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Athabasca River

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Alberta. River: Athabasca River drainage
Flows 1290 kilometres from Columbia Icefield to Lake Athabasca
58.6667 N 110.8333 W — Map 74L10 — Google — GeoHack
Earliest known reference to this name is 1800 (David Thompson)
Name officially adopted in 1948
Topo map from Canadian Geographical Names
This river appears on:
Mackenzie’s map North America 1803
David Thompson’s map North-West Territory of the Province of Canada 1814
John Arrowsmith’s map BC 1859
Milton and Cheadle’s map 1865
Trutch’s map of BC 1871
Tolmie and Dawson map Indian Tribes of BC 1884
McEvoy’s map Yellowhead Pass 1900
Schäffer map of visits in 1907 and 1908

“Athabasca” is from the Cree language and is said to mean “an area of grass or reeds.” The name likely refers to the muddy delta of the river where it flows into Lake Athabasca.

In 1790, the name of the river was recorded as “Great Arabuska.” In 1801 it was labelled “Athapasco.” The Arrowsmith map of 1802 shows a slight variation as “Arthapescow.” In the late eighteenth century, the Dunne-za people who lived along its banks called it the “Elk River,” and it appears as “Elk River” on the 1801 map by Alexander Mackenzie [1764–1820] .

David Thompson [1770–1857] and Peter Fidler [1769–1822], who explored the middle section of the river in 1799–1800, both referred to it in their journals as the “Athabasca.”

In 1820, George Simpson [1792–1860], the governor of the Hudson’s Bay Company, referred to it as the “Athabasca or Elk River.” Today, local residents also refer to the feature as “Big River,” the Cree version of which was in use in 1880 when George Mercer Dawson labelled it as “Athabasca River or Mus-ta-hi-sî-pî.”

“Athabasca River / Rivière Athabasca” is among the 75 “Pan-Canadian names,” large and well-known Canadian features and areas designated in Treasury Board Circular 1983-58 to require presentation in both official languages of Canada on federal maps.

This includes:
Mackenzie’s map North America 1803
References:

  • Thompson, David [1770–1857]. David Thompson’s Narrative of his explorations in western America, 1784-1812. Joseph Burr Tyrrell, editor. Toronto: Champlain Society, 1916. University of British Columbia
  • Simpson, George [1792–1860], and Merk, Frederick [1887–1977], editor. Fur trade and empire. George Simpson’s journal entitled Remarks connected with fur trade in consequence of a voyage from York Factory to Fort George and back to York Factory 1824-25. Cambridge, Mass.: Harvard University Press, 1931. University of British Columbia Library
  • Aubrey, Merrily K. Place Names of Alberta. Volume IV: Northern Alberta. University of Calgary Press, 1996
  • Aubrey, Merrily K. Concise Place Names of Alberta. University of Calgary Press, 2006
  • Wikipedia. Athabasca River
Also see:

Athabasca, Lake

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Alberta. Lake: Athabasca River drainage
NW corner of Saskatchewan and NE corner of Alberta between 58° and 60° N.
59.0833 N 110.1667 W — Map 74 M/1 — Google — GeoHack
Earliest known reference to this name is 1784 (Cook)
Name officially adopted in 1983
Official in Canada
This lake appears on:
Cook’s world map 1784
Aaron Arrowsmith’s map North America 1795
Mackenzie’s map North America 1803
John Arrowsmith’s map BC 1859
Detail of map of the world in Cook’s “Third Voyage,” 1784. By Henry Roberts, Lieutenant in His Majesty’s Navy

Detail of map of the world in Cook’s “Third Voyage,” 1784. By Henry Roberts, Lieutenant in His Majesty’s Navy
UBC Library Digital Collections

The lake appears as “Arathapescow Lake” on the chart accompanying James Cook’s A Voyage to the Pacific Ocean, published in 1784. The chart displays the voyages of Captain Cook; the details about the interior of North America came from fur trade sources.

Alexander Mackenzie [1764–1820], starting his voyage from Fort Chepewyan on Lake Athabasca to the Pacific Ocean in October 1792, wrote:

We entered the Peace River at seven in the morning of the 12th, taking a Westerly course. It is evident, that all the land between it and the Lake of the Hills, as far as the Elk River, is formed by the quantity of earth and mud, which is carried down by the streams of those two great rivers. In this space there are several lakes. The lake, Clear Water, which is the deepest, Lake Vassieu, and the Athabasca Lake, which is the largest of the three, and whose denomination in the Knistineaux language, implies, a flat low, swampy country, subject to inundations.

On the Mackenzie’s 1803 map, the lake appears as “Lake of the Hills.” On Aaron Arrowsmith’s 1795 map the lake is called “Athapescow Lake.”

The word Athabaskan is an anglicized version of a Cree language name for Lake Athabasca (Cree: Āðapāskāw “[where] there are reeds one after another”). Cree is one of the Algonquian languages and therefore not itself an Athabaskan language.

In the 18th century the territory around the lake was occupied by indigenous Dane-zaa (historically referred to as the Beaver tribe by Europeans) and Chipewyan people. Both are of the Athabaskan language family.

In Albert Lacombe’s Dictionnaire de la langue des Cris (1874), the lake and river are called “Athabaskaw” in the accompanying map, but there is not an entry for that specific word. Lacombe does cite as an unspecified place name “Ayabaskaw” or “Arabaskaw,” meaning “il y a des joncs ou du foin ça et là” [There are rushes and hay here and there] (p. 705).

In 1790, it was referred to as “Lake of the Hills,” and the river, the Great Arabuska. Lake of the Hills may have been a more genteel translation of the name for the lake at the time. Peter Fidler recorded the Cree name as Too-toos Sack-a-ha-gan, and the Chipewyan name as Thew Too-ak. The literal translation of the Cree name is “breast” lake, referring to the north-west shore, which according to Philip Turnor in 1791, came “from their appearing high and rounded at a distance.”

However, the most commonly accepted version of the origin of the name is from the Cree, where it is said to mean “where there are reeds,” referring to the muddy delta of the river where it falls into Lake Athabasca. Of this portion of it, Turner wrote “low swampy ground on the South side with a few willows growing upon it, from which the Lake in general takes its name Athapison in the Southern [Cree] tongue [which] signifies open country such as lakes with willows and grass growing about them.” In 1820, George Simpson of the Hudson’s Bay Company referred to it as the “Athabasca or Elk River.”

“Athabasca, Lake / Lac Athabasca” is among the 75 “Pan-Canadian names,” large and well-known Canadian features and areas designated in Treasury Board Circular 1983-58 to require presentation in both official languages of Canada on federal maps.

References:

  • Roberts, Henry. London: A General Chart exhibiting the Discoveries made by Capn. James Cook in this and his two preceeding Voyages; with the Tracks of the Ships under his Command (1784). Princeton Library
  • Hearne, Samuel, and Turnor, Phillip. Journals of Samuel Hearne and Philip Turnor between the years 1774 and 1792. Champlain Society, 1934. Internet Archive
  • Arrowsmith, Aaron [1750–1823]. A Map Exhibiting All the New Discoveries in the Interior Parts of North America. Engraved by Lowry. Cadell and Davies, 1795. Historical Atlas of Canada
  • Mackenzie, Alexander [1764–1820]. A map of America, between latitudes 40 and 70 North, and longitudes 45 and 180 West, exhibiting Mackenzie’s Track from Montreal to Fort Chipewyan and from thence to the North Sea in 1789 & to the West Pacific Ocean in 1793. London: T. Cadell, Jun., and W. Davies, 1803. Internet Archive
  • Mackenzie, Alexander [1764–1820]. Voyages from Montreal on the River St. Lawrence through the Continent of North America to the Frozen and Pacific Oceans in the years 1789 and 1793. London: T. Cadell, Jun., and W. Davies, 1803. Internet Archive
  • Simpson, George [1792–1860]. Fur trade and empire. George Simpson’s journal entitled Remarks connected with fur trade in consequence of a voyage from York Factory to Fort George and back to York Factory 1824-25. Frederick Merk, editor. Cambridge, Mass.: Harvard University Press, 1931. University of British Columbia Library
  • Lacombe, Albert [1827–1916]. Dictionnaire de la langue des Cris. Montréal: C. O. Beauchemin & Valois, 1874. Internet Archive
  • Aubrey, Merrily K. Place Names of Alberta. Volume IV: Northern Alberta. University of Calgary Press, 1996
  • Aubrey, Merrily K. Concise Place Names of Alberta. University of Calgary Press, 2006
  • Wikipedia. Lake Athabasca
Also see:

Thompson River

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British Columbia. River: Fraser River drainage
Flows W from Kamloops, then S and W into Fraser River at Lytton
50.2353 N 121.5667 W — Map 92I/4 — Google — GeoHack
Earliest known reference to this name is 1808
Name officially adopted in 1925
Official in BC – Canada
This river appears on:
John Arrowsmith’s map BC 1859
Milton and Cheadle’s map 1865
Trutch’s map of BC 1871
David Thompson (1770-1857) Canadian cartographer and explorer

David Thompson (1770-1857) Canadian cartographer and explorer
Wikipedia

The Thompson River proper starts at the confluence of the North Thompson River and the South Thompson River at Kamloops, from whence it joins the Fraser River at Lytton.

The river was named in 1808 by Simon Fraser [1776–1862] of the North West Company [1779–], during his descent of the Fraser River to its mouth, after geographer David Thompson [1770–1857].

Thompson, a charity pupil at Grey Coat School, London, was apprenticed to the Hudson’s Bay Company [1670–] in 1784. He joined the North West Company as a surveyor in 1797. In 1811 he explored the length of Columbia River, crossing the Continental Divide via the Athabasca Pass.

Thompson was a member of the British-American Boundary survey from 1815 to 1824. Thompson died of poverty at Longuineil, Quebec, in 1857, age 87. He was never on any of the three Thompson Rivers.

References:

  • Fraser, Simon [1776–1862]. The letters and journals of Simon Fraser, 1806-1808. Edited by W. Kaye Lamb. Toronto: MacMillan, 1960. Internet Archive
  • Arrowsmith, John [1790–1873]. Provinces of British Columbia and Vancouver Island; with portions of the United States and Hudson’s Bay Territories. 1859. UVic
  • Trutch, Joseph William [1826–1904]. Map of British Columbia to the 56th Parallel North Latitude. Victoria, B.C.: Lands and Works Office, 1871. University of Victoria
  • Nesbit, Jack [1949–]. Mapmaker’s Eye: The Mapmaker’s Eye: David Thompson on the Columbia Plateau. Pullman: Washington State University Press, 2006
  • British Columbia Geographical Names. Thompson River
Also see:

Monashee Mountains

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British Columbia. Mountains
A division of the Columbia Mountains, extending N from Washington on the W side of the Arrow Lakes, Columbia River and Canoe Reach Kinbasket Lake
51 N 119 W — Map 82L/15 — Google — GeoHack
Earliest known reference to this name is 1881
Name officially adopted in 1918
Official in BC – Canada
Monashee Mountains

Monashee Mountains

From the Gaelic, monadh-sith, “mountain of peace.” Mountain named c. 1881 by Donald McIntyre, a Highlander who first staked the Monashee Mines. (Ok. 6:156-157). A somewhat similar name is Monadhliath, mountain in Inverness-shire, “grey or light blue mountain or moor” (12th Report of the Okanagan Historical Society, 1948).

Adopted 2 April 1918 on Ottawa file OBF 0248, to include all the mountains in the southern interior, from Upper and Lower Arrow Lakes and Columbia River west to the valleys of the Okanagan and Spallumcheen Rivers and Shuswap Lake, and from the US border north to the Canoe River. Application confined 10 July 1963 on 82L; the mountains of the Shuswap and Quesnel Highlands are now included in the Interior Plateau rather than within the Monashee Mountains.

References:

Boat Encampment

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British Columbia. Former locality: Columbia River drainage
Confluence of Canoe River and Columbia River
52.1167 N 118.4333 W — Map 083D01 — Google — GeoHack
Earliest known reference to this name is 1811 (David Thompson)
Name officially adopted in 1974
Official in Canada
This former locality appears on:
Trutch’s map of BC 1871
George Monro Grant’s map of Yellowhead Pass 1872
Paul Kane, “Boat Encampment,” Hudson’s Bay Company voyaguers, oil on canvas, 1849–1856

Paul Kane, “Boat Encampment,” Hudson’s Bay Company voyaguers, oil on canvas, 1849–1856
Royal Ontario Museum ROM2009_11209_41

The site where David Thompson [1770–1857] and his party camped in the winter of 1811, after crossing Athabasca Pass, was submerged by Kinbasket Lake in 1973. “Boat Encampment,” previously an offical name, was cancelled in 1974.

Thus we continued day after day to march a few miles, as the Snow was too wet and too deep to allow the dogs to make any progress ; on the 26th we put up on the banks of the Columbia River, my Men had become so disheartened, sitting down every half mile, and perfectly lost at all they saw around them so utterly different from the east side of the Mountains, four of them deserted to return back ; and I was not sorry to be rid of them, as for more than a month. past they had been very useless, in short they became an incumbrance on me, and the other men were equally so to be rid of them; having now taken up my residence for the rest of the winter I may make my remarks on the countries and the climates we have passed.…

Our residence was near the junction of two Rivers from the Mountains with the Columbia: the upper Stream which forms the defile by which we came to the Columbia, I named the Flat Heart, from the Men being dispirited; it had nothing particular. The other was the Canoe River; which ran through a bold rude valley, of a steady descent, which gave to this River a very rapid descent without any falls.

— Thompson 1812

Thompson’s “Flat Heart River” is now Wood River. It is clear from this text that both the Athabasca Pass and the Canoe river region had been visited earlier than this by his guide, Thomas the Iroquois, and by other Nipissing and Iroquois Indians, but Thompson was the first white man to cross it.

On the 1859 Arrowsmith map it appears as “Canoe Encampment.”

References:

  • Thompson, David [1770–1857]. David Thompson’s Narrative of his explorations in western America, 1784-1812. Joseph Burr Tyrrell, editor. Toronto: Champlain Society, 1916. University of British Columbia
  • Wikipedia. Boat Encampment
Also see:

Croydon Road North

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British Columbia. Road
Intersects Highway 16 E of Horsey Creek
53.0884 N 119.7031 W Google — GeoHack
Roads are not in the official geographical names databases

At one point there was a service area on Highway 16 known as North Croydon and a ferry across the Fraser River, connecting this road with Croydon Ferry Road.

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Steve Kolida Village Park

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British Columbia. Village Park
150 Main Street, McBride
53.3008 N 53.3008 W Google — GeoHack
Not currently an official name.
Steve Kolida

Steve Kolida
Valley Museum & Archives Society

Stephanus (Steve) Kolida (1925-2013) was born in Poland and came to McBride, BC at 6 years of age with his family. Steve joined the 1st battalion of the Canadian Scottish in 1943 and proudly fought for his country for 3 years. He married his beloved Anne Prokopow on September 4, 1949 and raised his family in McBride. Steve worked for the CNR until 1958 and then became an entrepreneur, owning many businesses until his semi-retirement in 1993. Steve’s involvement in public service was always in the forefront and he served the village of McBride as Alderman and Mayor for 25 years. Steve loved sports, prospecting, hunting, fishing, berry picking and most of all spending time with his family and friends.

The Northern BC Archives has an interview with Kolida from 2002.

References:

  • Valley Museum & Archives Society. Valley Museum & Archives Society (McBride) ., Kolida Fonds. Valley Museum
  • Prince George Citizen. “Prince George Citizen.” Prince George Citizen, (1950), Jan. 24, 2013

Phil and Jennie Gaglardi Park

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Feature type: Park
Province: British Columbia
Location: Near the Fraser River Bridge; Hwy16 and Raven Road, McBride
Latitude: 53.31371 N
Longitude: 120.1847 W
Google Maps

Philip Arthur Gaglardi (1913–1995), sometimes known as “Flying Phil,” was a politician in British Columbia. He is best known as Minister of Highways in the BC government from 1952 to 1972.

Sons Bob Gaglardi was founder of Northland Properties (whose holdings include the 60-hotel Sandman Hotel chain and 100-plus restaurants under various labels) whose family is the current owner of the National Hockey League’s Dallas Stars.

Reporting on a 1970 McBride Chamber of Commerce meeting with Liberal MP Bob Borrie, the Robson Valley Courier reported that “A point of interest arose from a remark passed by Mr. Borrie concerning the supposed grab-off of property along the by-pass highway near McBride by the Gaglardis. He was assured that such was not the case — the property in question [site of the Sandman Hotel in McBride] was up for sale long before the Gaglardis stepped in, the by-pass was built and the new Fraser Bridge under construction before the sale so that there should have been no doubt in anyone’s mind as to the value of the property.”

References:

  • Phil Gaglardi. Wikipedia
  • Robson Valley Courier. Weekly newspaper published by Pyramid Press of Jasper from 1968–88 .

Kitchi Mountain

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British Columbia. Mountain: Peace River drainage
N of Mount Sir Alexander in Kakwa Provincial Park
53.9667 N 120.4 W — Map 93H/16 — Google — GeoHack
Earliest known reference to this name is 1914
Name officially adopted in 1965
Official in BC – Canada

Mary Lenore Jobe Akeley [1878–1966] submitted the name “Kitchi” to the Geographic Board of Canada in April 1915, to apply to the very high mountain just south of this location, now known as Mount Sir Alexander. In her article in the 1914 Canadian Alpine Journal, she wrote that “Kitchi in the Cree Indian language means ‘Great,’ ‘Mighty.’”

The Geographic Board adopted the name “Kitchi Mountain” for the high mountain in September 1915, and Mary Jobe’s article: ”Mt. Kitchi, A New Peak in the Canadian Rockies” was published in the Bulletin of the American Geographical Society, Vol XLVII, No. 7, 1915, pp 481-497. The following September, the Board was persuaded by climber Samuel Prescott Fay [1884–1971], associated with New York’s Museum of Natural History, to reverse their decision and adopt his recommendation — “Mount Sir Mackenzie,” which was changed in 1917 to “Mount Sir Alexander.”

To perpetuate the name “Kitchi, ” Alan John Campbell [1882–1967], British Columbia Land Surveyor, placed it on this mountain to the north, as shown on his 1929 survey plan 10T264, McGregor River area.

Kitchi Mountain is listed at Indigenous Geographical Names dataset.

Language: ᓀᐦᐃᔭᐍᐏᐣ (Nēhiyawēwin)
Dialect: Plains Cree
Meaning: Mighty, or great
Year Adopted: ‪1965‬




References:

  • 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
  • Jobe Akeley, Mary Lenore [1878–1966]. “The expedition to ‘Mt. Kitchi:’ A new peak in the Canadian Rockies.” Canadian Alpine Journal, Vol. 6 (1914–1915):135-143
  • Jobe Akeley, Mary Lenore [1878–1966]. “Mt. Kitchi: A New Peak in the Canadian Rockies.” Bulletin of the American Geographical Society, Volume 47, No. 7 (1915):481-497. JSTOR
  • British Columbia Geographical Names. Kitchi Mountain
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