Adolph Jeck (1892–1980), his wife Maria (1893-1989), and five children moved to the McBride area in 1925. Another four children were born in the valley. Jeck was a lumberjack and farmer who was active in many community groups. He was born in a German community in Russia. With many others of the community, his parents immigrated to North America in 1893. In 1894, his family arrived in Edmonton. In 1912, he married Maria Hinkelman, and they farmed in Alberta until 1924, when Jeck got a job in the bush near McBride.

In 1925, the family moved to a homestead east of McBride. Adolph worked on the first Fraser River Bridge near McBride, but his steady occupation was in the bush. In the 1930s, his pole and tie camp on the Holmes River, below the falls, was one of the few local employers. Around 1932 the camp was moved to Eddy Creek. Ten jobs were provided. During World War II the camp shipped birch peeler logs to supply veneer for aircraft. Adolph was in the sawmill business until 1952 when sons Cyril and Lloyd took over. In the summers Adolph worked on the roads east of McBride, to Valemount and the Alberta border, doing everything from clearing to grading. Around 1945, he operated the first motorized grader in the area.

Adolph was secretary of the school board, and constructed most of the old Beaver River log schoolhouse. He also built a log teacherage on his homestead. Around 1950 he donated the use of land for the first local air-strip. Half of the old fairgrounds were donated by the Jecks, and they supplied lumber and labor for the first fair hall. Adolph was active on the hospital board during the construction of the new hospital in the 1960s, and was a member of the Board of Trade and the Farmers’ Institute. In the early 1930s he built the only tennis court in the area, and started a golf course which was never completed.

Around 1958, Adolph and Maria moved to the Kamloops area, where he worked as a log scaler for fifteen years before retiring. They celebrated their sixtieth wedding anniversary in 1972. When Maria passed away in 1989 in McClure, B.C., her obituary stated that she was survived by 31 grandchildren and 33 great-grandchildren.

“James Creek” adopted in the 18th Report of the Geographic Board of Canada, 1924, not “Bad River“, as it was known since Alexander Mackenzie [1764–1820] crossed the divide here in 1793. Name changed to “Bad River (James Creek)” in 1976 to accommodate local usage.

The “James” was James Herrick McGregor [1869–1915], who is also the namesake of Herrick Creek, and McGregor River.

This lake at the headwaters of the Fraser River was discovered by E. Rex Gibson [1892–1957] and Ernest Niederer in the 1920s.

While on the summit of Mt. Postern I made an interesting discovery, namely, that Gateway Glacier as shown on the Interprovincial Boundary Sheet No. 28, is not glacier at all, but a lake! This lake, which is of a beautiful jade colour appeared to be quite a bit larger than Icefall Lake and will, I hope, eventually take its place on the map as “Jade Lake.” It should be mentioned that Jade Lake lies a in a deep cirque between Mts. Portcullis and “Warden” and is invisible from any of the survey stations.

— Wates and Gibson

The pass was named after the Jackpine River by the 1915 expedition to Mount Kitchi (Mount Sir Alexander) by Mary Lenore Jobe Akeley [1878–1966] and Donald “Curly” Phillips [1884–1938].

“It is the crossing of the watershed that gives access to the head of the Jackpine River valley; hence the name,” wrote Arthur Oliver Wheeler [1860–1945] in his report on the Alberta-British Columbia Boundary Commission survey.

“Bess Pass, 5,330 feet in altitude and Jackpine Pass, 6,694 feet, are on the route north [of Mount Robson] to Mt. Sir Alexander. The former is situated in very spectacular surroundings between Mt. Bess and Mt. Whiteshield: the latter is much frequented by grizzlies…,” Wheeler wrote in his articles on passes on the continental divide.

Named in association with Jackpine Pass.

Charles Doolittle Walcott [1850–1927] visited the region in 1912 and gave it the Indigenous name of Iyatunga (Black Rock):

The snow clings to the steep sides of the upper peak in long ribbons quite to the crest, gathering below, it forms a névé, which pushes outward divided into two streams of ice that fall and slip down the steep incline for nearly a mile. The stream on the left forms Blue Glacier (Coleman account of expedition of 1908) and on the right Chupo (Mist) Glacier. Chupo, the glacier of fog and mist, is usually half concealed by clouds and banks of mist that form on the edge of the mountain and drift over it. Directly above Blue Glacier a point of rock was named by Dr. Coleman “The Helmet,” and the great black mountain in the center, which he called the “Rearguard,” is now given the Indian name of Iyatunga (Black Rock) (note: name approved by the Geographical Board of Canada, December, 1912).

Origin of the name unknown.