| Feature Type: | River - Watercourse of variable size, which has tributaries and flows into a body of water or a larger watercourse. |
| Status: | Official |
| Name Authority: | BC Geographical Names Office |
| Relative Location: | Flows N into head of Gardner Canal, W of Tweedsmuir Provincial Park, between Bella Coola and Kitimat, Coast Land District |
| Latitude-Longitude: | 53°14'27"N, 127°52'25"W at the approximate mouth of this feature. |
| Datum: | WGS84 |
| NTS Map: | 93E/4 |
| Related Maps: |
93D/12 93E/4 |
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Origin Notes and History:
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Adopted 10 January 1922 on Ottawa file OBF 0662, as identified in 1876 CPR report. Source: BC place name cards, or correspondence to/from BC's Chief Geographer or BC Geographical Names Office |
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This spelling best approximates the local Indigneous pronunciation, according to advice from F.C. Swannell, BCLS. From kit = people, and lope = opening in mountains. Source: BC place name cards, or correspondence to/from BC's Chief Geographer or BC Geographical Names Office |
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"the traditional home of the Gitlope (meaning 'people of the rocks,' a term used for them by the Tsimshian), who call themselves Henaksiala and amalgamated with the Gitamaat band in 1948 as the Haisla First Nation. The Kitlope includes the watersheds of the Kitlope River (Xesduwaxwsdu) and its tributaries, the Tseetis (C'itis), Kalitan (Tlasudis), Tezwa (Wa'yuwa), Gamsby and Tanaiko (Daniko) and Kapella (Qapela'ax). The largest remaining untouched temperate rainforest, the Kitlope has been set aside as a protected area. The Kitlope comprises a traditional Haisla Eagle clan stewardship area owned by the holder of the name Hai'mas Gax in each generation." (information contributed February 2007 by anthropologist James V. (Jay) Powell, Professor Emeritus, University of British Columbia, Vancouver; consultant to Haisla Nation, 2000-present). Source: included with note |