Dean Channel is the upper end of one of the longest

inlets An inlet is a (usually long and narrow) indentation of a shoreline, such as a small arm, bay, sound, fjord, lagoon or marsh, that leads to an enclosed larger body of water such as a lake, estuary, gulf or marginal sea. Overview In marine geog ...

of the

British Columbia Coast , settlement_type = Region of British Columbia , image_skyline = , nickname = "The Coast" , subdivision_type = Country , subdivision_name = Canada , subdivision_type1 = Province , subdivision_name1 = British ...

, from its head at the mouth of the Kimsquit River. The

Dean River The Dean River is one of the major rivers of the Kitimat Ranges subrange of the southern Coast Mountains in British Columbia. It begins at Aktaklin Lake on the Chilcotin Plateau and winds north around the Rainbow Range to enter Dean Channel at th ...

, one of the main rivers of the

Coast Mountains The Coast Mountains (french: La chaîne Côtière) are a major mountain range in the Pacific Coast Ranges of western North America, extending from southwestern Yukon through the Alaska Panhandle and virtually all of the Coast of British Colum ...

, enters Dean Channel about below the head of the inlet, at the community of

Kimsquit Kimsquit is a former village of the Nuxalk at the mouth of the Dean River on the northeast side of Dean Channel in the Central Coast region of British Columbia, Canada. Kemsquit Indian Reserve No. 1 is nearby at , which is on Kimsquit Bay; Kimsq ...

History

Dean Channel was named by

Captain Vancouver Captain George Vancouver (22 June 1757 – 10 May 1798) was a British Royal Navy officer best known for his 1791–1795 expedition, which explored and charted North America's northwestern Pacific Coast regions, including the coasts of what are ...

in 1793 after Rev. James King,

Dean of Raphoe The Dean of Raphoe is based at the Cathedral Church of St Eunan, Raphoe, County Donegal, Ulster in the Diocese of Derry and Raphoe within the Church of Ireland. The Deanery is currently vacant since January 2021. List of deans *1603 John Alb ...

, Ireland. The channel was surveyed by

Captain Richards Sir George Henry Richards (13 January 1820 –14 November 1896) was Hydrographer of the Royal Navy from 1863 to 1874. Biography Richards was born in Antony, Cornwall, the son of Captain G. S. Richards, and joined the Royal Navy in 1832. ...

in 1861 of HMS ''Hecate''. It is located within the Central Coast region.

Branches

Ending at the mouth of Cousins Inlet, which is the harbour for the abandoned town of

Ocean Falls Ocean Falls is a community on the Central Coast of British Columbia, Canada. Formerly a large company town owned by Crown Zellerbach, it is accessible only via boat or seaplane, and is home for a few dozen full-time residents, with the seasonal ...

, the fjord's name changes to

Fisher Channel Fisher Channel is a channel in the Central Coast region of the Canadian province of British Columbia. To its west are Hunter and Denny Islands, to its east King Island. It was first charted in 1793 by George Vancouver Post-captain, Captain Ge ...

down the west side of

King Island King Island, Kings Island or King's Island may refer to: Australia * King Island (Queensland) * King Island, at Wellington Point, Queensland * King Island (Tasmania) ** King Island Council, the local government area that contains the Tasmanian isl ...

. Below Fisher Channel's length the fjord merges with Burke Channel, which is a arm of the Dean/Fisher Channel on the east side of King Island, the name of the

fjord In physical geography, a fjord or fiord () is a long, narrow inlet with steep sides or cliffs, created by a glacier. Fjords exist on the coasts of Alaska, Antarctica, British Columbia, Chile, Denmark, Germany, Greenland, the Faroe Islands, Icela ...

changes to

Fitz Hugh Sound Fitz Hugh Sound, sometimes spelled Fitzhugh Sound, is a sound on the British Columbia Coast of Canada, located between Calvert Island and the mainland. Etymology Fitz Hugh Sound was given its name in 1785 by James Hanna, the first non-indigenou ...

, which is considerably wider than the upper part of the fjord at about in width and is itself about in length. Fitz Hugh Sound passes on the inside of

Calvert Island Calvert Island is an island in Whitefish Bay, Lake of the Woods in Kenora District, Ontario, Canada. It is about south of the community of Sioux Narrows and west of Ontario Highway 71. Calvert Island is long and wide. The western edge i ...

and opens onto Queen Charlotte Sound just northwest of the opening of

Queen Charlotte Strait , image = Canadian pilot, near Port Hardy BC.jpg , alt = , caption = A pilot boat plies Queen Charlotte Strait near Port Hardy , image_bathymetry = Locmap-QCS-Hecate-Dixon.png , alt_bathymetry = ...

. Opening onto Fitz Hugh Sound in its lower reaches near Queen Charlotte Sound is

Rivers Inlet Rivers Inlet is a fjord in the Central Coast region of the Canadian province of British Columbia, its entrance off Fitz Hugh Sound, about southwest of the community of Bella Coola and about north of the northern tip of Vancouver Island and the ...

, home of the

Wuikinuxv The Wuikinuxv , ("Backbone people"), also rendered Oweekano (Pre-1976); ''Oowekeeno'' (1976-2003) (variation: ''Oweekeno, Owekano, Oweekayno, Wuikenukv, Wikeno, Owikeno, Awikenox'', and also known as the Rivers Inlet people, are an Indigenous F ...

(Owekeeno)

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 Nat ...

. The total length of the fjord from the head of Dean Channel to the mouth of Fitz Hugh Sound is about rivalling

Hardangerfjord The Hardangerfjord ( en, Hardanger Fjord) is the fifth longest fjord in the world, and the second longest fjord in Norway. It is located in Vestland county in the Hardanger region. The fjord stretches from the Atlantic Ocean into the mountain ...

Norway Norway, officially the Kingdom of Norway, is a Nordic country in Northern Europe, the mainland territory of which comprises the western and northernmost portion of the Scandinavian Peninsula. The remote Arctic island of Jan Mayen and t ...

for length. If the additional lengths of South Bentinck Arm () and North Bentinck Arm (), plus Burke Channel and its shorter companion, Labouchere Channel (), and an arm of Burke named Kwatna Inlet () were factored in, total length of the fjord complex's waterways is - longer than

Sognefjord The Sognefjord or Sognefjorden (, en, Sogn Fjord), nicknamed the King of the Fjords ( no, Fjordenes konge), is the largest and deepest fjord in Norway. Located in Vestland county in Western Norway, it stretches inland from the ocean to the sm ...

's and rivalling

Greenland Greenland ( kl, Kalaallit Nunaat, ; da, Grønland, ) is an island country in North America that is part of the Kingdom of Denmark. It is located between the Arctic and Atlantic oceans, east of the Canadian Arctic Archipelago. Greenland is ...

Scoresby Sound Scoresby Sound (Danish: ''Scoresby Sund'', Greenlandic language, Greenlandic: ''Kangertittivaq'') is a large fjord system of the Greenland Sea on the eastern coast of Greenland. It has a tree-like structure, with a main body approximately

's .

North Bentinck Arm

A side-inlet of Burke Channel,

North Bentinck Arm North Bentinck Arm is a short inlet about in length in the Central Coast region of British Columbia, Canada. It is an arm of Burke Channel and is linked via that waterway and Labouchere Channel to Dean Channel, which is one of the largest inlets ...

, is noteworthy as the place where the overland expedition by

fur trade The fur trade is a worldwide industry dealing in the acquisition and sale of animal fur. Since the establishment of a world fur market in the early modern period, furs of boreal, polar and cold temperate mammalian animals have been the mo ...

explorer Alexander Mackenzie reached the sea, on July 20, 1793. Wanting to see the open ocean, Mackenzie and four

Nuxalk The Nuxalk people ( Nuxalk: ''Nuxalkmc''; pronounced )'','' also referred to as the Bella Coola, Bellacoola or Bilchula, are an Indigenous First Nation of the Pacific Northwest Coast, centred in the area in and around Bella Coola, British Col ...

people went by canoe the next day to Dean Channel. Mackenzie did not reach the open ocean, stopping at the ruins of an old

Heiltsuk The Heiltsuk or Haíɫzaqv , sometimes historically referred to as ''Bella Bella'', are an Indigenous people of the Central Coast region in British Columbia, centred on the island community of Bella Bella. The government of the Heiltsuk people ...

village on the north side of Dean Channel. There he wrote his name on a rock, which today is part of Sir Alexander Mackenzie Provincial Park. Mackenzie did not know that he arrived just a few weeks after Captain

George Vancouver Post-captain, Captain George Vancouver (22 June 1757 – 10 May 1798) was a British Royal Navy officer best known for his Vancouver Expedition, 1791–1795 expedition, which explored and charted North America's northwestern West Coast of the Un ...

visited Dean Channel and North Bentinck Arm. The town of Bella Coola is at the head of North Bentinck Arm; Bella Coola is an English adaptation of the

name for the

(whose name in their own language means the

Bella Coola River The Bella Coola River is a major river on the Pacific slope of the Coast Mountains in southern British Columbia. The town of Bella Coola is at its mouth on North Bentinck Arm. Bella Coola Indian Reserve No. 1 the location of the main community t ...

and its

valley A valley is an elongated low area often running between hills or mountains, which will typically contain a river or stream running from one end to the other. Most valleys are formed by erosion of the land surface by rivers or streams over ...

). Bella Coola is the only community on the coast between

Vancouver Vancouver ( ) is a major city in western Canada, located in the Lower Mainland region of British Columbia. As the most populous city in the province, the 2021 Canadian census recorded 662,248 people in the city, up from 631,486 in 2016. Th ...

and

Kitimat Kitimat is a district municipality in the North Coast region of British Columbia, Canada. It is a member municipality of the Regional District of Kitimat–Stikine regional government. The Kitimat Valley is part of the most populous urban distr ...

, to have road access to the rest of the province, via

British Columbia Highway 20 Highway 20, also known as the Chilcotin Highway, and officially dubbed the Alexander MacKenzie Highway, is one of the two main East-West routes in the Central Interior of British Columbia (the other being Highway 16 (the Yellowhead Highway). Th ...

to Williams Lake via the Chilcotin region.

References

{{coord, 52, 28, 44, N, 127, 14, 22, W, region:CA-BC_type:waterbody_source:http://www4.rncan.gc.ca/search-place-names/unique/JAPER, name=Dean Channel, display=title Fjords of British Columbia History of British Columbia Central Coast of British Columbia Channels of British Columbia