Nechako

I

Introduction

Nechako, river in central British Columbia, Canada. The Nechako rises in the Coast Mountains and flows east. It is joined by the Cheslatta River above Vanderhoof, and then the Stuart and Nautley rivers. At Prince George, the Nechako becomes the primary western tributary of the Fraser River.

II

Description

The Nechako drains an area of 47,100 sq km (18,200 sq mi). The length of the river, once 460 km (290 mi), is now indefinite because its headwaters are impounded by the Kenney Dam to form the enormous Nechako Reservoir. Water from the reservoir, which covers approximately 900 sq km (350 sq mi), is diverted westward through the Coast Mountains to a massive hydroelectric facility at Kemano. Since 1954, power from this site, which has a capacity of more than 800 megawatts, has been transmitted to Kitimat on Douglas Channel for the production of aluminum. Substantial parts of the Nechako Reservoir are included in, or border on, the northern sections of Tweedsmuir Provincial Park, British Columbia's largest park and wildlife refuge.

Vanderhoof, located 100 km (60 mi) west of Prince George, is the principal town of the Nechako Valley. The economies of the town and the valley depend on farming, forestry, and mining.

III

History

When fur traders from the North West Company came to the Nechako River valley in the early 1800s, the area was inhabited by the Carrier people, members of the Athapaskan linguistic group. In 1807 Simon Fraser, who directed North West Company operations in central British Columbia, established Fort George at the junction of the Nechako and Fraser rivers. Still, there were few nonnative people in the Nechako Valley before the early 1900s, when construction of a transcontinental railroad to Prince Rupert brought an influx of settlers between 1908 and 1913.

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The settlement at Fort George was incorporated as Prince George in 1915. Thereafter, growth in the Nechako Valley was slow until expansion of the forest industry brought new prosperity in the 1950s and 1960s. The completion of Kenney Dam in 1952 and the creation of Nechako Reservoir disrupted life on the upper reaches of the river, causing the relocation of many people and reducing salmon stocks.

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