Radial Divide Country.
“It is difficult to think of a place more intriguing to a student of physiography than Tatla Lake Ranch.... Here is a rather unique case of radial drainage. From within a radius of five miles from Tatla Lake Ranch water may find its way to the ocean by four very diverse routes: by Tatla Lake and the Chilcotin-Fraser system, a journey of perhaps 600 miles, or by the Homathko, Mosley Creek, or Kliniklini [sic], journeys of from sixty to eighty miles. There has been, undoubtedly, great disturbance of the drainage pattern in this area. The divides between the various streams seem to be low ridges of sandy drift.... There is a rich field here for the investigation of drainage changes.”
- George A. Cumming. “Across the Chilcotin Plateau to the Rainbow Mountains.” Scottish Geographical Magazine, 1948.
If Cumming had cast a slightly wider circle, he would have added two more rivers to his list: the Bella Coola River, rising near Charlotte Lake; the Dean River, rising near Towdystan (Cumming calls it Toadystone!), and Nimpo Lake. All of these streams – Chilcotin, Homathko, Mosley, Klinaklini, Bella Coola, and Dean – originate on the Interior Plateau within a relatively short distance of one another and, with the exception of the Chilcotin River, all of them flow west and southwest directly through the Coast Mountains to inlets on the coast. Homathko River and Mosley Creek flow to Bute Inlet; Klinaklini River to Knight Inlet; Bella Coola River to Burke Channel; and the Dean River to Dean Channel. Radial drainage par excellence.
In 1948, Cumming traveled by train from Vancouver to Williams Lake, then by the weekly mail truck to the end of its run at Kleena Kleene, a journey of three days. At Kleena Kleene he joined a group of geologists bound for Anahim Lake and the Rainbow Range. Their mode of travel? Saddle horse and pack train and, because there weren’t enough horses, on foot. They fished and hunted for sustenance as they moved along the dusty trails.
Cumming’s account of his journey contains intriguing details about the residents of the Chilcotin in that era, as well as about the landscape. An example: earthworms were absent in the soils at Kleena Kleene so, when the Colwell’s wanted to start a garden on their ranch at One Eye Lake, they had a supply sent by mail from Alberta.
Read the entire article here.
Note that some of Cumming’s geographical details are in error. But don’t hold that against him. He passed through the region quickly in an era without the excellent maps and aerial/satellite photos we employ today.
Resources:
George A. Cumming. Across the Chilcotin plateau to the Rainbow Mountains. Scottish Geographical Magazine 64: 1. 1948.