mountains en route from the Interior Plateau of British Columbia to the Fraser Valley. Colloquially, the term "Fraser Canyon" is often used to include the Thompson Canyon from Lytton to Ashcroft, since they form the same highway route which most people are familiar with, although it is actually reckoned to begin above Williams Lake at Soda Creek Canyon near the town of the same name.

The Chilcotin region of British Columbia is usually known simply as "the Chilcotin", and also in speech commonly as "the Chilcotin Country" or simply Chilcotin. It is a plateau and mountain region in British Columbia on the inland lee of the Coast Mountains on the west side of the Fraser River. Chilcotin is also the name of the river draining that region. In the language of the Tsilhqot'in people, their name and the name of the river means "those of the red ochre river". The proper name of the Chilcotin Country, or Tsilhqotʼin territory, in their language is Tŝilhqotʼin Nen.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Geography of British Columbia</span>

British Columbia is the westernmost province of Canada, bordered by the Pacific Ocean. With an area of 944,735 km2 (364,764 sq mi) it is Canada's third-largest province. The province is almost four times the size of the United Kingdom and larger than every United States state except Alaska. It is bounded on the northwest by the U.S. state of Alaska, directly north by Yukon and the Northwest Territories, on the east by Alberta, and on the south by the U.S. states of Washington, Idaho, and Montana. Formerly part of the British Empire, the southern border of British Columbia was established by the 1846 Oregon Treaty. The province is dominated by mountain ranges, among them the Canadian Rockies but dominantly the Coast Mountains, Cassiar Mountains, and the Columbia Mountains. Most of the population is concentrated on the Pacific coast, notably in the area of Vancouver, located on the southwestern tip of the mainland, which is known as the Lower Mainland. It is the most mountainous province of Canada.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Pacific Ranges</span> Subrange of the Coast Mountains in British Columbia, Canada

The Pacific Ranges are the southernmost subdivision of the Coast Mountains portion of the Pacific Cordillera. Located entirely within British Columbia, Canada, they run northwest from the lower stretches of the Fraser River to Bella Coola and Burke Channel, north of which are the Kitimat Ranges. The Coast Mountains lie between the Interior Plateau and the Coast of British Columbia.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Interior Plateau</span> Region in Interior of British Columbia, Canada

The Interior Plateau comprises a large region of the Interior of British Columbia, and lies between the Cariboo and Monashee Mountains on the east, and the Hazelton Mountains, Coast Mountains and Cascade Range on the west. The continuation of the plateau into the United States is known there as the Columbia Plateau.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Camelsfoot Range</span> Mountain sub-range in British Columbia, Canada

The Camelsfoot Range is a sub-range of the Chilcotin Ranges subdivision of the Pacific Ranges of the Coast Mountains in British Columbia. The Fraser River forms its eastern boundary. The range is approximately 90 km at its maximum length and less than 30 km wide at its widest.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Chilcotin Plateau</span> Region of the Fraser Plateau in British Columbia, Canada

The Chilcotin Plateau is part of the Fraser Plateau, a major subdivision of the Interior Plateau of British Columbia. The Chilcotin Plateau is physically near-identical with the region of the same name, i.e. "the Chilcotin", which lies between the Fraser River and the southern Coast Mountains and is defined by the basin of the Chilcotin River and so includes montane areas beyond the plateau. East of the Chilcotin Plateau, across the Fraser River, is the Cariboo Plateau, while to the north beyond the West Road (Blackwater) River is the Nechako Plateau. West and south of the Chilcotin Plateau are various subdivisions of the Coast Mountains, including the Chilcotin Ranges which lie along the plateau's southwest.

The Bonaparte Plateau, in British Columbia, Canada, is a sub-plateau of the Thompson Plateau which extends to the Quesnel River and lies between the Cariboo Mountains on the east and the Fraser River on the west. The Thompson Plateau is itself a sub-plateau of the larger Fraser Plateau.

Cariboo was one of the twelve original electoral districts created when British Columbia became a Canadian province in 1871. Roughly corresponding to the old colonial electoral administrative district of the same name, it was a three-member riding until the 1894 election, when it was reduced through reapportionment and became a two-member riding until the 1916 election, after which it has been a single-member riding. It produced many notable Members of the Legislative Assembly (MLAs), including George Anthony Boomer Walkem, third and fifth holder of the office of Premier of British Columbia and who was one of the first representatives elected from the riding; John Robson, ninth Premier of British Columbia; and Robert Bonner, a powerful minister in the W.A.C. Bennett cabinet, and later CEO of MacMillan Bloedel and BC Hydro.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Secwépemc</span> First Nations people in Canada

The Secwépemc, also known by the exonym Shuswap, are a First Nations people residing in the interior of the Canadian province of British Columbia. They speak one of the Salishan languages, known as Secwepemctsín or Shuswap.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Clinton, British Columbia</span> Village in British Columbia, Canada

Clinton is a village in British Columbia, Canada, located approximately 40 km (25 mi) northwest of Cache Creek and 30 km south of 70 Mile House.

Black Dome Mountain is the northernmost summit of the Camelsfoot Range, which lies along the west side of the Fraser River, north of Lillooet, British Columbia, Canada. It is an ancient butte-like volcano located in the formation known as the Chilcotin Group, which lie between the Pacific Ranges of the Coast Mountains and the mid-Fraser River in British Columbia, Canada.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">British Columbia Interior</span> Interior region of British Columbia, Canada

The British Columbia Interior, popularly referred to as the BC Interior or simply the Interior, is a geographic region of the Canadian province of British Columbia. While the exact boundaries are variously defined, the British Columbia Interior is generally defined to include the 14 regional districts that do not have coastline along the Pacific Ocean or Salish Sea, and are not part of the Lower Mainland. Other boundaries may exclude parts of or even entire regional districts, or expand the definition to include the regional districts of Fraser Valley, Squamish–Lillooet, and Kitimat–Stikine.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Bridge River Country</span>

The Bridge River Country is a historic geographic region and mining district in the Interior of British Columbia, Canada, lying between the Fraser Canyon and the valley of the Lillooet River, south of the Chilcotin Plateau and north of the Lillooet Ranges. "The Bridge River" can mean the Bridge River Country as opposed to the Bridge River itself, and is considered to be part of the Lillooet Country, but has a distinct history and identity within the larger region. As Lillooet is sometimes considered to be the southwest limit of the Cariboo, some efforts were made to refer to the Bridge River as the "West Cariboo" but this never caught on.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Lone Butte (British Columbia)</span> Butte in British Columbia, Canada

Lone Butte is a low, steep-sided mesa butte or volcanic plug in southern British Columbia, Canada, located on the southern Cariboo Plateau to the southeast of 100 Mile House. It is composed of columnar basalt that formed within a prehistoric volcano six million years ago. It is part of the geological formation known as the Chilcotin Group, which lies in between the Pacific Ranges of the Coast Mountains and the mid-Fraser River. BCWireless Ltd uses Lone Butte as one of its main access point for Broadband Internet distribution.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Thompson Country</span>

Thompson Country, also referred to as The Thompson and sometimes as the Thompson Valley and historically known as the Couteau Country or Couteau District, is a historic geographic region of the Southern Interior of British Columbia, more or less defined by the basin of the Thompson River. This is a tributary of the Fraser; the major city in the area is Kamloops.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Fraser Plateau</span>

The Fraser Plateau is an intermontane plateau. It is one of the main subdivisions of the Interior Plateau located in the Central Interior of British Columbia.

References

  1. National Resources Canada - Catalogue of Canadian volcanoes: Chilcotin Plateau basalts Archived March 15, 2008, at the Wayback Machine Retrieved on 2008-06-26
  2. Chilcotin Junction Williams Lake, British Columbia Archived June 12, 2011, at the Wayback Machine
  3. "Last Chance Lake and Goodenough Lake, map". openstreetmap.org.
  4. Zorz, Jackie K.; Sharp, Christine; Kleiner, Manuel; Gordon, Paul M.K.; Pon, Richard T.; Dong, Xiaoli; Strous, Marc (September 2019). "A shared core microbiome in soda lakes separated by large distances". Nature Communications. 10 (1): 1–10. doi:10.1038/s41467-019-12195-5. PMC   6748926 . Retrieved 2024-07-05.