'Finlay River' is a 402 km long river in north-central
British Columbia flowing north and then south from
Thutade Lake in the
Omineca Mountains to
Williston Lake, the impounded waters of the
Peace River formed by the completion of the
W.A.C. Bennett Dam in 1968. Prior to this, the Finlay joined with the
Parsnip River to form the Peace.
The Finlay drains an area of 43,000 square kilometres and discharges at a mean rate of 600 cubic metres per second. Major tributaries of the Finlay include the
Ospika,
Ingenika,
Warneford,
Fox,
Toodoggone, and
Firesteel Rivers. Located in a remote part of the
province, there are no population centres along the river, however, there is a small
First Nations community,
Fort Ware, located at the junction of the Finlay and Warneford.
The Finlay River is named for the
explorer John Finlay, who travelled a short way up the river in
1797. The first European to journey its length to its source was the
fur trader and
explorer Samuel Black in
1824.
Tributaries
★ Thudaka Creek
★ Spinel Creek
★ Fox River
★ Kwadacha River
★ Paul River
★ Akie River
★ Pesika Creek
★ Ingenika River
★ Davis River
★ Mesilinka River
★ Osilinka River