The Interior Plateau comprises a large region of the

Interior of British Columbia , settlement_type = Region of British Columbia , image_skyline = , nickname = "The Interior" , subdivision_type = Country , subdivision_name = , subdivision_type1 = Province , subd ...

, and lies between the

Cariboo The Cariboo is an intermontane region of British Columbia, Canada, centered on a plateau stretching from Fraser Canyon to the Cariboo Mountains. The name is a reference to the caribou that were once abundant in the region. The Cariboo was the ...

and Monashee Mountains on the east, and the

Hazelton Mountains The Hazelton Mountains are a grouping of mountain ranges on the inland lee of the Kitimat Ranges of the Coast Mountains in northwestern British Columbia, Canada, spanning the area of Hazelton south to the Nechako Reservoir. Defined by the Britis ...

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 Columbi ...

and

Cascade Range The Cascade Range or Cascades is a major mountain range of western North America, extending from southern British Columbia through Washington and Oregon to Northern California. It includes both non-volcanic mountains, such as the North Cascades, ...

on the west.''Landforms of British Columbia'', S. Holland, Government of British Columbia'' The continuation of the plateau into the

United States The United States of America (U.S.A. or USA), commonly known as the United States (U.S. or US) or America, is a country Continental United States, primarily located in North America. It consists of 50 U.S. state, states, a Washington, D.C., ...

is known there as the

Columbia Plateau The Columbia Plateau is a geologic and geographic region that lies across parts of the U.S. states of Washington, Oregon, and Idaho. It is a wide flood basalt plateau between the Cascade Range and the Rocky Mountains, cut through by the Col ...

. Physiographically, the Interior Plateau is a section of the larger Northern Plateaus province, which in turn is part of the

Intermontane Plateaus In the context of physical geography, the Intermontane Plateaus is one of eight physiographic regions of the contiguous United States. The region consists mostly of plateaus and mountain ranges lying between the Rocky Mountains on the east and t ...

physiographic division. (The Interior Plateau is ''not'' part of the

Interior Mountains The Interior Mountains or Northern Interior Mountains are the semi-official names for an expansive collection of mountain ranges that comprises much of the northern half of the Canadian province of British Columbia and a large area of southern Y ...

, a huge area that constitutes most of the northern two thirds 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 Nor ...

of British Columbia between the Coast Mountains,

Rocky Mountains The Rocky Mountains, also known as the Rockies, are a major mountain range and the largest mountain system in North America. The Rocky Mountains stretch in straight-line distance from the northernmost part of western Canada, to New Mexico ...

and the various small ranges on the inland lea of the Coast Mountains between the

Bulkley Ranges The Bulkley Ranges is mountain range in northern British Columbia, Canada, located between the Skeena and Bulkley Rivers south of Hazelton, north of the Morice River and Zymoetz River. It has an area of 7851 km2 and is a subrange of the ...

and the

Bella Coola River The Bella Coola River is a major river on the Pacific slope of the Coast Mountains in southern British Columbia. The town of Bella Coola is at its mouth on North Bentinck Arm. Bella Coola Indian Reserve No. 1 the location of the main community ...

Subdivisions

It has several subdivisions, these being: * The

Fraser Plateau The Fraser Plateau is an intermontane plateau. It is one of the main subdivisions of the Interior Plateau located in the Central Interior of British Columbia. Geography The region includes the Cariboo Plateau and Chilcotin Plateau, and the adjoi ...

** The

Chilcotin Plateau The Chilcotin Plateau is part of the Fraser Plateau, a major subdivision of the Interior Plateau of British Columbia. The Chilcotin Plateau is physically near-identical with the region of the same name, i.e. "the Chilcotin", which lies between t ...

** The

Cariboo Plateau The Cariboo Plateau is a volcanic plateau in south-central British Columbia, Canada. It is part of the Fraser Plateau that itself is a northward extension of the North American Plateau. The southern limit of the plateau is the Bonaparte River alth ...

*** The

Bonaparte Plateau The Bonaparte Plateau, in British Columbia, Canada, is a sub-plateau of the Thompson Plateau which extends to the Quesnel River and lies between the Cariboo Mountains on the east and the Fraser River on the west. The Thompson Plateau is itself a ...

(part of the

Thompson Plateau The Thompson Plateau forms the southern portion of the Interior Plateau of British Columbia, Canada, lying to the west of Okanagan Lake, south of the Thompson River and east of (although never adjoining it) the Fraser River. At its most southern p ...

in some definitions, and also known as the Kamloops Plateau) ** The Nechako Plateau *** The McGregor Plateau * The

The

and

s are separated by 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 ...

. The Nechako Plateau flanks 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 ...

on both sides; its southern boundary is defined by the West Road River (aka the Blackwater River) and the Quesnel River, and its northern boundary consists of the Omineca Mountains and the

Cassiar Mountains , photo = Cassiar Highway.jpg , photo_size = 280px , photo_caption = Cassiar Mountains along Stewart-Cassiar Highway near Good Hope Lake , country = Canada , subdivision1_type = Provinces , subdivision1 ...

, which are two major subdivisions of the

Mountain ranges

Several mountain ranges and hill-systems are included in the definition of this region such as the following: * the Pavilion Range includes: ** The

Clear Range The Clear Range is a small mountain range located in the angle of the Fraser and Thompson Rivers in south-central British Columbia. It has a small subdivision just northeast of that confluence named the Scarped Range. The Clear Range totals 16,2 ...

(includes the Scarped Range) ** The

Marble Range The Marble Range is a small mountain range adjoining the Fraser River on the southwestern edge of the Interior Plateau of British Columbia. It has an area of 1,250 square kilometres and about 65 km NNW to SSE and about 20 km wide. Its ...

** The

Cornwall Hills The Cornwall Hills are a range of mountainous hills in the Thompson Country of the Interior of British Columbia, Canada. They are located west and southwest of the communities of Cache Creek and Ashcroft and form the divide between the basin of ...

(not formally part of the Pavilion Range, but adjoining the Clear Range on its east) ** The

Trachyte Hills The Trachyte Hills are a small, hilly mountain range in southern British Columbia, Canada, located southwest of the junction of Bonaparte River The Bonaparte River is a tributary of the Thompson River, joining it at the community of Ashcroft, B ...

(not formally part of the Pavilion Range, but adjoining the Clear and Marble Ranges on their east) * The Arrowstone Hills (SW edge of the

) * The Rainbow Range (sometimes assigned to either the

Pacific Ranges , photo = Mount Garibaldi (50997016501).jpg , photo_size = 280px , photo_caption = Mount Garibaldi massif as seen from Squamish , map = , map_image = South BC-NW USA-relief PacificRanges.png , ...

Kitimat Ranges , photo = Lax Kw'alaams.jpg , photo_size = 280px , photo_caption = Lax Kw'alaams backdropped by Mount McNeil , map = , map_image = BC-relief_Kitimatranges.png , map_caption = Kitimat Range ...

subranges of the

) * The

Itcha Range The Itcha Range, also known as the Itchas, is a small isolated mountain range in the West-Central Interior of British Columbia, Canada. It is located northeast of the community of Anahim Lake. With a maximum elevation of , it is the lowest of ...

* The

Ilgachuz Range The Ilgachuz Range is a name given to an extinct shield volcano in British Columbia, Canada. It is not a mountain range in the normal sense, because it was formed as a single volcano that has been eroded for the past 5 million years. It lies on t ...

* The Quanchus Range (western edge of the Nechako Plateau, in the midst of the

Nechako Reservoir The Nechako Reservoir, sometimes called the Ootsa Lake Reservoir, is a hydroelectric reservoir in British Columbia, Canada that was formed by the Kenney Dam making a diversion of the Nechako River through a 16-km intake tunnel in the Kitimat Range ...

/Ootsa Lake) * The Telegraph Range ( Nechako Plateau) * The Fawnie Range ( Nechako Plateau) * The Pattullo Range (sometimes classified as part of the

) Some classifications systems assign the Pattullo Rangez to the

, which are part of the larger

Skeena Mountains The Skeena Mountains, also known as the Skeenas, are a subrange of the Interior Mountains of northern British Columbia, Canada, essentially flanking the upper basin of the Skeena River. They lie just inland from the southern end of the Boundary ...

complex, but then theoretically so zalso is the Quanchus Range. Also, the

Cariboo Mountains The Cariboo Mountains are the northernmost subrange of the Columbia Mountains, which run down into the Spokane area of the United States and include the Selkirks, Monashees and Purcells. The Cariboo Mountains are entirely within the province of ...

are sometimes included as part of the Interior Plateau. Three areas liminal to the plateau, i.e. sometimes considered part of it rather than the adjoining mountain ranges, are the

Shuswap Highland The Shuswap Highland is a plateau-like hilly area of in British Columbia, Canada. It spans the upland area between the Bonaparte and Thompson Plateaus from the area of Mahood Lake, at the southeast corner of the Cariboo Plateau, southeast towar ...

, Okanagan Highland and

Quesnel Highland The Quesnel Highland is a geographic area in the Central Interior of the Canadian province of British Columbia. As defined by BC government geographer in ''Landforms of British Columbia'', an account and analysis of British Columbia geography tha ...

History

The location of the Interior Plateau in

North America North America is a continent in the Northern Hemisphere and almost entirely within the Western Hemisphere. It is bordered to the north by the Arctic Ocean, to the east by the Atlantic Ocean, to the southeast by South America and th ...

is between the Rocky Mountains and the Pacific Coast Ranges. It is cut by the basins and tributaries of two rivers: the

Columbia Columbia may refer to: * Columbia (personification), the historical female national personification of the United States, and a poetic name for America Places North America Natural features * Columbia Plateau, a geologic and geographic region i ...

and the

. The northern region is largely wooded, except in lowland and more southerly areas which resemble the

sagebrush Sagebrush is the common name of several woody and herbaceous species of plants in the genus '' Artemisia''. The best known sagebrush is the shrub '' Artemisia tridentata''. Sagebrushes are native to the North American west. Following is an al ...

grassland A grassland is an area where the vegetation is dominated by grasses ( Poaceae). However, sedge ( Cyperaceae) and rush ( Juncaceae) can also be found along with variable proportions of legumes, like clover, and other herbs. Grasslands occur na ...

s which typify the southern part of the plateau in the Columbia drainage. The first documented human presence was in

8500 BC The 9th millennium BC spanned the years 9000 BC to 8001 BC (11 to 10 thousand years ago). In chronological terms, it is the first full millennium of the current Holocene epoch that is generally reckoned to have begun by 9700 BC (11.7 thousan ...

Bison Bison are large bovines in the genus ''Bison'' (Greek: "wild ox" (bison)) within the tribe Bovini. Two extant and numerous extinct species are recognised. Of the two surviving species, the American bison, ''B. bison'', found only in North A ...

remains, Clovis and other fluted points date back to this time frame. An important sites in the area is at

Wenatchee Wenatchee ( ) is the county seat and largest city of Chelan County, Washington, United States. The population within the city limits in 2010 was 31,925, and was estimated to have increased to 34,360 as of 2019. Located in the north-central part ...

site (located in

Washington Washington commonly refers to: * Washington (state), United States * Washington, D.C., the capital of the United States ** A metonym for the federal government of the United States ** Washington metropolitan area, the metropolitan area centered o ...

). The Windust phase is dated between 10600 BC and 7100 BC. At the Lind Coulee Archaeological Site in east-central Washington, leaf-shaped projectile points and knives date between 8500 and 5500 BC. Based on

archaeological Archaeology or archeology is the scientific study of human activity through the recovery and analysis of material culture. The archaeological record consists of artifacts, architecture, biofacts or ecofacts, sites, and cultural landscap ...

evidence, it is suggested that these people were hunters, subsisting also from

fishing Fishing is the activity of trying to catch fish. Fish are often caught as wildlife from the natural environment, but may also be caught from fish stocking, stocked bodies of water such as fish pond, ponds, canals, park wetlands and reservoirs. ...

and plant gathering. The presence of sea shells gives an indication that trading took place. A small oval shaped dwelling was also found at the Paulina Lake site in

Oregon Oregon () is a U.S. state, state in the Pacific Northwest region of the Western United States. The Columbia River delineates much of Oregon's northern boundary with Washington (state), Washington, while the Snake River delineates much of it ...

, dating to 7100 BC. The Cascade phase took place from 7100 to 4300 BC, and was marked by a slight change in toolkit technology from the Windust peoples. A

residential A residential area is a land used in which housing predominates, as opposed to industrial and commercial areas. Housing may vary significantly between, and through, residential areas. These include single-family housing, multi-family resi ...

structure was found for this group, dating between 5500 and 4300 BC. Other pithouses followed between 4000 and 2000 BC. Most residential structures are located on rivers. During the historic era, plants and

salmon Salmon () is the common name for several commercially important species of euryhaline ray-finned fish from the family Salmonidae, which are native to tributaries of the North Atlantic (genus '' Salmo'') and North Pacific (genus '' Onco ...

were the staple foods, which give us an indication that Cascade groups harvested salmon runs in the summer and fall. The Late Period, dated to about

2500 BC The 25th century BC was a century that lasted from the year 2500 BC to 2401 BC. Events * c. 2900–2334 BC: Mesopotamian wars of the Early Dynastic period. * c. 2560 BC: Construction of the Great Pyramid of Giza is completed. * c. 2500 BC: R ...

, the pithouse (

quiggly hole A quiggly hole, also known as a pit-house or simply as a quiggly or kekuli, is the remains of an earth lodge built by the First Nations people of the Interior of British Columbia and the Columbia Plateau in the United States The word ''quiggly ...

) came into existence, such as those at the

Keatley Creek Archaeological Site Keatley Creek is a significant archaeological site in the interior of British Columbia and in the traditional territory of the St'at'imc peoples. Its location is in the Glen Fraser area of the Fraser Canyon ranchlands about 18 miles from the town ...

. Other markers of this period include the increasing number of pithouses and settlements. Fishing continued to increase, and technology advanced, introducing more specialized barb fish spears and composite toggling harpoons. Other technology was used as well, including nets and

weir A weir or low head dam is a barrier across the width of a river that alters the flow characteristics of water and usually results in a change in the height of the river level. Weirs are also used to control the flow of water for outlets of l ...

s. Trade networks also flourished during this time, using sea shells, turquoise, fish grease and others.

References

Sources

* Fagan, Brian M. ''Ancient North America''. London: Thames and Hudson, Ltd., 2005 {{Canada topics Plateaus of British Columbia Interior of British Columbia Physiographic sections

Subdivisions

Mountain ranges

History

See also

References

Sources