A paragon is a thing of supreme excellence. The name appears on map sheet 28 of the Alberta-British Columbia Boundary Commission, published in 1924.

In 1919 Allen Carpé [1894–1932] and Howard Palmer [1883–1944] were the first climbers to visit Tonquin Valley where they climbed McDonell Peak and Paragon Peak.

Origin of the name unknown.

Origin of the name unknown.

The name is presumably connected to the crossing of the continental divide in 1811 by David Thompson [1770–1857], as it is the first watercourse on the Pacific side of Athabasca Pass.

It’s mentioned by Donald “Curly” Phillips [1884–1938] in 1923, after the Alberta-British Columbia Boundary Commission surveys in the area, so perhaps it was named by the Commissioners.

This creek is named on the Provincial Pre-emptor’s Map of 1914, so it probably originated during the surveys or construction of the Grand Trunk Pacific Railway.

Named in 1972 at the suggestion of BC Parks.

The “Overlanders” were an ad-hoc group of gold-seekers on their way from eastern Canada to join the Cariboo gold rush in British Columbia. In 1862 they travelled through the Yellowhead Pass and would have gone by this falls on the Fraser River near Mount Robson. There is no mention of “Overlander Falls” in surviving records, or any record of the use of the name prior to its official adoption by the BC Geographical Names Office in 1986, it as proposed by the BC Parks Branch.

The Overlanders travelled in loosely organized groups totalling about two hundred. At Edmonton, the lead group hired André Cardinal, a native of Jasper, to guide them to Tête Jaune Cache. At the Cache they met a camp of the native Secwépemc (Shushwap) people who were salmon fishing. The Shuswap were not familiar with the route down the Fraser River, and only familiar with the route toward the North Thompson River for a few days’ travel.

At Tête Jaune Cache the party split. All but 36 went down the Fraser, in rafts and dugout canoes. As the first group left on September 1 the Shuswaps are reported to have said, “Poor white men. No more.” Three of the men drowned in the Fraser. The rest eventually made it to Quesnel. Two of the 36 that headed for the North Thompson and Kamloops also drowned. Both groups met discouragement when they neared the goldfields, where hundreds of disillusioned miners were on their way out. All but a few of the overlanders headed for the coast without even going to the goldfields at Barkerville.

Dominion Creek earned its former name by draining the McBride yard of the Grand Trunk Pacific Railway

“J. T. Oakley, mixed farming,” is mentioned in the 1918 Wrigley’s Directory under McBride. John Tom Oakley was one of the first homesteaders in the valley. With his wife, son and daughter, they lived on a farm 3 km east of McBride. He was the first to use power machines, and broke his land with a steam engine. A 1936 newspaper report states that “flooding of the Fraser obliterated Horseshoe Lake and flooded Oakley Island. A hay stack and a granary building at Oakley’s floated away.”

His son Harold was president of the McBride Farmers’ Institute in 1935. A history of the Institute published in the Robson Calley Courier, January 26, 1977, recognized John Oakley among the “Many faithful workers [who] have worked for the things that the organization has done for the valley.”