Forgetmenot Pass

Alberta-BC boundary. Pass
Fraser River and Smoky River drainages
Between Forgetmenot Creek and Fetherstonhaugh Creek
53.75 N 119.9 W — Map 083E13 — Google — GeoHack
Earliest known reference to this name is 1915 (Jobe)
Name officially adopted in 1927
Official in BC – Topo map from Canadian Geographical Names

The slopes leading up to the pass, near Mount Forget (not named at that time), were blue with forget-me-nots when Mary Lenore Jobe Akeley [1878–1966] and Donald “Curly” Phillips [1884–1938] came through in 1914 on their way to Mount Kitchi (Mount Sir Alexander).

Before us stretched out a great alpine basin, probably fifteen square miles in area, presenting a wonderful vista of soft, sweet alpine grass, multi-colored alpine flowers, and low-growing balsams. Two miles beyond Eagle Pass we crossed a tributary of the ‘West’ Branch of the Little Smoky. Two miles beyond this stream we came to what seemed an easy pass-at 6,500 feet. As the other side proved to be only cliff, scree and rock-fall, we turned west, crossed two more alpine summits in four miles. The latter, at 6,400 feet, was snow filled, while the slopes leading up to this pass were blue with forget-me-nots. Below Forget-me-not Pass, we had four hours of maddening trail cutting down a rhododendron descent of 1,500 feet, so steep that the pack horses trod constantly upon each others tails [1].

Alpine Flora of the Canadian Rocky Mountains by Stewardson Brown [1867–1921] and Mary T. S. Schäffer Warren [1861–1939] (credited as “Mrs. Charles Schäffer”) describes Myosotis alpestris Schmidt, “Forget-me-not,” but does not provide a drawing:

Stems tufted, erect, 3-9 inches high. Leaves oblong, linear, or lanceolate, hairy, I-2 inches long. Flowers in rather dense heads; corolla flat, bright blue with a yellow centre 1/4 of an inch or more broad, 5-lobed. Frequent throughout the Rockies in alpine meadows and on grassy slopes; flowering during June and early July [2].

References:

  • 1. Jobe Akeley, Mary Lenore [1878–1966]. “Mt. Kitchi: A New Peak in the Canadian Rockies.” Bulletin of the American Geographical Society, Volume 47, No. 7 (1915):481-497, p. 486. JSTOR
  • 2. Brown, Stewardson [1867–1921], and Schäffer Warren, Mary T. S. [1861–1939], illustrator. Alpine Flora of the Canadian Rocky Mountains. New York and London: G. P. Putnam’s Sons, 1907, p. 243. Internet Archive [accessed 4 November 2026]

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