Holmes River

British Columbia. River: Fraser River drainage
Flows SW into Fraser River, SE of McBride
53.25 N 120.0667 W — Map 93H/8 — GoogleGeoHack
Earliest known reference to this name is 1912 (Walker)
Name officially adopted in 1925
Official in BCTopo map from Canadian Geographical Names

This river was known as Beaver River earlier than 1910. Around 1913 British Coumbia Land Surveyor James Alexander Walker [1887–1959] renamed it for Albert W. Holmes [died 1920s], a provincial forest ranger in McBride as early as 1915. Holmes, an American, later farmed in Dunster. He died, unmarried, in the Prince George hospital.[died 1920s].(1, 2)

Wrigley’s British Columbia Directory for 1918 lists “Holmes Albert W farming” under Dunster. (3)

A youth named Allen Holmes appears in a photograph of the McBride Trading Company in the 1920s (Valley Museum & Archives Society 2003.26.19).

References:

  • 1. British Columbia Geographical Names. Holmes River
  • 2. Akrigg, Helen B., and Akrigg, George Philip Vernon [1913–2001]. British Columbia Place Names. Vancouver: UBC Press, 1997, p.114. Internet Archive
  • 3. Wrigley Directories, Limited. Wrigley’s British Columbia Directory. Vancouver: 1918. Internet Archive

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