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Peace River

Peace River
Rivière de la Paix
Peace River aerial.jpg
Peace River at Peace River, Alberta
Name origin: Peace Point, Alberta, where a treaty marking the river as the boundary between Beaver and Cree was signed in 1781
Country Canada
Province British Columbia, Alberta
Part of Mackenzie River watershed
Tributaries
 - left Finlay River, Halfway River, Beatton River, Clear River (Alberta), Ponton River
 - right Parsnip River, Pine River, Kiskatinaw River, Pouce Coupé River, Smoky River, Wabasca River, Mikkwa River
Cities Fort Saint John, British Columbia, Peace River, Alberta
Primary source Finlay River
 - location Thutade Lake, British Columbia
 - elevation 1,140 m (3,740 ft)
 - coordinates 57°04′29″N 126°53′36″W / 57.07472°N 126.89333°W / 57.07472; -126.89333
Secondary source Parsnip River
 - location Near Mount Barton, British Columbia
 - elevation 5,630 m (18,471 ft)
 - coordinates 54°30′02″N 121°26′26″W / 54.50056°N 121.44056°W / 54.50056; -121.44056
Source confluence Williston Lake (Former confluence of Peace and Parsnip Rivers, now submerged underneath Williston Lake)
 - elevation 748 m (2,454 ft) (Elevation of Williston Lake)
 - coordinates 55°59′21″N 123°50′08″W / 55.98917°N 123.83556°W / 55.98917; -123.83556
Mouth Slave River
 - location Confluence of Peace with Athabasca River, Alberta
 - coordinates 59°00′01″N 111°24′38″W / 59.00028°N 111.41056°W / 59.00028; -111.41056Coordinates: 59°00′01″N 111°24′38″W / 59.00028°N 111.41056°W / 59.00028; -111.41056
Length 1,923 km (1,195 mi)
Basin 306,000 km2 (118,147 sq mi)
Discharge for Peace Point, Alberta
 - average 2,110 m3/s (74,514 cu ft/s)
 - max 9,790 m3/s (345,731 cu ft/s)
 - min 344 m3/s (12,148 cu ft/s)
Peace River Watershed.png
Map of the Peace River watershed in western Canada

The Peace River (French: rivière de la Paix) is a river in Canada that originates in the Rocky Mountains of northern British Columbia and flows to the northeast through northern Alberta. The Peace River flows into the Slave River, a tributary of the Mackenzie River. The Mackenzie is the 12th longest river in the world, preceded by the Mekong and followed by the Niger River. The Finlay River, the main headwater of the Peace River, is regarded as the ultimate source of the Mackenzie River.

The regions along the river are the traditional home of the Danezaa people, called the Beaver by the Europeans. The fur trader Peter Pond is believed to have visited the river in 1785. In 1788 Charles Boyer of the North West Company established a fur trading post at the river's junction with the Boyer River.

In 1792 and 1793, the explorer Alexander Mackenzie travelled up the river to the Continental Divide. Mackenzie referred to the river as Unjegah, from a native word meaning "large river".

The decades of hostilities between the Danezaa and the Cree, (in which the Cree dominated the Danezaa), ended in 1781 when a smallpox epidemic decimated the Cree. The Treaty of the Peace was celebrated by the smoking of a ceremonial pipe. The treaty made the Peace River a border, with the Danezaa to the North and the Cree to the South.


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