West Road River

Location of West Road ( Blackwater ) River

Template: Infobox River / BILD_fehlt

The West Road ( Blackwater ) River (official name of the river, former names are West Road River and Blackwater River) is a major tributary of the Fraser River in the Canadian province of British Columbia.

The river flows mainly northeast through the northern slopes of the Ilgachuz Range and across the Fraser Plateau in the Chilcotin region of central British Columbia.

The river has only one main tributary: the Nazko River. Its confluence with the Fraser River is located about 40 km north- west of Quesnel. He is the separation of the Chilcotin Plateau in the south of the Nechako Plateau in the north, both of which are part of the Fraser Plateau.

The river has a length of 280 miles and drains an area of about 12,000 square kilometers with an elevation of about 900 m.

The river has a significant historical importance to the First Nations as well as for Canadian history. For centuries the use Dakelh (Carrier ) and Tsilhqot'in peoples a path, the so-called "Grease Trail " - on the north bank of the river for their trade with the coastal settlements. It was this way, which Sir Alexander MacKenzie used for his historic overland journey westward to the Pacific Ocean in 1793.

The West Road ( Blackwater ) River has the status of a British Columbia Heritage River.