The Pitt River in

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 ...

is a large tributary 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 ...

, entering it a few miles upstream from

New Westminster New Westminster (colloquially known as New West) is a city in the Lower Mainland region of British Columbia, Canada, and a member municipality of the Metro Vancouver Regional District. It was founded by Major-General Richard Moody as the capita ...

and about 25 km ESE of

Downtown Vancouver Downtown Vancouver is the central business district and the city centre neighbourhood of Vancouver, Canada, on the northwestern shore of the Burrard Peninsula in the Lower Mainland region of British Columbia. It occupies most of the north sh ...

. The river, which begins in the

Garibaldi Ranges The Garibaldi Ranges are the next-to-southwesternmost subdivision of the Pacific Ranges of the Coast Mountains; only the North Shore Mountains are farther southwest. They lie between the valley formed by the pass between the Cheakamus River and ...

of the

Coast Mountains The Coast Mountains (french: La chaîne Côtière) are a major mountain range in the Pacific Coast Ranges of western North America, extending from southwestern Yukon through the Alaska Panhandle and virtually all of the Coast of British Columbia ...

, is in two sections above and below

Pitt Lake Pitt Lake is the second-largest lake in the Lower Mainland of British Columbia. About in area, it is about long and about wide at its widest. It is one of the world's relatively few tidal lakes, and among the largest. In Pitt Lake, there is o ...

and flows on a generally southernly course. Pitt Lake and the lower Pitt River are

tidal Tidal is the adjectival form of tide. Tidal may also refer to: * ''Tidal'' (album), a 1996 album by Fiona Apple * Tidal (king), a king involved in the Battle of the Vale of Siddim * TidalCycles, a live coding environment for music * Tidal (servic ...

in nature as the Fraser's mouth is only a few miles downstream from their confluence. The river was named for

William Pitt the Younger William Pitt the Younger (28 May 175923 January 1806) was a British statesman, the youngest and last prime minister of Great Britain (before the Acts of Union 1800) and then first prime minister of the United Kingdom (of Great Britain and Ire ...

. The first mention of the name, as "Pitts River", occurs in the 1827 journal kept by

James McMillan James (or Jim or Jimmy) McMillan or MacMillan may refer to: Sportspeople * James McMillan (footballer, born c. 1866) (c. 1866–?), played for Sunderland * James McMillan (footballer, born 1869) (1869–1937), played for Scotland,Everton and St ...

of the

Hudson's Bay Company The Hudson's Bay Company (HBC; french: Compagnie de la Baie d'Hudson) is a Canadian retail business group. A fur trading business for much of its existence, HBC now owns and operates retail stores in Canada. The company's namesake business div ...

. The river has an alternate name, Quoitle, which is probably equivalent to Kwantlen. East of the lower Pitt River, 20 km long, is the community of

Pitt Meadows Pitt Meadows is a municipality of Metro Vancouver in southwestern British Columbia, Canada. Incorporated in 1914, it has a land area of and a population of 19,146 as of 2021. The municipality received its name from the Pitt River and Pitt Lake ...

, while to its west are the cities of

Coquitlam Coquitlam ( ) is a city in the Lower Mainland of British Columbia, Canada. Mainly suburban, Coquitlam is the List of cities in British Columbia, sixth-largest city in the province, with a population of 148,625 in 2021, and one of the 21 municipa ...

and

Port Coquitlam Port Coquitlam ( ) is a city in British Columbia, Canada. Located east of Vancouver, it is on the north bank of the confluence of the Fraser River and the Pitt River. Coquitlam borders it on the north, the Coquitlam River borders it on the west, ...

; opposite its mouth is

Surrey Surrey () is a ceremonial and non-metropolitan county in South East England, bordering Greater London to the south west. Surrey has a large rural area, and several significant urban areas which form part of the Greater London Built-up Area. ...

. Port Coquitlam and Pitt Meadows are connected by the Highway 7 bridges and the rail trestles of the double-tracked

CPR Cardiopulmonary resuscitation (CPR) is an emergency procedure consisting of chest compressions often combined with artificial ventilation in an effort to manually preserve intact brain function until further measures are taken to restore sponta ...

mainline, whose vast main western yards begin on the Pitt's western shore. The plain of the lower Pitt was berry marsh and bog prior to its dyking. The farmland is on the east bank in Pitt Meadows; the poorer soil quality and scrubland on the west shore has encouraged largescale

suburbanization Suburbanization is a population shift from central urban areas into suburbs, resulting in the formation of (sub)urban sprawl. As a consequence of the movement of households and businesses out of the city centers, low-density, peripheral urba ...

in Port Coquitlam. On the west shore in the upper stretches of the lower Pitt is

Minnekhada Regional Park Minnekhada Regional Park is a natural park situated in northeast Coquitlam, British Columbia, alongside Pitt-Addington Marsh and the Pitt River. It is over 200 hectares in size, and features trails, rock knolls, abundant trees, birds and other wi ...

, residence of former British Columbia lieutenant-governor Clarence Wallace. It was later sold to the Daon Corporation, which sold off portions. The Province then bought it, anticipating future development in the area; future provincial governments sold off even more portions. The upper Pitt's basin is short but fed by a number of

ice field An ice field (also spelled icefield) is a mass of interconnected valley glaciers (also called mountain glaciers or alpine glaciers) on a mountain mass with protruding rock ridges or summits. They are often found in the colder climates and highe ...

glacier A glacier (; ) is a persistent body of dense ice that is constantly moving under its own weight. A glacier forms where the accumulation of snow exceeds its Ablation#Glaciology, ablation over many years, often Century, centuries. It acquires dis ...

s, and mountain streams, such as

Garibaldi Névé The Garibaldi Névé is a snowfield in the Pacific Ranges of the Coast Mountains in southwestern British Columbia, Canada, located on the north and east sides of Mount Garibaldi in New Westminster Land District. The névé along with its outlet g ...

and

Mamquam Icefield The Mamquam Icefield is an icefield in southwestern British Columbia, Canada, located at the headwaters of Skookum Creek. It lies at the southern end of Garibaldi Provincial Park and is one of the southernmost icefields in the Pacific Ranges of th ...

. Thus the river gets quite large only 50 km from its source in

Garibaldi Provincial Park Garibaldi Provincial Park, also called Garibaldi Park, is a wilderness park located on the coastal mainland of British Columbia, Canada, 70 kilometres (43.5 mi) north of Vancouver. It was established in 1920 and named a Class A Provincial ...

. East of the upper Pitt is

Golden Ears Provincial Park Golden Ears Provincial Park is a Provincial park in British Columbia, Canada and is . It is named after the prominent twin peaks which are commonly referred to as Golden Ears ( Mount Blanshard) (elevation: ). The park was originally part of Gariba ...

(formerly a part of

). Barge traffic from logging camps in the upper Pitt basin is a regular sight on the

as well as in the area of the two highway bridges and CPR mainline bridge just up from the confluence of the

Fraser Fraser may refer to: Places Antarctica * Fraser Point, South Orkney Islands Australia * Fraser, Australian Capital Territory, a suburb in the Canberra district of Belconnen * Division of Fraser (Australian Capital Territory), a former federal e ...

. The Pitt is one of a number of north-south river-lake valleys which join the lower Fraser along its north side. The others are the valleys of the

Coquitlam River The Coquitlam River ( /koʊˈkwɪtləm/ or /kəˈkwɪtləm/) is a tributary of the Fraser River in the Canadian province of British Columbia. The river's name comes from the word Kʷikʷəƛ̓əm which translates to "Red fish up the river". The na ...

, the

Alouette River The Alouette River is a tributary of the Pitt River in the Canadian province of British Columbia. The Alouette River was known as the Lillooet River until 1914, at which time its name was changed to avoid confusion with the much larger Lillooet Ri ...

, the Stave River, Suicide Creek ( Norrish Creek), the Chehalis River and, lastly, the valley of

Harrison Lake Harrison Lake is the largest lake in the southern Coast Mountains of Canada, being about 250 square kilometres (95 mi²) in area. It is about 60 km (37 mi) in length and at its widest almost 9 km (5.6 mi) across. Its so ...

, 60 km east of the Pitt.

References

{{Coquitlam Tributaries of the Fraser River Rivers of the Lower Mainland Landforms of Coquitlam Rivers of the Pacific Ranges New Westminster Land District

See also

References