The Taseko Lakes are a pair of lakes, Upper Taseko Lake and Lower Taseko Lake, which are expansions of the upper
Taseko River
The Taseko River or Dasiqox in the original Chilcotin, is a tributary of British Columbia's Chilko River, a tributary of the Chilcotin River which joins the Fraser near the city of Williams Lake.
The Taseko has its origins at Taylor Pass in ...
in the southern
Chilcotin District
The Chilcotin () region of British Columbia is usually known simply as "the Chilcotin", and also in speech commonly as "the Chilcotin Country" or simply Chilcotin. It is a plateau and mountain region in British Columbia on the inland lee of the Co ...
of the
Central Interior of British Columbia,
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 ...
.
Their name is based on the original in the
Chilcotin language
''Nenqayni Ch’ih'' (lit. "the Native way") (also Chilcotin, Tŝilhqotʹin, Tsilhqot’in, Tsilhqút’in) is a Northern Athabaskan language spoken in British Columbia by the Tsilhqot’in people.
The name ''Chilcotin'' is derived from the Ch ...
, Dasiqox Biny, where "Desiqox" means "Mosquito River" and is cognate to the name of the river as in English; the Chilcotin name refers to both lakes as one lake, which was also originally the case with the English usage until official designation of the separate lakes in 1954. The lakes are separated by the short Taseko Narrows, the name of which in Chilcotin is ''nanats'akash'', and is an important crossing place for deer. The
Tchaikazan River flows the area between the upper & lower lake from the southwest, while the Taseko River feeds it from the southeast, while the equally large
Lord River joins it from the south, at the head of the lake.
History
The Taseko Lakes were proposed to be part of a massive hydroelectric development which would have seen the flow of the Taseko River dammed and diverted westward via a tunnel to
Chilko Lake Chilko may refer to:
*Chilko River
The Chilko River is a river in the Chilcotin District of the Central Interior of British Columbia, Canada, flowing northeast from Chilko Lake to the Chilcotin River. Its main tributary is the Taseko River.
Th ...
, which would have been also dammed and diverted through further tunnels to
Tatlayoko Lake
Tatlayoko Lake is a lake on the Homathko River in the western Chilcotin District of the Central Interior of British Columbia, Canada, located on a north-south axis just upstream of the entrance of the series of canyons of the Homathko, including ...
on the
Homathko River
The Homathko River is one of the major rivers of the southern Coast Mountains of the Canadian province of British Columbia. It is one of the few rivers that penetrates the range from the interior Chilcotin Country to the coastal inlets of the P ...
, which unlike the Taseko and
Chilko River
The Chilko River is a river in the Chilcotin District of the Central Interior of British Columbia, Canada, flowing northeast from Chilko Lake to the Chilcotin River. Its main tributary is the Taseko River.
The Chilko is the Chilcotin River's ma ...
s drains directly to the ocean at
Bute Inlet
, image = Bute Inlet.jpg
, image_size = 260px
, alt =
, caption =
, image_bathymetry =
, alt_bathymetry =
, caption_bathymetry =
, location = Strathcona RD, British Co ...
rather than via the
Chilcotin and
Fraser Rivers. Fisheries and aboriginal
land claims
A land claim is defined as "the pursuit of recognized territorial ownership by a group or individual". The phrase is usually only used with respect to disputed or unresolved land claims. Some types of land claims include aboriginal land claims, A ...
concerns have derailed the Taseko diversion, although the Chilko diversion remains as a possibility.
The Taseko Lakes are now part of
Tsʼilʔos Provincial Park
Tsʼilʔos Provincial Park is a provincial park in British Columbia, Canada. Tsʼilʔos ( ;BC Geographical Names Information System roughly in Chilcotin) is the official BC Parks designation for this provincial park, though sometimes it is writt ...
, which also includes Chilko Lake and the intervening country, including
Nemaiah Valley
Nemaiah Valley, also spelled Nemiah Valley and Nemaia Valley, is an unincorporated locality and First Nations reserve and ranching community between Chilko Lake and the Taseko Lakes in the Chilcotin District of the Central Interior of British Col ...
and
Yohetta Valley, which form wide alpentals connecting the two lake valleys.
See also
*
Taseko Mountain
Taseko Mountain, also known as Mount Taseko (pronounced ''Ta-SEE-ko'') 3063 m (10049 ft), prominence: 1277 m, is one of the principal summits of the Chilcotin Ranges, part of the Pacific Ranges subdivision of the Coast Mountains of sout ...
*
Brittany Triangle
*
Chilcotin War
The Chilcotin War, the Chilcotin Uprising or the Bute Inlet Massacre was a confrontation in 1864 between members of the Tsilhqot'in (Chilcotin) people in British Columbia and white road construction workers. Fourteen men employed by Alfred Wadd ...
*
Gunn Valley Gunn Valley is a valley in the southern Chilcotin District of the Central Interior of British Columbia, Canada, just west of the Taseko Lakes and, like them, running on a north–south axis and at a perpendicular angle to Yohetta Valley, which dr ...
References
Chilcotin Ranges
Lakes of the Chilcotin
Lillooet Land District
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