Dean Channel is the upper end of one of the longest inlets of the
British Columbia CoastThe British Columbia Coast or BC Coast is Canada's western continental coastline on the Pacific Ocean. The usage is synonymous with the term West Coast of Canada....
, from its head at the mouth of the Kimsquit River. The
Dean RiverThe Dean River is one of the major rivers of the Kitimat Ranges subrange of the southern Coast Mountains in British Columbia. It begins in the volcanic-shield Ilgachuz Range on the Chilcotin Plateau and winds north around the Rainbow Range to enter Dean Channel at the now-uninhabited, remote...
, one of the main rivers of the
Coast MountainsThe Coast Mountains are a major mountain range of western North America, extending from southwestern Yukon through the Alaska Panhandle and virtually all of the Coast of British Columbia. They are so-named because of their proximity to the sea coast, and are often referred to as the Coast Range...
and one of the few rivers to pierce that range from the
Chilcotin PlateauThe Chilcotin District of British Columbia is usually known simply as "the Chilcotin", and also in speech commonly as "the Chilcotin Country" or simply Chilcotin. It is a plateau and mountain region in British Columbia on the inland lea of the Coast Mountains on the west side of the Fraser River....
, enters Dean Channel about below the head of the inlet, at the
First NationsFirst Nations is a term of ethnicity that refers to the Aboriginal peoples in Canada, who are neither Inuit nor Métis. There are currently over 600 recognised First Nations governments or bands spread all across Canada, roughly half of which are in the provinces of Ontario and British Columbia...
community of Kimsquit.
Dean Channel ends at the mouth of Cousins Inlet, which is the harbour for the abandoned pulp mill town of
Ocean FallsOcean Falls is a small community on the Central Coast of British Columbia, Canada. Formerly a large company town owned by Crown Zellerbach, it is only accessible via boat or seaplane, and is currently the home for a few dozen full-time residents, with the seasonal population upwards of...
, the fjord's name changes to Fisher Channel down the west side of King Island.
Dean Channel is the upper end of one of the longest inlets of the
British Columbia CoastThe British Columbia Coast or BC Coast is Canada's western continental coastline on the Pacific Ocean. The usage is synonymous with the term West Coast of Canada....
, from its head at the mouth of the Kimsquit River. The
Dean RiverThe Dean River is one of the major rivers of the Kitimat Ranges subrange of the southern Coast Mountains in British Columbia. It begins in the volcanic-shield Ilgachuz Range on the Chilcotin Plateau and winds north around the Rainbow Range to enter Dean Channel at the now-uninhabited, remote...
, one of the main rivers of the
Coast MountainsThe Coast Mountains are a major mountain range of western North America, extending from southwestern Yukon through the Alaska Panhandle and virtually all of the Coast of British Columbia. They are so-named because of their proximity to the sea coast, and are often referred to as the Coast Range...
and one of the few rivers to pierce that range from the
Chilcotin PlateauThe Chilcotin District of British Columbia is usually known simply as "the Chilcotin", and also in speech commonly as "the Chilcotin Country" or simply Chilcotin. It is a plateau and mountain region in British Columbia on the inland lea of the Coast Mountains on the west side of the Fraser River....
, enters Dean Channel about below the head of the inlet, at the
First NationsFirst Nations is a term of ethnicity that refers to the Aboriginal peoples in Canada, who are neither Inuit nor Métis. There are currently over 600 recognised First Nations governments or bands spread all across Canada, roughly half of which are in the provinces of Ontario and British Columbia...
community of Kimsquit.
Dean Channel ends at the mouth of Cousins Inlet, which is the harbour for the abandoned pulp mill town of
Ocean FallsOcean Falls is a small community on the Central Coast of British Columbia, Canada. Formerly a large company town owned by Crown Zellerbach, it is only accessible via boat or seaplane, and is currently the home for a few dozen full-time residents, with the seasonal population upwards of...
, the fjord's name changes to Fisher Channel down the west side of King Island. Below Fisher Channel's length the fjord merges with Burke Channel, which is a sidewater of the Dean\Fisher Channel on the east side of King Island, the name of the
fjordGeologically, a fjord is a long, narrow inlet with steep sides, created in a valley carved by glacial activity.-Formation:Fjords are formed when a glacier cuts a v-shaped valley by abrasion of the surrounding bedrock. Many such valleys were formed during the recent ice age...
changes to Fitz Hugh Sound, 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 IslandCalvert Island is an island on the coast of the Canadian province of British Columbia. It is located east of Queen Charlotte Sound in the Central Coast region, about north of the town of Port Hardy, which is at the north end of Vancouver Island....
and opens onto
Queen Charlotte SoundQueen Charlotte Sound is the name of two channels:*Queen Charlotte Sound , is located in British Columbia.*Queen Charlotte Sound, New Zealand, is located in the Marlborough Sounds....
just northwest of the opening of
Queen Charlotte StraitQueen Charlotte Strait is a strait between Vancouver Island and the mainland of British Columbia, Canada. It connects Queen Charlotte Sound with Johnstone Strait, Discovery Passage and then to the Strait of Georgia and Puget Sound...
.
Opening onto Fitz Hugh Sound in its lower reaches near
Queen Charlotte SoundQueen Charlotte Sound is the name of two channels:*Queen Charlotte Sound , is located in British Columbia.*Queen Charlotte Sound, New Zealand, is located in the Marlborough Sounds....
is
Rivers InletRivers Inlet is a fjord in the Central Coast region of the Canadian province of British Columbia, its entrance from the Dean Channel near that fjord's mouth, about southwest of the community of Bella Coola and about north of the northern tip of Vancouver Island and the western entrance of the...
, home of the
Wuikinuxv peopleThe Wuikinuxv people also known as the Wuikenukv, Oweekeno, Wikeno, Owikeno, Oowekeeno, Oweekano, Awikenox, or Rivers Inlet people, are a Indigenous First Nations people of the Central Coast region of the Canadian province of British Columbia, located around Rivers Inlet and Owikeno Lake, to the...
(Owekeeno). The total length of the fjord from the head of Dean Channel to the mouth of Fitz Hugh Sound is about rivalling
HardangerfjordWith a length of 179 km , the Hardangerfjord in the county of Hordaland in Norway is the third largest fjord in the world and the second largest in Norway. The surrounding district is called Hardanger....
in
NorwayNorway , officially the Kingdom of Norway, is a country in Northern Europe occupying the western portion of the Scandinavian Peninsula, as well as Jan Mayen and the Arctic archipelago of Svalbard under the Spitsbergen Treaty...
for length. If the additional lengths of South Bentinck Arm and North Bentinck Arm , plus Burke Channel and its shorter companion, Labouchere Channel , and a sidewater of Burke named Kwatna Inlet were factored in, total length of the fjord complex's waterways is - longer than
SognefjordThe Sognefjord is the largest fjord in Norway, and the second longest in the world, after Scoresby Sund on Greenland. Located in Sogn og Fjordane it stretches 205 km inland to the small village of Skjolden. The fjord takes its name from the traditional district of Sogn...
's and rivalling
GreenlandGreenland is an autonomous constituent country within the Kingdom of Denmark located between the Arctic and Atlantic Oceans, east of the Canadian Arctic Archipelago...
's
Scoresby SundScoresby Sund is the longest fjord in the world, stretching for 350 km , and also one of the deepest . It is located in eastern Greenland at 70.5°N, 24.5°W, opening into Greenland Sea. Milne Land is a large island located in the center of the fjord...
's .
A side-inlet of Burke Channel,
North Bentinck ArmNorth Bentinck Arm is short inlet about in length in the Central Coast region of British Columbia, Canada. It is a sidewater of Burke Channel and is linked via that waterway and Labouchere Channel to Dean Channel, which is one of the largest inlets of the BC Coast.A spot on North Bentinck Arm is...
, is noteworthy as the terminus of the overland expedition by fur trade explorer
Alexander MackenzieAlexander Mackenzie, PC , a building contractor and newspaper editor, was the second Prime Minister of Canada from November 7, 1873 to October 9, 1878.-Biography:...
, who wrote his name on a rock on its shoreline just a few weeks after Captain
George VancouverCaptain George Vancouver RN was an officer in the British Royal Navy, best known for his exploration of the North-West Coast of North America, including the shores of the modern day Alaska, British Columbia, Washington and Oregon...
visited the inlet, which is the home of the
Nuxálk NationThe Nuxalk Nation , also referred to as the Bella Coola or Bellacoola, are an Indigenous First Nation in Canada, living in the area in and around Bella Coola, British Columbia...
(pron. NOO-hawlk). The town of
Bella CoolaBella Coola is a community of approximately 600 at the western extremity of the Bella Coola Valley. Bella Coola usually refers to the entire valley, encompassing the settlements of Bella Coola proper , Lower Bella Coola, Hagensborg, Saloompt, Nusatsum, Firvale and Stuie...
is at the head of North Bentinck Arm. Bella Coola is the "English" name for the
NuxalkNuxálk are an indigenous people native to Bella Coola, British Columbia in Canada. The term can refer to:* Nuxálk language, a moribund Salishan language.* Nuxalk Nation, the name of the Nuxálk group in the First Nations....
. It is the only community on the coast between Vancouver, British Columbia and
Kitimat, British ColumbiaKitimat is a coastal city in northwestern British Columbia, in the Regional District of Kitimat-Stikine . The Kitimat Valley, which includes the adjacent community of Terrace, is the most populous urban district in Northwest British Columbia...
, to have road access to the rest of the province, via BC Hwy 20 to
Williams LakeWilliams Lake, is a city in the Central Interior of British Columbia, Canada. Located in the central part of a region known as the Cariboo, it is the largest urban centre between Kamloops and Prince George. The population is 10,744....
via the
Chilcotin PlateauThe Chilcotin District of British Columbia is usually known simply as "the Chilcotin", and also in speech commonly as "the Chilcotin Country" or simply Chilcotin. It is a plateau and mountain region in British Columbia on the inland lea of the Coast Mountains on the west side of the Fraser River....
.
Dean Channel was named by
Captain VancouverCaptain George Vancouver RN was an officer in the British Royal Navy, best known for his exploration of the North-West Coast of North America, including the shores of the modern day Alaska, British Columbia, Washington and Oregon...
in 1793 after Rev. James King, Dean of
RaphoeRaphoe is a town in County Donegal, part of the Province of Ulster in Ireland. It is the main town in the fertile district of East Donegal known as the Laggan, as well as giving its name to the Roman Catholic Diocese of Raphoe and the Church of Ireland Diocese of Derry and Raphoe.-The name:Raphoe...
, Ireland. The channel was surveyed by
Captain RichardsAdmiral Sir George Henry Richards, , was Hydrographer to the British Admiralty. A portrait of him by Stephen Pearce, dated 1865, hangs in the National Portrait Gallery in London.Richards joined the navy in 1832....
in 1861 of the
HMS Hecate. It is located within the
Central Coast Regional DistrictCentral Coast Regional District is a regional district in British Columbia, Canada. It has a total land area of 24,559.5 km² . When it was created in 1968, it was named the Ocean Falls Regional District, after the then-largest town in the region, the company town Ocean Falls, now a ghost town...
.