![SalmonRiverValley](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/5/50/SalmonRiverValley.jpg)
The Salmon River is a river in the
Shuswap region of
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 ...
.
The river arises in the mountains between
Kamloops
Kamloops ( ) is a city in south-central British Columbia, Canada, at the confluence of the South flowing North Thompson River and the West flowing Thompson River, east of Kamloops Lake. It is located in the Thompson-Nicola Regional District, w ...
and
Kelowna
Kelowna ( ) is a city on Okanagan Lake in the Okanagan Valley in the southern interior of British Columbia, Canada. It serves as the head office of the Regional District of Central Okanagan. The name Kelowna derives from the Okanagan word ''kiÊ ...
. It flows west to
Salmon Lake, then issues northeastward and descends into a broad valley near
Westwold. It then runs east along the route of
Highway 97
Route 97, or Highway 97, may refer to:
Australia
- Olympic Dam Highway, South Australia
Canada
* British Columbia Highway 97
** British Columbia Highway 97A
** British Columbia Highway 97B
** British Columbia Highway 97C
** British Columb ...
past the town of
Falkland before turning north again through the Silver Creek area to flow into the
Salmon Arm of Shuswap Lake at
Salmon Arm
Salmon Arm is a city in the Columbia Shuswap Regional District of the Southern Interior of the Canadian province of British Columbia that has a population of 17,706 (2016). Salmon Arm was incorporated as a municipal district on May 15, 1905. The ...
.
For several kilometres upstream and downstream of Westwold the river runs through a deep gravel bed; in this section it has no surface flow except during
freshet
The term ''freshet'' is most commonly used to describe a spring thaw resulting from snow and ice melt in rivers located in upper North America. A spring freshet can sometimes last several weeks on large river systems, resulting in significant in ...
in any year that is not exceptionally wet. This presents a barrier to migratory fish.
The river takes its name from the numerous
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 ...
that spawned in the river prior to 1914, the year of the
Hell's Gate Slide. Since then the
salmon run
''Salmon Run'' is a 1982 video game for the Atari 8-bit family created by Bill Williams and distributed via the Atari Program Exchange. ''Salmon Run'' was the first game in Williams's career, followed by a string of successes noted for their o ...
has been very small, and salmon fishing is prohibited.
Rivers of British Columbia
Salmon Arm
{{BritishColumbia-river-stub