The Campbell River is a

river A river is a natural flowing watercourse, usually freshwater, flowing towards an ocean, sea, lake or another river. In some cases, a river flows into the ground and becomes dry at the end of its course without reaching another body of wate ...

Vancouver Island Vancouver Island is an island in the northeastern Pacific Ocean and part of the Canadian Provinces and territories of Canada, province of British Columbia. The island is in length, in width at its widest point, and in total area, while are o ...

British Columbia British Columbia (commonly abbreviated as BC) is the westernmost province of Canada, situated between the Pacific Ocean and the Rocky Mountains. It has a diverse geography, with rugged landscapes that include rocky coastlines, sandy beaches, ...

Canada Canada is a country in North America. Its ten provinces and three territories extend from the Atlantic Ocean to the Pacific Ocean and northward into the Arctic Ocean, covering over , making it the world's second-largest country by tot ...

. It drains into

Discovery Passage , image = Discovery Passage.jpg , image_size = 250px , caption = Looking south from between Vancouver Island and Sonora Island , image_bathymetry = Locmap-DiscoveryPassage.png , caption_bathymetry = , loc ...

at the northwest end of the

Strait of Georgia The Strait of Georgia (french: Détroit de Géorgie) or the Georgia Strait is an arm of the Salish Sea between Vancouver Island and the extreme southwestern mainland coast of British Columbia, Canada and the extreme northwestern mainland coast ...

at the City of Campbell River. The Kwak'wala name for the river, or for the village near its mouth, at Campbell River Indian Reserve No. 11, is ''Tla'mataxw''. The source of the river is

Buttle Lake Buttle Lake is a lake on Vancouver Island in Strathcona Regional District, British Columbia, Canada. It is about long and wide, has an area of , is up to deep, and lies at an elevation of . The lake is located between Campbell River and Gold R ...

Name origin

The river was named for Dr. Samuel Campbell, ship's surgeon aboard from 1857 to 1861. Campbell Bay on

Mayne Island Mayne Island is a island in the southern Gulf Islands chain of British Columbia. It is midway between the Lower Mainland of BC and Vancouver Island, and has a population of 995. Mount Parke in the south-central heart of the island is its high ...

and

Samuel Island Samuel Island is a small island in the southern Gulf Islands, located in the Strait of Georgia southeast of Mayne Island in British Columbia, Canada. See also *List of islands of British Columbia This is a list of islands of British Columbia ...

were also named for him, as may also have been Campbell Point on

Loughborough Inlet Loughborough Inlet is one of the lesser principal inlets of the British Columbia Coast. It penetrates the Coast Mountains on the north side of the Discovery Islands archipelago, running about from its head at the mouth of the Stafford River to ...

and Campbell Island, the location of the community of Bella Bella, and Plumper's Cove on Keats Island.

Hydroelectricity

Three

hydroelectric dam Hydroelectricity, or hydroelectric power, is electricity generated from hydropower (water power). Hydropower supplies one sixth of the world's electricity, almost 4500 TWh in 2020, which is more than all other renewable sources combined and ...

s are located on the Campbell River: the John Hart Dam, finished in 1947, which impounds John Hart Lake; upstream, the Ladore Dam, completed in 1949 on

Lower Campbell Lake Lower Campbell Lake, also known as Campbell Lake, is a reservoir on Vancouver Island in British Columbia, Canada. The lake is impounded by the Ladore Dam, which was completed in 1958. Resident fish species in the lake include Cutthroat trout, R ...

; and the Strathcona Dam, completed 1958, impounding

Upper Campbell Lake Upper Campbell Lake is a reservoir on Vancouver Island in British Columbia, Canada. The lake was flooded in 1958 for a large hydroelectric project, which raised the water level by . Crest Creek and headwaters of the Heber River are diverted into t ...

furthest upstream. Each dam has an accompanying generating station, of which the John Hart Generating Station near the John Hart Dam is the largest. Combined, the three generating stations account for about 11 percent of Vancouver Island's total electricity supply. Due to seismic concerns from the age of the generating stations, the John Hart generating station underwent upgrades spanning 2014 to 2019.

References

* *{{BCGNIS, 39032, Campbell Island (island) Rivers of Vancouver Island Mid Vancouver Island