The Robson Valley is a geographic region of the Canadian province of

British Columbia British Columbia (commonly abbreviated as BC) is the westernmost province of Canada, situated between the Pacific Ocean and the Rocky Mountains. It has a diverse geography, with rugged landscapes that include rocky coastlines, sandy beaches, for ...

, comprising the section of the

Rocky Mountain Trench The Rocky Mountain Trench, also known as the Valley of a Thousand Peaks or simply the Trench, is a large valley on the western side of the northern part of North America's Rocky Mountains. The Trench is both visually and cartographically a ...

that lies southeast of the city of Prince George following the

Fraser River The Fraser River is the longest river within British Columbia, Canada, rising at Fraser Pass near Blackrock Mountain in the Rocky Mountains and flowing for , into the Strait of Georgia just south of the City of Vancouver. The river's annual ...

to the

Yellowhead Pass The Yellowhead Pass is a mountain pass across the Continental Divide of the Americas in the Canadian Rockies. It is located on the provincial boundary between the Canadian provinces of Alberta and British Columbia, and lies within Jasper ...

. The name is derived from

Mount Robson Mount Robson is the most prominent mountain in North America's Rocky Mountain range; it is also the highest point in the Canadian Rockies. The mountain is located entirely within Mount Robson Provincial Park of British Columbia, and is part o ...

, which stands near the entrance to the Yellowhead Pass. Communities in the Robson Valley include the settlements of Dome Creek, Crescent Spur, Dunster, and

Tête Jaune Cache Tête, head in French, may refer to : * ''Tête'' (sculpture), a 1912 work of art by Amedeo Modigliani; one of the most expensive sculptures ever sold * "Je danse dans ma tête", a 1991 song from the Dion chante Plamondon album by Céline Dion * ...

, with larger population concentrations in the villages of McBride and

Valemount Valemount () is a village municipality of 1,018 people in east central British Columbia, Canada, from Kamloops, British Columbia. It is between the Rocky, Monashee, and Cariboo Mountains. It is the nearest community to the west of Jasper Natio ...

. On a map, the Robson Valley is located immediately south of the elbow in the boundary between Alberta and British Columbia. Transportation corridors through the Robson Valley include the

Canadian National Railway The Canadian National Railway Company (french: Compagnie des chemins de fer nationaux du Canada) is a Canadian Class I freight railway headquartered in Montreal, Quebec, which serves Canada and the Midwestern and Southern United States. CN i ...

lines, and Highways 16 and 5. The Robson Valley is bounded on the south by the

Columbia Country Columbia Country refers to the upper basin of the Columbia River in the Canadian province of British Columbia. It includes a smaller region known as the Columbia Valley, near the river's headwaters at Columbia Lake in the Rocky Mountain Trench, a ...

, farther south down the Rocky Mountain Trench, and the

Thompson Country Thompson Country, also referred to as The Thompson and sometimes as the Thompson Valley and historically known as the Couteau Country or Couteau District, is a historic geographic region of the Southern Interior of British Columbia, more or less d ...

, via Canoe Pass, and is flanked on its east by the

Rocky Mountains The Rocky Mountains, also known as the Rockies, are a major mountain range and the largest mountain system in North America. The Rocky Mountains stretch in straight-line distance from the northernmost part of western Canada, to New Mexico ...

and on the west by the

Cariboo Mountains The Cariboo Mountains are the northernmost subrange of the Columbia Mountains, which run down into the Spokane area of the United States and include the Selkirks, Monashees and Purcells. The Cariboo Mountains are entirely within the province of ...

First Nations

The Robson Valley and the head waters of the Fraser were considered to be the Northern hunting and fishing grounds of the Secwepemc, particularly the

Texqa'kallt The Texqa'kallt or Xexka'llt ( Shuswap: "people of the upper reaches") are a division of the Shuswap people of British Columbia that are historically cited as living in and around the North Thompson, through to the Robson Valley. Historic accou ...

division. Anthropologist James Teit noted that a " huswapband, mixed with Cree, live practically east of the Rocky Mountains; in the neighbourhood of Jasper House, and west to Tête-Jaune Cache." Teit said The Shuswap Band was known as Xexkaʼllt ("those at the top"), "those almost completely nomadic Indians who live nearly in the heart of the Rocky Mountains, around the head waters of North Thompson River, the Yellow Head Pass, and Jasper House. I shall name them the Upper North Thompson band; and the whole division, the North Thompson division. On the west their hunting-grounds are co-extensive with those of the

anim Anim or ANIM may refer to: Places *A city in the mountains of Judah, now el-Ghuwein, near Eshtemoh, about 10 miles south-west of Hebron *An alternative spelling for the biblical city of Anem, now Jenin * Anim synagogue, a synagogue in Israel ...

Lake division, while east and north they extend along Adams Lake, include Canoe River, part of the Big Bend of the Columbia, part of the Rocky Mountain region (around the head of the Athabasca), and the Upper Fraser country north towards the head of Smoky River nearly to latitude 54° N. Teit also records a tale of a ten-year war between the

Sekani Sekani or Tse’khene are a First Nations people of the Athabaskan-speaking ethnolinguistic group in the Northern Interior of British Columbia. Their territory includes the Finlay and Parsnip River drainages of the Rocky Mountain Trench. The ne ...

(Tseʼkhene) and the Secwepemc over the head waters of the Fraser. "The final attack, in which the Shuswap war-party almost completely exterminated the Sekanai, who had taken up their abode on Shuswap grounds, took place probably about 1790. Sir Alexander Mackenzie mentions seeing, in 1793, a Sekanai woman and man, evidently slaves, among the Soda Creek Shuswap at that time." Within the Robson Valley region, there are eight traditional First Nations groups:

Lheidli T’enneh First Nation The Lheidli T'enneh Band also known as the Lheidli T'enneh First Nation and historically known as the Fort George Indian Band is the First Nations band government for the Lheidli T'enneh, a subgroup of the Dakelh people whose traditional territor ...

, Simpcw First Nation,

Lhtako Dene Nation Lhtako is the name of the tribe of Dakelh (Carrier) people who are today headquartered at Quesnel, British Columbia and incorporated under the Indian Act as the Red Bluff First Nation. Their southern neighbours are the T'exelc (Williams Lake) grou ...

Canim Lake Indian Band The Canim Lake Band (Shuswap language: Tsq'escen') is a First Nations government of the Secwepemc (Shuswap) Nation, located in the Central Interior region of the Canadian province of British Columbia. Its main Indian reserve is located at Can ...

, Xat’súll First Nation (Soda Creek),

Shuswap First Nation Shuswap may refer to: * Secwepemc, an indigenous people in British Columbia, Canada, also known in English as the Shuswap ** Shuswap Nation Tribal Council, a multi-band regional organization of Secwepemc governments based in Kamloops, British Col ...

Okanagan First Nation The Okanagan ( ), also known as the Okanagan Valley and sometimes as the Okanagan Country, is a region in the Canadian province of British Columbia defined by the basin of Okanagan Lake and the Canadian portion of the Okanagan River. It is part ...

Tsilhqotʼin The Tsilhqotin or Chilcotin ("People of the river", ; also spelled ''Chilcotin'', ''Tsilhqutin, Tŝinlhqotin, Chilkhodin, Tsilkótin, Tsilkotin'') are a North American tribal government of the Athabaskan-speaking ethnolinguistic group that li ...

Railways

The railways served as part of the foundation of the Robson Valley. When the railways were built, two divisional points existed, one at Lucerne and the other at McBride, or Mile 90 as it was called. The railways that went through the Robson Valley were the

Grand Trunk Pacific The Grand Trunk Pacific Railway was a historic Canadian transcontinental railway running from Fort William, Ontario (now Thunder Bay) to Prince Rupert, British Columbia, a Pacific coast port. East of Winnipeg the line continued as the National Tra ...

and

Canadian Northern Railway The Canadian Northern Railway (CNoR) was a historic Canadian transcontinental railway. At its 1923 merger into the Canadian National Railway , the CNoR owned a main line between Quebec City and Vancouver via Ottawa, Winnipeg, and Edmonton. Man ...

, which later merged, between 1918 and 1923, into the Canadian National Railway.

References

Central Interior of British Columbia {{BritishColumbiaInterior-geo-stub