Big Bend Country is a term used in the
Canadian province British Columbia to refer to the region around the northernmost bend of the
Columbia River, where the river leaves its initial northwestward course along the
Rocky Mountain Trench to curve around the northern end of the
Selkirk Mountains to head southeast between that range and the
Monashee Mountains, which lie to the west. The term is the namesake of the
gold rush and associated gold mining district that flourished there in the 19th century. Long known to the indigenous peoples of the region, and in fact raided and at times occupied by the
Blackfoot, the Big Bend is traditional territory of the
Secwepemc (Shuswap) people, but also claimed by the
Ktunaxa.
Boat Encampment, near the Big Bend of the Columbia's most northerly point, is the historic site of a long-established fur trading cache and campsite on the annual
York Factory Express.