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60-763: Prior to completion of the Pattullo Bridge in 1937 and King George Highway in 1940, the main route from Vancouver and New Westminster to both the U.S. border and Fraser Valley was to take the New Westminster Bridge (also known as the Fraser River Swing Bridge) and Old Yale Road from New Westminster to Cloverdale , where travellers could either continue east along the Southern Trans Provincial Highway (present-day Fraser Highway ) or south along

120-638: A few days. Ground-level ozone tends to be from local sources in the valley and varies with prevailing winds. With prevailing winds from the northeast during the late fall and winter, air quality is seldom a problem. Air quality in the Fraser Valley at times exceeds the Canada-Wide Standard (CWS) for ozone (at Hope) and is close to exceeding the CWS for Particulate Matter. In colloquial usage, "Fraser Valley" usually refers only to that part of

180-781: A few miles. These include Marble Canyon , Churn Creek , the Chilcotin River, the Bridge River , Seton Lake and Cayoosh Creek , the Stein River , the Nahatlatch River , the Coquihalla River and the innumerable smaller creeks flanking the river between Kanaka Bar and Yale. The Canadian Pacific Railway has at least 30 tunnels in its Yale to Lytton section with one up to half a mile in length. The Fraser Canyon Highway Tunnels were constructed from

240-723: A few minutes south of Lytton, there are the Cisco bridges —a pair of railway bridges at the throat of a rocky gorge. From south to north, the Canadian Pacific has been on the west side of the canyon, while the Canadian National has been on the east side. At Siska, the two railways switch sides: the CP—160-metre-long (520 ft) truss bridge—crosses to the east, the CN—on an 250-metre (810 ft) steel-arched bridge over

300-639: A rockslide that diverted the river during the blasting of the Canadian Northern Railway line in 1913. The area around Hell's Gate carries the name Black Canyon, which may either be a reference to the colour of the rocks when it rains, or the name of a community built on the cliffsides here during the Fraser Canyon Gold Rush . At the site that once housed railway workers, a tourist attraction built in 1971 takes visitors across Hell's Gate via an aerial tramway . At Siska ,

360-679: Is a geographical region in southwestern British Columbia , Canada and northwestern Washington State . It starts just west of Hope in a narrow valley encompassing the Fraser River and ends at the Pacific Ocean stretching from the North Shore Mountains , opposite the city of Vancouver BC, to just south of Bellingham, Washington . In casual usage it typically describes the Fraser River basin downstream of

420-596: Is considered the head of the Fraser Delta . From there the river passes through some of the most fertile agricultural land in British Columbia—as well as the heart of the Metro Vancouver region—on its way through the valley to its mouth at Georgia Strait . During the last ice age , the area that would become the Fraser Valley was covered by a sheet of ice, walled in by the surrounding mountains. As

480-494: Is defined as ending at Yale, Hope is generally to be considered the southern end of the canyon, partly because of the change in the character of the highway from that point, and perhaps also because it is at Hope that the first floodplains typifying the course of the Lower Fraser are found. Downstream from Hope, the river and adjoining floodplains widen considerably in the area of Rosedale , Chilliwack and Agassiz , which

540-576: Is included within the Lower Fraser Valley. The Upper Fraser Valley means from Chilliwack and Agassiz to Hope. The phrases "Fraser Valley towns" and "Fraser River municipalities" include Delta and Richmond, though the colloquial "in the Valley" means from Surrey and Coquitlam eastwards. The "Tidal Fraser area" is usually defined as the area of the Fraser from the mouth at the Pacific Ocean to

600-423: Is navigable between Boston Bar and Lillooet and also between Big Bar Ferry and Prince George and beyond, although rapids at Soda Canyon and elsewhere were still difficult waters for the many steamboats which piloted the river in the 19th and early 20th centuries. The first sternwheeler to pass the rapids was Skuzzy , which was built with a multiple-compartment hull to preserve her from sinking from rock damage. She

660-434: Is now possible to compare BC communities on a variety of measures. Comparative data on four measures— fine particulate matter , ground-level ozone , nitrogen dioxide and sulphur dioxide —shows the Fraser Valley to have better air quality than Vancouver on several measures. For example, Fraser Valley communities had less than half the levels of nitrogen dioxide, and were lower in fine particulate matter and sulphur dioxide (on

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720-609: Is officially the lowest reach of the Fraser Canyon (although in regional terms Hope , 32 kilometres (20 mi) farther south, is considered a canyon town and to be the southern outlet of the canyon because the highway became more difficult from that point; the river is navigable to Yale). Between the Spuzzum and Boston Bar was known in the gold rush as the Big Canyon or Black Canyon; there are several named subcanyons of

780-521: Is one of the largest tidal freshwater lakes in the world . Oxbow lakes and side-sloughs are a common feature of the Lower Fraser's geography. The two main oxbows are those of Hatzic Lake and the Stave River on opposite sides of Mission, although that of the Stave has been silted in and part of it drained for a man-made lake. Around Fort Langley is an oxbow formation, mostly swamped in at the time of

840-557: Is the northernmost area of rice cultivation in the world. As the valley population grows and traffic increases, air pollution becomes an increasingly important issue; various controversies have risen over the years (most recently over " Sumas 2 ", a defeated proposal for a power plant just south of the Canadian/USA border) as to whether or not air pollution is a problem, and if it is a problem, how this should be addressed. Air quality monitoring has improved in recent years and it

900-514: Is the only tunnel that does not have lights, while the China Bar tunnel is the only tunnel that requires ventilation. The China Bar and Alexandra tunnels have warning lights that are activated by cyclists before they enter the tunnels. This was required because the tunnels are curved. It is expected that the Ferrabee tunnel will get the same warning lights as it too is curved. At the mouth of

960-540: The Bridge River , forming an obstacle to migrating fish that has made this spot the busiest aboriginal fishing site on the river, from ancient times to the present. Concentrations of First Nations people here, from all tribes of the Interior, were believed to have been in excess of 10,000. Many stretches of the Fraser are named in their own right, starting with the Little Canyon between Yale and Spuzzum , which

1020-600: The Fraser Canyon . The term is sometimes used outside British Columbia to refer to the entire Fraser River sections including the Fraser Canyon and up from there to its headwaters , but in general British Columbian usage the term refers to the stretch of Lower Mainland west of the Coquihalla River mouth at the inland town of Hope , and includes all of the Canadian portion of the Fraser Lowland as well as

1080-486: The Fraser Valley Regional District , though that consists of only about half of the actual Fraser Valley, and is made up of the municipalities and incorporated areas from Abbotsford and Mission eastwards to Hope. It also includes areas not in the Fraser Valley, particularly the lower Fraser Canyon from Boston Bar to Hope. The term "Central Fraser Valley" refers to Mission and Abbotsford and

1140-642: The Pacific Highway . With the completion of the Pattullo Bridge in 1937 and the King George Highway in 1940, motorists were provided with a more efficient route between Vancouver and New Westminster and the U.S. border. Opened in 1940, the route was originally named "King George Highway" in honour of the royal visit of King George VI the previous year. The corridor was designated Highway 99 and also carried Highway 1 north of present-day Fraser Highway, both of which continued northwest over

1200-596: The Sea-to-Sky Highway , though not carrying that name in this area). The British Columbia Railway (now operated by the CN) line follows the same stretch of canyon from Lillooet to just beyond Pavilion]. Between there and the mouth of the Chilcotin River there are only rough ranching roads, and the terrain is a mix of canyon depths flanked by arid benchland and high plateau. Between Pavilion and Lillooet,

1260-760: The valleys and upland areas flanking it. It is divided into the Upper Fraser Valley and Lower Fraser Valley by the Vedder River mouth at the eastern foothills of Sumas Mountain , although the Lower Valley section upstream of McMillan Island and the Salmon River mouth (at Fort Langley ) used to be called the Central Fraser Valley up until 1995 (see Central Fraser Valley Regional District ). Administratively,

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1320-452: The 2011 Census, 76.47% of the Fraser Valley regional district in BC have English as mother tongue ; Punjabi is the mother tongue of 10.02% of the population, followed by German (3.49%), Dutch (1.39%), French (1.07%), Korean (0.69%), Spanish (0.66%), Tagalog (0.35%), Chinese, n.o.s. (0.33%), and Vietnamese (0.30%). Today, the Fraser Valley has a mix of land uses, ranging from

1380-682: The Big Canyon, most famously Hells Gate Canyon (in some descriptions the Black Canyon is below Hell's Gate). Above the Big Canyon there are the Lillooet Canyon, Fountain Canyon, Glen Fraser Canyon, Moran Canyon, High Bar Canyon, French Bar Canyon and more all the way up to Soda Creek Canyon near Quesnel . Upstream from there the river flows in wider country, but in the Robson Valley between Prince George and Tête Jaune Cache ,

1440-550: The CP—is now on the west. The two railways now have an agreement to allow directional running through the canyon as far as Basque. All eastbound trains—CN, CP, and Via Rail's eastbound Canadian —run on the CP line. All westbound trains—CN, CP, Via Rail's westbound Canadian —use the CN tracks. Just north of Lillooet, narrow rock ledges choke the river just at the confluence of the lower canyon of

1500-610: The Canyon, an archeological site documents the presence of the Stó:lō people in the area from the early Holocene period, 8,000 to 10,000 years ago after the retreat of the Fraser Glacier . Research farther upriver at the Keatley Creek Archaeological Site , near Pavilion, is dated to 8000 BP, when a huge lake filled what is now the canyon above Lillooet, created by a slide a few miles south of

1560-614: The Fraser Canyon. Other important canyons on tributaries include Coquihalla Canyon , the Bridge River Canyon, Seton Canyon and adjacent Cayoosh Canyon , Pavilion Canyon , Vermilion Canyon (Slok Creek) and Churn Creek Canyon . The Chilcotin River also has several subcanyons, as does the Chilko River , notably Lava Canyon and another Black Canyon. There are other canyons on the Fraser that are not considered part of

1620-469: The Fraser Valley comprises parts of the regional districts of Metro Vancouver and the Fraser Valley Regional District . The main population centres in the Fraser Valley are Greater Vancouver , Abbotsford and Chilliwack . This section of the Fraser River is known by local indigenous peoples as "Sto:lo" in the Halqemeylem language of the area, and this term has been adopted to refer to all of

1680-452: The Fraser but help drain its lowland. The Fraser is tidal as far upstream as the town of Mission and, across the river, the City of Abbotsford , which is at the Fraser's closest approach to the international boundary, about 6 miles north of Sumas, Washington . Pitt Lake , one of the Fraser's last tributaries and among its largest, is so low in elevation, despite its mountain setting, that it

1740-403: The Fraser is only one treacherous switchback rapid in a shallow rock gorge, and it has neither the roughness of water nor the depth and severity of canyon as is found in the area south from Big Bar to Lillooet or between Boston Bar and Yale. Almost all of the rivers and creeks feeding the Fraser from Williams Lake south have their own canyons which open onto the Fraser, or are just up side-valleys

1800-676: The Fraser's lower tributaries have floodplains of their own, shared in common with the Fraser freshet. Of varying size these include the Harrison River , Chilliwack River ( Vedder River ), Hatzic Creek and Hatzic Lake, the Stave , Alouette , Pitt and Coquitlam Rivers . Also incorporated in the Fraser delta region are the Nicomekl and Serpentine River floodplains and the Sumas River drainage, which flow to saltwater independently of

1860-718: The Mission bridge. Everything in between there is influenced greatly by ocean tides, including the largest tidal lake in North America, Pitt Lake. The south shore of the Central and Upper Fraser Valley is also known colloquially as the " Bible Belt " of British Columbia and is home to many of Canada's largest churches, notably the Mennonite Brethren and the Dutch Reformed Church , a reflection of

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1920-484: The Pattullo Bridge and into Vancouver . In 1973, the Highway 1 and 99 designations were moved to Highway 401 and 499 respectively, with their former alignments being renumbered Highway 1A and Highway 99A . Highway 1A and 99A were decommissioned in 2006 and the name was changed to "King George Boulevard" in 2009 "to project an image of a modern, safe, walkable and livable City Centre community", given that portions of

1980-546: The Thompson Canyon from Lytton to Ashcroft , since they form the same highway route which most people are familiar with, although it is actually reckoned to begin above Williams Lake at Soda Creek Canyon near the town of the same name. The canyon was formed during the Miocene period (23.7–5.3 million years ago) by the river cutting into the uplifting Interior Plateau. From the northern Cariboo to Fountain ,

2040-636: The West Coast in both Canada and the United States. The interaction of indigenous peoples and settlers led to the growth of Chinook Wawa , a pidgin language that was used throughout the Fraser River Valley until the early 1900s. Industrialization of the river began with the use of the traditional trade waterway by steamboats and eventually, roads and railways were built, fueled by and in turn fuelling further population growth. Today,

2100-499: The air mass collides with the Olympic Mountains . The cold air from the Fraser Valley can also flow out over the Pacific Ocean. Lanes of convective ocean-effect clouds and showers are produced as heat and moisture modify the very dry, frigid air mass. These then typically organize as a low pressure system which returns the showers to the coast south of Canada, often bringing snow to unusually low elevations. According to

2160-602: The canyon was even more precarious than it is now. During the frontier era it was a major obstacle between the Lower Mainland and the Interior Plateau, and the slender trails along its rocky walls – many of them little better than notches cut into granite, with a few handholds – were compared to goat-tracks. North of Lytton , it is followed by BC Highway 12 , then from Lillooet to Pavilion by BC Highway 99 (the farther end of

2220-606: The canyon, notably at Soda Creek , between Williams Lake and Prince George. The official but comparatively diminutive Grand Canyon of the Fraser is in the river's upper stretch through the Rocky Mountain Trench , about 115 km (71 mi) upstream from Prince George and about 20 km (12 mi) upstream from the Fraser's confluence with the Bowron River . Despite its name, the Grand Canyon of

2280-768: The confluence of the Chilcotin River . Its southern stretch is a major transportation corridor to the Interior from the Coast , with the Canadian National and Canadian Pacific Railways and the Trans-Canada Highway carved out of its rock faces, with many of the canyon's side-crevasses spanned by bridges and trestles. Prior to the double-tracking of those railways and major upgrades to Highway 1 (the Trans Canada Highway), travel through

2340-477: The corridor have had a reputation for being dangerous and having a high incidence of criminal activity. King George Boulevard begins at the Highway 99 / 8 Avenue interchange in South Surrey , just east of the City of White Rock and assumes a north-westward orientation, running adjacent to the larger highway and through the more urban neighbourhood of Sunnyside . It crosses over Highway 99 and passes through

2400-419: The fort's foundation, which was drained and made part of the fort's farm and remains farmland today. The system of sloughs and side-channels of the river is complicated, but important sloughs include those around Nicomen Island , Sea Bird Island and flanking the river from Rosedale to Sumas Mountain , on the western side of Chilliwack . In winter, the Fraser Valley occasionally plays a significant role in

2460-466: The heavy settlement of the Valley by post-war Dutch and German immigrants, as well as the Canadian headquarters of many Christian/ Evangelical para-church organisations such as Focus on the Family and Power to Change, the Canadian branch of Cru_(Christian_organization) , formerly known as Campus Crusade for Christ. Voters in south shore ridings typically elect right-wing candidates, while in ridings on

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2520-463: The ice receded, land that had been covered by glaciers became covered by water instead, then slowly rose above the water, forming the basin that exists today. The valley is the largest landform of the Lower Mainland ecoregion, with its delta considered to begin in the area of Agassiz and Chilliwack, although stretches of floodplain flank the mountainsides between there and Hope. Several of

2580-589: The indigenous peoples of the Fraser Lowland , other than the Squamish and Musqueam . The indigenous peoples of the area have long made use of the river valley for agricultural and commercial exploits and continue to do so today. The Indigenous people were not consulted in the Treaty of Oregon , which saw the United States and Great Britain define and recognize each other's claims to the area. This overstepping of jurisdiction inevitably led to conflict as Great Britain

2640-439: The latter measure, Abbotsford and Chilliwack were among the lowest of all BC sites). In certain weather conditions during the summer, prevailing westerly winds blow air pollution from vehicles and from ships in Vancouver harbour east up the triangular delta, trapping it between the Coast Mountains on the north and the Cascades on the southeast. Air quality suffers. This usually occurs during a temperature inversion , and lasts for

2700-423: The low-lying South Westminster and Bridgeview neighbourhoods, as well as Scott Road station , before ending at the south end of the Pattullo Bridge. The roadway enters New Westminster and becomes McBride Boulevard, ending at 10 Avenue at the New Westminster / Burnaby city boundary. The entire route is in Metro Vancouver Regional District . Cape Horn Interchange Fraser Valley The Fraser Valley

2760-591: The more suburban and rural Panorama Ridge neighbourhood, before crossing Highway 10 and passing through the populous town centres of Newton and Whalley , including the Surrey City Centre , a neighbourhood within Whalley which is Surrey's commercial core and emerging regional downtown. Just north of Fraser Highway, King George Boulevard passes King George station , the eastern terminus of the SkyTrain 's Expo Line . The SkyTrain runs parallel to King George Boulevard, passing Central City shopping mall and other commercial developments before turning west. It passes between

2820-406: The most important transportation through the region are the Canadian Pacific Railway and Canadian National Railway transcontinental main lines, the Lougheed Highway (Hwy 7), and the Trans-Canada Highway ( Hwy 1 ). After descending through the rapids of the Fraser Canyon , the Fraser River emerges almost at sea level at Yale , over 100 km inland. Although the canyon in geographic terms

2880-424: The present-day town. During the Fraser Canyon Gold Rush of 1858–1860, 10,500 miners and an untold number of hangers-on populated its banks and towns. The Fraser Canyon War and the series of events known as McGowan's War occurred during the gold rush. Other important histories connected with the canyon include the building of the Cariboo Wagon Road and the construction of the Canadian Pacific Railway. The river

2940-414: The regulation of immigration and the continuation of mining on the river by the indigenous inhabitants and the new immigrants. This war was part of a series of local conflicts surrounding the arrival of settlers ahead of American and British capacity to maintain order and refusal to cooperate with or recognize indigenous land claims and demands. These conflicts were pivotal in many aspects to the settlement of

3000-437: The rest of the province, other than by the difficult wagon road to Lillooet via Fountain. During the automotive age and following the construction of the Canadian Northern Railway in 1904–05, a newer version of the road was built through the canyon. The Fraser Canyon Highway was surveyed in 1920 and constructed in 1924–25 with a through-route available after the completion of the (second) Alexandra Suspension Bridge in 1926. This

3060-529: The river enters the Grand Canyon of the Fraser . The Black Canyon was the site of a shantytown of the same name, much of which was on catwalks on the ramparts of its dark-rock cliffs. Nearly all tributaries of the Fraser have canyons of varying scale; the few exceptions include the Pitt and the Chilliwack in the Lower Fraser Valley. The Thompson Canyon , from Lytton to Ashcroft , is a sequence of large canyons of its own, some of them also named, although most British Columbians and travellers think of it as part of

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3120-455: The river follows the line of the huge Fraser Fault, which runs on a north–south axis and meets the Yalakom Fault a few miles downstream from Lillooet . Exposures of lava flows are present in cliffs along the Fraser Canyon. They represent volcanic activity in the southern Chilcotin Group during the Pliocene period and the volcanic vents of their origins have not been discovered. The canyon extends 270 kilometres (170 mi) north of Yale to

3180-448: The river's gorge is at its maximum depth, with the river throttled through a series of narrow gorges flanked by high cliffs, though still flanked above those cliffs by wide benchlands which stand on the foreshoulder of the mountain ranges flanking the gorge. At Hells Gate , near Boston Bar , the canyon walls rise about 1,000 metres (3,300 ft) above the rapids. Fish ladders along the river's side permit migrating salmon to bypass

3240-402: The river's north side elections sway between left-wing and right-wing parties regularly. Fraser Canyon The Fraser Canyon is a major landform of the Fraser River where it descends rapidly through narrow rock gorges in the Coast Mountains en route from the Interior Plateau of British Columbia to the Fraser Valley . Colloquially, the term "Fraser Canyon" is often used to include

3300-522: The spring of 1957 to 1964 as part of the Trans-Canada Highway project. There are seven tunnels in total, the shortest being approximately 57 metres (187 ft); the longest, however, is approximately 610 metres (2,000 ft) and is one of North America 's longest. They are situated between Yale and Boston Bar . In order from south to north, they are: Yale (completed 1963), Saddle Rock (1958), Sailor Bar (1959), Alexandra (1964), Hell's Gate (1960), Ferrabee (1964) and China Bar (1961). The Hell's Gate tunnel

3360-477: The urban and industrial centres of Vancouver , Surrey , and Abbotsford through golf courses and parks to dairy farms and market gardens . Agricultural land in the valley – much of it protected by the Agricultural Land Reserve – is intensively farmed: the Fraser Valley brings in nearly 40% of British Columbia's annual agricultural revenue, although it makes up a small percentage of the province's total land area. The Fraser Valley, specifically in Abbotsford ,

3420-414: The valley beyond the continuously built-up urban area around Vancouver, up to and including Chilliwack and Agassiz, about 80 km east, and abutting the border with Washington's Whatcom County ; news media typically also include the built-up eastern suburban areas of Vancouver which a few decades ago were mixed farmland and forest, typical of "the Valley". The Fraser Valley region is also the namesake of

3480-484: The weather regime along the west coast of North America as far south as California , acting as a natural outlet for the intensely cold Arctic air mass which typically sits over Western Canada during winter. Under certain meteorological conditions strong winds pour out of the Fraser Valley and over the relatively warmer waters of the Strait of Georgia and the Strait of Juan de Fuca . This can cause ocean-effect snow, especially between Port Angeles and Sequim , where

3540-427: Was incapable of exercising the control they claimed over the river valley. As a wave of immigrants flooded into the Fraser River Valley because of the Fraser Canyon Gold Rush , the British were unable to maintain order without the cooperation of the local indigenous peoples, and the Fraser Canyon War broke out. The war was resolved with a series of treaties, none of which remain to this day, but which evidently included

3600-438: Was used to haul equipment and supplies during the construction of the Canadian Pacific Railway, beginning in the 1880s. With the construction of the Canadian Pacific Railway in the 1880s came the destruction of key portions of the Cariboo Wagon Road , as there was no room for both railway and road on the narrow, steep mountainsides above the river. As a result, the towns of Lytton and Boston Bar were cut off from road access with

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