Bridge River
Encyclopedia
The Bridge River is, or was, a major tributary of British Columbia's
Fraser River
, entering that stream about six miles upstream from the town of Lillooet
.
exploring party in 1808, it was for a while known by the English version of that name, Fountain River, and some old maps show it as Shaw's River, after the name of one of Fraser's men.
The river came to be called the Bridge River due to the location of a bridge across the Fraser at this point, originally a pole-structure built by the native St'at'imc people but replaced at the time of the Fraser Canyon Gold Rush
in 1858 by a white-run tollbridge.
. The flow of the Bridge River, however, was near-completely diverted into Seton Lake
with the completion of the Bridge River Power Project
in 1961, with the water now entering the Fraser River
just south of Lillooet
as a result. The salmon fishery of the Bridge River was near-entirely destroyed by this diversion.
by Terzaghi Dam
and tunnels through Mission Mountain, which is in that area the south flank of the Bridge, what Bridge River water enters the Fraser now is largely the flow of one of the Bridge's tributaries, the Yalakom River
. The Yalakom, whose name means the ewe of the mountain sheep in the Chilcotin language
, was in old times known as the North Fork of the Bridge. The South Fork of the Bridge River is many miles upstream, at the community of Gold Bridge
, and is today known as the Hurley River
(originally Hamilton's River). Several other large feeder streams contribute to the diverted flow of the Bridge, including Gun Creek, Tyaughton Creek
, Marshall Creek, and Cadwallader Creek; the last-named is a tribuary of the Hurley, about 15 kilometres upstream from its confluence with the Bridge.
jointly drain the south flank of the protected wilderness area known as the Spruce Lake Protected Area
, popularly known as the South Chilcotin although the area is not actually in the Chilcotin, which lies north of it, but in the Chilcotin Ranges
. The official designation for the area has changed since it was first proposed for a park in the 1930s, due to the efforts of the prospecting and mining community in the goldfield towns. The protectionist vs. resource extraction battle over that area has raged since that time, and names used in debates for the area have included the Charlie Cunningham Wilderness, the Spruce Lake-Eldorado Study Area , the Spruce Lake-Eldorado Management Planning Unit (SLRMP), Southern Chilcotin Mountains Provincial Park, and South Chilcotin Provincial Park. In 2007 the name was changed again to the Spruce Lake Protected Area, reflective of the government's downgrading of the area from park to mixed-use in certain areas.
that the major mines of the Bridge River goldfields are located at Bralorne
and Pioneer Mine. Other mining towns and camps built around mines in the Bridge River goldfields were Minto City
, Wayside, Congress, Lajoie, Haylmore and Brexton
(aka Fish Lake). Around Bralorne other localities such as Ogden grew up along road right-of-ways and slips of land between the mineral claims which dominate the northwestern flank of the Bendor Range
in this area, providing services not approved of by company towns, including "sporting houses", some of which were also in Gold Bridge until forced to move to Minto as Gold Bridge became larger. Other gold-mining activity is found throughout the river's basin. During the 19th Century, large hydraulic mining
operations lined the banks of the river for the thirty kilometres between the community of Moha, at the confluence of the Yalakom
and the Bridge.
, the principal dam of the Bridge River Power Project
. Terzaghi Dam
forms Carpenter Lake, the longest and largest of the power project's reservoirs at about 40 kilometres. Just upstream from Gold Bridge
, which is at the upper end of Carpenter Lake, is Lajoie Dam
, which forms Downton Lake.
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...
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...
, entering that stream about six miles upstream from the town of Lillooet
Lillooet, British Columbia
Lillooet is a community on the Fraser River in western Canada, about up the British Columbia Railway line from Vancouver. Situated at an intersection of deep gorges in the lee of the Coast Mountains, it has a dry climate- of precipitation is recorded annually at the town's weather station,...
.
Name
Its name in the Lillooet language is Xwisten , sometimes spelled Nxwisten or Nxo-isten). Dubbed Riviere du Font by Simon Fraser'sSimon Fraser (explorer)
Simon Fraser was a fur trader and an explorer who charted much of what is now the Canadian province of British Columbia. Fraser was employed by the Montreal-based North West Company. By 1805, he had been put in charge of all the company's operations west of the Rocky Mountains...
exploring party in 1808, it was for a while known by the English version of that name, Fountain River, and some old maps show it as Shaw's River, after the name of one of Fraser's men.
Location
Its confluence with the Fraser occurs at a double gorge formed by the two rivers, which are forced through narrow banks at this point and so reminiscent of a fountain (in another version of the name, the surname of one of Fraser's men was supposedly du Font, giving the location its name of the Lower Fountains (the Upper Fountains being another few miles upstream on the Fraser, today's community of FountainFountain, British Columbia
Fountain is an unincorporated rural area and Indian Reserve community in the Fraser Canyon region of British Columbia, Canada, located at the ten-mile mark from the town of Lillooet on BC Highway 99, which in that area is also on the route of the Old Cariboo Road and is located at the junction of...
The river came to be called the Bridge River due to the location of a bridge across the Fraser at this point, originally a pole-structure built by the native St'at'imc people but replaced at the time of the Fraser Canyon Gold Rush
Fraser Canyon Gold Rush
The Fraser Canyon Gold Rush, began in 1858 after gold was discovered on the Thompson River in British Columbia at its confluence with the Nicoamen River. This was a few miles upstream from the Thompson's confluence with the Fraser River at present-day Lytton...
in 1858 by a white-run tollbridge.
Fishery
Due to the force of the rivers at this point, the area of the confluence was for millennia, and remains today, the most important inland salmon-fishing site on the FraserFraser 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...
. The flow of the Bridge River, however, was near-completely diverted into Seton Lake
Seton Lake
Seton Lake is a freshwater fjord draining east via the Seton River into the Fraser River at the town of Lillooet, British Columbia, about 22 km long and 243 m in elevation and 26.2 square kilometres in area...
with the completion of the Bridge River Power Project
Bridge River Power Project
The Bridge River Power Project is a hydroelectric power development in the Canadian province of British Columbia, located in the Lillooet Country between Whistler and Lillooet...
in 1961, with the water now entering 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...
just south of Lillooet
Lillooet, British Columbia
Lillooet is a community on the Fraser River in western Canada, about up the British Columbia Railway line from Vancouver. Situated at an intersection of deep gorges in the lee of the Coast Mountains, it has a dry climate- of precipitation is recorded annually at the town's weather station,...
as a result. The salmon fishery of the Bridge River was near-entirely destroyed by this diversion.
Tributaries
Because of the diversion of the river to Seton LakeSeton Lake
Seton Lake is a freshwater fjord draining east via the Seton River into the Fraser River at the town of Lillooet, British Columbia, about 22 km long and 243 m in elevation and 26.2 square kilometres in area...
by Terzaghi Dam
Terzaghi Dam
Terzaghi Dam, located about 100 km NE of the resort of Whistler, British Columbia in western Canada, is the key diversion dam in the Bridge River Power Project. It forms the project's largest reservoir, Carpenter Lake west of Lillooet...
and tunnels through Mission Mountain, which is in that area the south flank of the Bridge, what Bridge River water enters the Fraser now is largely the flow of one of the Bridge's tributaries, the Yalakom River
Yalakom River
The Yalakom River is a tributary of the Bridge River, which is one of the principal tributaries of the Fraser River, entering it near the town of Lillooet, British Columbia. In frontier times it was also known as the North Fork of the Bridge River, and joins the Bridge River proper at Moha, a...
. The Yalakom, whose name means the ewe of the mountain sheep in the Chilcotin language
Chilcotin language
Chilcotin is a Northern Athabaskan language spoken in British Columbia by the Tsilhqot’in people....
, was in old times known as the North Fork of the Bridge. The South Fork of the Bridge River is many miles upstream, at the community of Gold Bridge
Gold Bridge, British Columbia
Gold Bridge is an unincorporated community in the Bridge River Country of British Columbia, Canada. Although numbering only around 250 inhabitants, Gold Bridge is the service and supply centre for the upper basin of the Bridge River Valley, which includes recreation-residential areas at the Gun...
, and is today known as the Hurley River
Hurley River
The Hurley River is a major tributary of the Bridge River of west-central British Columbia that was earlier known as the South Fork of that larger river. It was for a while known as "Hamilton's River" after Danny Hamilton, an American who was among the first to settle in the goldfields region of...
(originally Hamilton's River). Several other large feeder streams contribute to the diverted flow of the Bridge, including Gun Creek, Tyaughton Creek
Tyaughton Creek
Tyaughton Creek, formerly gazetted as the Tyaughton River, also historically known as Tyoax Creek, is a 50 kilometre tributary of British Columbia's Bridge River, flowing generally southeast to enter the main flow of that river about mid-way along the length of Carpenter Lake, a reservoir formed by...
, Marshall Creek, and Cadwallader Creek; the last-named is a tribuary of the Hurley, about 15 kilometres upstream from its confluence with the Bridge.
Spruce Lake Protected Area
Gun Creek and Tyaughton CreekTyaughton Creek
Tyaughton Creek, formerly gazetted as the Tyaughton River, also historically known as Tyoax Creek, is a 50 kilometre tributary of British Columbia's Bridge River, flowing generally southeast to enter the main flow of that river about mid-way along the length of Carpenter Lake, a reservoir formed by...
jointly drain the south flank of the protected wilderness area known as the Spruce Lake Protected Area
Spruce Lake Protected Area
The Spruce Lake Protected Area, was a 71,347-hectare Protected Area in the British Columbia provincial parks system 200 km north of Vancouver. The area had been the subject of an ongoing preservationist controversy since the 1930s. Formerly known variously as the Southern Chilcotin Mountains...
, popularly known as the South Chilcotin although the area is not actually in the Chilcotin, which lies north of it, but in the Chilcotin Ranges
Chilcotin Ranges
The Chilcotin Ranges are a subdivision of the Pacific Ranges of the Coast Mountains . They lie on the inland lea of the Pacific Ranges, abutting the Interior Plateau of British Columbia...
. The official designation for the area has changed since it was first proposed for a park in the 1930s, due to the efforts of the prospecting and mining community in the goldfield towns. The protectionist vs. resource extraction battle over that area has raged since that time, and names used in debates for the area have included the Charlie Cunningham Wilderness, the Spruce Lake-Eldorado Study Area , the Spruce Lake-Eldorado Management Planning Unit (SLRMP), Southern Chilcotin Mountains Provincial Park, and South Chilcotin Provincial Park. In 2007 the name was changed again to the Spruce Lake Protected Area, reflective of the government's downgrading of the area from park to mixed-use in certain areas.
Bridge River Gold
It is along Cadwallader CreekCadwallader Creek
Cadwallader Creek is an important tributary of the Hurley River in the Bridge River Country of the British Columbia Interior, Canada, most notable for its role as the home of the Bralorne and Pioneer Mines and associated gold claims and workings...
that the major mines of the Bridge River goldfields are located at Bralorne
Bralorne, British Columbia
Bralorne is an historic underground gold mining community in the Bridge River District, some sixty dirt road miles west of the town of Lillooet.-Background:...
and Pioneer Mine. Other mining towns and camps built around mines in the Bridge River goldfields were Minto City
Minto City, British Columbia
Minto City, often called just Minto, sometimes Minto Mines or Minto Mine, was a gold mining town in the Bridge River Valley of British Columbia from 1930 to 1936, located at the confluence of that river with Gun Creek, one of its larger tributaries...
, Wayside, Congress, Lajoie, Haylmore and Brexton
Brexton, British Columbia
Brexton is a ghost town located in the Bridge River Country region of British Columbia. The town is situated near Carpenter Lake....
(aka Fish Lake). Around Bralorne other localities such as Ogden grew up along road right-of-ways and slips of land between the mineral claims which dominate the northwestern flank of the Bendor Range
Bendor Range
The Bendor Range is a small but once-famous subrange of the Pacific Ranges of the Coast Mountains, about It is approximately 7,000 square kilometres in area and about 40 km long and about 18 km at its widest...
in this area, providing services not approved of by company towns, including "sporting houses", some of which were also in Gold Bridge until forced to move to Minto as Gold Bridge became larger. Other gold-mining activity is found throughout the river's basin. During the 19th Century, large hydraulic mining
Hydraulic mining
Hydraulic mining, or hydraulicking, is a form of mining that uses high-pressure jets of water to dislodge rock material or move sediment. In the placer mining of gold or tin, the resulting water-sediment slurry is directed through sluice boxes to remove the gold.-Precursor - ground...
operations lined the banks of the river for the thirty kilometres between the community of Moha, at the confluence of the Yalakom
Yalakom River
The Yalakom River is a tributary of the Bridge River, which is one of the principal tributaries of the Fraser River, entering it near the town of Lillooet, British Columbia. In frontier times it was also known as the North Fork of the Bridge River, and joins the Bridge River proper at Moha, a...
and the Bridge.
The Big Canyon
Upstream from Moha the now-dry riverbed runs through the immense gorge of the Bridge River Canyon, which lies immediately downstream from Terzaghi DamTerzaghi Dam
Terzaghi Dam, located about 100 km NE of the resort of Whistler, British Columbia in western Canada, is the key diversion dam in the Bridge River Power Project. It forms the project's largest reservoir, Carpenter Lake west of Lillooet...
, the principal dam of the Bridge River Power Project
Bridge River Power Project
The Bridge River Power Project is a hydroelectric power development in the Canadian province of British Columbia, located in the Lillooet Country between Whistler and Lillooet...
. Terzaghi Dam
Terzaghi Dam
Terzaghi Dam, located about 100 km NE of the resort of Whistler, British Columbia in western Canada, is the key diversion dam in the Bridge River Power Project. It forms the project's largest reservoir, Carpenter Lake west of Lillooet...
forms Carpenter Lake, the longest and largest of the power project's reservoirs at about 40 kilometres. Just upstream from Gold Bridge
Gold Bridge, British Columbia
Gold Bridge is an unincorporated community in the Bridge River Country of British Columbia, Canada. Although numbering only around 250 inhabitants, Gold Bridge is the service and supply centre for the upper basin of the Bridge River Valley, which includes recreation-residential areas at the Gun...
, which is at the upper end of Carpenter Lake, is Lajoie Dam
Lajoie Dam
Lajoie Dam is the uppermost of the storage dams of the Bridge River Power Project, which is located in the southwestern Interior of British Columbia. It is located just west of the small semi-ghost town of Gold Bridge. An earthfill structure, it is 87 m and impounds c. of water in Downton Lake...
, which forms Downton Lake.
See also
- Bridge River CountryBridge River CountryThe Bridge River Country is a historic geographic region and mining district in the Interior of British Columbia, Canada, lying between the Fraser Canyon and the valley of the Lillooet River, south of the Chilcotin Plateau and north of the Lillooet Ranges...
- Bridge River Power ProjectBridge River Power ProjectThe Bridge River Power Project is a hydroelectric power development in the Canadian province of British Columbia, located in the Lillooet Country between Whistler and Lillooet...
- Bridge River, British ColumbiaBridge River, British ColumbiaBridge River was used to describe three separate towns or localities in the Lillooet Country of the Interior of British Columbia connected with the river and valley of the same name.-1858-60:...
- Bridge River Indian BandBridge River Indian BandThe Bridge River Indian Band also known as the Nxwísten First Nation, the Xwisten First Nation, and the Bridge River Band, is a First Nations government located in the Central Interior-Fraser Canyon region of the Canadian province of British Columbia...
- Bridge River Canyon
- Bridge River ConesBridge River ConesThe Bridge River Cones, sometimes referred to as the Lillooet Cones and Salal Creek Cones, is the name given to a volcanic field located on the north flank of the upper Bridge River, about west of the town of Gold Bridge...
- Bridge River AshBridge River AshThe Bridge River Ash is a large geologically recent volcanic ash deposit that spans from southwestern British Columbia to central Alberta, Canada. The ash consists of dust-sized shards ellipsoidal fragments of pumice. It overlaps the Mount St. Helens Yn Ash and the Mazama Ash which were erupted...
- Chief Hunter JackChief Hunter JackChief Hunter Jack was a 19th C. chief of the Lakes Lillooet . His name in St'at'imcets, the Lillooet language, is cited in one source as Tash Poli....
- Gold BridgeGold Bridge, British ColumbiaGold Bridge is an unincorporated community in the Bridge River Country of British Columbia, Canada. Although numbering only around 250 inhabitants, Gold Bridge is the service and supply centre for the upper basin of the Bridge River Valley, which includes recreation-residential areas at the Gun...
- BralorneBralorne, British ColumbiaBralorne is an historic underground gold mining community in the Bridge River District, some sixty dirt road miles west of the town of Lillooet.-Background:...
- Pioneer Mine
- BrextonBrexton, British ColumbiaBrexton is a ghost town located in the Bridge River Country region of British Columbia. The town is situated near Carpenter Lake....
- Gun LakeGun Lake (British Columbia)Gun Lake, often spelled Gunn Lake and also known as Big Gun Lake, is a lake and unincorporated community in the Bridge River Country of the West-Central Interior of British Columbia, Canada, located 5 miles northwest of the community of Gold Bridge...
- Minto CityMinto City, British ColumbiaMinto City, often called just Minto, sometimes Minto Mines or Minto Mine, was a gold mining town in the Bridge River Valley of British Columbia from 1930 to 1936, located at the confluence of that river with Gun Creek, one of its larger tributaries...
- MohaMoha, British ColumbiaMoha is a rural locality located at the confluence of the Bridge and Yalakom Rivers, 30 km northwest of Lillooet, British Columbia, Canada. The name derives from that of a rock formation on the north bank of the Yalakom River overlooking the confluence, meaning "land of plenty" and which...
- Rexmount
- Tyaughton LakeTyaughton LakeTyaughton Lake, also known as Tyoax Lake or Tyax Lake, is a lake in the Bridge River Country of the West-Central Interior of British Columbia, Canada, located to the north of Carpenter Lake, a reservoir along the Bridge River formed by Terzaghi Dam of the Bridge River Power Project...