Burrard Peninsula
The Burrard Peninsula (
The Squamish name for the Burrard Peninsula as a whole — or rather, for the long rise of land from Point Grey to Central Park, was Ulksen or Ulxen.[1] The name Burrard Peninsula is rarely used in casual reference to the area among locals in favour of a specific community or neighbourhood therein.
Extent
There is no clear consensus on where the peninsula ends, as the Burrard Peninsula does not appear in official government gazetteers (directories of geographical features) and does not exist as a
Municipalities
Municipalities on the peninsula include — in roughly west-to-east order—the Cities of
Landforms
The Burrard Peninsula, for the most part, consists of a hilly low
- False Creek, separating the peninsula proper from Downtown Vancouver, which sits on a peninsular offshoot referred to as "Downtown Peninsula" or occasionally "Coal Peninsula"[4]
- the Burlington Northern Santa Fe(BNSF) railway yards, which sit on reclaimed land at the east end of False Creek;
- the Grandview Cut, a trench that accommodates CNR/BNSF and SkyTrain tracks;
- Still Creek, which drains into Burnaby Lake;
- Burnaby Lake, which drains into the Brunette River; and
- the Brunette River, which is the last tributary of any significant size of the Fraser River, joining the Fraser at New Westminster.
Punctuating the plateau are several prominences of land including Little Mountain (a dormant volcano, approximately 170 metres above sea level[5]) in Vancouver, and Capitol Hill (approximately 220 metres) and Burnaby Mountain (home to the main campus of Simon Fraser University; approximately 380 metres) in Burnaby. The plateau is flanked at its eastern end by the Coquitlam River, which flows south from Coquitlam Lake on the mainland into the Fraser River, its mouth lying upstream from the Brunette River. The land east of the Coquitlam River is largely flat and lying close to sea level, except for the stand-alone rise of Mary Hill in Port Coquitlam (approximately 70 metres).
Land use
The Burrard Peninsula has been extensively
While originally extensively forested, since the mid-19th century the Burrard Peninsula has gradually become essentially one large cityscape. Its largest remaining green spaces include Pacific Spirit Regional Park in Point Grey, Stanley Park in Downtown Vancouver, the areas around Burnaby Mountain, Central Park, Burnaby Lake, and Deer Lake in Burnaby, and Mundy Park and the Coquitlam River in Coquitlam.
Notes
- ^ [Early Vancouver, Maj. J.S. "Skit" Mathews, Vancouver Archives]
- ^ "Google Maps". Google Maps. Retrieved 2021-11-19.
- ^ This and all other elevations (except where otherwise noted) are from Natural Resources Canada, Atlas of Canada—Toporama—Topographic Maps, map sheets 92G2, 92G3, 92G6, and 92G7 (zoomed to appropriate level), "The Atlas of Canada - Toporama – Topographic Maps". Archived from the original on 2010-08-31. Retrieved 2009-12-31., accessed 28 March 2007.
- ^ "Burrard Inlet [Land Reserves]". University of Victoria Libraries. Land Title and Survey Authority of British Columbia. 1860-01-09. Retrieved 2022-07-07.
- ^ Greater Vancouver Regional District, Facts Update, September 2004, http://www.gvrd.bc.ca/water/pdfs/LittleMountainFactsheetSept-04.pdf Archived 2007-07-04 at the Wayback Machine, accessed 28 March 2007.