Rivers Inlet
Encyclopedia
Rivers Inlet is a 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...

 in the Central 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....

 region of the Canadian province 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...

, its entrance from the Dean Channel
Dean Channel
Dean Channel is the upper end of one of the longest inlets of the British Columbia Coast, from its head at the mouth of the Kimsquit River. The Dean River, one of the main rivers of the Coast Mountains, enters Dean Channel about below the head of the inlet, at the community of...

 near that fjord's mouth, about 125 kilometres (77.7 mi) southwest of the community 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...

 and about 65 kilometres (40.4 mi) north of the northern tip of Vancouver Island
Vancouver Island
Vancouver Island is a large island in British Columbia, Canada. It is one of several North American locations named after George Vancouver, the British Royal Navy officer who explored the Pacific Northwest coast of North America between 1791 and 1794...

 and the western entrance of the 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...

.

The inlet is about 45 kilometres (28 mi) in length from its head at the community of Rivers Inlet, British Columbia
Rivers Inlet, British Columbia
Rivers Inlet is an unincorporated settlement and First Nations community of the Wuikinuxv people, located at the head of the inlet of the same name in the Central Coast region of British Columbia, Canada. The community is located adjacent to the Wannock River, a short waterway connecting Owikeno...

, which is a logging and fishing town that is also 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...

 and their government, the Wuikinuxv Nation
Wuikinuxv Nation
The Wuikinuxv Nation, also known as the Oweekeno Nation, is a First Nation with territory in the Central Coast region of the Canadian province of British Columbia, in the area south of Bella Bella and north of Queen Charlotte Strait. The Wuikinuxv people a.k.a. the Oweekeno people reside in the...

, also known variously as the Owekeeno, Awikenox, Oowekeeno and also as the Rivers Inlet people. The main rivers feeding Rivers Inlet are the Kilbella River and its tributary, the Chuckwalla, and the 3km Wannock River, which feeds the head of Rivers Inlet and is fed by the fresh-water fjord Owikeno Lake
Owikeno Lake
Owikeno Lake, also Owekeeno Lake, Owekano Lake, Oweekayno Lake and other spellings , is a large fjord lake in the Central Coast region of British Columbia, Canada. It connects to the head of Rivers Inlet by the short Wannock River...

,50 km in length, and which is fed by the Tzeo, Sheemahant and Machmell Rivers. The Machmell, the largest, is fed from the northern flank of the Ha-Iltzuk Icefield
Ha-Iltzuk Icefield
The Ha-Iltzuk Icefield is an icefield in the central Pacific Ranges of the Coast Mountains in British Columbia, Canada. It is the largest icefield in the Coast Mountains south of the Alaska Panhandle, with an area of . It is located on the west side of the Klinaklini River and the Waddington Range...

, one of the largest of the southern Coast Mountain icecaps, and which is capped by the Silverthrone Caldera
Silverthrone Caldera
The Silverthrone Caldera is a potentially active caldera complex in southwestern British Columbia, Canada, located over northwest of the city of Vancouver and about west of Mount Waddington in the Pacific Ranges of the Coast Mountains. The caldera is one of the largest of the few calderas in...

.

About 15 kilometres (9.3 mi) down the inlet, west from the town and the head of the inlet, is the mouth of a 30 kilometres (18.6 mi) side-inlet from the north, Moses Inlet, which is fed by the Clyak River and which itself has a western side-inlet named Hardy Inlet, 15 kilometres (9.3 mi) in length.

Rivers Inlet was named by 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...

 for George Pitt, 1st Baron Rivers
Baron Rivers
Baron Rivers was a title that was created four times in British history, twice in the Peerage of England, once in the Peerage of Great Britain and once in the Peerage of the United Kingdom. The first creation came in 1299 when John Rivers was summoned to Parliament as Baron Rivers. The title became...

 (1721-1803). Two of his men, Peter Puget
Peter Puget
Peter Puget was an officer in the Royal Navy, best known for his exploration of Puget Sound.-Mr. Midshipman Puget:Puget's ancestors had fled France for Britain during Louis XIV's persecution of the Huguenots. His father, John, was a successful merchant and banker, but died in 1767, leaving Puget's...

 and Joseph Whidbey
Joseph Whidbey
Joseph Whidbey was a member of the Royal Navy who served on the Vancouver Expedition 1791–1795, and later achieved renown as a naval engineer. He is notable for having been the first European to discover and chart Admiralty Island in the Alexander Archipelago in 1794.Little is recorded of...

, first charted it in 1792.
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