The longest river entirely within British Columbia, carving deep canyons on its way to the Pacific.
Length
1,375 km
Source
Rocky Mountains, British Columbia
Mouth
Strait of Georgia (Vancouver)
Continent
North America
Countries
Canada
Did you know?
The Fraser hosts one of the greatest salmon migrations on Earth, with tens of millions of sockeye in peak years.
Little-known fact
At Hell's Gate the whole river is squeezed through a gorge barely 35 m wide, roaring through with tremendous force.
Highlights
- Longest river within British Columbia
- Vast sockeye salmon runs
- Squeezed through narrow Hell's Gate
Life in the Fraser
The fish and animals, waterbirds and water plants — including some of the rarest — that this water supports.
Animals & fish
Atlantic salmon
The “king of fish” — it is born in a river, grows at sea, then fights its way back upstream to spawn where it hatched.
North American beaver
Nature’s engineer: its dams create wetlands that reshape whole river valleys.
Waterbirds
Mallard
The familiar green-headed dabbling duck — ancestor of most domestic ducks — found on waters worldwide.
Interactive · 3D journey
Journey of a river · source → sea
Every river runs the same great journey — from an icy mountain spring, down through gorges and looping meanders, to a wide delta where it meets the sea. Tap a stage to follow the water downstream.
Tip: hover to tilt the valley · tap a stage to float downstream
The Source
Every river begins high up — in a mountain spring, a melting glacier or a boggy upland. The water is cold, clear and fast, tumbling down the steepest ground of its whole journey.
Landforms here