Highway 20, also known as the Chilcotin Highway, and officially dubbed the Alexander MacKenzie Highway, is one of the two main east–west routes in the Central Interior of British Columbia (the other being Highway 16. The Chilcotin Highway runs 457 km from Williams Lake westward through the Chilcotin region to North Bentinck Arm, an inlet from the Pacific Ocean where the town of Bella Coola is located. As of 2019, all but 42 km has been paved, mostly for expediting the removal of timber from the region, which, like most of British Columbia, is afflicted with pine beetle infestations. Logging traffic and ranch-related traffic on the route can be expected.
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.
Tŝilhqox Biny, known as Chilko Lake, is a 180 km2 lake in west-central British Columbia, at the head of the Chilko River on the Chilcotin Plateau. The lake is about 65 km long, with a southwest arm 10 km long. It is one of the largest lakes by volume in the province because of its great depth, and the largest above 1,000 m in elevation. It and Harrison Lake are the largest lakes in the southern Coast Mountains.
The Chilcotin Ranges are a subdivision of the Pacific Ranges of the Coast Mountains. They lie on the inland lea of the Pacific Ranges, abutting the Interior Plateau of British Columbia. Their northwestern end is near the head of the Klinaklini River and their southeast end is the Fraser River just north of Lillooet; their northern flank is the edge of the Plateau while their southern is the north bank of the Bridge River. In some reckonings they do not go all the way to the Fraser but end at the Yalakom River, which is the North Fork of the Bridge.
The Pantheon Range is a subrange of the Pacific Ranges of the Coast Mountains in British Columbia. It is located between the edge of the Chilcotin Plateau at Tatla Lake on its northeast and the Klinaklini River on its west, with a southeastern boundary along Mosley Creek, a major tributary of the Homathko River. The range is 5550 km2 in area and extremely rugged, with many sharp, glaciated peaks.
The Homathko River is one of the major rivers of the southern Coast Mountains of the Canadian province of British Columbia. It is one of the few rivers that penetrates the range from the interior Chilcotin Country to the coastal inlets of the Pacific Ocean. The Homathko River reaches the sea at the head of Bute Inlet, just west of the mouth of the Southgate River.
The Spruce Lake Protected Area, formerly known variously as the Southern Chilcotin Mountains Provincial Park, Southern Chilcotins, and also as South Chilcotin Provincial Park, is a 71,347-hectare Protected Area in the British Columbia provincial parks system, approximately 200 km north of Vancouver. The area had been the subject of an ongoing preservationist controversy since the 1930s. In 2007, its status as a provincial park was downgraded to protected area.
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.
William George Cox was Gold Commissioner for the Cariboo and Boundary Districts in the Colony of British Columbia, Canada during the Rock Creek Gold Rush. He was born in Ireland.
Tatla Lake is a small unincorporated community in the west Chilcotin area of British Columbia, Canada, located at the west end of its eponymous lake. Situated 220 km west of Williams Lake along Highway 20, Tatla Lake's 123 people live approximately halfway between the two ends of the highway; Williams Lake to the east and the coastal community of Bella Coola to the west. The community is the service centre for three major mountain valleys of West Branch, Chilko and Tatlayoko. These valleys extend southward via secondary roads.
The Chilanko River is a river in the Chilcotin region of the Central Interior region of the Canadian province of British Columbia.
Tatlayoko Lake is an unincorporated settlement and locality on the Homathko River just north of that river's entry into the lake of same name, which is located in the western Chilcotin Country of the Central Interior of British Columbia, Canada.
Kleena Kleene is an unincorporated settlement and recreational community on the western end of the Chilcotin Plateau, west of Tatla Lake and northeast of One-Eye Lake. It lies in the upper reaches of the basin of the Klinaklini River, for which it is named, and which penetrates the Pacific Ranges of the Coast Mountains to enter the sea at the head of the Knight Inlet. The community is recreational in nature and like nearby Nimpo Lake it is a base for sightseeing to Hunlen Falls, Klinaklini Falls and Chilko Lake, and for fly-outs to fishing on the area's many small plateau and alpine lakes.
Chilanko Forks is an unincorporated settlement as well as a First Nations community of the Tsilhqot'in people, located on the north bank of the Chilanko River just northeast of Tatla Lake, and immediately south of Puntzi Lake, in the Chilcotin District of the Central Interior of British Columbia. Chilanko Forks is the location of the offices of the Alexis Creek First Nation.
Puntzi Lake is a lake in the Chilcotin District of the Central Interior of British Columbia. It is located on the western side of the upper Chilcotin River to the northeast of Tatla Lake, and is connected to the Chilcotin River via Puntzi Creek, of which it is an expansion. The area around the lake has been the setting for many important events in the history of the region.
South Chilcotin Mountains Provincial Park is a provincial park in British Columbia, Canada, located on Highway 40 northwest of Lillooet, British Columbia. The park, which is 56,796 ha. in size, was established on April 18, 2001, and It was created out of a portion of the Spruce Lake Protected Area. The park is located on three Indigenous Nations: The Tsilhqot’in, St’at’imc, and Secwepemc.
Eagle Lake is an endorheic lake in the western Chilcotin District of the Central Interior of British Columbia, Canada, located southeast of Tatla Lake and west of the city of Williams Lake. The lake is a popular summer location with warm water, sky-blue water, and white sand beaches. The lake has no outflow, and the water level continues to recede over time. Since 1970 the lake level has dropped over 6m. This means that the former Islands are now connected to the shoreline and new Islands have been created on the western bay.
Martin Lake is an endorheic freshwater lake in the West Chilcotin area of British Columbia, Canada, situated just north of the community of Tatla Lake, British Columbia. This small alkaline lake has no physical outflow and the water level has been dropping slowly over time. Since the 1980s the lake has divided into two separate lakes with a land bridge between them.
Patterson lake, also known as Hook Lake, is a shallow lake in the western Chilcotin District of the Central Interior of British Columbia, Canada, located south of Tatla Lake.
