Liard River, British Columbia

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Liard River
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Liard River
Location of Liard River in British Columbia
Coordinates: 59°24′57″N126°05′42″W / 59.41583°N 126.09500°W / 59.41583; -126.09500 Coordinates: 59°24′57″N126°05′42″W / 59.41583°N 126.09500°W / 59.41583; -126.09500
CountryFlag of Canada (Pantone).svg  Canada
Province Flag of British Columbia.svg  British Columbia
Area code(s) 250, 778
Welcome sign on the Alaska Highway Liard Hotsprings sign.JPG
Welcome sign on the Alaska Highway

Liard River is a small community in northern British Columbia, Canada. [1] It has a population of about 100 people. It is located at Kilometre 799 (Mile 496) of the Alaska Highway, near the border of British Columbia and the Yukon Territory.

British Columbia Province of Canada

British Columbia is the westernmost province of Canada, located between the Pacific Ocean and the Rocky Mountains. With an estimated population of 5.034 million as of 2019, it is Canada's third-most populous province.

Alaska Highway Historic highway from British Columbia to Alaska

The Alaska Highway was constructed during World War II to connect the contiguous United States to Alaska across Canada. It begins at the junction with several Canadian highways in Dawson Creek, British Columbia, and runs to Delta Junction, Alaska, via Whitehorse, Yukon. When it was completed in 1942 it was about 2,700 kilometres (1,700 mi); but in 2012 it was only 2,232 km (1,387 mi). This is due to constant reconstruction of the highway, which has rerouted and straightened many sections. The highway opened to the public in 1948. Once legendary for being a rough, challenging drive, the highway is now paved over its entire length. Its component highways are British Columbia Highway 97, Yukon Highway 1 and Alaska Route 2.

Yukon Territory of Canada

Yukon is the smallest and westernmost of Canada's three federal territories. It has the smallest population of any province or territory in Canada, with 35,874 people, although it has the largest city in any of the three territories. Whitehorse is the territorial capital and Yukon's only city.

Contents

History

Liard River received its name from the Liard River, the large river on whose banks the town is located.

Liard River

The Liard River flows through Yukon, British Columbia and the Northwest Territories, Canada. Rising in the Saint Cyr Range of the Pelly Mountains in southeastern Yukon, it flows 1,115 kilometres (693 mi) southeast through British Columbia, marking the northern end of the Rocky Mountains and then curving northeast back into Yukon and Northwest Territories, draining into the Mackenzie River at Fort Simpson, Northwest Territories. The river drains approximately 277,100 square kilometres (107,000 sq mi) of boreal forest and muskeg.

Geography

The community lies at an elevation of 460 meters (1,510 ft), between the Terminal Range of the Muskwa Ranges (to the south), and Mount Ole of the Liard Plateau (to the north), immediately north of the Liard River Suspension Bridge on the Alaska Highway.

Terminal Range mountain range in Canada

The Terminal Range is the northernmost mountain range of the Canadian Rockies, so-named for its position at the northern terminus of the Rockies. Lying west of Muncho Lake and the Trout River, its northern perimeter is the Liard River. The Sentinel Range lies to its east.

Muskwa Ranges mountain in Canada

The Muskwa Ranges are a group of mountain ranges in northern British Columbia, Canada. They are part of the Northern Rockies section of the Rocky Mountains and are bounded on their west by the Rocky Mountain Trench and on their east by the Rocky Mountain Foothills. They are delimited on the north by the Liard River and on the south by the Peace Reach of the Lake Williston reservoir, south of which the next major grouping of the Rockies is the Hart Ranges.

The Liard River area is home to Liard River Hot Springs Provincial Park. The hot springs have been used by humans for several thousand years as documented by oral tradition of the Peace Liard Indian tribes, native to the region. The hot springs have a water temperatures ranging from 42 °C to 52 °C; and is called the Alpha pool. The change building and deck was refurbished in 2013 with multiple access points and a new toilet building being added. The boardwalk, which leads to the hot spring pools, passes 700m through a warm water swamp and boreal forest which supports rich and diverse plant communities as well as mammal and bird species. Moose can be seen feeding in the warm water swamps. Due to the lush plant life influenced by the warmth of the springs, the area used to be known as the "Tropical Valley".

Liard River Hot Springs Provincial Park provincial park in British Columbia, Canada

Liard River Hot Springs Provincial Park is a provincial park in British Columbia, Canada. It is home to the largest natural hot springs in Canada. It is a natural river of hot water rather than a spring fed man made pool The park is part of the larger Muskwa-Kechika Management Area. The community of Liard River, British Columbia is located nearby.

The Liard River First Nation, also known as the Liard First Nation is a First Nation in the southeastern Yukon in Canada. Its main centres are Upper Liard and Watson Lake along the Alaska Highway. The language originally spoken by the people of this First Nation was Kaska and the First Nation is a member of the Kaska Tribal Council which is pursuing land claims in the Yukon and northern British Columbia. Their Indian and Northern Affairs Canada band number is 502.

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Rocky Mountains Major mountain range in western North America

The Rocky Mountains, also known as the Rockies, are a major mountain range in western North America. The Rocky Mountains stretch 3,000 km (1,900 mi) in straight-line distance from the northernmost part of British Columbia, in western Canada, to New Mexico in the Southwestern United States. Located within the North American Cordillera, the Rockies are distinct from the Pacific Coast Ranges, Cascade Range, and the Sierra Nevada, which all lie farther to the west.

Canadian Rockies mountain range in Canada

The Canadian Rockies or Canadian Rocky Mountains comprise the Canadian segment of the North American Rocky Mountains. They are the eastern part of the Canadian Cordillera, which is a system of multiple ranges of mountains which runs from the Canadian Prairies to the Pacific Coast. The Canadian Rockies mountain system comprises the southeastern part of this system, lying between the Interior Plains of Alberta and northeastern British Columbia on the east to the Rocky Mountain Trench of BC on the west. The southern end borders Idaho and Montana of the United States. In geographic terms, the boundary is at the Canada–United States border, but in geological terms it might be considered to be at Marias Pass in northern Montana. The northern end is at the Liard River in northern British Columbia.

Dawson Creek City in British Columbia, Canada

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Fort Nelson, British Columbia Community in British Columbia, Canada

Fort Nelson is a community in northeast British Columbia, Canada within the Northern Rockies Regional Municipality (NRRM). It held town status prior to February 6, 2009 when it amalgamated with the former Northern Rockies Regional District to form the NRRM, becoming its administrative centre. The NRRM is the first regional municipality in the province.

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Watson Lake is a town in Yukon, Canada located at mile 635 on the Alaska Highway close to the British Columbia border. The Canada 2016 Census put the population at 790, a drop of 1.5% from 802 in 2011. The town is named for Frank Watson, an American-born trapper and prospector, who settled in the area at the end of the nineteenth century.

Peace River Regional District Regional district in British Columbia, Canada

The Peace River Regional District is a regional district in northeastern British Columbia, Canada. The regional district comprises seven municipalities and four electoral areas. Its member municipalities are the cities of Fort St. John and Dawson Creek, the district municipalities of Tumbler Ridge, Chetwynd, Taylor, and Hudson's Hope, and the village of Pouce Coupe. The district's administrative offices are in Dawson Creek.

The Kaska or Kaska Dena are a First Nations people of the Athabaskan-speaking ethnolinguistic group living mainly in northern British Columbia and the southeastern Yukon in Canada. The Kaska language originally spoken by the Kaska is an Athabaskan language.

Northern Rockies Regional Municipality District municipality in British Columbia, Canada

The Northern Rockies Regional Municipality (NRRM), formerly the Northern Rockies Regional District (NRRD), and before that the Fort Nelson-Liard Regional District, is a municipality in northeastern British Columbia, Canada. Although portrayed as a regional municipality in its official name, it is actually classified as a district municipality. The NRRM's offices are located in Fort Nelson, formerly an incorporated town that amalgamated with the NRRD on February 6, 2009 to form the NRRM. With the Peace River Regional District as the southern part, it was the northern part of the Peace River-Liard Regional District, which was split into two on October 31, 1987.

Geography of British Columbia

British Columbia is the westernmost province of Canada, bordered by the Pacific Ocean. With an area of 944,735 square kilometres (364,764 sq mi) it is Canada's third-largest province. The province is almost four times the size of United Kingdom, two and one-half times larger than Japan and larger than every U.S. 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.

Rocky Mountain Trench landform

The Rocky Mountain Trench, also known as the Valley of a Thousand Peaks or simply the Trench, is a large valley on the western side of the northern part of North America's Rocky Mountains. The Trench is both visually and cartographically a striking physiographic feature extending approximately 1,600 km (1,000 mi) from Flathead Lake, Montana to the Liard River, just south of the British Columbia–Yukon border near Watson Lake, Yukon. The trench bottom is 3–16 km (1.9–9.9 mi) wide and is 600–900 m (2,000–3,000 ft) above sea level. The general orientation of the Trench is an almost straight 150/330° geographic north vector and has become convenient as a visual guide for aviators heading north or south.

Muncho Lake lake in British Columbia, Canada

Muncho Lake is a lake in northern British Columbia, Canada.

Toad River, British Columbia Place in British Columbia, Canada

Toad River, originally Toad's River Post, is a highway service community in northern British Columbia, Canada, located at historic Mile 422 on Highway 97, the Alaska Highway, near the confluence of the Toad and Racing Rivers. The community primarily serves travelers and tourists with a highway maintenance station; a lodge with a restaurant, campground and gas station; a public telephone and a private 3000 foot airstrip. The Toad River Lodge boasts a "world famous" collection of over 10,000 hats (2016) thumbtacked to the ceiling, many of them donated by passersby on the Alaska Highway. Two miles north, The Poplars Campground offers camping, and motel rooms during the summer months (2011).

Scatter River Old Growth Provincial Park is a provincial park in British Columbia, Canada, located on the Liard River downstream from Liard River Hot Springs Provincial Park and Liard River Corridor Provincial Park and Protected Area. The park includes the Grand Canyon of the Liard, a 30km stretch of canyon and whitewater between the Toad and Trout River confluences with the Liard. The park includes high upland plateau and muskeg as well as stands of old growth spruce forests. Established in 1999, the park is c.1140 ha. in area.

Liard River is a river in the Yukon Territory, British Columbia and the Northwest Territories, Canada. The Liard River is an officially named Grand Canyon.

The Northern Rocky Mountains, usually referred to as the Northern Rockies, are a subdivision of the Canadian Rockies comprising the northern half of the Canadian segment of the Rocky Mountains. While their northward limit is easily defined as the Liard River, which is the northward terminus of the whole Rockies, the southward limit is debatable, although the area of Mount Ovington and Monkman Pass is mentioned in some sources, as south from there are the Continental Ranges, which are the main spine of the Rockies forming the boundary between British Columbia and Alberta. Some use the term to mean only the area north of Lake Williston, and in reference to Northern Rocky Mountains Provincial Park, while others consider the term to extend all the way south, beyond the limit of the Hart Ranges at Mount Ovington, to McBride and Mount Robson.

The Toad River is a river in the Canadian province of British Columbia.

References

  1. "Liard River (locality)". BC Geographical Names.