Origin of the name unknown.
James Herrick McGregor, P.L.S. [1869–1915]
b. 1869 — Montreal, Quebec
d. 1915 — Ypres, Belgium
Charles Francis Hanington [1848–1930]
b. 1848
d. 1930
Edward Worrell Jarvis [1846–1894]
b. 1846 — Charlottetown, Prince Edward Island, Canada
d. 1894 — Calgary, Alberta, Canada
Born at Charlottetown, Prince Edward Island on 26 January 1846, son of Edward James Jarvis and Elizabeth Gray, he trained as an engineer at Cambridge University. Between 1864 and 1867, he did railway work in England before returning to Canada in 1868 and was an assistant to Sandford Fleming [1827–1915] during construction of the Intercolonial Railway in Nova Scotia and New Brunswick.
He first came to Manitoba in 1871 as a member of a government party surveying the route of the Canadian Pacific Railway. He was later a partner in the lumber business of W. J. Macaulay and Company. He was the first Registrar of the University of Manitoba, a founder of the Manitoba Historical Society, an early alderman on the Winnipeg City Council, and an officer in the North West Mounted Police. He designed the Broadway Bridge, which opened in 1882.
He died at Calgary, North West Territories [now Alberta] on 24 November 1894. He is commemorated by Jarvis Street in Winnipeg. A collection of his journals are held by the Archives of Manitoba (MG6 A2).
“Jarvis and Major Charles Francis Hanington [1848–1930] of Ottawa made an adventurous winter journey across the Rockies in 1875. The pass through which they crossed the mountains was named Jarvis Pass by the Geographic Board of Canada and the name Jarvis is also borne by a mountain on the south side of the pass opposite Mount Hanington. The exploration was undertaken to see if this route across the mountains would be a practicable one for the Canadian Pacific Railway. The elevation of the pass, about 5,000 feet, proved too high. The starting point of the journey was Quesnel, which was left on December 9, 1874, and a 1,000-mile journey, mostly on foot, occupying five and a half months was concluded at Winnipeg on May 21, 1875.” (extract from Natural Resources Canada, Ottawa, June 1927).
Named after Simon Fraser [1776–1862], the namesake of the Fraser River.
Mt. Robson, Grand Fork, Fraser River.
Photo: James McEvoy, 1898 Report on the geology and natural resources of the country traversed by the Yellowhead Pass [accessed 15 February 2025]
Mount Robson from the South-West, at 3,000 Feet.
Photo: Arthur Coleman, 1907 The Canadian Rockies: New and Old Trails [accessed 15 February 2025]
Mount Robson from the North, at 5,700 feet.
Photo: Arthur Coleman, 1907 The Canadian Rockies: New and Old Trails [accessed 15 February 2025]
Mount Robson from the North-East, at 7,000 feet.
Photo: Arthur Coleman, 1908 The Canadian Rockies: New and Old Trails [accessed 15 February 2025]
![Sunrise on Mount Robson [1908 ?] Arthur Philemon Coleman Watercolour over pencil on paper](/wp-content/uploads/2023/03/coleman-sunrise-mt-robson.jpg)
Sunrise on Mount Robson [1908 ?]
Arthur Philemon Coleman
Watercolour over pencil on paper Royal Ontario Museum [accessed 15 February 2025]
Mount Robson from North West, 1908
Arthur Philemon Coleman
Watercolour over pencil on paper Royal Ontario Museum [accessed 15 February 2025]
Mount Robson From Across Berg Lake, 1908
Arthur Philemon Coleman
Watercolour over pencil on paper Royal Ontario Museum [accessed 15 February 2025]
First Glimpse of Mt. Robson
Mary Schäffer Warren, 1908 Whyte Museum of the Canadian Rockies [accessed 15 February 2025]
Mount Robson. Mary Schäffer Warren, 1908 Whyte Museum of the Canadian Rockies [accessed 15 February 2025]
Mt. Robson from mountain near Tête Jaune Cache.
Hand coloured lantern slid, Mary Schäffer Warren, 1908 Whyte Museum of the Canadian Rockies [accessed 15 February 2025]
Mount Robson. Photo: Mary Schäffer Warren, 1908 Old Indian Trails [accessed 15 February 2025]
North-Western face of Mt. Robson from upper plateau of the Grand Forks.
Photo: A. L. Mumm, 1909 Canadian Alpine Journal 1910
Mt. Robson, from the North.
Photo: Dr. J. Norman Collie, 1910 Alpine Journal 1912 [accessed 15 February 2025]
The most majestic of Canadian Mountains.
Mount Robson, 13,700 feet high, the loftiest peak in the Canadian Rockies, viewed from the Grand Fork. 1910. F. A. Talbot, New Garden of Canada, 1911 [accessed 15 February 2025]
The winter camp of L. J. Cole (resident engineer) and family during Grand Trunk Pacific Railway construction, about 1910. Exploration Place [accessed 15 February 2025]
Striking camp. Mount Robson in the background.Horses coralled ready for loading up. (The Author’s camp. ) Talbot, Making Good in Canada, p. 1 [accessed 15 February 2025]
Mount Robson (Nearly 14,000 feet altitude, King of the Canadian Rockies). As the tourist on the Grand Trunk Pacific will see it from the mouth of the Grand Forks, on the Fraser River. This monster peak, towering over 10,000 feet above Lake Kinney, in the valley below, at an average angle of over 6o degrees, was finally captured, in 1909, by two Canadians. Rev. George R. B. Kinney and his companion, Donald Phillips. It the highest mountain yet discovered in the Canadian Rockies. Photo by Rev. George Kinney. National Geographic, 1911.
Robson Glacier, Robson Pass and Berg Lake from Mumm Peak showing northwest face of Mt. Robson. Photo: Arthur 0. Wheeler, 1911 Canadian Alpine Journal 1912
Mt. Robson and Berg Lake.
Photo: Byron Harmon, 1911 Canadian Alpine Journal 1912
Mt. Robson, Lake Kinney and Valley of Grand Fork. Showing West and Southwest Faces of Mt. Robson. Photo: A. O. Wheeler, 1911 Canadian Alpine Journal 1912
Mount Robson towers above the trail, its peak ever enveloped in the passing clouds. Stanley Washburn 1912 [accessed 15 February 2025]
Billings Butte – Robson Peak – Iyatunga Mountain. Panonamic view of the Robson massif and adjoining mountains, with the great Hunga glacier in the foreground.
Photo: Charles D. Walcott, 1912 National Geographic Magazine 1913 [accessed 15 February 2025]
Train derailment on the main line west near Mile 13 during construction of the Grand Trunk Pacific Railway. Circa 1912. Fraser Fort George Regional Museum [accessed 15 February 2025]
Mount Robson, B.C. from two miles below
William James Topley, 1914 Library and Archives Canada [accessed 15 February 2025]
Northeast Face, Mt. Robson – 12,972 feet altitude.
Aerial photograph by H. F. Lambart, 1922
Mount Robson (12,972 feet). The Monarch of the Canadian Rockies.
A. Y. Jackson, 1927 Jasper National Park, Canadian National Railways [accessed 15 February 2025]
Map Showing Yellowhead Pass Route From Edmonton To Tête-Jaune Cache.
James McEvoy, 1900. (Detail) Natural Resources Canada [accessed 15 February 2025]
Mt. Robson Region map by A. P. Coleman, 1911 The Canadian Rockies : new and old trails, p. 264 [accessed 15 February 2025]
Topographical Map Showing Mount Robson and Mountains of the Continental Divide North of Yellowhead Pass.
Arthur O. Wheeler, 1912 Victoria Library, University of Toronto [accessed 15 February 2025]
The first European explorers travelling through the Forks were Alexander Mackenzie [1764–1820] in 1793 and Simon Fraser [1776–1862] in 1805.
Aboriginal trails laced the valleys for thousands of years. With the Klondike Gold Rush, the Canadian government sought to identify safe overland routes for prospectors to reach the Yukon from Edmonton. As water transport could be expensive, these were intended as wagon trails. The initial NWMP Trail, surveyed during 1897–98 by Inspector J.D. Moodie with First Nations guides, passed along the northeast bank of the Forks. Hordes coming from the south would join the trail here. Prospectors also passed through the vicinity on their way to gold rushes at Barkerville (1860s), Omineca (1871–72), and McConnell Creek (1907–08).
Origin of the name unknown, but one can guess.