Author Archives: Swany

Dalby Brooks Morkill

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Dalby Brooks Morkill [1880–1955]

b. 1880 — Sherbrooke, Québec, Canada
d. 1955 — Vancouver, B.C., Canada

Morkill came to British Columbia in 1898. He received his commission as a British Columbia Land Surveyor in 1910. Morkill was employed in 1912 by the British Columbia government making surveys on the Fraser River between Horsey Creek and Holmes River. In 1913, with Alan S. Thompson, Morkill surveyed between the Goat River and Catfish Creek. Morkill worked on the Alberta-British Columbia Boundary Commission surveys north of Yellowhead Pass in the early 1920s. Subsequently Morkill surveyed in several other areas of the Province. During his last years he spent summers at his residence at Barkerville and winters in Vancouver. He was president of the Association of BC Land Surveyors in 1928.

Sources of biographical information about Morkill:

  • Andrews, Gerald Smedley [1903–2005]. Professional Land Surveyors of British Columbia. Cumulative nominal roll. Victoria: Corporation of Land Surveyors of British Columbia, 1978
  • Association of British Columbia Land Surveyors. Annual Report (1956).
Morkill is the namesake of the following places in the Mount Robson region:

Events in the Mount Robson region in which Morkill was involved:

  • 1912 Morkill Surveys
Works pertinent to the Mount Robson region of which Morkill was author or co-author:

  • —   “Report on Survey on the South Fork of Fraser River from Horse Creek to Beaver River. December 28, 1912.” Report of the Minister of Lands for the Province of British Columbia for the year ending 31st December 1912, (1913):238-240. Google Books
  • —   “Report on survey on south fork of the Fraser River, between Goat River and Catfish Creek. December 15, 1913.” Report of the Minister of Lands for the Province of British Columbia for the Year Ending 31st December 1913, (1914):423. Google Books

Calumet Peak

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Alberta. Peak
Headwaters of Calumet Creek
53.2636 N 119.0111 W — Map 083E06 — Google — GeoHack
Name officially adopted in 1956
Official in Canada
This peak appears on:
Boundary Commission Sheet 31 (surveyed in 1922)
Boundary Commission Sheet 32 (surveyed in 1922 &1924)

Named in association with Calumet Creek.

In a note in the Geographical Journal, Charles Ernest Fay [1846–1923] wrote that during the 1913 Alpine Club of Canada camp at Mount Robson, Calumet was one of five virgin summits to be occupied.

References:

  • Fay, Charles Ernest [1846–1923]. “Recent Mountaineering in the Canadian Alps.” Geographical Review, Vol. 2, No. 1 (1916):1. JSTOR

Samuel Prescott Fay

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Samuel Prescott Fay [1884–1971]

b. 1884
d. 1971

“Pete” Fay as he was known to his friends had been a member of the [American Alpine] Club for 59 years at the time of his death last August [1971]. His qualifications for election in 1912 were four seasons in the Canadian Rockies beginning in 1906. In 1914 he joined a Smithsonian expedition which left Jasper, Alberta in June for the purposes of exploration, mapping and the collection of birds and mammals in the northern Rockies. Reports were filed with the Biological Survey in Washington. In mid-October the party met a trapper who showed them an old newspaper with reports of the first weeks of World War I of which they had no inkling. For the next three or four days they traveled non-stop to reach Hudson Hope on the Peace River.
Pete graduated from Harvard in 1907. During World War I he joined the American Field Service to drive an ambulance in France and later served with the Air Force in France and Belgium. Afterwards he was associated with an investment counseling firm in Boston for many years. Aside from two years on the Council (1930-1932), he did not take an active part in Club affairs, though he attended frequent meetings. Frail health confined him to his home for the last ten or more years.

Sources of biographical information about Fay:

  • Fay, Samuel Prescott [1884–1971]. The Forgotten Explorer: Samuel Prescott Fay’s 1914 Expedition to the Northern Rockies. Edited by Charles Helm and Mike Murtha. Victoria, B.C.: Rocky Mountain Books, 2009
  • Hall, Henry S. “Samuel Prescott Fay, 1884–1971.” American Alpine Journal, (1972) American Alpine Club
Events in the Mount Robson region in which Fay was involved:

  • 1912 SP Fay Mt. Sir Alexander
  • 1914 SP Fay Jasper to Hudsons Hope
Works pertinent to the Mount Robson region of which Fay was author or co-author:

  • —   Jasper-Yellowhead Historical Society. Album of pictures accompanying S.P. Fay journal of trip through Rockies from Yellowhead, Alberta, Pass, to Peace River at Hudsons Hope, B.C, 1914. JYHS No. 84 or 91 (1912–1914).
  • —   “Mount Alexander.” Canadian Alpine Journal, Vol. 6 (1914–1915):121
  • —   “Note on Mount Alexander Mackenzie and Mount Ida.” Alpine Journal, Vol. 36 (1924):421
  • —   The Forgotten Explorer: Samuel Prescott Fay’s 1914 Expedition to the Northern Rockies. Edited by Charles Helm and Mike Murtha. Victoria, B.C.: Rocky Mountain Books, 2009

Charles Doolittle Walcott

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Charles Doolittle Walcott [1850–1927]

b. 1850
d. 1927

Charles Doolittle Walcott (March 31, 1850 – February 9, 1927) was an American paleontologist, administrator of the Smithsonian Institution from 1907 to 1927, and director of the United States Geological Survey.[1][2] He is famous for his discovery in 1909 of well-preserved fossils, including some of the oldest soft-part imprints, in the Burgess Shale of British Columbia, Canada.

Sources of biographical information about Walcott:

Events in the Mount Robson region in which Walcott was involved:

  • 1912 Walcott Smithsonian
  • 1913 ACC Camp – Mount Robson
Works pertinent to the Mount Robson region of which Walcott was author or co-author:

  • Walcott Jr., Charles D., and —   “A geologist’s paradise.” National Geographic Magazine, 22, no. 6 (1911):WM 03.2 W14ge
  • —   “The monarch of the Canadian Rockies.” National Geographic Magazine, (1913):626. Internet Archive

Victoria Cross Ranges

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Alberta. Ranges
NW of Jasper
53 N 118.3 W — Map 083E02 — Google — GeoHack
Name officially adopted in 1952
Topo map from Canadian Geographical Names

The Victoria Cross Ranges (52°55′N 118°18′W to 53°05′N 118°30′W) are a set of mountain ranges located to the northwest of Jasper. Of the 19 peaks contained within this range, five are named after Canadian recipients of the Victoria Cross, the highest and most prestigious decoration of the British honours system. It is awarded for valour in the presence of the enemy to members of the British Armed Forces and may be awarded posthumously.

The tribute to these soldiers in 1951 was made possible by the co-operation of the federal and provincial governments. However, at the time, the proposal created controversy. The issue’s resolution would bring about the creation of the Victoria Cross Ranges and an agreement between the Governments of Alberta and Canada still governs geographical naming.

Snaring Mountain
Mount Bridgland [Morrison Bridgland (not VC recipient)]
Mount Mahood
Consort Mountain
Mount Oliver
Mount Beaupré
Monarch Mountain
Pyramid Mountain
Mount McKean [George Burdon McKean, VC]
Buttress Mountain
Mount Griesbach [William Antrobus Griesbach (not VC recipient)]
Mount Kinross [Cecil John Kinross, VC]
Mount Zengel [Raphael Louis Zengel, VC]
Mount Henry [Henry A.F. MacLeod, CPR engineer]
Cairngorm
Mount Kerr [John Chipman Kerr, VC]
Emigrants Mountain
Elysium Mountain
Mount Pattison [John George Pattison, VC]

References:

Also see:

Mount Mahood

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Alberta. Mount
Headwaters of Miette River
53.0289 N 118.5931 W — Map 083E02 — Google — GeoHack — Bivouac
Name officially adopted in 1956
Official in Canada
This mount appears on:
Boundary Commission Sheet 30 (surveyed in 1924)

Located in the Victoria Cross Ranges, Mount Mahood is above Miette Lake at the headwaters of the Miette River. The peak is named after Canadian Pacific Railway engineer, land surveyor, and explorer James Adams Mahood [1840–1901], born in New Brunswick, who was a member of the 1872 party of Sandford Fleming [1827–1915] that did the initial surveys for the CPR. Mount Mahood and Mahood Lake are also named after him.

References:

  • Karamitsanis, Aphrodite [1961–]. Place names of Alberta. Volume 1: Mountains, Mountain Parks and Foothills. Calgary: University of Calgary Press, 1991. Internet Archive
  • British Columbia Geographical Names. Mahood, Mount

Mount Beaupré

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Alberta. Mount
Headwaters of Miette River near Mount McCord
53.0464 N 118.6117 W — Map 083E02 — Google — GeoHack
Name officially adopted in 1956
Official in Canada
This mount appears on:
Boundary Commission Sheet 30 (surveyed in 1924)

Mount Beaupré is named after a member of the Sandford Fleming [1827–1915] party of 1872. Likely named by the Alberta-British Columbia Boundary Commission:

Then, along the western escarpment, beyond the valley of Miette River is “Swank” station, now Mt. Beaupré, also occupied by the Boundary Survey.

References:

  • Grant, George Monro [1835–1902]. Ocean to Ocean: Sandford Fleming’s Expedition through Canada in 1872. Being a Diary Kept During a Journey from the Atlantic to the Pacific with the Expedition of the Engineer-in-Chief of the Canadian Pacific and Intercolonial Railways. Toronto: James Campbell and Son, 1873. Google Books
  • Cautley, Richard William [1873–1953], and Wheeler, Arthur Oliver [1860–1945]. Report of the Commission Appointed to Delimit the Boundary between the Provinces of Alberta and British Columbia. Parts IIIA & IIIB, 1918 to 1924. From Yellowhead Pass Northerly. Ottawa: Office of the Surveyor General, 1925. Whyte Museum
Also see: