The Alouette River is a river

River

A river is a natural watercourse, usually freshwater, flowing towards an ocean, a lake, a sea, or another river. In a few cases, a river simply flows into the ground or dries up completely before reaching another body of water. Small rivers may also be called by several other names, including...

 in the Canadian province

Provinces and territories of Canada

The provinces and territories of Canada combine to make up the world's second-largest country by area. There are ten provinces and three territories...

 of British Columbia

British Columbia

British Columbia is the westernmost of Canada's provinces and is known for its natural beauty, as reflected in its Latin motto, Splendor sine occasu . Its name was chosen by Queen Victoria in 1858...

.

The Alouette River was known as the Lillooet River until 1914, at which time its name was changed to avoid confusion with the much larger Lillooet River

Lillooet River

The Lillooet River is a major river of the southern Coast Mountains of British Columbia. It begins at Silt Lake, on the southern edge of the Lillooet Crown Icecap about 80 kilometres northwest of Pemberton and about 85 kilometres northwest of Whistler...

. The name Alouette, French for "lark", was obstentially chosen because it sounds similar to Lillooet.

Course

The Alouette River is formed at the confluence of the North and South Alouette Rivers. The smaller of the two, the North Alouette flows from Jacobs Lake south to its confluence with the South Alouette. The river flows over a minor set of falls about halfway from its mouth. The South Alouette originates on the slopes of Mount Robie Reid

Mount Robie Reid

Mount Robie Reid is a mountain in the southern end of the Garibaldi Ranges overlooking the Lower Mainland region of British Columbia, Canada. It lies to the north of Mission, British Columbia, Canada and on the west side of the upper end of Stave Lake, and to the northeast of the group of summits...

 and flows into Alouette Lake

Alouette Lake

Alouette Lake, originally Lillooet Lake and not to be confused with the lake of that name farther north, is a lake and reservoir in Maple Ridge, British Columbia, Canada. It is located at the southeast foot of the mountain group known as the Golden Ears and is about 8 km in length on a...

. After exiting the lake the river flows west before converging with the North Alouete. From there, the river flows west to join the Pitt River

Pitt River

The Pitt River in British Columbia, Canada is a large tributary of the Fraser River, entering it a few miles upstream from New Westminster and about 25 km ESE of Downtown Vancouver. The river, which begins in the Garibaldi Ranges of the Coast Mountains, is in two sections above and below Pitt...

. The Pitt River flows south to join the Fraser River

Fraser River

The Fraser River is the longest river within British Columbia, Canada, rising at Fraser Pass near Mount Robson in the Rocky Mountains and flowing for , into the Strait of Georgia at the city of Vancouver. It is the tenth longest river in Canada...

 east of Vancouver

Vancouver

Vancouver is a coastal seaport city on the mainland of British Columbia, Canada. It is the hub of Greater Vancouver, which, with over 2.3 million residents, is the third most populous metropolitan area in the country,...

.