River · Canada
Peace River
The Peace River flows from the Rocky Mountains of British Columbia across Alberta in Canada. It is named after a peace treaty that two First Nations, the Cree and the Dane-zaa, made long ago.
Picture credit: tuchodi (CC BY-SA 2.0) · Ymblanter (CC BY-SA 4.0) · Jacob Marfo (CC BY-SA 3.0) · Wikimedia Commons
Where is Peace River?
The river starts here: Finlay and Parsnip rivers in the Rocky Mountains, British Columbia.
It ends in the Slave River in the Peace–Athabasca Delta, Alberta.
Countries on the river: Canada.
The story behind it
Long ago, the Cree and the Dane-zaa, also called the Beaver people, argued over land. In 1781 they made peace, and the river became the border between them. That is how the Peace River got its name. Its headwaters, the Finlay and the Parsnip, rise in the Rocky Mountains of British Columbia. There the W.A.C. Bennett Dam, about 190 metres high, holds back the river to form the huge Williston Lake. The dam makes a large share of the province’s electricity. Further down, the river flows through Alberta past the towns of Peace River and Fort Vermilion. Near Fort Vermilion, the water tumbles over Vermilion Falls, which are about 1.8 kilometres wide. At its end, the Peace meets the Athabasca River in the Peace–Athabasca Delta, the largest inland river delta in North America. Around 10 000 bison live in the area, and rare whooping cranes nest nearby.
Questions children ask
How long is the Peace River?
The Peace River is about 1 923 kilometres long, measured from the source of its headstream, the Finlay River. It flows through the Canadian provinces of British Columbia and Alberta.
Why is it called the Peace River?
It is named after a peace treaty that the Cree and the Dane-zaa made in 1781. After the treaty, the river was the border between their lands.
Where does the Peace River end?
It meets the Athabasca River in the Peace–Athabasca Delta, and together they form the Slave River. The Slave River is part of the great Mackenzie River system.
Where these numbers come from
Every figure on this page was checked against public reference sources before publication. Where sources genuinely disagree, the text says so.
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