Dean Channel is the upper end of one of the longest inlets of the British Columbia Coast

British Columbia Coast

The British Columbia Coast or BC Coast is Canada's western continental coastline on the Pacific Ocean. The usage is synonymous with the term West Coast of Canada....

, 105 km (65.2 mi) from its head at the mouth of the Kimsquit River. The Dean River

Dean River

The Dean River is one of the major rivers of the Kitimat Ranges subrange of the southern Coast Mountains in British Columbia. It begins in the volcanic-shield Ilgachuz Range on the Chilcotin Plateau and winds north around the Rainbow Range to enter Dean Channel at the now-uninhabited, remote...

, one of the main rivers of the Coast Mountains

Coast Mountains

The Coast Mountains 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 Columbia. They are so-named because of their proximity to the sea coast, and are often...

, enters Dean Channel about 9.5 km (5.9 mi) below the head of the inlet, at the community of Kimsquit.

History

Dean Channel was named by Captain Vancouver

George Vancouver

Captain George Vancouver RN was an English officer of the British Royal Navy, best known for his 1791-95 expedition, which explored and charted North America's northwestern Pacific Coast regions, including the coasts of contemporary Alaska, British Columbia, Washington and Oregon...

 in 1793 after Rev. James King, Dean of Raphoe

Raphoe

Raphoe is a town in County Donegal, part of the province of Ulster in Ireland. It is the main town in the fertile district of East Donegal known as the Laggan, as well as giving its name to the Roman Catholic Diocese of Raphoe and the Church of Ireland Diocese of Derry and Raphoe.-Name:Raphoe,...

, Ireland. The channel was surveyed by Captain Richards

George Henry Richards

Admiral Sir George Henry Richards was Hydrographer to the British Admiralty from 1864 to 1874.-Early life:Richards was born in Anthony, Cornwall, the son of Captain G S Richards, and joined the navy in 1832....

 in 1861 of the HMS Hecate. It is located within the Central Coast Regional District

Central Coast Regional District, British Columbia

Central Coast Regional District is a regional district in British Columbia, Canada. It has a total land area of 24,559.5 km² . When it was created in 1968, it was named the Ocean Falls Regional District, after the then-largest town in the region, the company town Ocean Falls, now a ghost town...

.

Branches

Ending at the mouth of Cousins Inlet, which is the harbour for the abandoned town of Ocean Falls

Ocean Falls, British Columbia

Ocean Falls is a community on the Central Coast of British Columbia, Canada. Formerly a large company town owned by Crown Zellerbach, it is only accessible via boat or seaplane, and is home for a few dozen full-time residents, with the seasonal population upwards of 100.-Geography and...

, the fjord's name changes to Fisher Channel

Fisher Channel

Fisher Channel is a channel in the Central Coast region of the Canadian province of British Columbia. To its west are Hunter and Denny Islands, to its east King Island. It was first charted in 1793 by George Vancouver during his 1791-95 expedition. He named it "Fisher’s Channel" after "a...

 down the west side of King Island. Below Fisher Channel's 40 km (24.9 mi) length the fjord merges with Burke Channel, which is a 70 km (43.5 mi) sidewater of the Dean/Fisher Channel on the east side of King Island, the name of the fjord

Fjord

Geologically, a fjord is a long, narrow inlet with steep sides or cliffs, created in a valley carved by glacial activity.-Formation:A fjord is formed when a glacier cuts a U-shaped valley by abrasion of the surrounding bedrock. Glacial melting is accompanied by rebound of Earth's crust as the ice...

 changes to Fitz Hugh Sound, which is considerably wider than the upper part of the fjord at about 10 km (6.2 mi) in width and is itself about 60 km (37.3 mi) in length. Fitz Hugh Sound passes on the inside of Calvert Island

Calvert Island (British Columbia)

Calvert Island is an island on the coast of the Canadian province of British Columbia. It is located east of Queen Charlotte Sound in the Central Coast region, about north of the town of Port Hardy, which is at the north end of Vancouver Island....

 and opens onto Queen Charlotte Sound

Queen Charlotte Sound

Queen Charlotte Sound is the name of two channels:*Queen Charlotte Sound , located in British Columbia*Queen Charlotte Sound, New Zealand, located in the Marlborough Sounds...

 just northwest of the opening of Queen Charlotte Strait

Queen Charlotte Strait

Queen Charlotte Strait is a strait between Vancouver Island and the mainland of British Columbia, Canada. It connects Queen Charlotte Sound with Johnstone Strait, Discovery Passage and then to the Strait of Georgia and Puget Sound...

.

Opening onto Fitz Hugh Sound in its lower reaches near Queen Charlotte Sound

Queen Charlotte Sound

Queen Charlotte Sound is the name of two channels:*Queen Charlotte Sound , located in British Columbia*Queen Charlotte Sound, New Zealand, located in the Marlborough Sounds...

 is Rivers Inlet

Rivers Inlet

Rivers Inlet is a fjord in the Central Coast region of the Canadian province of British Columbia, its entrance from the Dean Channel near that fjord's mouth, about southwest of the community of Bella Coola and about north of the northern tip of Vancouver Island and the western entrance of the...

, home of the Wuikinuxv people

Wuikinuxv people

The Wuikinuxv people, also known as the Wuikenukv, Oweekeno, Wikeno, Owikeno, Oowekeeno, Oweekano, Awikenox, or Rivers Inlet people, are an Indigenous First Nations people of the Central Coast region of the Canadian province of British Columbia, located around Rivers Inlet and Owikeno Lake, to the...

 (Owekeeno). The total length of the fjord from the head of Dean Channel to the mouth of Fitz Hugh Sound is about 170 km (105.6 mi) rivalling Hardangerfjord

Hardangerfjord

With a length of , the Hardangerfjord in the county of Hordaland in Norway is the third largest fjord in the world and the second largest in Norway. The surrounding district is called Hardanger....

 in Norway

Norway

Norway , officially the Kingdom of Norway, is a Nordic unitary constitutional monarchy whose territory comprises the western portion of the Scandinavian Peninsula, Jan Mayen, and the Arctic archipelago of Svalbard and Bouvet Island. Norway has a total area of and a population of about 4.9 million...

 for length. If the additional lengths of South Bentinck Arm (45 km (28 mi)) and North Bentinck Arm (30 km (18.6 mi)), plus Burke Channel and its shorter companion, Labouchere Channel (15 km (9.3 mi)), and a sidewater of Burke named Kwatna Inlet (25 km (15.5 mi)) were factored in, total length of the fjord complex's waterways is 335 km (208.2 mi) - longer than Sognefjord

Sognefjord

The Sognefjord is the largest fjord in Norway, and the second longest in the world. Located in Sogn og Fjordane county, it stretches inland to the small village of Skjolden...

's 203 km (126.1 mi) and rivalling Greenland

Greenland

Greenland is an autonomous country within the Kingdom of Denmark, located between the Arctic and Atlantic Oceans, east of the Canadian Arctic Archipelago. Though physiographically a part of the continent of North America, Greenland has been politically and culturally associated with Europe for...

's Scoresby Sund

Scoresby Sund

Scoresby Sund is an inlet system of the Greenland Sea on the eastern coast of Greenland. It has a tree-like structure, with a main body approximately long that branches into a system of fjords covering an area of about . The longest of these extends 340–350 km in from the coastline...

's 350 km (217.5 mi).

North Bentinck Arm

A side-inlet of Burke Channel, North Bentinck Arm

North Bentinck Arm

North Bentinck Arm is short inlet about in length in the Central Coast region of British Columbia, Canada. It is a sidewater of Burke Channel and is linked via that waterway and Labouchere Channel to Dean Channel, which is one of the largest inlets of the BC Coast.A spot on North Bentinck Arm is...

, is noteworthy as the terminus of the overland expedition by fur trade explorer Alexander Mackenzie

Alexander Mackenzie

Alexander Mackenzie, PC , a building contractor and newspaper editor, was the second Prime Minister of Canada from November 7, 1873 to October 8, 1878.-Biography:...

, who wrote his name on a rock on its shoreline just a few weeks after Captain George Vancouver

George Vancouver

Captain George Vancouver RN was an English officer of the British Royal Navy, best known for his 1791-95 expedition, which explored and charted North America's northwestern Pacific Coast regions, including the coasts of contemporary Alaska, British Columbia, Washington and Oregon...

 visited the inlet, which is the home of the Nuxálk Nation

Nuxálk Nation

The Nuxalk Nation , also referred to as the Bella Coola or Bellacoola, are an Indigenous First Nation in Canada, living in the area in and around Bella Coola, British Columbia...

. The town of Bella Coola

Bella Coola, British Columbia

Bella Coola is a community of approximately 600 at the western extremity of the Bella Coola Valley. Bella Coola usually refers to the entire valley, encompassing the settlements of Bella Coola proper , Lower Bella Coola, Hagensborg, Saloompt, Nusatsum, Firvale and Stuie...

 is at the head of North Bentinck Arm; Bella Coola is the English name for the Nuxalk

Nuxalk

Nuxálk are an indigenous people native to Bella Coola, British Columbia in Canada. The term can refer to:* Nuxálk language, a moribund Salishan language.* Nuxalk Nation, the name of the Nuxálk group in the First Nations....

. It is the only community on the coast between Vancouver, British Columbia and Kitimat, British Columbia

Kitimat, British Columbia

Kitimat is a coastal city in northwestern British Columbia, in the Regional District of Kitimat-Stikine. The Kitimat Valley, which includes the adjacent community of Terrace, is the most populous urban district in Northwest British Columbia...

, to have road access to the rest of the province, via BC Hwy 20 to Williams Lake

Williams Lake, British Columbia

Williams Lake, is a city in the Central Interior of British Columbia, Canada. Located in the central part of a region known as the Cariboo, it is the largest urban centre between Kamloops and Prince George, with a population of 11,150 in city limits....

 via the Chilcotin Plateau

Chilcotin District

The Chilcotin District 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 lea of the Coast Mountains on the west side of the Fraser River....

.