Fraser River

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Fraser River
Fraser River at Lillooet

Fraser River at Lillooet

Data
location British Columbia ( Canada )
River system Fraser River
source Mount Robson Provincial Park in the Rocky Mountains
52 ° 31 ′ 6 ″  N , 118 ° 19 ′ 0 ″  W
muzzle Strait of Georgia near Vancouver Coordinates: 49 ° 7 '7 "  N , 123 ° 11' 27"  W 49 ° 7 '7 "  N , 123 ° 11' 27"  W
Mouth height 0  m

length 1375 km
Catchment area 248,035 km²
Drain MQ
 3550 m³ / s
Left tributaries Bowron River , Goat River , Quesnel River , Thompson River , Willow River , Anderson River , Williams Lake River , Coquihalla River
Right tributaries Nechako River , Bridge River , Seton River , Harrison River , Chilcotin River , Stein River , West Road (Blackwater) River , McGregor River , Salmon River , Pitt River
Big cities Vancouver
Medium-sized cities New Westminster , Prince George
Small towns Hope
Communities Lillooet
Map of the Fraser River and major tributaries

Map of the Fraser River and major tributaries

The Fraser River is the longest river in the whole of the Canadian province of British Columbia .

It rises near Mount Robson in the Rocky Mountains and flows into the Pacific after about 1375 km south of the city of Vancouver .

The river drains an area of ​​248,035 km². The source is on Mount Edith Cavell . First, the Fraser flows northwest past Mount Robson. At 54 ° N, it makes a sharp bend south and then flows almost to the United States border . He crosses the Coast Mountains in a deep canyon . Then the river turns west and passes Chilliwack . A few kilometers south of Vancouver it forms a delta and flows into the Strait of Georgia between the mainland and Vancouver Island . At the estuary, the annual amount of water is 112 cubic kilometers (average about 3550 m³ / s) and 20 million tons of sediments are carried into the ocean.

The river delta is an important resting place during the bird migration of plovers , especially in the Boundary Bay area .

history

On June 14, 1792, the Spanish explorers Dionisio Alcalá Galiano and Cayetano Valdés were the first Europeans to enter the northern estuary of the Fraser River.

The upper reaches of the Fraser River was explored by Alexander MacKenzie in 1793. Simon Fraser toured the river along its entire length in 1808 and confirmed that it is not connected to the Columbia River .

The development of the province of British Columbia is closely linked to the river, as this represented the main route between the interior and the coast after the areas south of the 49th parallel to the United States with the Oregon Treaty in 1846. This was particularly the case from 1858 when the river system became the scene of the Fraser Canyon Gold Rush .

Since 1998 the river has been a Canadian Heritage River .

A large landslide with rockslide in a section of the river known as the “Big Bar” created a new dam with an approximately five meter high waterfall around 2019 . It was discovered in the second half of June 2019 in the impassable canyon of the Fraser River above Lillooet , north of the confluence of the Seton River . Analysis of satellite images now indicated that the landslide could have occurred as early as November 2018. Only a few salmon can overcome the 5 m height in order to reach their spawning grounds above. A quick fix needs to be found for the salmon. Both the provincial and federal governments of Canada have joined in the discussion about aid for the salmon, and even the Prime Minister of Canada is involved. Different measures are being examined because the economic activity of several First Nations depends on the fish being able to travel further upstream and spawn there in good time.

Road bridge Pattullo Bridge and opened railway swing bridge New Westminster Bridge over the Fraser River between New Westminster and Surrey

Larger tributaries

Trivia

From the mouth of the Fraser River to the confluence of the Coquihalla River into it, a section of the 18,078 km long Trans Canada Trail follows the river more or less closely.

Web links

Commons : Fraser River  - collection of pictures, videos and audio files

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ Cannings, Richard and Sidney. British Columbia: A Natural History. P. 41. Greystone Books. Vancouver. 1996
  2. ^ Reifel Bird Sanctuary. Retrieved January 8, 2010 .
  3. ^ Derek Hayes: Historical Atlas of the Pacific Northwest: Maps of Exploration and Discovery . Sasquatch Books, 1999, ISBN 1-57061-215-3 .
  4. ^ Fraser River. (No longer available online.) In: Canadian Council for Geographic Education. Archived from the original on April 17, 2005 ; Retrieved January 8, 2010 . Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. @1@ 2Template: Webachiv / IABot / www.ccge.org
  5. ^ Canadian Rivers. In: env.gov.bc.ca. Conservation - BC Parks - British Columbia Heritage Rivers Program Canadian Heritage Rivers System (CHRS), accessed March 23, 2019 .
  6. ↑ Help for the salmon in the Fraser River , by Gerd Braune, Frankfurter Rundschau , June 27, 2019
and display information about the image
Panorama of the Fraser River at Mission