Taweh Creek is a tributary of Mess Creek, which in turn is a tributary of the Stikine River in northwest part of the province of British Columbia, Canada. It flows generally northwest for about to join Mess Creek about northwest of Mess Creek's confluence with Raspberry Creek. Taweh Creek's

watershed Watershed is a hydrological term, which has been adopted in other fields in a more or less figurative sense. It may refer to: Hydrology * Drainage divide, the line that separates neighbouring drainage basins * Drainage basin, called a "watershe ...

covers and its mean annual

discharge Discharge may refer to Expel or let go * Discharge, the act of firing a gun * Discharge, or termination of employment, the end of an employee's duration with an employer * Military discharge, the release of a member of the armed forces from serv ...

is estimated at . The mouth of Taweh Creek is located about southeast of Telegraph Creek, about west-southwest of Iskut and about southwest of Dease Lake. Taweh Creek's watershed's

land cover Land cover is the physical material at the surface of Earth. Land covers include grass, asphalt, trees, bare ground, water, etc. Earth cover is the expression used by ecologist Frederick Edward Clements that has its closest modern equivalent being ...

is classified as 41.3%

barren Barren primarily refers to a state of barrenness (infertility) Barren may also refer to: Places * Barren, Missouri *Barren County, Kentucky * Barren Island (Andaman Islands) *Barren Island, Brooklyn *Barren River Lake Other uses * ''Barren Count ...

, 21.1%

shrubland Shrubland, scrubland, scrub, brush, or bush is a plant community characterized by vegetation dominated by shrubs, often also including grasses, herbs, and geophytes. Shrubland may either occur naturally or be the result of human activity. It m ...

, 20.7%

conifer forest A forest is an area of land dominated by trees. Hundreds of definitions of forest are used throughout the world, incorporating factors such as tree density, tree height, land use, legal standing, and ecological function. The United Nations' ...

, 8.4%

herbaceous Herbaceous plants are vascular plants that have no persistent woody stems above ground. This broad category of plants includes many perennials, and nearly all annuals and biennials. Definitions of "herb" and "herbaceous" The fourth edition of t ...

, 8.1% snow/glacier, and small amounts of other cover. Taweh Creek is in

Mount Edziza Provincial Park Mount Edziza Provincial Park is a provincial park in Cassiar Land District of northern British Columbia, Canada. It was established on 27 July 1972 to protect the Mount Edziza volcanic complex and the surrounding Tahltan Highland. Geography The p ...

which lies within the traditional territory of the

Tahltan The Tahltan or Nahani are a First Nations people of the Athabaskan-speaking ethnolinguistic group who live in northern British Columbia around Telegraph Creek, Dease Lake, and Iskut. The Tahltan constitute the fourth division of the ''Nahane' ...

people.

Geography

Taweh Creek originates on the southern end of the

Big Raven Plateau The Big Raven Plateau is a volcanic plateau, lava plateau in northern British Columbia, Canada, located west of Mount Edziza in Mount Edziza Provincial Park. It is part of the Tahltan Highland, which is the southwestern sub-region of the Stikine P ...

. From its source just south of Mount Edziza between

Coffee Crater Coffee Crater is a well-preserved cinder cone south of Mount Edziza, British Columbia, Canada. It was formed during the Holocene period. It is within the Snowshoe lava field, part of the Mount Edziza volcanic complex. See also *List of volcano ...

and Cartoona Peak, Taweh Creek flows about southwest to the northern base of Keda Cone. It then flows about west to near the southwestern end of the Big Raven Plateau. From there, Taweh Creek flows about northwest to Hola Bluff where it flows north-northwest through a valley on the eastern edge of the Big Raven Plateau for an additional . Taweh Creek then flows about west through a

gorge A canyon (from ; archaic British English spelling: ''cañon''), or gorge, is a deep cleft between escarpments or cliffs resulting from weathering and the erosion, erosive activity of a river over geologic time scales. Rivers have a natural tenden ...

to empty into Mess Creek. Taweh Creek's only named tributary, Sezill Creek, is about east of Taweh Creek's confluence with Mess Creek. It is about long and flows northwest into Taweh Creek from the western side of Mount Edziza.

Geology

Taweh Creek flows from a linear group of volcanoes called the Mount Edziza volcanic complex. As a result, Taweh Creek has been engulfed by tongues of lava from the neighbouring Snowshoe Lava Field. Most of this lava issued from

cinder cone A cinder cone (or scoria cone) is a steep conical hill of loose pyroclastic fragments, such as volcanic clinkers, volcanic ash, or scoria that has been built around a volcanic vent. The pyroclastic fragments are formed by explosive eruptions o ...

s but one of the youngest lava flows to enter Taweh Creek originated from a

fissure vent A fissure vent, also known as a volcanic fissure, eruption fissure or simply a fissure, is a linear volcanic vent through which lava erupts, usually without any explosive eruption, explosive activity. The vent is often a few metres wide an ...

known as The Saucer. While the majority of this lava converged into the

head A head is the part of an organism which usually includes the ears, brain, forehead, cheeks, chin, eyes, nose, and mouth, each of which aid in various sensory functions such as sight, hearing, smell, and taste. Some very simple animals may ...

of Taweh Creek, some of it formerly extended more than downstream to near Mess Creek. An erosional remnant of this lava forms the lip of an waterfall at an elevation of . The Taweh Creek lava flows are of Holocene age and form part of the

Big Raven Formation The Big Raven Formation is a stratigraphic unit of Quaternary age in northwestern British Columbia, Canada. It is the youngest and least voluminous geological formation of the Mount Edziza volcanic complex (MEVC); it overlies at least six older f ...

History

The historic

Yukon Telegraph Trail The Yukon Telegraph Trail, also known simply as the Telegraph Trail, is a historic pathway in the Canadian province of British Columbia that extends from the village of Ashcroft in the south to the community of Atlin in the north. It was used for ...

crosses Taweh Creek in Mess Creek valley. It was built to serve the nearly Yukon Telegraph Line which was constructed by the Dominion Government Telegraph Service between 1897 and 1901 to send messages from Ashcroft, British Columbia in the south to Dawson City, Yukon in the north. The telegraph trail crosses other tributaries along the eastern side of Mess Creek, including Crayke Creek about north of Taweh Creek. Taweh Creek was formerly called Big Sheep Creek which appeared on a BC Lands map published in 1929. Its current name was suggested by the BC Geographic Division to avoid confusion with other similarly-named features; it first appeared on maps in 1945. Taweh means

mountain sheep The argali (''Ovis ammon''), also known as the mountain sheep, is a wild sheep that roams the highlands of western East Asia, the Himalayas, Tibet, and the Altai Mountains. Description The name 'argali' is the Mongolian word for wild sheep. I ...

in the Tagish language.

References

{{Mount Edziza volcanic complex Cassiar Land District Rivers of the Mount Edziza volcanic complex Tahltan Highland Tributaries of Mess Creek Stikine Country Tahltan