Nazko River

Last updated
Nazko River
Location
Country Canada
Province British Columbia
District Cariboo Land District
Physical characteristics
Source Fraser Plateau
Mouth West Road River
  location
Fraser Plateau
  coordinates
53°7′36″N123°34′0″W / 53.12667°N 123.56667°W / 53.12667; -123.56667 Coordinates: 53°7′36″N123°34′0″W / 53.12667°N 123.56667°W / 53.12667; -123.56667 [1]
  elevation
800 m (2,600 ft) [2]
Discharge 
  locationabove Michelle Creek [3]
  average4.90 m3/s (173 cu ft/s) [3]
  minimum0.106 m3/s (3.7 cu ft/s)
  maximum88.0 m3/s (3,110 cu ft/s)
Basin features
Tributaries 
  leftClisbako River
  rightSnaking River

The Nazko River is a tributary of the West Road River, one of the main tributaries of the Fraser River, in the Canadian province of British Columbia. It flows through the Fraser Plateau region west of Quesnel.

Contents

The name "Nazko" comes from Ndazkoh (Ndaz – meaning ″from the south″ and koh – meaning ″River″) a Dakelh (Carrier) word meaning "river flowing from the south". [4]

Course

The Nazko River originates in a boggy area of many lakes on the Fraser Plateau, around 52°20′N123°30′W / 52.333°N 123.500°W / 52.333; -123.500 . It flows generally north. Ross Creek joins just before the Nazko River flows through a series of lakes, including Nazko Lake, Tanilkul Lake, Nastachi Lake, Tzazati Lake, and Tchusiniltil Lake. [5] The river also flows through Nazko Lake Provincial Park in this area. Goering Creek joins from the east, Anoko Creek from the west. The Nazko River turns to the east and Brown Creek joins from the north. Then the river plummets over Nazko Falls. [6] Tautri Creek joins just before the Nazko resumes its northernly direction. As it flows north the river collects Wentworth Creek from the east and the Clisbako River from the southwest. [7] The Nazko flows by Marmot Lake and Stump Lake as it enters the Nazko First Nation's Indian Reserve and the community of Nazko. [8]

North of the town of Nazko the river is joined by Redwater Creek from the west, then the Snaking River from the southeast. [9] Shortly after that the Nazko reaches its confluence with the West Road River. [10]

History

The Nazko River is within of the tradition lands of the Chuntezni’i, Euchinico, and Lhoosk'uzt'en bands of the Dakelh people. [4] Today the Nazko First Nation includes Indian Reserves around the community of Nazko, British Columbia.

See also

Related Research Articles

Fraser River River in British Columbia, Canada

The Fraser River is the longest river within British Columbia, Canada, rising at Fraser Pass near Blackrock Mountain in the Rocky Mountains and flowing for 1,375 kilometres (854 mi), into the Strait of Georgia just south of the City of Vancouver. It is the 11th longest river in Canada. The river's annual discharge at its mouth is 112 cubic kilometres (27 cu mi) or 3,550 cubic metres per second (125,000 cu ft/s), and it discharges 20 million tons of sediment into the ocean.

Burrard Peninsula

The Burrard Peninsula is a peninsula in the Lower Mainland region of British Columbia, Canada, bounded by the Burrard Inlet to the north, the Georgia Strait to the west, the North Arm of Fraser River to the south, and the Pitt River and Douglas Island to the east. The City of Vancouver occupies almost all of the western half of the peninsula, and the Cities of Burnaby and New Westminster occupy more than half of the eastern half. At its northeastern end, the peninsula is connected to the Eagle Mountain and Mount Burke of the Coast Mountains via a small isthmus at the center of the Tri-Cities.

Shuswap Lake Lake in British Columbia, Canada

Shuswap Lake is a lake located in the southern interior of British Columbia, Canada that drains via the Little Shuswap River into Little Shuswap Lake. Little Shuswap Lake is the source of the South Thompson River, a branch of the Thompson River, a tributary of the Fraser River. It is at the heart of a region known as the Columbia Shuswap or "the Shuswap", noted for its recreational lakeshore communities including the city of Salmon Arm. The name "Shuswap" is derived from the Shuswap or Secwepemc First Nations people, the most northern of the Interior Salish peoples, whose territory includes the Shuswap. The Shuswap call themselves /ʃǝxwépmǝx/ in their own language, which is called /ʃǝxwepmǝxtʃín/, but the ethnonym's original meaning is now lost.

Vedder River

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.

Chilcotin River

The Chilcotin River /tʃɪlˈkoʊtɪn/ located in Southern British Columbia, Canada is a 241 km (150 mi) long tributary of the Fraser River. The name Chilcotin comes from Tŝilhqot’in, meaning "ochre river people," where ochre refers to the mineral used by Tŝilhqot’in Nation and other Indigenous communities as a base for paint or dye. The Chilcotin River, Chilko River and Lake, and Taseko River and Lake make up the Chilcotin River watershed. This 19,200 km2 (7,400 sq mi) watershed drains the Chilcotin Plateau which reaches north to south from the Nechako Plateau to Bridge River county and east to west from Fraser River to the Coast Mountains. It is also one of twelve watersheds that make up the Fraser River Basin. Made up of seven major tributaries, Chilcotin River starts northeast of Itcha Mountain, flowing southeast until it joins the Fraser River south of Williams Lake, 22 km (14 mi) upstream from Gang Ranch.

Nechako River

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".

Klinaklini River

The Klinaklini River is one of the major rivers of the Pacific Ranges section of the Coast Mountains in the Canadian province of British Columbia. It originates in the Pantheon Range and empties into the head of Knight Inlet.

The Stuart River or Nak'alkoh is one of the largest tributaries of the Nechako River in northeastern British Columbia, Canada. The Nechako is in turn one the more important tributaries of the Fraser River. The Stuart River flows 187 kilometres (116 mi) from Stuart Lake to its junction with the Nechako River. The river drains a portion of the Nechako Plateau—a gently-rolling region characterized by small lakes and tributaries. Low but impressive ridges interact with the river, creating high bluffs and hoodoos.

West Road River

The West Road River or Blackwater River or Tiyakoh is an important tributary of the Fraser River, flowing generally north-eastward from the northern slopes of the Ilgachuz Range and across the Fraser Plateau in the Chilcotin region of central British Columbia, Canada. With only one major tributary, the Nazko River, its confluence with the Fraser is approximately 40 km northwest of Quesnel. It forms the division between the Chilcotin Plateau (S) and the Nechako Plateau (N), which are subdivisions of the Fraser Plateau.

North Thompson River

The North Thompson River is the northern branch of the Thompson River, the largest tributary of the Fraser River, in the Canadian province of British Columbia. It originates at the toe of the Thompson Glacier in the Premier Range of the Cariboo Mountains, west of the community of Valemount. The river flows generally south through the Shuswap Highland towards Kamloops where it joins the South Thompson River to form the main stem Thompson River.

South Thompson River

The South Thompson River is the southern branch of the Thompson River, the largest tributary of the Fraser River, in the Canadian province of British Columbia. It originates at the outlet of Little Shuswap Lake at the town of Chase and flows approximately 58 kilometres (36 mi) southwest and west through a wide valley to Kamloops where it joins the North Thompson River to form the main stem Thompson River.

The Nazko First Nation is a First Nations government of the Dakelh people in the north-central Interior of British Columbia. Its reserves are located around the community of Nazko, British Columbia, which is 120 km west of Quesnel and southwest of Prince George.

Alouette River

The Alouette River is a tributary of the Pitt River in the Canadian province of British Columbia.

The Nahatlatch River is a tributary of the Fraser River in the Canadian province of British Columbia. It originates in the Lillooet Ranges of the Coast Mountains and empties into the Fraser River in the Fraser Canyon, north of Boston Bar.

Cariboo River

The Cariboo River is a tributary of the Quesnel River, one of the main tributaries of the Fraser River, in the Canadian province of British Columbia. It flows through the Cariboo region of the British Columbia Interior, southeast of Prince George. Above Cariboo Lake it was formerly known as the Swamp River. The name was adopted, and replaced the former names, in 1936 in association with Cariboo Lake.

Kanaka Creek

Kanaka Creek is a tributary of the Fraser River, in the Canadian province of British Columbia. It flows through Maple Ridge, a district municipality at the eastern edge of Metro Vancouver.

The Baezaeko River is a tributary of the West Road River, one of the main tributaries of the Fraser River, in the Canadian province of British Columbia. It flows through the Fraser Plateau to the West Road River.

The Chilako River is a tributary of the Nechako River, one of the main tributaries of the Fraser River, in the Canadian province of British Columbia. It flows through the Nechako Plateau.

The Cheslatta River is a tributary of the Nechako River, one of the main tributaries of the Fraser River, in the Canadian province of British Columbia. It flows through the Nechako Plateau. Before the construction of Kenney Dam in the early 1950s the Cheslatta was a minor tributary of the Nechako. Today the Nechako River is dry above the Cheslatta, which provides all its source water.

The Barrière River is a tributary of the North Thompson River, one of the main tributaries of the Fraser River, in the Canadian province of British Columbia. It flows through the Shuswap Highland region north of Kamloops. Its name in Secwepemctsín is St́yelltsecwétkwe.

References

  1. "Nazko River". BC Geographical Names.
  2. Elevation derived from ASTER Global Digital Elevation Model, using GeoLocator, and BCGNIS coordinates
  3. 1 2 "Archived Hydrometric Data Search". Water Survey of Canada. Archived from the original on 24 December 2010. Retrieved 18 August 2013. Search for Station 08KF001 Nazko River above Michelle Creek
  4. 1 2 "Nazko History". Nazko Community Association. Retrieved 18 August 2013.
  5. "Nazko Lake". BC Geographical Names.
  6. "Nazko Falls". BC Geographical Names.
  7. "Clisbako River". BC Geographical Names.
  8. "Nazko". BC Geographical Names.
  9. "Snaking River". BC Geographical Names.
  10. Course information in part from Nazko River, Canadian 1:50K topographic maps