Vedder River

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Vedder River
Chilliwack River
Med 2005 10 05 01.jpg
The Vedder River, in Chilliwack, BC.
Location
Country Canada, United States
Province British Columbia
State Washington
Physical characteristics
Source Hannegan Pass
  coordinates 48°53′3″N121°31′42″W / 48.88417°N 121.52833°W / 48.88417; -121.52833 [1]
Mouth Sumas River
  coordinates
49°07′35″N122°05′54″W / 49.12639°N 122.09833°W / 49.12639; -122.09833 [2]
Length80 km (50 mi) [1]
Basin size1,230 km2 (470 sq mi) [3]
Discharge 
  average77 m3/s (2,700 cu ft/s)
  minimum15 m3/s (530 cu ft/s)
  maximum1,150 m3/s (41,000 cu ft/s)

The Vedder River, called the Chilliwack River above Vedder Crossing, is a river in the Canadian province of British Columbia and the U.S. state of Washington.

Contents

The name Chilliwack comes from the Halkomelem word Tcil'Qe'uk, meaning "valley of many streams". [4]

Course

Originating as the Chilliwack River in Washington's North Cascades National Park, the river begins at Hannegan Pass and flows north across the Canada–United States border and into Chilliwack Lake. The river flows through Hells Gorge, a deep, dangerous-to-access gorge just below the river's headwaters that is home of a waterfall that the river drops over. [5] The river picks up the Little Chilliwack River before crossing the border. There is a large sandy beach located where the river enters the lake, a popular recreational area among locals, however access is now restricted and the south shores of Chilliwack Lake are protected as an ecological reserve. The river exits the north end of the lake and flows generally west via the Chilliwack River Valley to emerge on the Fraser Lowland on the south side of the City of Chilliwack. At Vedder Crossing, the river is joined by the Sweltzer River before flowing under the Vedder Bridge at which its name changes to the Vedder River, after which it flows west and north to join the Sumas River just before that river's confluence with the Fraser River at the northeast end of Sumas Mountain. [2] [4] The river crosses the Fraser floodplain from Vedder Crossing to its confluence with the Sumas via the Vedder Canal, which prevents the river's considerable spring freshet from flooding the surrounding farmlands and towns, and which is part of the drainage system that turned Sumas Lake into Sumas Prairie.

Downstream from the Vedder Crossing Bridge, the Vedder River marks the boundary between Yarrow to the south and Greendale to the north (both are separate semi-rural communities that are now part of the City of Chilliwack).

History

The Vedder River circa 1910 Vedder River near Chilliwack - 1910.jpg
The Vedder River circa 1910

The Chilliwack River was heavily used by the Northwest Boundary Survey of 1857-1862 as a means of accessing the 49th parallel north in order to survey and map the border between American and British-Canadian sovereignty. A number of the Chilliwack's tributaries cross the 49th parallel, including Liumchen Creek, Tamihi Creek, Damfino Creek, Slesse Creek, Nesakwatch Creek, and, from Chilliwack Lake, Klahailhu Creek and Depot Creek. Both American and British surveying parties established base camps on Chilliwack Lake from which they sent field parties through the Chilliwack drainage and east to the Skagit River drainage. In addition, the Whatcom Trail followed much of the Chilliwack River's course. [6]

Historically the Chilliwack River flowed north from Vedder Crossing, over a broad alluvial fan into the Fraser River. In 1875, heavy rains caused a log jam that diverted the river into two small streams called Vedder Creek and Luckakuck Creek, which caused hardship for the area's farmers. In 1882, a new log jam was deliberately created which caused the waters of several streams to shift course toward the west, flowing into the now-disappeared Sumas Lake. A freshet in 1894 caused this new course to become permanent, [7] and compounded on the devastating 1894 Fraser basin flood.

In the early 20th century, the diverted river was diked and channelized, and the Chilliwack River downstream of the Vedder Crossing was permanently diverted westwards into the Vedder Canal to artificially drain the Sumas Lake, [8] and today the canal are renamed the Vedder River. [9] The former interlaced distributaries of the Chilliwack River below Vedder Crossing are now modified into the Chilliwack Creek, which flows northwest meandrously from Sardis past Downtown Chilliwack to empty into the Fraser River east of the Chilliwack Mountain opposite the islands of the Fraser River Ecological Reserve. [10]

Recreation

Vedder River Campground VedderRiverCampsite.jpg
Vedder River Campground

The Vedder/ Chilliwack River is the only river in Canada that sustains navigable class III and above whitewater, making this river a popular year-round whitewater kayaking and river rafting destination. The sections of the river downstream from the Vedder Bridge at Vedder Crossing are very popular amongst locals for relaxing on the river banks, swimming, campfires and sunbathing.

The Vedder River Campground, operated by The Fraser Valley Regional District, is open from April 1 to October 31.

The Vedder-Chilliwack River is well known for its runs of chinook, coho, chum, pink and sockeye salmon in the fall, along with winter and spring steelhead fishing.

The 1954 British Empire and Commonwealth Games' rowing events were held on the Vedder Canal. Canadians Bobby Williams in single sculls, and Donald Guest & Lawrence Stephan in double sculls won bronze medals. Canada won the gold medal in eights rowing.


Major Tributaries

Tributaries in the United States

Tributaries in Canada

See also

Related Research Articles

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Chilliwack is a city in the province of British Columbia, Canada. Chilliwack is surrounded by mountains and home to recreational areas such as Cultus Lake and Chilliwack Lake Provincial Parks. There are numerous outdoor activities in the area in which to participate, including hiking, rock climbing, mountain biking horseback riding, whitewater kayaking, camping, fishing, golf, and paragliding. Chilliwack is known for its annual corn harvest, and is home to the Province's second largest independent bookstore The Book Man. The Fraser Valley Regional District is headquartered in Chilliwack, which is the Fraser Valley's second-largest city, after Abbotsford.

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

Greendale is a primarily agricultural settlement within Chilliwack, British Columbia, Canada, located 92 kilometres (57 mi) east of the City of Vancouver. Greendale is located on the west side of Chilliwack, bordering the east side of the City of Abbotsford. The Vedder River forms the border between Greendale and Yarrow which lies to the South. Greendale was originally called Sumas, but got renamed in 1951 to avoid confusion with the adjoining municipality, the District of Sumas, as well as Sumas, Washington. The area was once a 10,000 acres (4,000 ha) lake at the base of Sumas Mountain. Sumas Lake was drained in the early 1920s. Greendale has experienced two major floods, after the completed drainage, in 1894 and 1948.

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Yarrow is a small community located 90 kilometres east of Vancouver within the City of Chilliwack in British Columbia, Canada. It is in the Fraser Valley at the foot of Vedder Mountain. The village was first settled by Mennonites in the late 1920s, following the draining of Sumas Lake and the reclamation of the former lake bed for agriculture.

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

Sumas Lake(Halq’eméyle: Semá:th Lake, Nooksack: Semáts Xácho7, ) was a shallow freshwater lake surrounded by extensive wetlands that once existed in eastern Fraser Lowland, located on the south side of the Sumas River between the foothills of Sumas Mountain and Vedder Mountain. It disappeared after being artificially drained for flood control and land reclamation from 1920 to 1924, leaving behind a low-lying flatland known as the Sumas Prairie, which is nowadays drained by the Saar Creek and the namesaked Sumas Drainage Canal.

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The Vedder Mountain is a branch of the Cascade Range in the Pacific Northwest, located at the southeastern edge of the Fraser Lowland in British Columbia, Canada, between the village of Yarrow and the village of Cultus Lake, extending from the Vedder River to the Saar Creek valley. It separates the broad Fraser Valley and Sumas Prairie in its northwest from the narrow Columbia Valley to its southeast.

Sumas Mountain, also referred to as Canadian Sumas to distinguish it from an identically-named mountain just 10 km (6.2 mi) to the south in U.S. state of Washington across the border, is a mountain in eastern Fraser Lowland, in the Lower Mainland region of the Canadian province of British Columbia. It sits on the south bank of the Fraser River, west of the smaller Chilliwack Mountain across the Vedder River mouth, and serves as a geographic landmark dividing the Fraser Valley into "Upper" and "Lower" sections. Sumas Peak is an official name for the summit located on the south shore of the Fraser River in the Fraser Valley between Abbotsford and Chilliwack, British Columbia. Elevation 910 m (2,986 ft) above sea level, prominence 875 m (2,871 ft).

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Sumas River</span> River in Canada, United States

The Sumas River is a river in the Fraser Lowland and a tributary of the Fraser River system, coursing across the international border between the Canadian province of British Columbia and the U.S. state of Washington.

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

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<span class="mw-page-title-main">Slesse Creek</span> River in Washington, United States and Canada

Slesse Creek is a tributary of the Chilliwack River in North America. It flows through Whatcom County in the U.S. state of Washington and through the Canadian province of British Columbia. The creek is known as Silesia Creek in the United States and as Slesse Creek in Canada.

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

The Sweltzer River is a river in British Columbia, Canada, that drains the waters of Cultus Lake into the Chilliwack River. It is about 3 kilometres (2 mi) long, and much of it runs through Soowahlie Indian Reserve No. 14, which is under the administration of the Soowahlie Indian Band.

Sumas Prairie is a landform in British Columbia, Canada and the State of Washington, United States. Part of the Fraser Lowland, it was created by the draining of Sumas Lake early in the 20th Century, and extends from the Vedder Canal southwestwards into northern Whatcom County, Washington. The British Columbia Highway 1 traverses the former lakebed on the prairie between Abbotsford and Chilliwack.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Old Yale Road</span> Early road in British Columbia, Canada

The Old Yale Road is a historic early wagon road between New Westminster, British Columbia, Canada and Yale, British Columbia, and servicing the Fraser Valley of the British Columbia Lower Mainland in the late 19th century and into the early 20th. It eventually became an early highway route for automobiles through the valley and into the British Columbia interior beyond Yale. It would eventually be part of, then surpassed by, the Fraser Highway, the Trans-Canada Highway and the Highway 1.

Chilliwack is a city made up of several amalgamated villages and communities. The urban core has a decidedly north–south axis bisected by the Trans-Canada Highway. The city is bounded in north by the Fraser River, in the east by the Eastern Hillsides, in the south by the Canada-U.S. border, and in the west by the Vedder Canal.

References

  1. 1 2 U.S. Geological Survey Geographic Names Information System: Chilliwack River
  2. 1 2 "Vedder River". BC Geographical Names .
  3. About the Chilliwack River Watershed, Chilliwack River Habitat Atlas
  4. 1 2 "Chilliwack River". BC Geographical Names .
  5. Waterfalls of the Northwest: Chilliwack Falls
  6. Beckey, Fred (2003). Range of Glaciers: The Exploration and Survey of the Northern Cascade Range. Oregon Historical Society Press. pp. 123, 141–171. ISBN   0-87595-243-7.
  7. River Diversion, Chilliwack Museum and Archives
  8. Draining the Lake, Chilliwack Museum and Archives
  9. Klingeman, Peter C.; Robert L. Beschta; Paul D. Komer (1998). Gravel-Bed Rivers in the Environment. Water Resources Publication. p. 488. ISBN   978-1-887201-13-1. online at Google Books
  10. "Chilliwack Creek". BC Geographical Names .