Monthly Archives: March 2014

Mount Temple

Alberta. Mountain
S of Lake Louise
51.3506 N 116.2067 W — Map 82N — GoogleGeoHack
Name officially adopted in 1952
Official in Canada
Elevation: 3544 m

Named in 1884 by George Mercer Dawson after Sir Richard Temple, president of a section of the British Association. In the year that the mountain was named, Temple was elected leader of the British Association party to the Rockies.

References:

  • Karamitsanis, Aphrodite [1961–]. Place names of Alberta. Volume 1: Mountains, Mountain Parks and Foothills. Calgary: University of Calgary Press, 1991

Mount Talbot

Alberta-BC boundary. Mount
N of Shale Pass, S of Morkill Pass
53.6167 N 119.7167 W — Map 83E/12 — GoogleGeoHack
Earliest known reference to this name is 1923
Name officially adopted in 1925
Official in BCCanada
Peter Talbot. Appointed to the Senate of Canada in 1906, served during the premierships of Wilfred Laurier and Robert Borden until he died in 1919

Peter Talbot. Appointed to the Senate of Canada in 1906, served during the premierships of Wilfred Laurier and Robert Borden until he died in 1919
Wikipedia

The mountain was named by the Geodetic Survey in 1923, during the survey of the interprovincial boundary, after Hon. Peter Talbot [1854-1919], Lacombe; Member of Senate of Canada, 1906-19.

(Not named after British travel author Frederick Arthur Ambrose Talbot [1880–1924], who traversed the Yellowhead Pass in 1910, one year ahead of the construction of the Grand Trunk Pacific Railway.)

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. Parts IIIA & IIIB, 1918 to 1924. From Yellowhead Pass Northerly. Ottawa: Office of the Surveyor General, 1925. Whyte Museum
  • Canadian Board on Geographical Names. Place-names of Alberta. Published for the Geographic Board by the Department of the Interior. Ottawa: Department of the Interior, 1928. Hathi Trust

Mount Stanley Baldwin

British Columbia. Mount
Headwaters of Tête Creek and McLennan River
52.8244 N 119.6058 W — Map 083D13 — GoogleGeoHack
Name officially adopted in 1927
Official in BCCanada
The Right Honourable The Earl Baldwin of Bewdley, KG PC PC (Can) JP FRS. Portrait by Walter Stoneman, 1920

The Right Honourable The Earl Baldwin of Bewdley, KG PC PC (Can) JP FRS. Portrait by Walter Stoneman, 1920
Wikipedia

Known from 1924 as Mount Challenger, this peak was renamed in the 1927 Premier Range proclimation.

Stanley Baldwin [1867-1947] was prime minister of Great Britian for six months in 1923, again from 1924 until 1929, and again from 1935 until 1937. Until he was in his forties, Baldwin was employed in his father’s businesses, including railways, iron and steel manufacturing, and coal mining. When the elder Baldwin died in 1908, Stanley succeeded to his father’s parliamentary seat.

Mount Sir Mackenzie Bowell

British Columbia. Mount
Headwaters of Tête Creek, Premier Range
52.8331 N 119.7311 W — Map 083D13 — GoogleGeoHack
Name officially adopted in 1927
Official in BCCanada
Bowell in 1891

Bowell in 1891
Wikipedia

This Premier Range peak is named for Mackenzie Bowell (1823-1917), who was prime minister of Canada from 1894 to 1896.

Bowell was born in Suffolk, England, and came to Upper Canada with his parents in 1833. Elected to the House of Commons as a Conservative in 1867, he acted as spokesman for the Orange Order, of which he was grand master. He was minister of customs in Sir John A. Macdonald’s cabinet in 1878-9, minister of militia in the ministry of Sir John Abbott in 1891-2, and then minister of trade and commerce under Sir John Thompson.

He became prime minister on Thompson’s death in 1894. In 1896, seven of his ministers resigned over his handling of the Manitoba school crisis. Bowell saved face by turning power over to Charles Tupper, High Commissioner to Great Britian. Bowell resigned a few months later. He was appointed to the senate in 1892.

References:

  • Story, Norah. The Oxford Companion to Canadian History and Literature. Toronto: Oxford University Press, 1967
Also see:

Mount Sir John Thompson

British Columbia. Mount
Headwaters of McLennan River
52.7333 N 119.7333 W — Map 83D/12 — GoogleGeoHack
Name officially adopted in 1927
Official in BCCanada
John Sparrow David Thompson

John Sparrow David Thompson

Originally named “Mount David Thompson” by the
climbing party of Allen Carpé [1894–1932] and Rollin Thomas Chamberlin [1881–1948] in 1924, in the mistaken belief that the nearby pass was the true source of the North Thompson River (see W. A. D. Munday’s explanation and sketch map). The mountain was subsequently renamed in the Premier Range commemorations, going from one Thompson to another. Carpé’s other 1924 names, David Pass and David Glacier, were retained.

John Sparrow David Thompson (1844-94) became prime minister of Canada upon John Abbot’s resignation in 1892. Born in Halifax, John Thompson was elected to the Nova Scotia House of Assembly in 1877, became attorney general in 1878, and premier in 1882. After an election defeat, he was made a judge of the Supreme Court of the province. John A. Macdonald induced him to enter the federal cabinet as minister of justice in 1885. In 1893 Thompson went to Europe on business, and while dining with Queen Victoria at Windsor Castle, was taken ill and died.

Walter Alfred Don Munday [1890–1950] and Phyllis Munday made the first ascent of the mountain in 1925, approaching from Tête Creek.

References:

  • Carpé, Allen [1894–1932]. “Climbs in Cariboo Mts. and Northern Gold Range, Interior Ranges of British Columbia.” Alpine Journal, Vol. 37 (1925):63
  • Munday, Walter Alfred Don [1890–1950]. “In the Cariboo Range – Mt. David Thompson.” Canadian Alpine Journal, Vol. 15 (1925):130-136
  • Munday, Walter Alfred Don [1890–1950]. “River Sources in Cariboo Mountains.” Canadian Alpine Journal, Vol. 17 (1928):76
  • Story, Norah. The Oxford Companion to Canadian History and Literature. Toronto: Oxford University Press, 1967
  • Wikipedia. John Sparrow David Thompson

Mount Sir John Abbott

British Columbia. Mount
Premier Range, SW of Tête Jaune Cache
52.8 N 119.8 W — Map 83D/13 — GoogleGeoHack
Name officially adopted in 1927
Official in BCCanada
Sir John Joseph Caldwell Abbott, the third Prime Minister of Canada. 1892

Sir John Joseph Caldwell Abbott, the third Prime Minister of Canada. 1892
Wikipedia

This peak of the Premier Range, formerly known as Kiwa Peak, was named in 1927 for John Joseph Caldwell Abbott [1821–1893], who became prime minister of Canada on the death of Sir John A. Macdonald in 1891. Abbot’s health was poor and he resigned in 1892.

Abbott was born in St. Andrews, Lower Canada, and was educated in law at McGill College. Elected to the House of Assembly in 1857, he was appointed solicitor general in 1862. He lost his seat in the Pacific scandal of 1873, which brought down Macdonald and the Conservatives on charges of having taken election funds from promoters who were seeking the Canadian Pacific Railway charter. Re-elected in 1880, Abbott was appointed to the Senate in 1887.

References:

  • Story, Norah. The Oxford Companion to Canadian History and Literature. Toronto: Oxford University Press, 1967

Mount Robson (railway point)

British Columbia. Railway point
Canadian National Railway, S of Mount Robson
53.0167 N 119.2333 W — Map 83E/3 — GoogleGeoHack
Earliest known reference to this name is 1912
Name officially adopted in 1983
Official in BCCanada
36 miles west of the Yellowhead Pass on the Canadian National Railway
Mile 54 in Albreda Subdivision (Jasper to Blue River as of 1977)
GTP/CNoR stations. CNoR built 1915, renamed Foster
Leaving Donald Phillips's Camp near Robson Railway Station. William James Topley, 1914

Leaving Donald Phillips’s Camp near Robson Railway Station. William James Topley, 1914
Library and Archives Canada


Mt. Robson station, 1930s. CNR photo X20165

Mt. Robson station, 1930s. CNR photo X20165
Bohi 1977 p. 16

There was a Grand Trunk Pacific Railway station at Mount Robson in 1911 when Arthur Oliver Wheeler [1860–1945] surveyed the area for his topographical map of Mount Robson

According to Charles W. Bohi there was also a Canadian Northern Railway station in 1915, later renamed Foster . A “Mt. Robson” station was built at a second location in 1922.

Even at an obscure station such as Mt. Robson, BC, train time could be a major event. A trio of adventurers awaits the arrival of the eastbound passenger train; Mt. Robson was a world-famous centre for packing and hiking and for mountaineers seeking to conquer the tallest mountain in the Canadian Rockies. The others, lacking baggage of any kind, could be the family members of a local section crew going into Redpass to shop, or they could be from the Robson Ranch — a resort just down the valley — waiting to exchange mail. Mt. Robson station was originally located about three mile east of here, where the CNoR erected a Type C depot in 1915. A disastrous snow slide on 26 February 1921 covered the tracks just beyond the tram in this photograph, killing three people. As a result, in conjunction with the construction of a snow shed, in 1922 the CNR established a new station at this location, naming it Mt. Robson and re-naming the former point Foster. A Standard Portable Station and a Standard Freight and Passenger Shelter were installed at the new station in 1922. The local operator and a watchman who patrolled the tracks on either side of the new snow shed ensured that the tragic results of the 1921 snowslide would not recur. Still prominent on the Mt. Robson station here is the cantilever bracket for the train-order signal, which has been removed. The Portable Station was removed in the 1940s, leaving only the shelter. Until October 1963, employee operating timetables instructed passenger trains to stop for five minutes to let on-board patrons catch a glimpse of the station’s namesake mountain, to the right and behind the photographer.

— Bohi 2002
References:

  • Bohi, Charles W. Canadian National’s Western Depots. The Country Stations in Western Canada. Railfare Enterprises, 1977
  • Bohi, Charles W., and Kozma, Leslie S. Canadian National’s Western Stations. Don Mills, Ontario: Fitzhenry & Whiteside, 2002

Mount Robson Park

British Columbia. Provincial Park
Vicinity of Mount Robson
52.9667 N 118.8333 W — Map 083D15 — GoogleGeoHack
Name officially adopted in 1913
Official in BCCanada
This provincial park appears on:
Boundary Commission Sheet 29 A (surveyed in 1917)

This is the second oldest provincial park in British Columbia, established in 1913
(Strathcona was established in 1911). It’s one of the seven national and provincial parks that together comprise the 26,583 square km World Heritage Site known as Canadian Rocky Mountain Parks.

During the 1911 Alpine Club of Canada–Smithsonian Robson Expedition, expedition leader Arthur Oliver Wheeler [1860–1945] became ecstatic about “the vast possibilities of this new alpine paradise” — a combination of “snow-covered mountains, ice-encircled amphitheaters, tumbling glaciers, turquoise lakes and flashing waterfalls.” Wheeler urged the government of British Columbia to establish a provincial park at Mount Robson.

The post office at Mount Robson station was open from 1923 to 1955.

References:

  • Fraser, Esther Augusta [1919–1978]. Wheeler. Banff: Summerthought, 1978
  • Topping, William. A checklist of British Columbia post offices. Vancouver: published by the author, 7430 Angus Drive, 1983
  • British Columbia Parks. Mount Robson Park
  • British Columbia Geographical Names. Mount Robson Park
  • Wikipedia. Mount Robson Provincial Park
Also see:

Mount Rider

British Columbia. Mount
East of Goat River (railway point), near head of Hellroaring Creek
53.5642 N 120.4275 W — Map 093H09 — GoogleGeoHack
Name officially adopted in 1924
Official in BCCanada
Henry Rider Haggard circa 1905

Henry Rider Haggard circa 1905

“The Grand Trunk Pacific Railroad wants, if the Geogaphical Board of Canada consents, to name a great Alp in the Rockies after me — Sir Rider Mountain and Haggard Glacier, a great and unusual compliment,” wrote the British novelist Sir Henry Rider Haggard [1856-1925]during his train trip from Prince Rupert to Edmonton in July 1916. “I saw it. It is a wonderful and magnificent Alp, some ten thousand feet high and measuring many miles around its base. Snow lies on its summit even in summer and it has deep, ripped glaciers and fir-clad ravines upon its flanks, while the crest has some resemblance to a Lion.” The Geographical Board consented to the recommendation.

Haggard, the author of historical and contemporary novels and of such adventure stories as She and King Solomon’s Mines, was on the final leg of his public career as an advocate of “national regeneration through agriculture.” He was sent by the Royal Colonial Institute to investigate prospects for settling war veterans on plots of land in South Africa, Australia, and Canada. He arrived in Victoria in June 1916, an extremely popular figure, both for his novels and his almost lifelong work for the British Empire in various governmental positions.

John Robert Colombo states that Alan Rayburn, executive secretary of Canada’s geographical names secretariat, told him that “the man responsible for this rash of naming was severly reprimanded for promising Sir Rider that one or other of these three features would have his name” — presumably in reference to the customary restrictions in assigning official names.

The mountain was first reported in 1915 by a party including Samuel Prescott Fay [1884–1971] of Boston and guide Fred Brewster of Jasper.

References:

  • Haggard, Henry Rider. Days of my life. An Autobiography. London: Longmans, Green, 1926. Internet Archive
  • Haggard, Henry Rider [1856–1925]. The Private Diaries of Sir Henry Rider Haggard 1914-1925. Higgins, D.S. (ed.). New York: Stein and Day, 1980
  • Haggard, Henry Rider [1856–1925]. Rider Haggard, A Biography. New York: Stein and Day, 1981
  • Colombo, John Robert. Canadian Literary Landmarks. Willowdale, Ont.: Hounslow Press, 1984
  • Sarjeant, William A. S. private correspondence. 2000
  • Wikipedia. H. Rider Haggard