The West Road River or Blackwater River or Tiyakoh is an important

tributary A tributary, or affluent, is a stream or river that flows into a larger stream or main stem (or parent) river or a lake. A tributary does not flow directly into a sea or ocean. Tributaries and the main stem river drain the surrounding drai ...

of the Fraser River, flowing generally north-eastward from the northern slopes of the Ilgachuz Range and across the Fraser Plateau in the Chilcotin region of central

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, ...

Canada Canada is a country in North America. Its ten provinces and three territories extend from the Atlantic Ocean to the Pacific Ocean and northward into the Arctic Ocean, covering over , making it the world's second-largest country by tot ...

. With only one major tributary, the

Nazko River The Nazko River is a tributary of the West Road River, one of the main tributaries of the Fraser River, in the Canadian province of British Columbia. It flows through the Fraser Plateau region west of Quesnel. The name "Nazko" comes from Ndazkoh ...

("river flowing from the south" in the

Carrier language The Dakelh (ᑕᗸᒡ) or Carrier language is a Northern Athabaskan language. It is named after the Dakelh people, a First Nations people of the Central Interior of British Columbia, Canada, for whom Carrier has been a common English name derive ...

), its confluence with the Fraser is approximately 40 km northwest of Quesnel. It forms the division between the

Chilcotin Plateau The Chilcotin Plateau is part of the Fraser Plateau, a major subdivision of the Interior Plateau of British Columbia. The Chilcotin Plateau is physically near-identical with the region of the same name, i.e. "the Chilcotin", which lies between t ...

(S) and the

Nechako Plateau The Nechako Plateau is the northernmost subdivision of the Interior Plateau, one of the main geographic regions of the Canadian province of British Columbia. It spans the basin of the Nechako River and its tributaries the Stuart River and Endako ...

(N), which are subdivisions of the Fraser Plateau. The river is long, draining an area of approximately , and dropping over before joining with the Fraser. The river is of significant historical importance to both

First Nations First Nations or first peoples may refer to: * Indigenous peoples, for ethnic groups who are the earliest known inhabitants of an area. Indigenous groups *First Nations is commonly used to describe some Indigenous groups including: **First Natio ...

and Canadian history. For centuries, the

Dakelh The Dakelh (pronounced ) or Carrier are the indigenous people of a large portion of the Central Interior of British Columbia, Canada. The "Carrier" name was derived from an English translation of ''Aghele'', the name from the neighbouring Sekani ...

(Carrier) and Tsilhqot'in peoples used a trail—the so-called " Grease Trail"—on the northern side of the river in their trade with coastal First Nations communities. The name Grease Trail refers to one of the main commodities transported along the route—

eulachon The eulacheon ( (''Thaleichthys pacificus''), also spelled oolichan , ooligan , hooligan ), also called the candlefish, is a small anadromous species of smelt that spawns in some of the major river systems along the Pacific coast of North Ame ...

grease, a highly prized staple, traces of which coated parts of the route after centuries of use. It was this trail that

Sir Alexander Mackenzie Sir Alexander Mackenzie (or MacKenzie, gd, Alasdair MacCoinnich; – 12 March 1820) was a Scottish explorer known for accomplishing the first crossing of America north of Mexico in 1793. The Mackenzie River is named after him. Early life ...

used in his historic overland journey west to the

Pacific Ocean The Pacific Ocean is the largest and deepest of Earth's five oceanic divisions. It extends from the Arctic Ocean in the north to the Southern Ocean (or, depending on definition, to Antarctica) in the south, and is bounded by the contin ...

in 1793, traversing the river itself on his return. He named the river in 1793. The West Road (Blackwater) River has been designated as a heritage river by the government of British Columbia. The two major settlements along the river are the Kluskus First Nation and Ulkatcho First Nation (Alexis Family). Near the river to its south, on the Nazko, is the settlement of

Nazko Nazko is a small ranching and logging community, including a historic First Nations community located 100 km west of Quesnel on the Nazko River in the Central Interior of British Columbia, Canada. Nazko means, "river flowing from the south". ...

, a ranching community, the focus of which is the reserve of the

Nazko First Nation The Nazko First Nation is a First Nations government of the Dakelh people in the north-central Interior of British Columbia. Its reserves are located around the community of Nazko, British Columbia, which is 120 km west of Quesnel and southwe ...

References

{{Authority control West Road Grease trails Canadian Heritage Rivers Rivers of the Chilcotin Ilgachuz Range Cariboo Land District

See also

References