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

British Columbia British Columbia is the westernmost Provinces and territories of Canada, province of Canada. Situated in the Pacific Northwest between the Pacific Ocean and the Rocky Mountains, the province has a diverse geography, with rugged landscapes that ...

, comprising the section of the Rocky Mountain Trench 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 (Canada), Blackrock Mountain in the Rocky Mountains and flowing for , into the Strait of Georgia just south of the City of V ...

to the Yellowhead Pass. The name is derived from Mount Robson, 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, with larger population concentrations in the villages of McBride and Valemount. 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 () is a Canadian Class I freight railway headquartered in Montreal, Quebec, which serves Canada and the Midwestern and Southern United States. CN is Canada's largest railway, in terms of both revenue a ...

lines, and Highways 16 and 5. The Robson Valley is bounded on the south by the Columbia Country, farther south down the Rocky Mountain Trench, and the Thompson Country, 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 great-circle distance, straight-line distance from the northernmost part of Western Can ...

and on the west by the Cariboo Mountains.

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 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 animLake 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 n ...

(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, Simpcw First Nation, Lhtako Dene Nation, Canim Lake Indian Band, Xat’súll First Nation (Soda Creek), Shuswap First Nation, Okanagan First Nation,

Tsilhqotʼin The Tsilhqotin or Chilcotin ("People of the river", ; also spelled ''Tsilhqutin, Tŝinlhqotin, Chilkhodin, Tsilkótin, Tsilkotin'') are a First Nations in Canada, North American tribal government of the Northern Athabaskan languages, Athabask ...

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 and

Canadian Northern Railway The Canadian Northern Railway (CNoR) was a historic Canada, 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 Edmonto ...

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

References

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