The Dean River is one of the major rivers of the Kitimat Ranges subrange of the southern Coast Mountains in British Columbia. It begins in the volcanic-shield Ilgachuz Range on the Chilcotin Plateau and winds north around the Rainbow Range to enter Dean Channel at the now-uninhabited, remote community of Kimsquit. It is one of the few rivers to fully penetrate the wall of the Coast Mountains between the Fraser's mouth (near Vancouver) and the mouth of the Skeena River (near Prince Rupert).