Origin of the name unknown.
Name appears on BC-Alberta Boundary Atlas sheet No. 39, 1924. The river was labeled “Porcupine River” on 1912 map of BC Northern Interior (publisher not cited), and on BC Lands 1913 Preliminary Forest Map, and on BC Lands 1917 map of the Forest Stand Types in British Columbia.
Explorer Samuel Prescott Fay [1884–1971], who spent the summers of 1912 to 1914 tracking big game in this area, suggested that the name “Porcupine” be changed [or revert (?)] to “Kakwa”, the Cree word for porcupine.
“Kakwa” is listed at the Indigenous Geographical Names dataset as a word of Cree language.
The name was adopted in 1925 as labelled on BC-Alberta boundary sheet 39, 1924. Named in association with Kakwa River.
Names after the Kakwa River, the Kakwa Recreation Area was established in 1987, containing about 128,000 hectares. In 1999 the area was extended and status changed to a provincial park, to be known as Kakwa Park, now containing almost 171,000 hectares.
Kakwa Provincial Park showcases ice-clad mountains, extensive alpine meadows and a section of the Continental Divide. Main physical features include Mount Sir Alexander (3270 m), Mount Ida (3189 m), and Kakwa Lake.
This provincial park was established in 2000 to protect the rich wildlife values and the wide biogeoclimatic representation. Most of all, this park (including the West Twin Protected Area) contains the only protected corridor across the Robson Valley trench. The 22,000 ha. area runs from the Cariboo Mountains in the south, through the main Robson Valley trench, and up the fronting ranges of the Rocky Mountains.
Mile 49 buildings, 1913. Henningville (Mile 49), Tete Jaune area. Jowett Collection
Valemount & Area Museum
The construction company of Palmer Brothers & Henning were contractors on the construction of the Canadian Northern Pacific Railway, and had a siding on the Grand Trunk Pacific Railway line at Mile 49, near Tête Jaune Cache, to service their camps on the Canoe River. In the years after 1912, Henningville grew into a small hamlet with a Canadian Northern Pacific warehouse and some dozen other buildings, including the Austin Brothers store, Cox’s post office, and a pool hall. The name Henningville was rarely used, because the railroaders all called the location “49.”
Named by Alberta-British Columbia Boundary Commission surveyors in 1923:
The Bastille-Wallbridge ridge shows steep shale slopes on the southwest side and a precipitous rock face on the northeast side, the latter supporting a cliff glacier, two miles in length.
Bastille Creek adopted in 1925 in association with Bastille Mountain at its head, not Black Bear Creek as labelled on BC map 3H, 1915 and 1919.
Mount Robson from North West, 1908
Arthur Philemon Coleman (1852-1939)
Watercolour over pencil on paper
Royal Ontario Museum
Arthur Philemon Coleman [1852–1939] explored the Mount Robson area in 1907 and 1908, with a party that included George R. B. Kinney [1872–1961]. Kinney made an attempt to climb Mount Robson with Donald “Curly” Phillips [1884–1938] in 1909, nearby this ridge. The ridge was not sucessfully climbed until 1961, when Ronald Perla and Tom Spencer reached the summit.