Edward Worrell Jarvis [1846–1894]
Indigenous people
Harmon’s map interior of North America 1820 shows the following Indian distribution:
East of the Rocky Mountains:
Beaver Indians — around the Peace River from headwaters to Fort Chipewyan
Cree or Knisteneaux Indians — around the Saskatchewan River drainage
Sursee Indians — around headwaters of the Athabasca River
West of the Rockies:
Sicanny Indians — north of Fraser River
Carrier (Dakelh) or Tacully Indians — around upper Fraser River
Rupert’s Land
Rupert’s Land (French: Terre de Rupert), or Prince Rupert’s Land (French: Terre du Prince Rupert), was a territory in British North America which comprised the Hudson Bay drainage basin. The right to “sole trade and commerce” over Rupert’s Land was granted to Hudson’s Bay Company, based at York Factory, effectively giving that company a commercial monopoly over the area. The territory operated for 200 years from 1670 to 1870. Its namesake was Prince Rupert of the Rhine, who was a nephew of King Charles I and the first governor of HBC.
In December 1821, the HBC monopoly was extended from Rupert’s Land to the Pacific coast.
Rupert’s Land included the drainage of the Saskatchewan River.
The Rupert’s Land Act 1868, which was passed by the Parliament of the United Kingdom, authorized the sale of Rupert’s Land to Canada with the understanding that it included the whole of the lands and territories held or claimed to be held by the Hudson’s Bay Company
Lheidli T’enneh Territory
Lheidli T’enneh First Nation
A Shaman or “Medicine Man.” Morice 1904, p. 10
Internet Archive
A Carrier Fisherman. Morice 1904, p. 40
Internet Archive
Doubly “Carriers.” Morice 1904, p. 163
Internet Archive
Carrier and Carried. Morice 1904, p. 218
Internet Archive4
Carrier
The Carrier or Dakelh are the indigenous people of a large portion of the Central Interior of British Columbia, belonging to the Northern Athabascan or Dene group of First Nations.
Among the Carriers, the widow of a deceased warrior used to pick up from among the ashes of the funeral pyre the few charred bones which would escape the ravages of fire and carry them on her back in a leathern satchel—hence the name of the tribe—until the co-clansmen of the deceased had amassed a sufficient quantity of eatables and dressed skins to be publicly distributed among people of different clans, in the course of an ostentatious ceremony called “potlatch,” a ceremony which prevailed among all but the Sekanais and the Eastern Nahanais tribes.
— Morice 1904, p. 6 (1)
The Carrier lived directly north of the Chilcotin, in the valleys of the upper Fraser, Blackwater, Nechako, and Bulkley rivers, and around Stuart and Babine lakes up to the borders of Bear lake. Their name (English, Carrier; French, Porteur, said to be a translation of the term applied to them by their eastern neighbours, the Sekani) refers to their peculiar custom of compelling widows to carry on their backs the charred bones of their dead husbands. They had no common name for themselves, only names for the independent sub-tribes into which they were divided. In the nineteenth century, however, they adopted for themselves the obscure title Takulli, bestowed on them apparently by Europeans.
— Jenness 1932 (2)
Dakelh territories include along Fraser River from south of Quesnel upstream to the Yellowhead Pass, as well as the upper North Thompson and Canoe River valleys.
The traditional Dakelh way of life is based on a seasonal round, with the greatest activity in the summer when berries are gathered and fish caught and preserved. The mainstay of the economy is centered on harvesting activities within each family keyoh (territory, village, trapline) under the leadership of a hereditary chief, known as a Keyoh holder or keyoh-whudachun. Fish, especially the several varieties of salmon, are smoked and stored for the winter in large numbers. Hunting and trapping of deer, caribou, moose, elk, black bear, beaver, and rabbit provided meat, fur for clothing, and bone for tools. Other fur-bearing animals are trapped to some extent, but until the advent of the fur trade, such trapping is a minor activity.
The Dakelh engaged in extensive trade with the coast along trails known as “grease trails”. The items exported consisted primarily of hides, dried meat, and mats of dried berries. Imports consisted of various marine products, the most important of which was “grease”, the oil extracted from eulachons (also known as “candlefish”) by allowing them to rot, adding boiling water, and skimming off the oil. This oil is extremely nutritious and, unlike many other fats, contains desirable fatty acids. (3)
The band located near Prince George is the Lheidli T’enneh Band, (4) historically known as the Fort George Indian Band. The Lheidli T’enneh did not have permanent settlements in what is modern day Prince George until the arrival of the Hudson’s Bay Company post Fort George. Temporary and seasonal settlements were used across the traditional territory and archeological evidence of fishing camps along the Nechako and Fraser rivers.
A Carrier Fisherman. Morice 1909
Internet Archive
Doubly Carriers. Morice 1909
Internet Archive
Carrier and Carried. Morice 1909
Internet Archive
A Shaman or “Medicine Man.” Morice 1909
Internet Archive
Shuswap (Secwépemc)
Cf
The First Canadian Pacific R.R. and Geological Survey parties for British Columbia, July 22 1871 Left to right : L. N. Rheaumis, Roderick McLennan, A. S. Hall, West West Ireland, Alfred Selwyn, Alex Maclennan, Walter Moberly, C. E. Gilette, James Richardson, — — McDonald, George Watt.
Toronto Public Library
Walter Moberly. B.C. Archives Call Number: A-01814
Walter Moberly, C.E. [1832–1915]
b. 1832
d. 1915
Walter Moberly [1832–1915] was a civil engineer and surveyor who played a large role in the early exploration and development of British Columbia, including discovering Eagle Pass, now used by the Canadian Pacific Railway and the Trans-Canada Highway.
Robert M. Rylatt
On the 2d November (my birthday by the way), I reached the depot
Walter Alfred Don Munday [1890–1950]
b. 1890 — Portage la Prairie, Manitoba
d. 1950 — Vancouver ?
Walter Alfred Don Munday was a Canadian explorer, naturalist and mountaineer famous for his explorations of the Coast Mountains with his wife Phyllis Munday [1894–1990], and especially for the exploration of the Waddington Range.
Arthur P. Coleman
University of Toronto Archives
Dr. A. P. Coleman. Lantern slide by Mary T. S. Schäffer Warren, 1907
Whyte Museum of the Canadian Rockies, Moore family fonds
Arthur Philemon Coleman [1852–1939]
b. 1852 — Lachute, Quebec
d. 1939 — Toronto, Ontario
Arthur Philemon Coleman [1852–1939], a professor of geology at the University of Toronto, was the first person of European descent to record an attempt to climb Mount Robson. In 1907, accompanied by his brother Lucius and George R. B. Kinney [1872–1961], he approached via the valley of the Robson River and climbed above Kinney Lake. The pack trip from Laggan (Lake Louise) consumed most of their resources, and snow in early September drove them away.
Coleman’s party returned in 1908, guided by John Yates [1880–?] and Adolphus Moberly [1887–?], who took them up the Moose River valley. The party spent 21 days in the area, but only twice were there two successive days of good weather. On one climb they reached almost 11,000 feet (3350 m), but were turned back by darkness.
Born at Lachute, Canada East, Coleman studied at universities in Ontario and Germany. He was a fellow the the Royal Geographical Society and second president of the Alpine Club of Canada. He started his explorations in the Rocky Mountains in 1884. The first climber to pay serious attention to peaks in the vicinity of Athabasca Pass, in 1892 and 1893 Coleman led parties hoping to climb the famous mountains Brown and Hooker, which botanist David Douglas [1799–1834] had described in 1828 as being over 16,000 feet (4880 m) high. Coleman discovered their heights were less than 10,000 feet (3050 m).
Coleman named the following places in the Mount Robson region: Adolphus Lake, Berg Lake, and Kinney Lake.
He was author of The Canadian Rockies (1911) and Ice ages, recent and modern (1926), and was joint author of Elementary Geology (1922). He died, unmarried, in Toronto.