Category Archives: Place

Rainbow Canyon

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British Columbia. Canyon: Fraser River drainage
Moose River, SE of Moose Lake
52.9167 N 118.8 W — Map 83D/15 — Google — GeoHack
Earliest known reference to this name is 1910 (Talbot)
Name officially adopted in 1951
Official in BC – Canada
This canyon appears on:
Wheeler’s map Mount Robson 1912
Rainbow Canyon. Photo: Byron Harmon, 1911

Rainbow Canyon.
Photo: Byron Harmon, 1911
Canadian Alpine Journal 1912

Frederick Arthur Ambrose Talbot [1880–1924] crossed the Yellowhead Pass in 1910. He wrote, “There was a narrow, deep gulch in the Rainbow Mountains through which the Moose River flowed.”

Arthur Oliver Wheeler [1860–1945], who headed the 1911 Alpine Club of Canada–Smithsonian Robson Expedition, wrote:

”Moose River emerges from a canyon directly beside the railway. It is very fine and will be a most attractive feature to the travelling public. The canyon is not more than two hundred yards in length and about 150 feet deep. There are two falls near the head, of which the upper drops 50 feet and the lower 20 feet. Here the grandeur and awe of the spectacle culminates; the gorge is at its wildest, the sheer rock walls at their steepest; you are between the two falls; flying mist and spray fill the available space and eddy and circle continuously. On sunny days baby rainbows play hide and seek. I counted, at one and the same time, half a dozen at various points of view. The name Rainbow Falls and Canyon is suggested as attractive and appropriate; the more so that the mountain group, of which Robson is the dominating mass, is known as the Rainbow Mountains. The canyon is an exceptionally fine study of the action and effect of a powerful glacial torrent.”

References:

  • Talbot, Frederick Arthur Ambrose [1880–1924]. The new garden of Canada. By pack-horse and canoe through undeveloped new British Columbia. London: Cassell, 1911. Internet Archive
  • Wheeler, Arthur 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
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Pyramid (railway point)

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British Columbia. Railway Point
Canadian National Railway, S of Albreda River
52.35 N 119.1833 W — Map 83D/6 — Google — GeoHack
Name officially adopted in 1962
Official in BC – Canada
96 miles west of the Yellowhead Pass on the Canadian National Railway
Mile 114 in Albreda Subdivision (Jasper to Blue River as of 1977)
Canadian Northern Railway station built in 1915

Origin of the name unknown.

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Ptarmigan Peak

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British Columbia. Former unofficial name
Former name for Titkana Peak
52.05 N 119.2333 W — Map 83D/3 — Google — GeoHack
Not currently an official name.
This former unofficial name appears on:
Coleman’s map of Mount Robson 1910
Wheeler’s map Mount Robson 1912
Grouse - Ptarmigan, Mount Robson William James Topley, 1914

Grouse – Ptarmigan, Mount Robson
William James Topley, 1914
Library and Archives Canada

“My brother one day climbed Ptarmigan Mountain to have a look over that side of Mount Robson, but saw little through the clouds,” wrote Arthur Philemon Coleman [1852–1939] of his 1908 expedition to Mount Robson with his brother Lucius Quincy Coleman [1854–1935] and George R. B. Kinney [1872–1961].

The name was changed to “Titkana Peak” to avoid duplication.

References:

  • Coleman, Arthur Philemon [1852–1939]. The Canadian Rockies: New and Old Trails. London: T. Fisher Unwin, 1911, p. 377. Internet Archive
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Premier Range

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British Columbia. Range
Columbia River and Fraser River and North Thompson River drainages
Headwaters of the Raush, North Thompson, McLennan, Albreda, Camp, and Canoe rivers
52.75 N 119.55 W — Map 83D/12 — Google — GeoHack
Earliest known reference to this name is 1927 (as “Premier Group”)
Name officially adopted in 1962
Official in BC – Canada

“Premier Group” of mountains, later “Premier Range,” was proclaimed in 1927 to commemorate prime ministers of Canada and Great Britain and premiers of British Columbia. The occasion of the proclimation was the Diamond Jubilee of Confederation. Canada celebrated 60 years of Dominion in 1927.

The range was in initially designated “Premier Group” by Order in Council, as arraigned by the government of British Columbia and the Geographic Board of Canada. The form of the name was changed to “Premier Range” in 1962, and it was declared that those peaks over 10,000 feet would be named after deceased former prime ministers of Canada.

Most of the mountains already had unofficial names bestowed by early explorers, recognizing people, features, and events. Those names, many of them featured on maps published in the Canadian Alpine Journal, were replaced by the names of mostly distant politicians. John Oliver came close when he visited McBride in 1925, where his daughter taught school and was principal. Laurier visited Kamloops in 1910, when, learning that he was in favour of larger reserves and recognition of aboriginal title, the chiefs of the Shuswap, Okanagan, and Thompson tribes presented him with a petition condemning BC land policies and game laws and rejecting BC’s takeover of their lands.

Several peaks had unofficial names that were superseded:

Laurier Glacier — not Hostility Glacier
Mount Arthur Meighen — not Mount Carpé
Mount Richard Bennett — not Mount Goddell
Mount Mackenzie King — not Hostility Mountain
Tête Glacier — not Holway Glacier
Penny Mountain — not Holways Peak

As well, the following names were no longer to be used:

Chamberlin, Mount
Withers, Mount
Crescent Mountain
Mount David
Forks Peak
Pyramid Peak
Mount Zillmer
Incisor Peak

Mount Zillmer, however, remains in official use.

There are 16 peaks above 9800 feet still unnamed in the Premier Range, of which 7 peaks exceed 10,000 feet. Other than the 1927 decision to name the highest peak (11,750 feet) after Sir Wilfrid Laurier, the relative elevation and location have not been considered when designating the peaks in this range.

References:

  • Anon. “Place names in the Premier Range, Cariboo Mountains, B.C.” Canadian Alpine Journal, Vol. 46 (1963):20
  • British Columbia Geographical Names. Premier Range
  • Wikipedia. Premier Range
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