Englishman River is a river in the eastern side of

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. It starts on the eastern slopes of the

Beaufort Range The Beaufort Range is a mountain range on southern Vancouver Island, British Columbia, Canada, located north of Port Alberni and to the west of Qualicum Beach, and running from Horne Lake in the southeast to Comox Lake in the northwest. It has a ...

, originating from tiny Jewel Lake and flowing in an easterly direction for , entering 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 ...

Parksville, British Columbia Parksville is a city on Vancouver Island in British Columbia, Canada. As of the 2021 Census, Parksville's population was 13,642, representing a 9.5% increase over the 2016 Census. Parksville is well known for its large, sandy beaches at Park ...

. It is an important watershed providing habitat for various species of

salmon Salmon () is the common name for several list of commercially important fish species, commercially important species of euryhaline ray-finned fish from the family (biology), family Salmonidae, which are native to tributary, tributaries of the ...

and community water to the residents of Parksville and surrounding area. The Englishman River watershed includes Arrowsmith Lake, Hidden Lake,

Fishtail Lake Fishtail Lake is a lake located on Vancouver Island east of Mount Arrowsmith Mount Arrowsmith is the highest mountain east of Port Alberni on Vancouver Island. Its dominant rock is basalt. The mountain is contained within the Mount Arrowsmi ...

, Rowbotham Lake, Healy Lake, Shelton Lake, and

Rhododendron Lake Rhododendron Lake is a lake located on Vancouver Island, Canada, east of South Englishman River and north west of Nanaimo Lakes. Adjacent to the lake is a small grove of Pacific Rhododendron which is a rare plant on Vancouver Island. Fishing W ...

Englishman River Falls Provincial Park Englishman River Falls Provincial Park is a provincial park in British Columbia, Canada. It is located west of Parksville and borders the small community of Errington on Vancouver Island. Features Short year round access hiking trails and brid ...

is a popular tourist destination approximately upstream from the mouth of the

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 ...

. It is famed for its two picturesque

waterfall A waterfall is a point in a river or stream where water flows over a vertical drop or a series of steep drops. Waterfalls also occur where meltwater drops over the edge of a tabular iceberg or ice shelf. Waterfalls can be formed in several wa ...

s and treed campsites. The park was created on December 20, 1940, in an effort to protect the

old-growth forest An old-growth forestalso termed primary forest, virgin forest, late seral forest, primeval forest, or first-growth forestis a forest that has attained great age without significant disturbance, and thereby exhibits unique ecological featur ...

and its associated

ecosystem An ecosystem (or ecological system) consists of all the organisms and the physical environment with which they interact. These biotic and abiotic components are linked together through nutrient cycles and energy flows. Energy enters the syste ...

along the river in the vicinity of the waterfalls. A dammed reservoir on the Englishman is a source of water for

. It has been called Englishman River since at least 1883 to commemorate an unknown Englishman who drowned trying to cross.

South Englishman River

The Englishman's south fork begins at Shelton (Echo) Lake and shortly after exiting the north end of that lake enters Healy (Panther) Lake. The river then exits the far end of the lake and flows northeast to where it merges with the main fork of the Englishman.

History

According to a local legend,

indigenous people Indigenous peoples are culturally distinct ethnic groups whose members are directly descended from the earliest known inhabitants of a particular geographic region and, to some extent, maintain the language and culture of those original people ...

in the area found the

skeleton A skeleton is the structural frame that supports the body of an animal. There are several types of skeletons, including the exoskeleton, which is the stable outer shell of an organism, the endoskeleton, which forms the support structure inside ...

of a

Caucasian Caucasian may refer to: Anthropology *Anything from the Caucasus region ** ** ** ''Caucasian Exarchate'' (1917–1920), an ecclesiastical exarchate of the Russian Orthodox Church in the Caucasus region * * * Languages * Northwest Caucasian l ...

man near the waterfalls, thus giving the river its current name; the river was given its name because "an Englishman was drowned while attempting to cross."''

Victoria Colonist The ''Times Colonist'' is an English-language daily newspaper in Victoria, British Columbia, Canada. It was formed by the Sept. 2, 1980 merger of the ''Victoria Daily Times'', established in 1884, and the ''British Colonist'' (later the ''Daily Co ...

'', December 1949, ''Islander'', p. 10 Spanish mapmakers originally named it the "Rio de Grullas," presumably because of the large number of

great blue heron The great blue heron (''Ardea herodias'') is a large wading bird in the heron family Ardeidae, common near the shores of open water and in wetlands over most of North America and Central America, as well as the Caribbean and the Galápagos ...

s living at its estuary (''grulla'' being Spanish for "crane").

References

{{Authority control Rivers of Vancouver Island Mid Vancouver Island