Alaska_Highway.pdf

British Columbia is defined by the chains of mountains that line the land: to the north lie the Cassiar and the Omineca Mountains; to the southeast, the Columbia Mountains; and to the east, the Coast Mountains and the mighty Rockies. These mountains divide the province into sections of plateaus and valleys, rich for agriculture and animal husbandry, while blocking off huge tracts of land that are left to wilderness. The rivers of the province are no less impressive than the mountains. The largest of them, the Fraser, is 850 miles long and is fed by the Nechako, Quesnel, Chilcotin, and Thompson rivers. The Kootenay flows down to the Columbia River in Washington state, and westward to the Pacific, weaving a tortuous path between mountain ranges. More than a quarter of a billion birds stop along the Stikine during the height of the migration season.