Author Archives: Swany

Samuel Prescott Fay

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Samuel Prescott Fay [1884–1971]

b. 1884
d. 1971

“Pete” Fay as he was known to his friends had been a member of the [American Alpine] Club for 59 years at the time of his death last August [1971]. His qualifications for election in 1912 were four seasons in the Canadian Rockies beginning in 1906. In 1914 he joined a Smithsonian expedition which left Jasper, Alberta in June for the purposes of exploration, mapping and the collection of birds and mammals in the northern Rockies. Reports were filed with the Biological Survey in Washington. In mid-October the party met a trapper who showed them an old newspaper with reports of the first weeks of World War I of which they had no inkling. For the next three or four days they traveled non-stop to reach Hudson Hope on the Peace River.
Pete graduated from Harvard in 1907. During World War I he joined the American Field Service to drive an ambulance in France and later served with the Air Force in France and Belgium. Afterwards he was associated with an investment counseling firm in Boston for many years. Aside from two years on the Council (1930-1932), he did not take an active part in Club affairs, though he attended frequent meetings. Frail health confined him to his home for the last ten or more years.

Sources of biographical information about Fay:

  • Fay, Samuel Prescott [1884–1971]. The Forgotten Explorer: Samuel Prescott Fay’s 1914 Expedition to the Northern Rockies. Edited by Charles Helm and Mike Murtha. Victoria, B.C.: Rocky Mountain Books, 2009
  • Hall, Henry S. “Samuel Prescott Fay, 1884–1971.” American Alpine Journal, (1972) American Alpine Club
Events in the Mount Robson region in which Fay was involved:

  • 1912 SP Fay Mt. Sir Alexander
  • 1914 SP Fay Jasper to Hudsons Hope
Works pertinent to the Mount Robson region of which Fay was author or co-author:

  • —   Jasper-Yellowhead Historical Society. Album of pictures accompanying S.P. Fay journal of trip through Rockies from Yellowhead, Alberta, Pass, to Peace River at Hudsons Hope, B.C, 1914. JYHS No. 84 or 91 (1912–1914).
  • —   “Mount Alexander.” Canadian Alpine Journal, Vol. 6 (1914–1915):121
  • —   “Note on Mount Alexander Mackenzie and Mount Ida.” Alpine Journal, Vol. 36 (1924):421
  • —   The Forgotten Explorer: Samuel Prescott Fay’s 1914 Expedition to the Northern Rockies. Edited by Charles Helm and Mike Murtha. Victoria, B.C.: Rocky Mountain Books, 2009

Charles Doolittle Walcott

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Walcott ready to take a panoramic view from the summit of Mount Field. Photo by Sidney S. Walcott. National Geographic Magazine, 1911.

Walcott ready to take a panoramic view from the summit of Mount Field. Photo by Sidney S. Walcott. National Geographic Magazine, 1911. Internet Archive


Standing, from left to right, is Sidney Stevens Walcott (1892-1977), Charles Doolittle Walcott, Jr. (1889-1913), Walcott, Sr., Helena Stevens Walcott (d. 1911), Benjamin Stuart Walcott (1895-1917); and seated, Helen Breese Walcott (1894-1965).

Standing, from left to right, is Sidney Stevens Walcott (1892-1977), Charles Doolittle Walcott, Jr. (1889-1913), Walcott, Sr., Helena Stevens Walcott (d. 1911), Benjamin Stuart Walcott (1895-1917); and seated, Helen Breese Walcott (1894-1965). Smithsonian Institution Archives

Charles Doolittle Walcott
b. 1850 — New York Mills, New York
d. 1927 — Washington, D.C.

Charles Doolittle Walcott was an American paleontologist and director of the Smithsonian Institution from 1907 to 1927. He made several field trips in the Canadian Rockies, discovering the Burgess Shale fossil bed in 1909, sponsoring the 1911 Alpine Club of Canada–Smithsonian Robson Expedition (he was unable to attend in person due to the death of his wife Helena in a train crash on June 11), conducting his own investigation of the Mount Robson area in 1912, and attending the 1913 Alpine Club of Canada Camp at Mount Robson where he continued his geological investigations.

Walcott was married three times — to Lura Ann Rust [1843-1876], to Helena Breese Stevens [1858-1911], and to Mary Morris Vaux [1860-1940]. By his second wife he had four children: Charles Doolittle Jr. [1889-1913], Sidney Stevens [1892-1977], Helena Breeze [1894-1965], and Benjamin Stuart [1896–1917]. Charles died while a student at Yale, and Benjamin was killed in action in France in 1917 flying for the Lafayette Flying Corps.

When Walcott traveled to the Canadian Rockies during the summer in search of fossils, often his wife and children would accompany him on his expeditions.

Works pertinent to the Mount Robson region of which Walcott was author or co-author:

  • —  and Walcott Jr., Charles Doolittle [1889–1913]. “A Geologist’s Paradise.” National Geographic Magazine, 22, no. 6 (1911). Internet Archive
  • —   Field notes : Canada, 1907, 1910, 1912-1913, 1916, and undated. 1912. Biodiversity Heritage Library [accessed 4/12/2025]
  • —   “The Monarch of the Canadian Rockies.” National Geographic Magazine, (1913):626. Internet Archive [accessed 4/2/2025]
  • —   “Cambrian Formations of the Robson Peak District, British Columbia and Alberta, Canada.” Smithsonian Miscellaneous Collections, Vol. 57, No. 12 (1913):328-343. Smithsonian Institution Archives [accessed 4/11/2025]
Walcott is credited with naming the following places:

Events in the Mount Robson region in which Walcott was involved:

    1911 ACC-Smithsonian Robson expedition
    1912 Walcott/Smithsonian at Robson
    1913 ACC Camp – Mount Robson
References:

Victoria Cross Ranges

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Alberta. Ranges
NW of Jasper
53 N 118.3 W — Map 083E02 — Google — GeoHack
Name officially adopted in 1952
Topo map from Canadian Geographical Names

The Victoria Cross Ranges (52°55′N 118°18′W to 53°05′N 118°30′W) are a set of mountain ranges located to the northwest of Jasper. Of the 19 peaks contained within this range, five are named after Canadian recipients of the Victoria Cross, the highest and most prestigious decoration of the British honours system. It is awarded for valour in the presence of the enemy to members of the British Armed Forces and may be awarded posthumously.

The tribute to these soldiers in 1951 was made possible by the co-operation of the federal and provincial governments. However, at the time, the proposal created controversy. The issue’s resolution would bring about the creation of the Victoria Cross Ranges and an agreement between the Governments of Alberta and Canada still governs geographical naming.

Snaring Mountain
Mount Bridgland [Morrison Bridgland (not VC recipient)]
Mount Mahood
Consort Mountain
Mount Oliver
Mount Beaupré
Monarch Mountain
Pyramid Mountain
Mount McKean [George Burdon McKean, VC]
Buttress Mountain
Mount Griesbach [William Antrobus Griesbach (not VC recipient)]
Mount Kinross [Cecil John Kinross, VC]
Mount Zengel [Raphael Louis Zengel, VC]
Mount Henry [Henry A.F. MacLeod, CPR engineer]
Cairngorm
Mount Kerr [John Chipman Kerr, VC]
Emigrants Mountain
Elysium Mountain
Mount Pattison [John George Pattison, VC]

References:

Also see:

Mount Mahood

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Alberta. Mount
Headwaters of Miette River
53.0289 N 118.5931 W — Map 083E02 — Google — GeoHack — Bivouac
Name officially adopted in 1956
Official in Canada
This mount appears on:
Boundary Commission Sheet 30 (surveyed in 1924)

Located in the Victoria Cross Ranges, Mount Mahood is above Miette Lake at the headwaters of the Miette River. The peak is named after Canadian Pacific Railway engineer, land surveyor, and explorer James Adams Mahood [1840–1901], born in New Brunswick, who was a member of the 1872 party of Sandford Fleming [1827–1915] that did the initial surveys for the CPR. Mount Mahood and Mahood Lake are also named after him.

References:

  • Karamitsanis, Aphrodite [1961–]. Place names of Alberta. Volume 1: Mountains, Mountain Parks and Foothills. Calgary: University of Calgary Press, 1991. Internet Archive
  • British Columbia Geographical Names. Mahood, Mount

Mount Beaupré

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Alberta. Mount
Headwaters of Miette River near Mount McCord
53.0464 N 118.6117 W — Map 083E02 — Google — GeoHack
Name officially adopted in 1956
Official in Canada
This mount appears on:
Boundary Commission Sheet 30 (surveyed in 1924)

Mount Beaupré is named after a member of the Sandford Fleming [1827–1915] party of 1872. Likely named by the Alberta-British Columbia Boundary Commission:

Then, along the western escarpment, beyond the valley of Miette River is “Swank” station, now Mt. Beaupré, also occupied by the Boundary Survey.

References:

  • Grant, George Monro [1835–1902]. Ocean to Ocean: Sandford Fleming’s Expedition through Canada in 1872. Being a Diary Kept During a Journey from the Atlantic to the Pacific with the Expedition of the Engineer-in-Chief of the Canadian Pacific and Intercolonial Railways. Toronto: James Campbell and Son, 1873. Google Books
  • 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
Also see:

Curia Mountain

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Alberta. Mountain
S of Basilica Mountain
52.7958 N 118.3383 W — Map 083D16 — Google — GeoHack
Name officially adopted in 1951
Official in Canada
This mountain appears on:
Boundary Commission Sheet 29 (surveyed in 1917) [as “Mt. Curia”]

Named in 1916 from its resemblance to a senate house or curia.

References:

  • 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

Basilica Mountain

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Alberta. Mountain
Between Meadow Creek and Clairvaux Creek, S of Yellowhead Pass
52.8056 N 118.3422 W — Map 083D16 — Google — GeoHack
Name officially adopted in 1951
Official in Canada
This mountain appears on:
Boundary Commission Sheet 29 (surveyed in 1917) [as “Mt. Basicila”]

A basilica is an oblong building ending in a semicircular apse used in ancient Rome especially for a court of justice and place of public assembly. Probably named by the surveyors of the Alberta-British Columbia Boundary Commission.