The Gardner Canal is one of the principal

inlets An inlet is a (usually long and narrow) indentation of a shoreline, such as a small arm, bay, sound, fjord, lagoon or marsh, that leads to an enclosed larger body of water such as a lake, estuary, gulf or marginal sea. Overview In marine geogra ...

of the

British Columbia Coast , settlement_type = Region of British Columbia , image_skyline = , nickname = "The Coast" , subdivision_type = Country , subdivision_name = Canada , subdivision_type1 = Province , subdivision_name1 = British ...

. Technically a side-inlet of the larger

Douglas Channel Douglas Channel is one of the principal inlets of the British Columbia Coast. Its official length from the head of Kitimat Arm, where the aluminum smelter town of Kitimat to Wright Sound, on the Inside Passage ferry route, is . The actual length o ...

, the Gardner Canal is still in length in its own right; total length of the waterways converging on the Douglas Channel is making it one of the largest

fjord In physical geography, a fjord or fiord () is a long, narrow inlet with steep sides or cliffs, created by a glacier. Fjords exist on the coasts of Alaska, Antarctica, British Columbia, Chile, Denmark, Germany, Greenland, the Faroe Islands, Ice ...

-complexes in the world.

Name origin

It was named in 1793 by

George Vancouver Captain George Vancouver (22 June 1757 – 10 May 1798) was a British Royal Navy officer best known for his 1791–1795 expedition, which explored and charted North America's northwestern Pacific Coast regions, including the coasts of what a ...

in honour of his friend and former commander,

Alan Gardner, 1st Baron Gardner Admiral Alan Gardner, 1st Baron Gardner (12 February 1742 – 1 January 1809), was a British Royal Navy officer and peer of the realm. He was regarded by some as one of the Georgian era's most dashing frigate captains and, ultimately, a respecte ...

. One of his men,

Joseph Whidbey Joseph Whidbey Fellow of the Royal Society, FRS (1757 – 9 October 1833) was a member of the Royal Navy who served on the Vancouver Expedition 1791–95, and later achieved renown as a naval engineer. He is notable for having been the first Eu ...

, first charted it the same year.

Geography

The entrance to the Gardner Canal is hidden behind

Hawkesbury Island Hawkesbury Island is an island in British Columbia, Canada. It is located in Douglas Channel, one of the major fjord In physical geography, a fjord or fiord () is a long, narrow inlet with steep sides or cliffs, created by a glacier. Fjords ...

, and is accessed via Devastation Channel or Varney Passage which form the northeast and southeast flanks of that island. Segments of the Gardner Canal are named "reaches". They are, from mouth to head, Alan Reach, Europa Reach, Barrie Reach, Whidbey Reach, and Egeria Reach. The extreme head is called Kitlope Anchorage. Side inlets include Ochwe Bay, Triumph Bay, Kiltuish Inlet, Owyacumish Bay, and Chief Mathews Bay.

Kemano Generating Station

The Gardner Canal is the location of the

Kemano Kemano was a settlement situated 75 km (47 mi) southeast of Kitimat in the province of British Columbia in Canada. It was built to service a hydroelectric power station, built to provide energy for Alcan to smelt aluminum from its ore. ...

Generating Station of the

Nechako Diversion Nechako may refer to: *Nechako River in British Columbia *Nechako Plateau *Nechako Country *Regional District of Bulkley-Nechako, British Columbia *Nechako Reservoir *Nechako Diversion *Nechako, British Columbia, a neighbourhood in Kitimat, British ...

, which was built to supply power for an

Alcan Alcan was a Canadian mining company and aluminum manufacturer. It was founded in 1902 as the Northern Aluminum Company, renamed Aluminum Company of Canada in 1925, and Alcan Aluminum in 1966. It took the name Alcan Incorporated in 2001. During t ...

aluminum smelter in

Kitimat Kitimat is a district municipality in the North Coast region of British Columbia, Canada. It is a member municipality of the Regional District of Kitimat–Stikine regional government. The Kitimat Valley is part of the most populous urban distr ...

. The generating station is located about halfway along the canal on its north bank, at the mouth of the

Kemano River The Kemano River is a river in the Kitimat Ranges of the Coast Mountains in British Columbia, Canada. It flows into Kemano Bay on the Gardner Canal near the Kemano powerhouse and former townsite. See also *List of rivers of British Columbia The ...

. At the head of the Gardner Canal is the mouth of the

Kitlope River The Kitlope River is a river in the Kitimat Ranges in the North Coast of British Columbia, Canada, flowing north for ,Length measured using Google Maps path tool, BCGNIS coordinates, topographic maps, anTopoQuest into the head of the Gardner Canal ...

a major wildlife and wilderness preserve, the

Kitlope Heritage Conservancy The Kitlope Heritage Conservancy or Huchsduwachsdu Nuyem Jees ("source of milky blue waters") in the Haisla language, is a conservancy located on the Pacific coast of the province of British Columbia, Canada. It preserves the largest continuous ...

, an area of outstanding natural beauty and harsh weather.

References

External links

'' "Engineers Invade Another Wilderness - Huge Canadian Power Project Marks 20th Century Frontier Boom" '', by Richard Neuberger
detailed 1951 Popular Science article on the Kemano Hydro Project Fjords of British Columbia North Coast of British Columbia Inlets of British Columbia {{BritishColumbiaCoast-geo-stub