Quesnel River
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| Quesnel River | |
|---|---|
 Mule train at the Quesnel River 1868 | |
 Quesnel River Watershed (Interactive Map) | |
| Location | |
| Country | Canada |
| Province | British Columbia |
| District | Cariboo Land District |
| Physical characteristics | |
| Source | Quesnel Lake |
| • location | Likely, British Columbia |
| • coordinates | 52°36′55″N 121°34′23″W / 52.61528°N 121.57306°W[1] |
| • elevation | 724 m (2,375 ft)[2] |
| Mouth | Fraser River |
• location | Quesnel |
• coordinates | 52°58′14″N 122°29′52″W / 52.97056°N 122.49778°W[3] |
• elevation | 468 m (1,535 ft)[2] |
| Length | 100 km (62 mi) |
| Basin size | 11,500 km2 (4,400 sq mi)[4] |
| Discharge | |
| • location | near Quesnel[5] |
| • average | 238 m3/s (8,400 cu ft/s)[5] |
| • minimum | 27.8 m3/s (980 cu ft/s) |
| • maximum | 1,140 m3/s (40,000 cu ft/s) |
| Basin features | |
| Tributaries | |
| • right | Mitchell River (Quesnel River) |
The Quesnel River /kwɪˈnɛl/ is a major tributary of the Fraser River in the Cariboo District of central British Columbia.[3] It begins at the outflow of Quesnel Lake, at the town of Likely and flows for about 100 kilometres (60 mi) northwest to its confluence with the Fraser at the city of Quesnel.
Just downstream from the outlet of Quesnel Lake, at the confluence of the Cariboo River, is the historically important ghost town of Quesnel Forks, a.k.a. "the Forks", which was a junction point of the Quesnel and Cariboo Rivers. Various trails and wagon roads leading to the Cariboo goldfields lay across the low-hill range north of Quesnel Forks in the basin of the Cottonwood River. Both the Lillooet to Fort Alexandria wagon road and the later Cariboo Wagon Road came by Quesnel Forks but preferred to follow the valley of the Quesnel River to Quesnel and then east from there to the gold towns of Barkerville and Wells.
The river took its name from Jules-Maurice Quesnel, who explored this region with Simon Fraser in 1808.
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