Category Archives: Place

Snowbird Pass

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British Columbia. Pass
E of Berg Lake, N of Lynx Mountain
53.148 N 119.0512 W — Map 083E03 — Google — GeoHack
Earliest known reference to this name is 1912
Name officially adopted in 1956
Official in BC – Topo map from Canadian Geographical Names
This pass appears on:
Wheeler’s map Mount Robson 1912
“On the opposite side of Robson Glacier is a rock mass of similar construction to Rearguard,” noted Arthur Oliver Wheeler [1860–1945] during the Alpine Club of Canada’s 1911 expedition to the Mount Robson area. “It has been named Ptarmigan Mountain by Coleman, from the numbers of this species of grouse —Snowbirds, they are called by the hunters, prospectors and packers, from the fact that in winter they are pure white and their habitat is at snow line — seen on the alplands below them. Unfortunately, there is already a Ptarmigan Peak, Pass and Lake near Laggan on the C.P.R., and this name will require a change. Snowbird Mountain and Pass might be substituted.” Arthur Philemon Coleman [1852–1939] explored in the area in 1907 and 1908.

“Ptarmigan Mountain” is now called “Titkana Peak.”

References:

  • Wheeler, Arthur Oliver Oliver [1860–1945]. “The Alpine Club of Canada’s expedition to Jasper Park, Yellowhead Pass and Mount Robson region, 1911.” Canadian Alpine Journal, Vol. 4 (1912):9-80. Alpine Club of Canada
  • British Columbia Parks. Mount Robson Provincial Park
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Smoky River (Morkill)

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British Columbia. River: Fraser River drainage
Local name of Morkill River
53.6 N 120.7 W Google — GeoHack
Not currently an official name.

This local name for the Morkill River was in use before the surveyor Dalby Brooks Morkill [1880–1955] visited the area in 1913. Stanley Washburn [1878–1950] camped on the “Big Smoky” in 1909. It appears on the 1915 Provincial Pre-Emptors map as “Morkill (Little Smoky).”

References:

  • Washburn, Stanley [1878–1950]. Trails, Trappers and Tenderfeet in the New Empire of Western Canada. New York and London: Henry Holt, Andrew Melrose, 1912. Hathi Trust
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Small Creek

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British Columbia. Creek: Fraser River drainage
Flows S into Fraser River, E of Croydon
53.05 N 119.6333 W — Map 83E/4 — Google — GeoHack
Earliest known reference to this name is 1871 (Trutch)
Name officially adopted in 1951
Official in BC – Canada
This creek appears on:
Trutch’s map of BC 1871
Collie’s map Yellowhead Pass 1912
Jobe’s map Jarvis Pass to Yellowhead 1915
Pre-emptor’s map Tête Jaune 3H 1919

In 1909 Stanley Washburn [1878–1950] said that Small River was one of the names “given by the trappers.”

Edward Willet Dorland Holway [1853–1923], an American banker and mycologist, approached the creek from its headwaters in 1915:

At the head of Horse Creek is a great glacier with several peaks about 10,500 feet, and between Horse Creek and Small River, on a branch of which we now were, is a very fine glacier-covered mountain around 10,500 feet.…
We followed Small River to a cabin on the Fraser, where we found flour and potatoes, crossed in the morning to an old construction camp, where there were just spikes enough to build a small raft, upon which we piled our things and floated down to Croydon, where we had left our trunks.

References:

  • Washburn, Stanley [1878–1950]. Trails, Trappers and Tenderfeet in the New Empire of Western Canada. New York and London: Henry Holt, Andrew Melrose, 1912. Hathi Trust
  • Holway, Edward Willet Dorland [1853–1923]. “First ascent of Mt. Edith Cavell and explorations in the Mt. Longstaff Region.” Canadian Alpine Journal, Vol. 7 (1916):51-53

Sleeper Mountain

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British Columbia. Mountain
S of Fraser River, between Sleeper Creek and Ghita Creek
52.8425 N 118.7669 W — Map 083D15 — Google — GeoHack
Name officially adopted in 1980
Official in BC – Canada

“[A] name already in local use, referring to a sleeper fire which burned part of the area some years ago…” (memo from BC Parks, file C.1.62)

References:

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Simon Peak

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Alberta-BC boundary. Peak
S of headwaters Geikie Creek
52.65 N 118.3167 W — Map 83D/9 — Google — GeoHack
Name officially adopted in 1951
Official in BC – Canada
This peak appears on:
Boundary Commission Sheet 28 (surveyed in 1921)

Named for Simon Fraser [1776–1862] by the Alberta-British Columbia Boundary Commission in 1921.

References:

  • 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. Part II. 1917 to 1921. From Kicking Horse Pass to Yellowhead Pass.. Ottawa: Office of the Surveyor General, 1924. Whyte Museum
  • 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
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Shuswap River

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British Columbia. Former name: Fraser River drainage
Former name for Raush River
53.2 N 120 W Google — GeoHack
Not currently an official name.
This former name appears on:
Trutch’s map of BC 1871 [as “Rau’ Shuswap”]
BC Lands Central BC 1892 [as “Rau Shuswap R.”]
Collie’s map Yellowhead Pass 1912
The river now known as the Raush River appears as “Rau’ Shuswap” on Trutch’s map of BC from 1871 and as “Big Shuswap R.” on the 1912 map of John Norman Collie [1859–1942]. Shuswap (Secwépemc) people lived in the area when Europeans showed up.

In 1863 Milton and Cheadle encountered Shuswap people at Jasper House and Tête Jaune Cache. “The Shushwaps of Jasper House formerly numbered about thirty families, but are now reduced to as many individuals,” they wrote. [1]

The Texqakallt band of the upper North Thompson River were the earliest known inhabitants of the upper reaches of the Fraser River. They were almost completely nomadic. Lodges and fish drying racks were constructed in prime salmon fishing territory at the confluence of the McLennan River and Fraser Rivers in the vicinity of what is now Tête Jaune Cache. As well as salmon from the Fraser, trout were reportedly taken from Yellowhead Lake. They hunted bighorn sheep, mountain goats, moose, marmots, and other small mammals and birds. They also relied on edible plants in the area, especially berries.[2]

References:

  • 1. Milton, William Wentworth Fitzwilliam [1839–1877], and Cheadle, Walter Butler [1835–1910]. The North-West Passage by Land. Being the narrative of an expedition from the Atlantic to the Pacific, undertaken with the view of exploring a route across the continent to British Columbia through British territory, by one of the northern passes in the Rocky Mountains. London: Cassell, Petter and Galpin, 1865, p. 240. Internet Archive
  • 2. Wikipedia. Texqakallt
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