These beautiful B.C. landmarks cross the U.S.-Canada border. Will they be the next Trump target?

Article content

Did you know: At 4,671 metres, Mount Fairweather is B.C.’s highest peak and the seventh-highest in the U.S..

Article content

Mount Quincy Adams

Article content

The Saint Elias range in Kluane National Park as seen from the Alaska Highway near Haines Junction in the Yukon. Photo by rlesyk /Getty Images/iStockphoto

Article content

Location: Also on the Alaska-B.C. border, Mount Quincy Adams rises just five kilometres from Mount Fairweather

Article content

Named after: John Quincy Adams, the sixth U.S. president, in 1923.

Article content

Did you know: At 4,150 metres, the mountain is B.C.’s second highest peak, which means the province’s two highest mountains are shared with Alaska (The highest mountain that’s entirely within B.C. is Mount Waddington at 4,016 metres).

Article content

Skagit River

Article content

Ross Dam, constructed between 1917 and 1940, is the northernmost of the three dams built on the Skagit River. PROVINCE

Article content

Location: The Skagit River is in Manning Provincial Park in southwestern B.C. and winds about 240 kilometres through Washington state before emptying into Puget Sound.

Article content

Named after: The Coast Salish Skagit people. But the meaning is unclear, although the B.C. geographical names office says it may derive from a Salish word meaning “to hide or conceal.”

Article content

Did you know: The Skagit is the subject of an unusual Canada-U.S. deal. Three dams harness its waters, including Ross Dam near the Canadian border. Under a 1984 treaty, the U.S. agreed not to increase reservoir levels so it wouldn’t flood into Canada. In return, Canada agreed to supply the U.S. with electricity to compensate for the lost generating capacity.  The treaty is guaranteed until at least 2065.

Article content

Article content

Stikine Icecap

Article content

Location: A vast expanse of ice spanning the Alaska-B.C. border in the Boundary Ranges of the Coast Mountains. The Stikine Icecap feeds a constellation of glaciers, including the Dawes and LeConte glaciers in Alaska and B.C.’s Great Glacier.

Article content

Named after: The name Stikine comes from the Tlingit word Shtax’heen, which means “muddy river” a reference to the silt-heavy waters of the nearby Stikine River.

Article content

Did you know: The region is a magnet for alpinists and adventurers, who have likened its landscape to Patagonia because of its jagged granite peaks and notoriously unpredictable weather.

Article content

Taku River

Article content

Cottonwood trees and mountains hem the lower Taku River. Photo credit: Dave Nunuk Photo by Dave Nunuk /PNG

Article content

Location: The 576-kilometre Taku River starts in the Coast Mountains in northwestern B.C. and flows south into Alaska, ending at Taku Inlet in the famed Inside Passage.

Article content

Named after: The Tlingit word T’aaḵu, which means “the people.”

Article content

Did you know: The Taku River watershed is one of the most productive in the Pacific, supporting all five species of Pacific salmon.  Salmon stocks are jointly managed by Canada and the U.S., with the Taku River Tlingit First Nation playing a key role.

Article content

Article content

Alsek River

Article content

A mammoth-sized glacier threatens to seal off the Alsek River and create a glacial lake that would ultimately burst and pose a flood hazard in  northwestern B.C. Photo: courtesy of Garry Clarke/UBC. Vancouver Sun

Article content

Location: The glacial river starts in the Yukon, near Kluane National Park, and flows roughly 250 kilometres through B.C. and Alaska.

Article content

Named after: “Place where people rest” in the Tlingit language. It was recorded as Alsekh by Russian explorer Mikhail Tebenkov in 1825. Canada and the U.S. officially adopted the name Alsek in 1891.

Article content

Did you know: Glaciers calving into the Alsek river have periodically blocked the flow of the river. In one instance in 1850, it created an 80-kilometre long glacier-dammed lake that then drained, causing catastrophic damage.

Article content

Salish Sea

Article content

The Salish Sea as seen from the top of the Malahat Skywalk on Vancouver Island. Photo credit: Nishma Karim

Article content

Location: A network of inland waterways in the Pacific Northwest that stretches from Desolation Sound in B.C. to near Olympia, in Washington state.

Article content

Named after: The Coast Salish, whose traditional territories surround the sea. The name was first proposed by Stz’uminus elder George Harris and was officially adopted by geographical naming authorities in the U.S. and Canada in 2009.

Article content

Did you know: The Salish Sea did not replace the names of individual waterways. Instead, it is used as an encompassing term for the interconnected waters of the Strait of Georgia, Juan de Fuca Strait, and Puget Sound.