The Peace River (French: rivière de la Paix ) is a 1,923-kilometre-long (1,195 mi) river in Canada that originates in the Rocky Mountains of northern British Columbia and flows to the northeast through northern Alberta . The Peace River joins the Athabasca River in the Peace-Athabasca Delta to form the Slave River , a tributary of the Mackenzie River . The Finlay River , the main headwater of the Peace River, is regarded as the ultimate source of the Mackenzie River. The combined Finlay–Peace–Slave–Mackenzie river system is the 13th longest river system in the world .
17-614: The Beatton River is a tributary of the Peace River , flowing generally east, then south through north-eastern British Columbia , Canada. The river rises at Pink Mountain , about 10 kilometres (6 mi) west of the Alaska Highway hamlet of the same name, and flows 240 kilometres (150 mi) generally east, then south, draining into the Peace River just downstream of Fort St. John . The river meanders mostly through
34-471: Is 1,923 kilometres (1,195 mi) long (from the head of Finlay River to Lake Athabasca). It drains an area of approximately 302,500 square kilometres (116,800 sq mi). At Peace Point, where it drains in the Slave River , it has an annual discharge of 68.2 billion cubic metres (55.3 million acre-feet). A large man-made lake, Williston Lake , has been formed on the upper reaches by
51-581: The Clearwater River , and the upper Slave River . Grahame was the first steam powered vessel in the region. The engines were built in the south, and shipped overland. The ship was 135 feet (41 m) long, and could carry 140–150 tons of cargo. Construction began under the direction of John W. Smith in August 1882, and Grahame was completed in September 1883 and began regular service in
68-514: The Hudson's Bay Company post in the early twentieth century, who homesteaded by the river. Beaton spelled his name with one "t" but the river is now spelled Beatton. 56°06′00″N 120°23′00″W / 56.10000°N 120.38333°W / 56.10000; -120.38333 Peace River (Canada) The regions along the river are the traditional home of the Dane-zaa people , called
85-583: The W. A. C. Bennett Dam , was completed in 1968 and is British Columbia's largest dam and the third-largest hydroelectric facility in Canada. It supplies over 30% of British Columbia's total power demand. Engineers took advantage of the W. A. C. Bennet Dam's large reservoir storage to further develop the river with the Peace Canyon Dam opened in 1980. The Site C dam is under construction and scheduled to be finished in 2025; it will further benefit from
102-635: The boreal forest and muskeg of the Peace Plain . Its major tributaries are the Doig and Blueberry Rivers. The area around the river is the homeland of the Dane-zaa or Beaver First Nation . Archaeologists have found evidence of human habitation in the area dating back at least 10,000 years. The mouth of the Beatton River was the location of a Northwest Company fort established in 1806. Modern-day British Columbia's first European settlement
119-829: The Beaver by the Europeans. The fur trader Peter Pond is believed to have visited the river in 1785. In 1788 Charles Boyer of the North West Company established a fur trading post at the river's junction with the Boyer River . In 1792 and 1793, the explorer Alexander Mackenzie travelled up the river to the Continental Divide . Mackenzie referred to the river as Unjegah , from the Dane-zaa meaning "large river." The decades of hostilities between
136-651: The British Columbia mainland by Europeans. The rich soils of the Peace River valley in Alberta have been producing wheat crops since the late 19th century. In the early 21st century, the BC Grain Producers Association was researching the productivity of wheat and other grain crops near Dawson Creek . The Peace River region is also an important centre of oil and natural gas production. There are also pulp and paper plants along
153-747: The Dane-zaa and the Cree , (in which the Cree dominated the Dane-zaa), ended in 1781 when a smallpox epidemic decimated the Cree. The Treaty of the Peace was celebrated by the smoking of a ceremonial pipe . The treaty made the Peace River a border, with the Dane-zaa to the North and the Cree to the South. In 1794, a fur trading post was built on the Peace River at Fort St. John ; it was the first settlement established on
170-587: The River, from Fort Vermilion to Hudson's Hope . Approximately a dozen vessels were to navigate the river. Most of the early vessels were wood-burning steamships, fueled by wood cut from the river's shore. The last cargo vessel was the Watson's Lake , retired in 1952. Hydroelectric development began on the Peace River in 1968 and continues to be an important source of renewable energy for British Columbia's main electricity provider, BC Hydro . The river’s first dam,
187-855: The Rockies, it nowadays flows into Dinosaur Lake, a reservoir for the Peace Canyon Dam . After the dams, the river flows east into Alberta and then continues north and east into the Peace-Athabasca Delta in Wood Buffalo National Park , at the western end of Lake Athabasca. Water from the delta flows into the Slave River east of Peace Point and reaches the Arctic Ocean via the Great Slave Lake and Mackenzie River . Communities located directly on
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#1732780262077204-742: The construction of the W. A. C. Bennett Dam for hydroelectric power generation. Prior to its flooding, the confluence of the Finlay and Parsnip Rivers at Finlay Forks was distinct. A half mile east of that location were the half-mile long Finlay Rapids and a further seven miles east is the Peace Pass , which separates the Muskwa Ranges and the Hart Ranges of the Canadian Rockies . The only river cutting completely through
221-526: The river banks, among them Beaver Ranch 163 , John D'Or Prairie 215 , Fox Lake 162 , Peace Point 222 and Devil's Gate 220 . Tributaries of the Peace River include: SS Grahame SS Grahame was a wooden sternwheeled steamship built in Fort Chipewyan , District of Athabasca, by the Hudson's Bay Company in 1882–1883 for service on the Athabasca River , lower Peace River ,
238-644: The river in Alberta and British Columbia. The Peace River has two navigable sections, separated by the Vermilion Chutes , near Fort Vermilion . The first steam-powered vessel to navigate the Peace River was the Grahame , a Hudson's Bay Company vessel built at Fort Chipewyan , on Lake Athabasca . Brothers of the Oblate Order of Mary Immaculate built the St. Charles to navigate the upper reaches of
255-580: The river include: Many provincial parks and wildland reserves are established on the river, such as Butler Ridge Provincial Park , Taylor Landing Provincial Park , Beatton River Provincial Park , Peace River Corridor Provincial Park in British Columbia and Dunvegan Provincial Park , Dunvegan West Wildland Provincial Park , Peace River Wildland Provincial Park , Greene Valley Provincial Park , Notikewin Provincial Park , Wood Buffalo National Park in Alberta. A few Indian reserves are also on
272-409: The upstream dams and generate additional electrical capacity to meet British Columbia's growing demand for green energy and reduce the carbon footprint of residents. As of 2020 both the Alberta government and private producers were studying the possibility of hydroelectric development on the Alberta stretch of the river with one run-of-the-river project currently being proposed. ( MW ) This river
289-571: Was fur trading Rocky Mountain Fort, established in 1794 at the mouth of the Moberly River near the present Fort St. John. The river became an important route for First Nations people in their trading relationship with the Europeans. The present community of Fort St. John is west of the Beatton. The river, originally called the "North Pine" is named for Frank Beaton (1863–1944), the manager of
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