The Skeena River is the second-longest river entirely within British Columbia, Canada. Since ancient times, the Skeena has been an important transportation artery, particularly for the Tsimshian and the Gitxsan—whose names mean "inside the River of Mist" ,and "people of the River of Mist," respectively. The river and its basin sustain a wide variety of fish, wildlife, and vegetation, and communities native to the area depend on the health of the river. The Tsimshian migrated to the Lower Skeena River, and the Gitxsan occupy territory of the Upper Skeena.
The Inside Passage is a coastal route for ships and boats along a network of passages which weave through the islands on the Pacific Northwest coast of the North American Fjordland. The route extends from southeastern Alaska in the United States, through western British Columbia in Canada, to northwestern Washington state in the United States. Ships using the route can avoid some of the bad weather in the open ocean and may visit some of the many isolated communities along the route. The Inside Passage is heavily travelled by cruise ships, freighters, tugs with tows, fishing craft, pleasure craft, and ships of the Alaska Marine Highway, BC Ferries, and Washington State Ferries systems. Coast Guard vessels of both Canada and the United States patrol and transit in the Passage.
Kaien Island is a Canadian island on the coast of British Columbia, just north of the mouth of the Skeena River and to the south of the Alaska Panhandle. The island has an area of about 45 square kilometres, is roughly oval, and about 11 kilometres (6.8 mi) long along its long axis. The island consists of a central mountain ridge, surrounded by coastal lowlands, the dominant central peak is Mount Hays reaching 708 metres (2,323 ft), with a secondary peak, Mount Olfield reaching 555 metres (1,821 ft) to the northeast.
Seymour Inlet is one of the lesser travelled of the principal inlets of the British Columbia Coast. Unlike larger inlets such as Knight or Bute, it is not flanked by mountains but by relatively low, but still rugged, coastal hill-country and forms a maze of complex, narrow waterways and tidal pools and lagoons. It is located within a corresponding maze of peninsulas on the mainland on the northwest side of the Queen Charlotte Strait region.
Seymour Narrows is a 5-kilometre (3.1 mi) section of the Discovery Passage in British Columbia known for strong tidal currents. Discovery Passage lies between Vancouver Island at Menzies Bay, British Columbia and Quadra Island except at its northern end where the eastern shoreline is Sonora Island. The section known as Seymour Narrows begins about 18 km (11 mi) from the south end of Discovery Passage where it enters the Georgia Strait near Campbell River. For most of the length of the narrows, the channel is about 750 metres (820 yd) wide. Through this narrow channel, currents can reach 15 knots.
Porcher Island is an island in Hecate Strait, British Columbia, Canada, near the mouth of the Skeena River and southwest of the port city of Prince Rupert. The locality of Porcher Island is located near the island's northern tip at Humpback Bay, 54°05′11″N130°23′23″W. Stephens and Prescott Islands are located off its northwestern tip.
Quatsino Sound is a complex of coastal inlets, bays and islands on northwestern Vancouver Island in the Canadian province of British Columbia. It is the northernmost of the five sounds that pierce the west coast of Vancouver Island, the others being Kyuquot Sound, Nootka Sound, Clayoquot Sound, and Barkley Sound.
Chatham Sound is a sound on the North Coast of British Columbia, Canada, bordering on Alaska, United States. It is located between the Dundas and Stephens Islands and the Tsimpsean Peninsula, it is part of the Inside Passage and extends from Portland Inlet in the north to Porcher Island in the south.
For more than 35 years, from 1923 to 1958, the Union steamship Cardena sailed the British Columbia Coast, carrying passengers, groceries, dry goods, industrial cargo, mail and sundry other supplies to the 200 or so mining, logging and fishing communities that once dotted the province's coastline during the early years of the 20th century. On her return voyage, at the peak of the summer fishing season, Cardena routinely carried thousands of cases of canned salmon to the railheads at Prince Rupert and Vancouver for shipment across Canada and around the world. And so it went for the better part of half a century; a regular and reliable marine service that made Cardena a coastal institution, remembered with affection and regard by the countless men, women and children who inhabited those tiny outports in a bygone era.
Smith Island is an island just north of the mouth of the Skeena River in the North Coast region of British Columbia, Canada. To the south of the island is Marcus Passage. To the north is Inverness Passage, separating Smith Island from the Tsimpsean Peninsula. Eleanor Passage, connects Osborn Point, the most eastern point on the island, with the mouth of the Skeena River. De Horsey Passage separates De Horsey Island from Smith Island on the latter's east side. Croasdaile Island is to the south of the southern tip of Smith Island.
Kshaoom Indian Reserve No. 23, officially Kshaoom 23, 2.3 hectares in size, is an Indian reserve on the northwest tip of De Horsey Island, which is immediately south of the Tsimpsean Peninsula at the mouth of the Skeena River in the North Coast region of British Columbia, Canada. It and Dashken Indian Reserve No. 22, across De Horsey Passage on the east tip of Smith Island, are shared between the Metlakatla and Lax Kw'alaams band governments.
The Tsimpsean Peninsula is a peninsula in the Range 5 Coast Land District on the North Coast of British Columbia, extending between Chatham Sound and Work Channel, and extending south to the Skeena River.
De Horsey Island is an island at the mouth of the Skeena River in the North Coast region of British Columbia, Canada, immediately south of the southern tip of the Tsimpsean Peninsula and immediately east of Smith Island. Separating it from that island is De Horsey Passage; and to its north, separating it from the Tsimpsean Peninsula, is Eleanor Passage. Kshaoom Indian Reserve No. 23 is on its northwest tip.
Isanotski Strait is a strait connecting the northern Gulf of Alaska with the Bering Sea, in the U.S. state of Alaska. Isanax̂ is the Aleut name for present day Isanotski Strait, and means gap, hole, rent, or tear in the Aleut language which was rendered as Isanotski in transliterated Russian. The strait appears as Исанакъ in 1802 and Исаноцкый in 1844 on Russian maps.
Seaforth Channel is a channel in the Central Coast region of the Canadian province of British Columbia which is part of the Inside Passage - the 950 miles (1,530 km) passage between Seattle, Washington and Juneau, Alaska. The marine highway goes through Seaforth Channel on the way to Milbanke Sound, one of the open sea portions of the Inland Passage. Seaforth Channel which is part of the Prince Rupert/Port Hardy BC ferry route, extends in a westerly direction from Denny Island to Milbanke Sound between Denny Island, Campbell Island and the Wright group of islands on the south. In October 2016, a Texas-owned tug/barge transiting the Canadian waters of the Inside Passage without a local pilot was hard grounded on a reef at the entrance to Seaforth Channel in October 2016. More than 100,000 L of fuel contaminated the coast, coves and shores 20 km (12 mi) west of Bella Bella, the core community of the Heiltsuk Nation as well as the environmentally sensitive Great Bear Rainforest - Canada's contribution to the Queen's Commonwealth Canopy (QCC), a network of forest conservation programs. Clean up response and salvage was criticized by the Heiltsuk, B.C. Premier Christy Clark and Prime Minister Justin Trudeau. In November in Vancouver the Prime Minister announced a $1.5B ocean protection plan to "create a marine safety system, restore marine ecosystems and undertake research into oil spill cleanup methods."
Arthur Passage is a marine waterway in British Columbia, Canada. It is part of the Inside Passage connecting Grenville Channel with Malacca Passage. A significant feature is Hanmer Island, located in the middle of the north end of the passage.
The Ecstall River is a tributary of the Skeena River in the province of British Columbia, Canada. It originates in the Kitimat Ranges, and flows about 110 km (68 mi) to the lower tidal reach of the Skeena River at Port Essington, about 30 km (19 mi) southeast of Prince Rupert, 95 km (59 mi) southwest of Terrace, and 85 km (53 mi) northwest of Kitimat. Its drainage basin covers about 1,485 km2 (573 sq mi) and contains the largest blocks of unlogged land on the north coast of British Columbia, although large-scale industrial logging operations, both active and proposed, have been occurring in the watershed since the 1980s.
The Khyex River is a tributary of the Skeena River in the North Coast Regional District of the province of British Columbia, Canada. It originates in the Kitimat Ranges of the Coast Mountains, and flows south about 50 km (31 mi) to the lower tidal reach of the Skeena River, about 13 km (8.1 mi) upriver from Port Essington, 35 km (22 mi) southeast of Prince Rupert, and about 85 km (53 mi) southwest of Terrace. Its watershed covers 442 km2 (171 sq mi), and its mean annual discharge is 458.2 m3/s (16,180 cu ft/s).
The Scotia River is a tributary of the Skeena River in the North Coast Regional District of the province of British Columbia, Canada. It originates in the Kitimat Ranges of the Coast Mountains, and flows north about 22 km (14 mi) to the tidally-influenced lower Skeena River, about 20 km (12 mi) upriver from Port Essington, 47 km (29 mi) southeast of Prince Rupert, and about 75 km (47 mi) southwest of Terrace.
The Khtada River is a tributary of the Skeena River in the North Coast Regional District of the province of British Columbia, Canada. It originates in the Kitimat Ranges of the Coast Mountains, and flows south about 26 km (16 mi) to the lower tidal reach of the Skeena River, about 24 km (15 mi) upriver from Port Essington, 48 km (30 mi) southeast of Prince Rupert, and about 74 km (46 mi) southwest of Terrace.
