Cottonwood River is a

tributary A tributary, or affluent, is a stream or river that flows into a larger stream or main stem (or parent) river or a lake. A tributary does not flow directly into a sea or ocean. Tributaries and the main stem river drain the surrounding drainage ...

of the

Fraser River 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 , into the Strait of Georgia just south of the City of Vancouver. The river's annual d ...

in the

Central Interior of British Columbia Central is an adjective usually referring to being in the center of some place or (mathematical) object. Central may also refer to: Directions and generalised locations * Central Africa, a region in the centre of Africa continent, also known as ...

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 ...

. Rising at the confluence of the Swift River and Lightning Creek at

Coldspring House Coldspring House is an unincorporated locality and former roadhouse on the Cariboo Wagon Road in the Cariboo Country of the Central Interior of British Columbia, Canada. Located just east of the confluence of Lightning Creek and the Swift Riv ...

in the Cariboo goldfields of the northern

Cariboo Plateau The Cariboo Plateau is a volcanic plateau in south-central British Columbia, Canada. It is part of the Fraser Plateau that itself is a northward extension of the North American Plateau. The southern limit of the plateau is the Bonaparte River alth ...

, it flows northwest and then turns southwest to join the Fraser just north of the city of

Quesnel Quesnel or Quesnell means "little oak" in the Picard dialect of French. It is used as a proper name and may refer to: Places * Le Quesnel, a commune the Somme department in France * Quesnel, British Columbia, a city in British Columbia, Canada ...

, which is at the confluence of the

Quesnel River The Quesnel River is a major tributary of the Fraser River in the Cariboo District of central British Columbia. It begins at the outflow of Quesnel Lake, at the town of Likely, British Columbia, Likely and flows for about northwest to its conflu ...

with the Fraser. It is the namesake of the settlement of Cottonwood, located 8 km northwest of its origin at the confluence of Lightning Creek and the Swift, and also of Cottonwood House, a heritage property adjoining the settlement, which is situated along the highway from Quesnel to

Wells Wells most commonly refers to: * Wells, Somerset, a cathedral city in Somerset, England * Well, an excavation or structure created in the ground * Wells (name) Wells may also refer to: Places Canada *Wells, British Columbia England * Wells ...

and the museum town and former "capital" of the Cariboo Gold Rush,

Barkerville Barkerville was the main town of the Cariboo Gold Rush in British Columbia, Canada, and is preserved as a historic town. It is located on the north slope of the Cariboo Plateau near the Cariboo Mountains east of Quesnel. BC Highway 26, which ...

. Cottonwood House was a road house on the last leg of the

Cariboo Wagon Road The Cariboo Road (also called the Cariboo Wagon Road, the Great North Road or the Queen's Highway) was a project initiated in 1860 by the Governor of the Colony of British Columbia, James Douglas. It involved a feat of engineering stretching fro ...

, which ran from

Yale Yale University is a private research university in New Haven, Connecticut. Established in 1701 as the Collegiate School, it is the third-oldest institution of higher education in the United States and among the most prestigious in the wor ...

north to Quesnel and then turned east to reach Barkerville and is now a historic park and small museum. Also named for the river is the Cottonwood Canyon, which lies along the Fraser to the north of the Cottonwood's confluence.

Cottonwood River Provincial Park Cottonwood River Provincial Park is a provincial park in British Columbia, Canada, located northeast of the confluence of the Fraser and Cottonwood Rivers in that province's North Cariboo region. There are no active recreational facilities, no ...

is situated to the northeast of the confluence of the Quesnel and Cottonwood Rivers.

References

{{coord, 53, 07, 00, N, 122, 36, 00, W, display=title Rivers of the Cariboo Tributaries of the Fraser River Cariboo Land District

See also

References