Rivers Inlet is a

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 ...

in the Central Coast region of the

Canadian province Within the geographical areas of Canada, the ten provinces and three territories are sub-national administrative divisions under the jurisdiction of the Canadian Constitution. In the 1867 Canadian Confederation, three provinces of British North ...

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, ...

, its entrance off

Fitz Hugh Sound Fitz Hugh Sound, sometimes spelled Fitzhugh Sound, is a sound on the British Columbia Coast of Canada, located between Calvert Island and the mainland. Etymology Fitz Hugh Sound was given its name in 1785 by James Hanna, the first non-indigenous ...

, about southwest of the community of Bella Coola and about north of the northern tip 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 ...

and the western entrance of the

Queen Charlotte Strait , image = Canadian pilot, near Port Hardy BC.jpg , alt = , caption = A pilot boat plies Queen Charlotte Strait near Port Hardy , image_bathymetry = Locmap-QCS-Hecate-Dixon.png , alt_bathymetry = ...

. Rivers Inlet was a major fishing area with huge salmon runs. At one time it had the second largest sockeye salmon run only to the Fraser River. A total of 19 Canneries were built in the area starting late in the 1890's. Three canneries remained as they dotted the shorelines until their closure by consolidation through the monopoly of companies, and the consolidation around large centralized ice plants in the 1950s.

Name origin

Rivers Inlet was named 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 ...

for George Pitt the 1st Baron Rivers (1721-1803). Two of his men,

Peter Puget Peter Puget (1765 – 31 October 1822) was an officer in the Royal Navy, best known for his exploration of Puget Sound. Midshipman Puget Puget's ancestors had fled France for Britain during Louis XIV's persecution of the Huguenots. His father, ...

and

Joseph Whidbey Joseph Whidbey 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 European to discover and char ...

, first charted it in 1792.

Geography

The inlet is about in length from its head at the community of

Rivers Inlet Rivers Inlet is a fjord in the Central Coast region of the Canadian province of British Columbia, its entrance off Fitz Hugh Sound, about southwest of the community of Bella Coola and about north of the northern tip of Vancouver Island and the ...

, which was a logging and fishing town that was also the home of the

Wuikinuxv The Wuikinuxv , ("Backbone people"), also rendered Oweekano (Pre-1976); ''Oowekeeno'' (1976-2003) (variation: ''Oweekeno, Owekano, Oweekayno, Wuikenukv, Wikeno, Owikeno, Awikenox'', and also known as the Rivers Inlet people, are an Indigenous Fir ...

and their government, the

Wuikinuxv Nation The Wuikinuxv Nation, also known as the Oweekeno Nation, is a First Nations band government whose traditional territory is the shores of Rivers Inlet and Owikeno Lake in the Central Coast region of the Canadian province of British Columbia, in th ...

, also known variously as the Owekeeno, Awikenox, Oowekeeno and also as the Rivers Inlet people. The main rivers feeding Rivers Inlet are the

Kilbella River The Kilbella River is a river in the Central Coast region of British Columbia, Canada, flowing into Kilbella Bay, which is an arm of Rivers Inlet. The Chuckwalla River also flows into Kilbella Bay via the same valley. The Kilbella River is consid ...

and its tributary, the

Chuckwalla River The Chuckwalla River is a river in the Central Coast region of British Columbia, Canada, flowing into Kilbella Bay, which is a sidewater of Rivers Inlet. The river's headwaters are at . The Kilbella River also flows into Kilbella Bay Kilbella Bay ...

, and the

Wannock River The Wannock River is a short river in the Central Coast region of British Columbia, Canada, draining Owikeno Lake and entering Rivers Inlet at the head of that inlet, adjacent to the town of the same name, which is the main modern settlement of t ...

, which feeds the head of Rivers Inlet and was fed by the fresh-water fjord

Owikeno Lake Owikeno Lake, also Owekeeno Lake, Owekano Lake, Oweekayno Lake and other spellings (pron. "o we KEE no"), is a large fjord lake in the Central Coast region of British Columbia, Canada. It connects to the head of Rivers Inlet by the short Wannock ...

, in length, and which was fed by the Tzeo, Sheemahant and

Machmell River The Machmell River, also spelled Machmel River, is a river in the Pacific Ranges of the southern Coast Mountains in British Columbia, Canada. It flows west into Owikeno Lake Owikeno Lake, also Owekeeno Lake, Owekano Lake, Oweekayno Lake and other s ...

s. The Machmell, the largest, was fed from the northern flank of the

Ha-Iltzuk Icefield The Ha-Iltzuk Icefield is an icefield in the central Pacific Ranges of the Coast Mountains in British Columbia, Canada. It is the largest icefield in the Coast Mountains south of the Alaska Panhandle, with an area of . It is located on the west s ...

, one of the largest of the southern

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 ...

icecaps, and which was capped by the

Silverthrone Caldera The Silverthrone Caldera is a potentially active caldera complex in southwestern British Columbia, Canada, located over northwest of the city of Vancouver and about west of Mount Waddington in the Pacific Ranges of the Coast Mountains. The cald ...

. About down the inlet, west from the town and the head of the inlet, is the mouth of a side-inlet from the north, Moses Inlet, which is fed by the Clyak River and which itself has a western side-inlet named Hardy Inlet, in length.

References

Fjords of British Columbia Central Coast of British Columbia Wuikinuxv Inlets of British Columbia {{canada-fjord-stub