Skeena River

from Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Skeena River
Skeena River at Telegraph Point

Skeena River at Telegraph Point

Data
location British Columbia ( Canada )
River system Skeena River
Headwaters Spatsizi Plateau
57 ° 9 ′ 6 ″  N , 128 ° 41 ′ 29 ″  W.
Source height approx.  1500  m
muzzle near Prince Rupert in Chatham Sound ( Hecate Strait ) Coordinates: 54 ° 8 ′ 15 ″  N , 130 ° 5 ′ 40 ″  W 54 ° 8 ′ 15 ″  N , 130 ° 5 ′ 40 ″  W
Mouth height 0  m
Height difference approx. 1500 m
Bottom slope approx. 2.6 ‰
length 579 km
Catchment area 54,400 km²
Outflow at the level at the mouth MQ
 2155 m³ / s
Left tributaries Sustut River , Babine River , Kitseguecla River , Bulkley River , Zymoetz River
Right tributaries Kispiox River , Kitwanga River , Kitsumkalum River
Small towns Terrace
Communities Hazelton
Yellowhead Highway in the Skeena River Valley

Yellowhead Highway in the Skeena River Valley

Location of the Skeena River

Location of the Skeena River

The Skeena River is a river in the western part of the Canadian province of British Columbia .

geography

The Skeena River is the second longest river, the entire course of which is in the territory of the province of British Columbia. The river is about 579 kilometers long from its source on the Spatsizi Plateau to its confluence with the Hecate Strait near Prince Rupert .

The catchment area of ​​the Skeena River is around 54,400 km², the average discharge near the mouth is 2155 m³ / s.

course

The river has its source south of the Spatsizi Plateau Wilderness Provincial Park in a high valley of the Spatsizi Plateau near the abandoned airfield of Kluakaz at the confluence of Kluakaz Creek and Garner Creek at an altitude of about 1500  m . The source is near the watershed to the Klappan River, which is one of the main tributaries of the Stikine River .

It flows in a south-easterly direction through the valley of the McEvoy and the Jackson Flats between the Tatlatui Range to the east and the Groundhog Range and Slamgeesh Range to the west, which belong to the Skeena Mountains . At the confluence of the Sustut River , it turns west and runs between Slamgeesh Range and Sicintine Range to Fourth Cabin. From here it runs largely in a southerly direction through a widening valley between the Kisipox Range and the massif of Mount Thomlinson ( 2454  m ) in the northern Babine Range.

The Bulkley River empties at Hazelton, the Skeena River turns to the southwest and first breaks through the Hazelton Mountains . Near the massif of Seven Sisters Peak ( 2755  m ) the Nass Range and the Bulkley Range force the river into a south-running narrow valley which, after the Kitselas Canyon , turns into a wide valley near Terrace , where the river widens. Here it turns west and breaks through the Coast Mountains before flowing into Chatham Sound and Telegraph Pass between Haysport and Port Essington .

The railway line, which was projected from Fort St. John to Dease Lake , should run parallel to the upper reaches of the river between the mouth of the Sustut River and the source. Since the track bed has already been built, there are numerous now abandoned settlements in the valley - Kluakaz, Kluatanton, Chipmunk and Monque (from north to south). Signs of human civilization can only be seen again near the mouth of the Babine River, a road that opens up the Babine River Corridor Provincial Park ends here . From the settlement of Kuldo, which was abandoned in 1936 - around 40 kilometers north - no remains are visible; remains of the telegraph line between San Francisco and Dawson are still there.

The course of the river follows from Hazelton to near the mouth of the Yellowhead Highway 16 and the line of the Canadian National Railway .

Tributaries

Fisheries and Oceans Canada - a federal government department - structures the Skeena River system as follows:

  • Upper reaches: Bear River, Johanson Creek, Shilahou Creek, Slamgeesh River, Sustut River
  • Middle reaches: Babine River , Boucher Creek, Buck Creek, Bulkley River , Comeau Creek, Cullon Creek, Date Creek, Deep Canoe Creek, Fulton River, Harold Price Creek, Kispiox River , Kitseguecla River , Maxan Creek, McCully Creek, McQueen Creek, Morice River , Nangeese River, Nanika River, Nilkitkwa River, Pinkut Creek, Richfield Creek, Shegunia River, Simpson Creek, Stephens Creek, Suskwa River, Sweetin River, Toboggan Creek
  • Lower reaches: Alwyn Creek, Big Falls Creek, Cedar Creek, Coldwater Creek, Copper River [= Zymoetz River], Deep Creek, Dog Tag Creek, Ecstall River, Erlandsen Creek, Exchamsiks River, Exstew River, Fiddler Creek, Gitnadoix River, Goat Creek , Johnston Creek, Johnston Lake, Kaeen Creek, Kasiks River, Khyex River, Kitsumkalum River , Kitwanga River , Kleanza Creek, Lakelse River, Lean-To Creek, Limonite Creek, Magar Creek, Moonlit Creek, Salmon Run Creek, Sockeye Creek, Spring Creek, Star Creek, Thomas Creek, Trapline Creek, White Creek, Williams Creek, Zymagotitz River, Zymoetz River [= Copper River]

Natural space

The river runs largely in narrow mountain valleys, only around Hazelton and Terrace do the mountains recede and give way to a swampy hill country. There are several nature reserves in the area of ​​the river :

flora

The area of ​​the river runs largely in the zone of the Pacific, temperate rainforest , which turns into mixed deciduous forest and subalpine tundras with increasing inland and altitude .

fauna

The river is known among sport fishermen for salmon and rainbow trout , although the salmon are also used commercially. Every year 5 million sockeye salmon migrate to the river to spawn. The wider catchment area of ​​the river is home to the rare Kermode bear , black bears are more common and grizzly bears less common.

history

The Skeena River has been home to indigenous peoples for at least 7,000 years. Today the coastal Tsimshian settle on its lower reaches up to the Kitselas Canyon , on the middle and upper reaches the Gitxsan , who belong to the Tsimshian language group.

The Hudson's Bay Company , whose local center was founded in Port Simpson (now Lax Kw'alaams ) near the confluence of Portland Inlet and the Work Channel in Chatham Sound, established a port for traffic with Port Essington in the estuary of the river in 1871 with steamboats on the Skeena River. It was the starting point for numerous prospectors during the gold rush on the Omineca River , who sailed the river to Hazelton with steamboats (star wheelers) and from there to the Babine Lake and the Omineca River.

Web links

Commons : Skeena River  - Collection of Images, Videos, and Audio Files

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ a b The Atlas of Canada - Rivers ( Memento from January 22, 2013 in the Internet Archive ) (English)