| Artifact Creek | |
|---|---|
  Mouth of Artifact Creek | |
| Location | |
| Country | Canada |
| Province | British Columbia |
| District | Cassiar Land District |
| Physical characteristics | |
| Source | Near Kitsu Peak |
| • location | Spectrum Range |
| • coordinates | 57°26′50″N 130°41′12″W / 57.44722°N 130.68667°W / 57.44722; -130.68667 |
| • elevation | 1,875 m (6,152 ft) |
| Mouth | Stewbomb Creek |
| • coordinates | 57°25′17″N 130°31′52″W / 57.42139°N 130.53111°W / 57.42139; -130.53111 |
| • elevation | 1,140 m (3,740 ft) |
| Length | 13 km (8.1 mi) |
| Basin size | 42.5 km (16.4 sq mi) |
| Discharge | |
| • average | 1.62 m/s (57 cu ft/s) |
| Basin features | |
| Topo map | NTS 104G7 Mess Lake |
Artifact Creek is a tributary of Stewbomb Creek and part of the Stikine River watershed in northwest part of the province of British Columbia, Canada. It flows generally southeast for roughly 13 km (8.1 mi) to join Stewbomb Creek, which flows into the Little Iskut River. In turn the Little Iskut River flows to the Iskut River, the largest tributary of the Stikine River.
Artifact Creek's watershed covers 42.5 km (16.4 sq mi) and is entirely in Mount Edziza Provincial Park. The creek's mean annual discharge is estimated at 1.62 m/s (57 cu ft/s).
The mouth of Artifact Creek is located about 65 km (40 mi) southeast of Telegraph Creek, British Columbia, about 118 km (73 mi) south of Dease Lake, British Columbia, and about 250 km (160 mi) southeast of Juneau, Alaska. Artifact Creek's watershed's land cover is classified as 51.4% barren, 15.3% shrubland, 14.5% herbaceous, 10.3% conifer forest, 8.2% snow/glacier, and small amounts of other cover.
Artifact Creek is in Mount Edziza Provincial Park, which lies within the traditional territory of the Tahltan First Nation, of the Tahltan people.
The name of Artifact Creek and nearby Artifact Ridge and Obsidian Ridge comes from the abundant piles of stone chips left from the knapping of obsidian tools and points by early Tahltan hunters.
Geography
Artifact Creek originates near Kitsu Peak, about 30 km (19 mi) south of Mount Edziza. It flows east and southeast between Obsidian Ridge to the south and Artifact Ridge to the north. It collects various small unnamed tributary streams before emptying into Stewbomb Creek about 3 km (1.9 mi) upstream from Stewbomb's confluence with the Little Iskut River.
Geology
The north side of Artifact Creek is bounded by a 180 m-thick (590 ft) sequence of lava flows belonging to the Armadillo Formation of the Mount Edziza volcanic complex. A single 9 m-thick (30 ft) ash flow deposit also belonging to the Armadillo Formation is exposed on the south side of Artifact Creek. Along the north side of Artifact Creek are two poorly exposed, low, northeasterly trending ridges of trachybasalt that may be intrusions linked to the Little Iskut conduit system.
See also
References
- ^ "Artifact Creek". BC Geographical Names.
- ^ "Toporama (on-line map and search)". Atlas of Canada. Natural Resources Canada. Retrieved 28 September 2023.
- Derived from BCGNIS, topographic maps, and Toporama
- ^ Lengths and distances measured using BCGNIS coordinates, topographic maps, online map servers, and Toporama
- ^ "Northwest Water Tool". BC Water Tool. GeoBC, Integrated Land Management Bureau, Ministry of Agriculture and Lands, Government of British Columbia. Retrieved 4 October 2023.
- "Artifact Creek". Geographical Names Data Base. Natural Resources Canada.
- "Our Territory". Tahltan Central Government. Retrieved 29 September 2023.
- "Dah Ki Mi — "Our House"". Tahltan Band Council. Retrieved 29 September 2023.
- "Artifact Ridge". BC Geographical Names.
- Mussio, Russell; Mussio, Wesley (2018). Northern BC Backroad Mapbook. Mussio Ventures. p. 99. ISBN 978-1-926806-87-7. Retrieved 28 September 2023.
- Souther, J. G. (1992). The Late Cenozoic Mount Edziza Volcanic Complex, British Columbia. Geological Survey of Canada (Report). Memoir 420. Canada Communication Group. pp. 64, 71. doi:10.4095/133497. ISBN 0-660-14407-7.