69-518: Quercus garryana is an oak tree species of the Pacific Northwest , with a range stretching from southern California to southwestern British Columbia . It is commonly known as the Garry oak, Oregon white oak or Oregon oak . It grows from sea level to an altitude of 690 feet (210 metres) in the northern part of its range, and from 980 to 5,900 ft (300 to 1,800 m) in the south of
138-633: A narrow belt along the Himalayas to cover mainland and island Southeast Asia as far as Sumatra , Java , Borneo , and Palawan . Finally, oaks of multiple sections ( Cyclobalanopsis , Ilex , Cerris , Quercus and related genera like Lithocarpus and Castanopsis ) extend across east Asia including China, Korea, and Japan. Potential records of Quercus have been reported from Late Cretaceous deposits in North America and East Asia. These are not considered definitive, as macrofossils older than
207-691: A navigable stream". His trip down the river convinced him that Fort Langley could not replace Fort Vancouver as the company's main depot on the Pacific coast. Much of British Columbia's history has been bound to the Fraser, partly because it was the essential route between the Interior and the Lower Coast after the loss of the lands south of the 49th Parallel with the Oregon Treaty of 1846. It
276-598: A progressively deeper canyon between the Lillooet Ranges of the Coast Mountains on its west and the Cascade Range on its east. Hell's Gate , located immediately downstream of the town of Boston Bar , is a famous portion of the canyon where the walls narrow dramatically, forcing the entire volume of the river through a gap only 35 metres (115 feet) wide. An aerial tramway takes visitors out over
345-665: A regional position within the Canadian Heraldic Authority is named after the river. The Fraser River is known for the fishing of white sturgeon , all five species of Pacific salmon ( chinook , coho , chum , pink , sockeye ), as well as steelhead trout . The Fraser River is also the largest producer of salmon in Canada. A typical white sturgeon catch can average about 500 pounds (230 kg). A white sturgeon weighing an estimated 500 kilograms (1,100 lb) and measuring 3.76 metres (12 ft 4 in)
414-715: A short dam lifespan, but mostly because of strong opposition from fisheries and other environmental concerns. In 1858, the Fraser River and surrounding areas were occupied when the gold rush came to the Fraser Canyon and the Fraser River. It is also a popular fishing location for residents of the Lower Mainland. The delta of the river, especially in the Boundary Bay area, is an important stopover location for migrating shorebirds . The Fraser Herald ,
483-767: A shrub understory. Wetter oak woodlands historically had a substantial shrub understory, primarily snowberry . Oregon white oak woodlands in British Columbia and Washington are critical habitats for a number of species that are rare or extirpated in these areas, plant, animal, and bryophyte: Quercus garryana woodlands create a landscape mosaic of grassland, savanna, woodland, and closed-canopy forest. This mosaic of varied habitats, in turn, allows many more species to live in this area than would be possible in coniferous forest alone. Parks Canada states that Garry oak woodlands support more species of plants than any other terrestrial ecosystem in British Columbia. It grows in
552-442: A significant spring freshet , primarily impacting regions around Prince George , Kamloops , Hope and Surrey . Due to record snowpacks on the mountains in the Fraser River catch basin which began melting, combined with heavy rainfall, water levels on the Fraser River rose in 2007 to a level not reached since 1972. Low-lying land in areas upriver such as Prince George suffered minor flooding. Evacuation alerts were given for
621-508: A single oak tree produces both staminate ('male') flowers in the form of catkins , and small pistillate ('female') flowers, meaning that the trees are monoecious . The fruit is a nut called an acorn , borne in a cup-like structure known as a cupule ; each acorn usually contains one seed and takes 6–18 months to mature, depending on the species. The acorns and leaves contain tannic acid , which helps to guard against fungi and insects. There are some 500 extant species of oaks. Trees in
690-557: A small area of the west of Cuba ; in Mesoamerica it occurs mainly above 1000 metres. The genus crossed the isthmus of Panama when the northern and southern continents came together and is present as one species, Q. humboldtii , above 1000 metres in Colombia. The oaks of North America are of many sections ( Protobalanus , Lobatae , Ponticae , Quercus , and Virentes ) along with related genera such as Notholithocarpus . In
759-886: A variety of soil types, for instance, rocky outcrops, glacial gravelly outwash, deep grassland soils, and seasonally flooded riparian areas. The Donation Land Claim Act of 1850 encouraged settlement of Washington and Oregon by the United States and marked the beginning of the end of regular burning by native peoples of the area. The arrival of Europeans also reduced the number of natural fires that took place in Oregon white oak habitat. With fire suppression and conversion to agriculture, oak woodlands and bunch grass prairies were invaded by Douglas-fir, Oregon ash ( Fraxinus latifolia ), and imported pasture grasses. Oaks were logged to clear land for pasture, and for firewood and fence posts. Livestock grazing trampled and consumed oak seedlings. By
SECTION 10
#1732782578666828-506: A wildfowl preserve, and Iona Island , the location of the main sewage plant for the City of Vancouver. After 100 kilometres (about 60 mi), the Fraser forms a delta where it empties into the Strait of Georgia between the mainland and Vancouver Island . The lands south of the City of Vancouver , including the cities of Richmond and Delta , sit on the flat flood plain . The islands of
897-807: Is actively pursuing conservation of the city's namesake tree with the formation of the Oak Harbor Garry Oak Society. In Southwest Washington , significant acreages of Oregon white oaks are preserved in the Scatter Creek Wildlife Area, in sites such as the Scatter Creek Unit , which contain some of the few remaining areas of south Puget Sound prairie. In Oak Bay, British Columbia, a fine of up to $ 10,000 may be issued for each Garry oak tree cut or damaged. The mildly sweet (but perhaps unpalatable) acorns are edible, ideally after leaching . The bitterness of
966-720: Is also the origin of the name " fir ", another important or sacred tree in Indo-European culture. The word "cork", for the bark of the cork oak , similarly derives from Quercus . The common name "oak" is from Old English ac (seen in placenames such as Acton , from ac + tun , "oak village" ), which in turn is from Proto-Germanic *aiks , "oak". Oaks are hardwood ( dicotyledonous ) trees, deciduous or evergreen, with spirally arranged leaves , often with lobate margins ; some have serrated leaves or entire leaves with smooth margins. Many deciduous species are marcescent , not dropping dead leaves until spring. In spring,
1035-504: Is gray and fissured. It has the characteristic oval profile of other oaks when solitary, but is also known to grow in groves close enough together that crowns may form a canopy. The leaves are deciduous , 2–6 inches (5.1–15 cm) long and 1–3 inches broad, with 3–7 deep lobes on each side, darker green on top and finely haired below. The flowers are catkins , the fruit a small acorn 3⁄4–1 inch (rarely 1 1⁄2 inches) long and 1⁄2–3⁄4 inch broad, with shallow, scaly cups. Its fall color
1104-456: Is in the white oak group. Oregon white oak is the only native oak species in British Columbia, Washington, and northern Oregon. In these areas, oak woodlands are seral, or early- successional ; they depend on disturbance to avoid being overtaken by Douglas-fir ( Pseudotsuga menziesii ). The disturbance allowing oak to persist in an area that would otherwise succeed to coniferous forest was primarily fire. Natural wildfires are relatively common in
1173-622: Is part of the Fraser Lowland and was formed also by sediment deposited from the Fraser, though most of the county is not in the Fraser drainage basin. Similar to the Columbia River Gorge east of Portland, Oregon , the Fraser exploits a topographic cleft between two mountain ranges separating a more continental climate (in this case, that of the British Columbia Interior ) from a milder climate near
1242-427: Is part of the City of New Westminster. Also in the lowermost Fraser, among other smaller islands, is Annacis Island , an important industrial and port area, which lies to the southeast of the eastern end of Lulu Island. Other notable islands in the lower Fraser are Barnston Island , Matsqui Island , Nicomen Island and Sea Bird Island . Other islands lie on the outer side of the estuary, most notably Westham Island ,
1311-515: Is strong and hard, and has found many uses in construction and furniture-making. The bark was traditionally used for tanning leather . Wine barrels are made of oak; these are used for aging alcoholic beverages such as sherry and whisky , giving them a range of flavours, colours, and aromas. The spongy bark of the cork oak is used to make traditional wine bottle corks. Almost a third of oak species are threatened with extinction due to climate change, invasive pests , and habitat loss . In culture,
1380-644: Is the longest river within British Columbia , Canada, rising at Fraser Pass near Blackrock Mountain in the Rocky Mountains and flowing for 1,375 kilometres (854 mi), into the Strait of Georgia just south of the City of Vancouver . The river's annual discharge at its mouth is 112 cubic kilometres (27 cu mi) or 3,550 cubic metres per second (125,000 cu ft/s), and each year it discharges about 20 million tons of sediment into
1449-530: Is unspectacular, with many trees turning plain brown. Other individuals may have subtle mixtures of brown, green and yellow, or in less common cases a fairly bright 'peas and corn' effect. The Oregon white oak is commonly found in the Willamette Valley hosting the mistletoe Phoradendron flavescens . It is also commonly found hosting galls created by wasps in the family Cynipidae. ' Oak apples ', green or yellow ball of up to 5 cm in size, are
SECTION 20
#17327825786661518-553: The Dakelh language is Lhtakoh . The Tsilhqot'in name for the river, not dissimilar to the Dakelh name, is ʔElhdaqox , meaning Sturgeon ( ʔElhda-chugh ) River ( Yeqox ) . The Fraser drains a 220,000-square-kilometre (85,000 sq mi) area. Its source is a dripping spring at Fraser Pass in the Canadian Rocky Mountains near the border with Alberta . The river then flows north to
1587-576: The Fraser Valley , a lush lowland valley, and runs past Chilliwack and the confluence of the Harrison and Sumas Rivers , bending northwest at Abbotsford and Mission . The Fraser then flows past Maple Ridge , Pitt Meadows , Port Coquitlam , and north Surrey . It turns southwest again just east of New Westminster , where it splits into the North Arm, which is the southern boundary of
1656-572: The Hudson's Bay Company 's main Pacific depot. Simpson had believed the Fraser River might be navigable throughout its length, even though Simon Fraser had described it as non-navigable. Simpson journeyed down the river and through the Fraser Canyon and afterwards wrote "I should consider the passage down, to be certain Death, in nine attempts out of Ten. I shall therefore no longer talk about it as
1725-593: The Lower Mainland ( Fraser Valley and Metro Vancouver ) occurred in 1894. With no protection against the rising waters of the Fraser River, Fraser Valley and Metro Vancouver communities from Chilliwack downstream were inundated with water. In the 1894 floods, the water mark at Mission reached 7.85 metres (25.75 ft). After the 1894 flood, a dyking system was constructed throughout the Fraser Valley. The dyking and drainage projects greatly improved
1794-543: The Mount Robson Provincial Park , to Steveston in Vancouver at the river mouth. With an average flow at the mouth of about 3,475 cubic metres per second (122,700 cu ft/s), the Fraser is the largest river by discharge flowing into the Pacific seaboard of Canada and the fifth largest in the country. The average flow is highly seasonal; summer discharge rates can be ten times larger than
1863-643: The Paleogene , and possibly from before the Eocene are mostly poorly preserved without critical features for certain identification. Amongst the oldest unequivocal records of Quercus are pollen from Austria, dating to the Paleocene -Eocene boundary, around 55 million years ago. The oldest records of Quercus in North America are from Oregon , dating to the Middle Eocene, around 44 million years ago, with
1932-589: The San Juan Islands , gaining strength over the open water of the Strait of Juan de Fuca . The estuary at the river's mouth is a site of hemispheric importance in the Western Hemisphere Shorebird Reserve Network . The Water Survey of Canada currently operates 17 gauge stations that measure discharge and water level along the majority of the mainstem from Red Pass just downstream of Moose Lake in
2001-728: The Yellowhead Highway and west past Mount Robson to the Rocky Mountain Trench and the Robson Valley near Valemount . After running northwest past 54° north, it makes a sharp turn to the south at Giscome Portage , meeting the Nechako River at the city of Prince George , then continues south, progressively cutting deeper into the Fraser Plateau to form the Fraser Canyon from roughly
2070-575: The beech family . They have spirally arranged leaves, often with lobed edges, and a nut called an acorn , borne within a cup. The genus is widely distributed in the Northern Hemisphere; it includes some 500 species, both deciduous and evergreen . Fossil oaks date back to the Middle Eocene . Molecular phylogeny shows that the genus is divided into Old World and New World clades , but many oak species hybridise freely, making
2139-740: The garryana variety grows in the foothills of the Siskiyou and Klamath Mountains , the Coast Ranges of Northern California, and of the west slope of the Cascades. The semota variety grows in the Sierra Nevada and Coast Ranges as far south as Los Angeles County . In Washington , the tree grows on the west side of the Cascade Range , particularly in the Puget Sound lowlands, the northeastern Olympic Peninsula , Whidbey Island,
Quercus garryana - Misplaced Pages Continue
2208-1119: The 1990s, more than half the Oregon white oak woodland habitat in the South Puget Sound area of Washington was gone. On Vancouver Island, more than 90% was gone, and on Whidbey Island up to 99% of native understory Oregon white oak habitat is gone. Remaining Oregon white oak woodlands are threatened by urbanization, conversion to Douglas-fir woodland, and invasion by shrubs, both native and nonnative (Scotch broom Cytisus scoparius , sweetbriar rose Rosa eglanteria , snowberry Symphoricarpos albus , Indian plum Oemleria cerasiformis , poison-oak Toxicodendron diversilobum , English holly Ilex aquifolium , bird cherry Prunus avens ). Conversely, oak groves in wetter areas that historically had closed canopies of large trees are becoming crowded with young oaks that grow thin and spindly, due to lack of fires that would clear out seedlings. Chionodes petalumensis caterpillars feed on oak leaves, including those of Quercus garryana and valley oak ( Q. lobata ). Oregon white oaks and their ecosystems are
2277-477: The 2010s. Oregon white oak barrels are said to give the product "burnt sugar notes, marshmallow sweetness, and a light floral character that showcases the best of the Garry oak". When used as firewood, Oregon white oak produces 28 million British thermal units per cord (2.3 MWh/m) burned. Oak See also List of Quercus species . An oak is a hardwood tree or shrub in the genus Quercus of
2346-519: The British Columbia mainland. The northernmost population of Garry oak can be found just below 50°N on Savary Island , in the northern stretches of the Strait of Georgia . The Garry oak is the only oak native to British Columbia, and one of only two oaks (along with the bur oak ) native to western Canada. It is a drought-tolerant tree. Older specimens are often affected by heart rot . The acorns are consumed by wildlife and livestock. David Douglas recorded that bears consumed them. In British Columbia,
2415-648: The Chehalis river valley, and the San Juan Islands . It also grows in the foothills of the southeastern Cascades and along the Columbia River Gorge . In British Columbia , the Garry oak grows on the Gulf Islands and southeastern Vancouver Island , from west of Victoria along the east side of the island up to the Campbell River area. There are also small populations along the Fraser River on
2484-515: The City of Vancouver , and the South Arm, which divides the City of Richmond from the City of Delta to the south. Richmond is on the largest island in the Fraser, Lulu Island and also on Sea Island , which is the location of Vancouver International Airport , where the Middle Arm branches off to the south from the North Arm. The far eastern end of Lulu Island is named Queensborough and
2553-400: The Garry oak can be infested by three nonnative insects: the jumping gall wasp Neuroterus saltatorius , the oak leaf phylloxeran, and the spongy moth . While the invasive plant disease commonly called sudden oak death attacks other Pacific Coast native oaks, it has not yet been found on the Oregon white oak. Most oak hosts of this disease are in the red oak group, while Oregon white oak
2622-706: The Old World, oaks of section Quercus extend across the whole of Europe including European Russia apart from the far north, and north Africa (north of the Sahara) from Morocco to Libya. In Mediterranean Europe, they are joined by oaks of the sections Cerris and Ilex , which extend across Turkey, the Middle East, Iran, Afghanistan and Pakistan , while section Ponticae is endemic to the western Caucasus in Turkey and Georgia . Oaks of section Cyclobalanopsis extend in
2691-540: The coast. When an Arctic high-pressure area moves into the British Columbia Interior and a relatively low-pressure area builds over the general Puget Sound and Strait of Georgia region, the cold Arctic air accelerates southwest through the Fraser Canyon . These outflow winds can gust up to 97 to 129 kilometres per hour (60 to 80 mph) and have at times exceeded 160 kilometres per hour (100 mph). Such winds frequently reach Bellingham and
2760-643: The confluence of the Chilcotin River , near the city of Williams Lake , southwards. It is joined by the Bridge and Seton Rivers at the town of Lillooet , then by the Thompson River at Lytton , where it proceeds south until it is approximately 64 kilometres (40 mi) north of the 49th parallel , which is Canada's border with the United States . From Lytton southwards it runs through
2829-479: The delta include Iona Island, Sea Island, Lulu Island, Annacis Island, and a number of smaller islands. While the vast majority of the river's drainage basin lies within British Columbia, a small portion in the drainage basin lies across the international border in Washington in the United States, namely the upper reaches of the tributary Chilliwack and Sumas rivers. Most of lowland Whatcom County, Washington
Quercus garryana - Misplaced Pages Continue
2898-871: The drier portions of the Pacific Northwest where Oregon white oak is found, but fire suppression has made such events much less common. In addition, early settlers' records, soil surveys, and tribal histories indicate that deliberate burning was widely practiced by the indigenous people of these areas. Fire perpetuated the grasslands that produced food sources such as camas , chocolate lily , bracken fern , and oak; and that provided grazing and easy hunting for deer and elk. Mature Oregon white oaks are fire-resistant, and so would not be severely harmed by grass fires of low intensity. Such fires prevented Douglas-fir and most other conifer seedlings from becoming established, allowing bunch grass prairie and oak woodland to persist. Fire also kept oak woodlands on drier soils free of
2967-476: The first Europeans to find and enter it. The existence of the river, but not its location, had been deduced during the 1791 voyage of José María Narváez , under Francisco de Eliza . The upper reaches of the Fraser River were first explored by Sir Alexander Mackenzie in 1793, and fully traced by Simon Fraser in 1808, who confirmed that it was not connected with the Columbia River . The lower Fraser
3036-523: The flood problems, but over time, the dykes were allowed to fall into disrepair and became overgrown with brush and trees. With some dykes constructed of a wooden frame, they gave way in 1948 in several locations, marking the second disastrous flood. Flooding since 1948 has been minor in comparison. 1948 saw massive flooding in Chilliwack and other areas along the Fraser River. The high-water mark at Mission rose to 7.5 metres (24.7 ft). The peak flow
3105-563: The flow during the winter. The Fraser's highest recorded flow, in June 1894, is estimated to have been 17,000 cubic metres per second (600,000 cu ft/s) at Hope . It was calculated using high-water marks near the hydrometric station at Hope and various statistical methods. In 1948 the Fraser River Board adopted the estimate for the 1894 flood. It remains the value specified by regulatory agencies for all flood control work on
3174-407: The focus of conservation efforts, including communities such as Tacoma, Washington , where an Oak Tree Park has been established; Oak Bay, British Columbia , which is named after the tree; and Corvallis, Oregon , which has protected the oak savannah remnants around Bald Hill . Oak Harbor, Washington , named after the tree and home to Smith Park that contains a dense grove of mature Garry Oak trees,
3243-404: The genus Quercus consisted of Old World and New World clades. The entire genome of Quercus robur (the pedunculate oak) has been sequenced , revealing an array of mutations that may underlie the evolution of longevity and disease resistance in oaks. In addition, hundreds of oak species have been compared (at RAD-seq loci), allowing a detailed phylogeny to be constructed. However,
3312-641: The genus are often large and slow-growing; Q. alba can reach an age of 600 years, a diameter of 13 feet (4.0 m) and a height of 145 feet (44 m). The Granit oak in Bulgaria, a Q. robur specimen, has an estimated age of 1637 years, making it the oldest oak in Europe. The Wi'aaSal tree, a live oak in the reservation of the Pechanga Band of Indians , California, is at least 1000 years old, and might be as much as 2000 years old, which would make it
3381-551: The genus's history difficult to resolve. Ecologically, oaks are keystone species in habitats from Mediterranean semi-desert to subtropical rainforest . They live in association with many kinds of fungi including truffles . Oaks support more than 950 species of caterpillar , many kinds of gall wasp which form distinctive galls , roundish woody lumps such as the oak apple , and a large number of pests and diseases. Oak leaves and acorns contain enough tannin to be toxic to cattle, but pigs are able to digest them safely. Oak timber
3450-1151: The high signal of introgressive hybridization (the transfer of genetic material by repeated backcrossing with hybrid offspring) in the genus has made it difficult to resolve an unambiguous, unitary history of oaks. The phylogeny from Hipp et al. 2019 is: CTB lineage [REDACTED] Cyclobalanoides Glauca [REDACTED] Acuta [REDACTED] Semiserrata East Asian Cerris [REDACTED] West Eurasian Cerris [REDACTED] Early-diverging Ilex [REDACTED] East Asian Ilex [REDACTED] Himalaya-Mediterranean [REDACTED] Himalayan subalpine [REDACTED] Agrifoliae [REDACTED] Palustres [REDACTED] Coccineae (Rubrae) [REDACTED] Phellos (Laurifoliae) [REDACTED] Texas red oaks [REDACTED] Erythromexicana [REDACTED] [REDACTED] [REDACTED] [REDACTED] Dumosae [REDACTED] Prinoids [REDACTED] Albae [REDACTED] Roburoids [REDACTED] Stellatae [REDACTED] Texas white oaks [REDACTED] Leucomexicana [REDACTED] Fraser River The Fraser River ( / ˈ f r eɪ z ər / )
3519-519: The largest number of oak species, with approximately 160 species in Mexico, of which 109 are endemic, and about 90 in the United States. The second greatest area of oak diversity is China, with approximately 100 species. In the Americas, Quercus is widespread from Vancouver and Nova Scotia in the south of Canada, south to Mexico and across the whole of the eastern United States. It is present in
SECTION 50
#17327825786663588-438: The most spectacular. They are attached to the undersides of leaves. One common species responsible for these galls is Cynips maculipennis . Other species create galls on stems and leaves. Shapes vary from spheres to mushroom-shaped to pencil-shaped. Individual specimens can grow to around 500 years in age, such as those on Sauvie Island near Portland, Oregon . David Douglas was the first non-native person who recorded
3657-749: The oak tree is a symbol of strength and serves as the national tree of many countries. In Indo-European and related religions, the oak is associated with thunder gods . Individual oak trees of cultural significance include the Royal Oak in Britain, the Charter Oak in the United States, and the Guernica Oak in the Basque Country . The generic name Quercus is Latin for "oak", derived from Proto-Indo-European *kwerkwu- , "oak", which
3726-661: The ocean. The river is named after Simon Fraser , who led an expedition in 1808 on behalf of the North West Company from the site of present-day Prince George almost to the mouth of the river. The river's name in the Halqemeylem (Upriver Halkomelem) language is Sto:lo , often seen archaically as Staulo , and has been adopted by the Halkomelem-speaking peoples of the Lower Mainland as their collective name, Sto:lo . The river's name in
3795-401: The oldest oak in the US. Among the smallest oaks is Q. acuta , the Japanese evergreen oak. It forms a bush or small tree to a height of some 30 feet (9.1 m). The genus Quercus is native to the Northern Hemisphere and includes deciduous and evergreen species extending from cool temperate to tropical latitudes in the Americas , Asia, Europe, and North Africa. North America has
3864-648: The oldest records in Asia from the Middle Eocene of Japan; both forms have affinities to the Cyclobalanopsis group. Quercus forms part, or rather two parts, of the Quercoideae subfamily of the Fagaceae , the beech family. Modern molecular phylogenetics suggests the following relationships: Fagus (beeches) Trigonobalanus (3 evergreen species) Lithocarpus (stone oaks) Chrysolepis (chinquapins) Quercus pro parte Notholithocarpus (tan oak) Quercus pro parte Castanopsis (also called chinquapins) Castanea (chestnuts) Molecular techniques for phylogenetic analysis show that
3933-437: The poorly maintained dyke systems failed to contain the water. At the height of the 1948 flood, 200 square kilometres (50,000 acres) stood under water. Dykes broke at Agassiz, Chiliwack, Nicomen Island, Glen Valley and Matsqui. When the flood waters receded a month later, 16,000 people had been evacuated, with damages totaling $ 20 million, about $ 225 million in 2020 dollars. Major flooding occurred once again in 1972 due to
4002-414: The range in California. The eponymous Nicholas Garry was deputy governor of the Hudson's Bay Company . Quercus garryana is typically of medium height, growing slowly to around 80 feet (24 metres) and occasionally as high as 100 ft (30 m), or in shrub form to 10 to 15 ft (3.0 to 4.6 m) tall. The trunks grow to 3 feet (0.91 m) thick, exceptionally 5 ft (2 m). The bark
4071-476: The river was designated as a Canadian Heritage River for its natural and human heritage. It remains the longest river with that designation. The Fraser is heavily exploited by human activities, especially in its lower reaches. Its banks are rich farmland, its water is used by pulp mills , and a few dams on some tributaries provide hydroelectric power . The main flow of the Fraser has never been dammed partly because its high level of sediment flows would result in
4140-404: The river. Further studies and hydraulic models have estimated the maximum discharge of the Fraser River, at Hope during the 1894 flood, as within a range of about 16,000 to 18,000 cubic metres per second (570,000 to 640,000 cu ft/s). On June 14, 1792, the Spanish explorers Dionisio Alcalá Galiano and Cayetano Valdés entered and anchored in the North Arm of the Fraser River, becoming
4209-404: The river. Hells Gate is visible from Trans-Canada Highway 1 about 2 km (1.2 mi) south of the tramway. Simon Fraser was forced to portage the gorge on his trip through the canyon in June 1808. At Yale , at the head of navigation on the river, the canyon opens up and the river widens, though without much adjoining lowland until Hope , where the river then turns west and southwest into
SECTION 60
#17327825786664278-419: The species (1820s) and named it after Nicholas Garry , who was deputy governor of the Hudson's Bay Company from 1822 to 1835 and a supporter of Douglas. There are three varieties : In Oregon , the tree grows on the west side of the Cascade Range, primarily in the Willamette, Umpqua and Rogue River valleys, and along the Columbia River Gorge, as well as in canyons adjacent to the gorge. In California,
4347-539: The toxic tannic acid would likely prevent anyone from eating enough to become ill. Native Americans ate the acorns raw and roasted, also using them to make a kind of flour. The hardwood is hard and heavily ring-porous. It has distinctive growth rings and prominent rays. Heartwood can be a deep chocolate brown color and sapwood will vary from golden brown to nearly white. This makes it particularly attractive to woodworkers, however it can be difficult to use in woodworking without experiencing warping and cracking. Although it
4416-406: Was about 15,600 cubic meters per second. Cool temperatures in March, April, and early May had delayed the melting of the heavy snowpack that had accumulated over the winter season. Several days of hot weather and warm rains over the holiday weekend in late May hastened the thawing of the snowpack. Rivers and streams quickly swelled with spring runoff, reaching heights surpassed only in 1894. Finally,
4485-421: Was caught and released on the Fraser River in July 2012. In 2021, a white sturgeon was caught on the river weighing 890 pounds (400 kg), with a length of 352 cm (11.55 ft). It was estimated to be over 100 years old. The fish was tagged and released. The most significant Fraser river floods in recorded history occurred in 1894 and 1948. After European settlement, the first disastrous flood in
4554-466: Was popularly used around the turn of the 20th century, historically, the tree has not been regarded as having significant commercial value and is frequently destroyed as land is cleared for development. The wood is suitable for making fence posts. With similar qualities to those of other white oaks , the wood has been used experimentally in Oregon for creating casks in which to age wine. In Washington, it has been used for aging single malt whiskey since
4623-411: Was revisited in 1824 when the Hudson's Bay Company sent a crew across Puget Sound from its Fort George southern post on the Columbia River . The expedition was led by James McMillan . The Fraser was reached via the Nicomekl River and the Salmon River reachable after a portage. Friendly tribes met earlier on by the Simon Fraser crew were reacquainted with. A trading post with agricultural potential
4692-421: Was the site of its first recorded settlements of Aboriginal people ( see Musqueam , Sto:lo , St'at'imc , Secwepemc and Nlaka'pamŭ ), the site of the first European-Indigenous mixed ancestry settlement in southern British-Columbia ( see Fort Langley ), the route of multitudes of prospectors during the Fraser Canyon Gold Rush and the main vehicle of the province's early commerce and industry. In 1998,
4761-462: Was to be located. By 1827, a crew was sent back via the mouth of the Fraser to build and operate the original Fort Langley . McMillan also led the undertaking. The trading post original location would soon become the first ever mixed ancestry and agricultural settlement in southern British Columbia on the Fraser (Sto:lo) river. In 1828 George Simpson visited the river, mainly to examine Fort Langley and determine whether it would be suitable as
#665334