Fraser River is a waterway in British Columbia that is famous for its salmon fisheries.
The Fraser River is about 850 miles (1,370 kilometers) long. Its chief tributaries include the Chilcotin, Nechako, and Thompson rivers. The river drains about 90,000 square miles (233,100 square kilometers), mostly in southern British Columbia. Highways and railroads follow the Fraser. Sawmills and pulp and paper mills are important in the river valley towns of Prince George, Kamloops, and Quesnel. Sir Alexander Mackenzie, an explorer and fur trader, traveled the middle section of the river in 1793. The river was named for Simon Fraser, a fur trader who followed it to the sea in 1808. The Fraser region was the site of a gold rush in 1858.
