Interior Plateau

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Interior Plateau
BCRelief InteriorPlateau.png
Boundary of the Interior Plateau (shown including Okanagan, Shuswap and Quesnel Highlands)
Coordinates: 52°00′00″N123°00′00″W / 52.00000°N 123.00000°W / 52.00000; -123.00000
Location British Columbia and Washington
Part of Intermontane Plateaus

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. [1] [2] The continuation of the plateau into the United States is known there as the Columbia Plateau.

Contents

Physiographically, the Interior Plateau is a section of the larger Northern Plateaus province, which in turn is part of the Intermontane Plateaus physiographic division.

(The Interior Plateau is not part of the Interior Mountains, a huge area that constitutes most of the northern two thirds of the Canadian province of British Columbia between the Coast Mountains, Rocky Mountains and the various small ranges on the inland lea of the Coast Mountains between the Bulkley Ranges and the Bella Coola River).

Subdivisions

It has several subdivisions, these being:

The Cariboo and Chilcotin Plateaus are separated by the Fraser River. The Nechako Plateau flanks the Fraser on both sides; its southern boundary is defined by the West Road River (aka the Blackwater River) and the Quesnel River, and its northern boundary consists of the Omineca Mountains and the Cassiar Mountains, which are two major subdivisions of the Interior Mountains.

Mountain ranges

Several mountain ranges and hill-systems are included in the definition of this region such as the following:

Some classifications systems assign the Pattullo Rangez to the Hazelton Mountains, which are part of the larger Skeena Mountains complex, but then theoretically so zalso is the Quanchus Range. Also, the Cariboo Mountains are sometimes included as part of the Interior Plateau.

Three areas liminal to the plateau, i.e. sometimes considered part of it rather than the adjoining mountain ranges, are the Shuswap Highland, Okanagan Highland and Quesnel Highland.

History

The location of the Interior Plateau in North America is between the Rocky Mountains and the Pacific Coast Ranges.

It is cut by the basins and tributaries of two rivers: the Columbia and the Fraser. The northern region is largely wooded, except in lowland and more southerly areas which resemble the sagebrush grasslands which typify the southern part of the plateau in the Columbia drainage.

The first documented human presence was in 8500 BC.Bison remains, Clovis and other fluted points date back to this time frame. An important sites in the area is at Wenatchee site (located in Washington).

The Windust phase is dated between 10600 BC and 7100 BC. At the Lind Coulee Archaeological Site in east-central Washington, leaf-shaped projectile points and knives date between 8500 and 5500 BC. Based on archaeological evidence, it is suggested that these people were hunters, subsisting also from fishing and plant gathering. The presence of sea shells gives an indication that trading took place. A small, oval-shaped dwelling was also found at the Paulina Lake site in Oregon, dating to 7100 BC.

The Cascade phase took place from 7100 to 4300 BC, and was marked by a slight change in toolkit technology from the Windust peoples. A residential structure was found for this group, dating between 5500 and 4300 BC. Other pithouses followed between 4000 and 2000 BC. Most residential structures are located on rivers. During the historic era, plants and salmon were the staple foods, which give us an indication that Cascade groups harvested salmon runs in the summer and fall.

The Late Period, dated to about 2500 BC, the pithouse (quiggly hole) came into existence, such as those at the Keatley Creek Archaeological Site. Other markers of this period include the increasing number of pithouses and settlements. Fishing continued to increase, and technology advanced, introducing more specialized barb fish spears and composite toggling harpoons. Other technology was used as well, including nets and weirs. Trade networks also flourished during this time, using sea shells, turquoise, fish grease and others.

See also

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Dakelh</span> Ethnic group

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<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">Cariboo</span> Region of British Columbia, Canada

The Cariboo is an intermontane region of British Columbia, Canada, centered on a plateau stretching from Fraser Canyon to the Cariboo Mountains. The name is a reference to the caribou that were once abundant in the region.

<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.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Columbia Mountains</span> Mountain range in Canada and the United States

The Columbia Mountains are a group of mountain ranges along the Upper Columbia River in British Columbia, Montana, Idaho and Washington. The mountain range covers 135,952 km². The range is bounded by the Rocky Mountain Trench on the east, and the Kootenai River on the south; their western boundary is the edge of the Interior Plateau. Seventy-five percent of the range is located in Canada and the remaining twenty-five percent in the United States; American geographic classifications place the Columbia Mountains as part of the Rocky Mountains complex, but this designation does not apply in Canada. Mount Sir Sandford is the highest mountain in the range, reaching 3,519 metres (11,545 ft).

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

The Nechako River arises on the Nechako Plateau east of the Kitimat Ranges of the Coast Mountains of British Columbia, Canada, and flows north toward Fort Fraser, then east to Prince George where it enters the Fraser River. "Nechako" is an anglicization of netʃa koh, its name in the indigenous Carrier language which means "big river".

<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">Camelsfoot Range</span> Sub-range of the Chilcotin Ranges 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">Cariboo Mountains</span> Mountain range in British Columbia, Canada

The Cariboo Mountains are the northernmost subrange of the Columbia Mountains, which run down into the Spokane area of the United States and include the Selkirks, Monashees and Purcells. The Cariboo Mountains are entirely within the province of British Columbia, Canada. The range is 7,700 square kilometres (3,000 sq mi) in area and about 245 km in length (southeast–northwest) and about 90 km at its widest (southwest–northeast).

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Cariboo Plateau</span> Geographic feature in British Columbia, Canada

The Cariboo Plateau is a volcanic plateau in south-central British Columbia, Canada. It is part of the Fraser Plateau that itself 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.

<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.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">North American Cordillera</span> North American portion of the American Cordillera mountain chain

The North American Cordillera, sometimes also called the Western Cordillera of North America, the Western Cordillera, or the Pacific Cordillera, is the North American portion of the American Cordillera, the mountain chain system (cordillera) along the western coast of the Americas. The North American Cordillera covers an extensive area of mountain ranges, intermontane basins, and plateaus in Western and Northwestern Canada, Western United States, and Mexico, including much of the territory west of the Great Plains.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Omineca Mountains</span> Group of mountain ranges in British Columbia, Canada

The Omineca Mountains, also known as "the Ominecas", are a group of remote mountain ranges in the Boreal Cordillera of north-central British Columbia, Canada. They are bounded by the Finlay River on the north, the Rocky Mountain Trench on the east, the Nation Lakes on the south, and the upper reaches of the Omineca River on the west. They form a section of the Continental Divide, that, in this region, separates water drainage between the Arctic and Pacific Oceans. The lower course of the Omineca River flows through the heart of the range. To the south of the Ominecas is the Nechako Plateau, to the west the Skeena Mountains and Hazelton Mountains, to the north the Spatsizi Plateau and the Stikine Ranges, while east across the Rocky Mountain Trench are the Muskwa Ranges.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Hazelton Mountains</span> Canada Mountain

The Hazelton Mountains are a grouping of mountain ranges on the inland lee of the Kitimat Ranges of the Coast Mountains in northwestern British Columbia, Canada, spanning the area of Hazelton south to the Nechako Reservoir. Defined by the British Columbia geographic names office, they span from the Nass River to the Nechako Plateau, and between the Coast Mountains and the Bulkley River, they are considered by geographers to be part of the Interior Mountains complex, though in local perspective they are considered to be part of the Coast Mountains. They are neighboured on the west by the Kitimat Ranges and on the east by the southernmost section of the Skeena Mountains; beyond the Nass River, which is their northern boundary, are the Boundary Ranges of the Coast Mountains. To their southeast is the Nechako Plateau, including the Quanchus Range on the near-island between Ootsa and Eutsuk Lakes of the Nechako Reservoir.

The Nechako Plateau is the northernmost subdivision of the Interior Plateau, one of the main geographic regions of the Canadian province of British Columbia. It spans the basin of the Nechako River and its tributaries the Stuart River and Endako Rivers, and is bounded on the south by the West Road River, south of which is the Chilcotin Plateau and on the north by the Nation River and the valleys of Babine and Takla Lakes, beyond which are the Omineca Mountains (N) and Skeena Mountains (NW). To the west, it abuts the various ranges of the Hazelton Mountains while on its east it is bounded by the pass between Prince George, British Columbia and the Parsnip Arm of Williston Lake, beyond which is the McGregor Plateau, which skirts the Northern Rockies. Some classification systems include the plateau area on the east bank of the Fraser River beyond the city of Prince George; this area neighbours the northernmost reaches of the Quesnel Highland and Cariboo Mountains.

<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">Quesnel Highland</span>

The Quesnel Highland is a geographic area in the Central Interior of the Canadian province of British Columbia. As defined by BC government geographer in Landforms of British Columbia, an account and analysis of British Columbia geography that is often cited as authoritative, the Highland is a complex of upland hill and plateau areas forming and defined as being the buffer between the Cariboo Plateau and the Cariboo Mountains, as a sort of highland foothills along the eastern edge of the Interior Plateau running southeast from a certain point southeast of the city of Prince George to the Mahood Lake area at the southeast corner of the Cariboo. Beyond Mahood Lake lies another separately classified area dubbed by Holland the Shuswap Highland which spans similar terrain across the North Thompson and Shuswap Lake-Adams River drainage basins, forming a similar upland-area buffer between the Thompson Plateau and the Monashee Mountains. A third area, the Okanagan Highland, extends from the southern end of the Shuswap Highland in the area of Vernon and Enderby in the northern Okanagan region into Washington State, and also abuts the Monashee Mountains.

Mount Tabor, 1,247 m (4,091 ft), is a mountain 20 km (12 mi) east of Prince George, British Columbia, Canada adjacent to BC Highway 16. It rises about 550 m (1,804 ft) from the small portion of the Nechako Plateau that lies in the angle of the Fraser River and not part of the Cariboo Mountains which begin just to the east, the summit is the site of a former fire lookout tower and is the highest piece of relief in the Greater Prince George area.

<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. BC Names/GeoBC entry "Interior Plateau
  2. Landforms of British Columbia, S. Holland, Government of British Columbia

Sources