Author Archives: Swany

Meadow Creek

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Alberta. Creek: Athabasca River drainage
Flows N into Miette River
52.8672 N 118.2492 W — Map 083D16 — Google — GeoHack
Name officially adopted in 1978
Topo map from Canadian Geographical Names
This creek appears on:
Boundary Commission Sheet 28 (surveyed in 1921)
Boundary Commission Sheet 29 (surveyed in 1917)

The name was “suggested by the Topographical Survey due to its proximity to the Meadows Fire Ranger Station” — the Alberta-British Columbia Boundary Commission surveyors.

References:

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

Sandford Fleming

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Portrait of Sir Sandford Fleming by John Wycliffe Lowes Forster, 1892

Portrait of Sir Sandford Fleming by John Wycliffe Lowes Forster, 1892
Wikipedia [accessed 15 October 2025]

Sir Sandford Fleming, FRSC KCMG
b. 7 January 1827 — Kirkcaldy, Scotland
d. 22 July 1915 — Halifax, Nova Scotia

Fleming was a Scottish Canadian engineer and inventor. He emigrated to colonial Canada at the age of 18. He promoted worldwide standard time zones, a prime meridian, and use of the 24-hour clock as key elements to communicating the accurate time, all of which influenced the creation of Coordinated Universal Time. He designed Canada’s first postage stamp, produced a great deal of work in the fields of land surveying and map making, engineered much of the Intercolonial Railway and the first several hundred kilometers of the Canadian Pacific Railway, and was a founding member of the Royal Society of Canada and founder of the Canadian Institute (a science organization in Toronto).

By 1871, the strategy of a railway connection was being used to bring British Columbia into federation and Fleming was offered the chief engineer post on the Canadian Pacific Railway. Although he hesitated because of the amount of work he had, in 1872 he set off with a small party to survey the route, particularly through the Rocky Mountains, finding a practicable route through the Yellowhead Pass. One of his companions, George Monro Grant, wrote an account of the trip, which became a best-seller. In June 1880, Fleming was dismissed by Sir Charles Tupper, with a $30,000 payoff. It was the hardest blow of Fleming’s life, though he obtained a promise of monopoly, later revoked, on his next project, a trans-pacific telegraph cable. Nevertheless, in 1884 he became a director of the Canadian Pacific Railway and was present as the last spike was driven.

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

  • —   Progress Report on the Canadian Pacific Railway Exploratory Survey. Ottawa: Canadian Pacific Railway, 1872. Canadiana
  • —   Report of progress on the explorations and surveys up to January 1874. Ottawa: Canadian Pacific Railway, 1874. Toronto Public Library
  • —   Memorandum in reference to the construction of the Canadian Pacific Railway and Settlement of the North-West Territory.. Ottawa: 1874. Government of Canada
  • —   Memorandum on the Canadian Pacific Railway. Ottawa: M. B. Taylor, 1874. Canadiana
  • —   Report on surveys and preliminary operations on the Canadian Pacific Railway up to January 1877. 1877. Canadiana [accessed 2/3/2025]
  • —   Report and Documents in Reference to the Canadian Pacific Railway
    . Ottawa: 1880. Canadiana
  • —   “Memories of the Mountains: The Yellow Head Pass.” Canadian Alpine Journal, Vol. 1 (1907):11. Alpine Club of Canada [accessed 4/2/2025]
Events in the Mount Robson region in which Fleming was involved:

  • 1872 Fleming / Grant cross YHP
Also see

References:

Mary Jobe

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Mary Jobe posed in winter amoungst trees in beaded buckskin clothing. n.d.

Mary Jobe posed in winter amoungst trees in beaded buckskin clothing. n.d.
Whyte Museum of the Canadian Rockies

Mary Lenore Jobe Akeley [1878–1966]

b. 1878 — Tappan, Ohio, USA
d. 1966 — Mystic, Connecticut, USA

Jobe Akeley was an American explorer, author, mountaineer, and photographer. She undertook expeditions in the Canadian Rockies and in the Belgian Congo. She worked at the American Museum of Natural History creating exhibits featuring taxidermy animals in realistic natural settings. She worked on behalf of conservation efforts, including being one of the first advocates for the creation of game preserves. She also founded Camp Mystic, an outdoor camp for girls.

Jobe Akeley explored the Mount Sir Alexander area in 1914 and 1915, on expeditions guided by Donald “Curly” Phillips [1884–1938] of Jasper.

In 1924, Mary Jobe became the second wife of Carl Akeley (1864–1926), an explorer, natural scientist, sculptor, inventor, and “father of modern taxidermy”. On their first visit to Africa in 1926, Akeley died of disease in the remote mountains of the Congo. Jobe remained to take charge of his work, collecting specimens, and when she returned to the United Stated in 1927 she succeeded her husband as advisor in the development of the African Hall at the American Museum of Natural History in New York. In the same year, King Albert of Belgium awarded her with the Cross of the Knight, Order of the Crown, in recognition of her courage and service.

She revisited the Congo in 1946 to study the development of the parks system. Between her travels she lectured and wrote several books on her African experiences. She died in 1966, never returning to the mountains of western Canada.

Sources of biographical information about Jobe Akeley:

  • Smith, Cyndi. Off the Beaten Track. Women adventurers and mountaineers in western Canada. Jasper: Coyote Books, 1989
  • Taylor, William C. Tracks across my trail. Donald “Curly” Phillips, guide and outfitter. Jasper: Jasper-Yellowhead Historical Society, 1984
  • Wikipedia. Mary Jobe Akeley
Jobe Akeley is the namesake of the following places in the Mount Robson region:

Events in the Mount Robson region in which Jobe Akeley was involved:

  • 1914 Jobe-Phillips expedition Mt. Kitchi
  • 1915 Jobe-Phillips to Kitchi
  • 1915 Jobe’s second expedition to Mount Sir Alexander (leader)
  • 1917 Jobe trip to Wapiti
Works pertinent to the Mount Robson region of which Jobe Akeley was author or co-author:

  • —   “The expedition to ‘Mt. Kitchi:’ A new peak in the Canadian Rockies.” Canadian Alpine Journal, Vol. 6 (1914–1915):135-143
  • —   “Mt. Kitchi: A New Peak in the Canadian Rockies.” Bulletin of the American Geographical Society, Volume 47, No. 7 (1915):481-497. JSTOR
  • —   “Mt. Alexander Mackenzie.” Canadian Alpine Journal, Vol. 7 (1916):62–73
  • —   “A winter journey to Mt. Sir Alexander and the Wapiti.” Canadian Alpine Journal, Vol. 9 (1918):58-65

Fort Chipewyan

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Alberta. Former fur trade post
Western tip of Lake Athabasca
58.7144 N 111.1583 W — Map 074L11 — Google — GeoHack
Name officially adopted in 1954
Topo map from Canadian Geographical Names

Sir Alexander Mackenzie [1764–1820] set out from Fort Chipewyan on his expeditions down the Mackenzie River and to the west coast [1].

Fort Chipewyan is Fort No. 109 in Ernest Voorhis [1859–1933], “Historic forts and trading posts” [2]:

North West Co. fort on lake Athabaska. The first fort in this region was built by Peter Pond on Athabaska river about 50 miles above the outlet, on west side. Athabaska river and lake were called Elk river and Lake of the Hills. This fort was built in 1778 and was known as The Old Establishment and Athabaska House and Pond’s House. Athabaska means “Meeting place of many waters.” In 1788 Pond’s fort was abandoned and a new fort built on south shore of lake Athabaska, about 8 miles from mouth of Athabaska river, 38 miles from the old fort, at the south-western end of the lake, on a rocky point projecting into the lake. This fort was built by Roderick Mackenzie of the North West Co. Fort

Chipewyan was styled the “Emporium of the North” and “Little Athens of the Hyperborean regions”. In 1804 this site was abandoned and a new fort (the third) was erected by the North West Co. on a rocky point on the north shore of the lake, the present site. The old fort on the south shore continued to be of us for some years, but in 1815 it was rapidly decaying and was finally abandoned in 1820. The new fort 0n the north shore was “surrounded by rocks and swamps”.

It was the most important North West Co. fort in the far north. After the coalition of 1821, the Hudson’s Bay Co. operated this fort to the present date. Dr. Macoun described the fort In 1875 as follows: “All the buildings are of most substantial character, all shingled and whitewashed, and of imposing appearance. Two large stores with glass windows, each 61 ins. by 31 ins. by 17 ins. high, stand next the landing. Eight houses are occupied by employees of the Company. In the rear is the clerk’s house, 40 x 30 x 17 ft., well plastered and warm. Then the general store and the factor’s house”. The X. Y. Co. constructed a fort in 1800 one mile north of Fort Chipewyan near site of the present R. C. mission. The Hudson’s Bay Co. built Nottingham house in 1802 and Fort Wedderburn 1815. See Forts Athabasca, Nottingham, and Wedderburn.

References:

  • 1. Wikipedia. Fort Chipewyan
  • 2. Voorhis, Ernest [1859–1933]. Historic forts and trading posts of the French Régime and of the English Fur Trading Companies. Ottawa: Department of the Interior, 1930, p. 52. University of British Columbia Library [accessed 3 January 2026]

Arnold Louis Mumm

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A. L. Mumm and guide Moritz Inderbinen. Mount Robson Camp on Snowbird Pass. Photo by Frank W. Freeborn, 1913

A. L. Mumm and guide Moritz Inderbinen. Mount Robson Camp on Snowbird Pass.
Photo by Frank W. Freeborn, 1913
Canadian Alpine Journal 1915

Arnold Louis Mumm [1859–1927]

b. 1859 — London, England
d. 1927 — Bay of Biscay, Atlantic Ocean

Mumm, a London publisher, first came to Canada in 1909, at the invitation of Alpine Club of Canada director Arthur Oliver Wheeler [1860–1945]. After attending the 1909 ACC camp at Lake O’Hara, Mumm, along with Leopold Charles Maurice Stennett Amery [1873–1955], Geoffrey Hastings [1860–1941], and Moritz Inderbinen [1856–1926], made an attempt on Mount Robson. On their way to the mountain, they met George R. B. Kinney [1872–1961], who reported that he and Donald “Curly” Phillips [1884–1938] had been successful on their own attempt (a claim later disputed). Mumm’s party, hobbled by difficulties of the route and lack of time, was not successful.

Mumm returned with British professor John Norman Collie [1859–1942] in July, 1910, when the Grand Trunk Pacific Railway’s steel had been laid as far as Wolf Creek, about one hundred miles east of theYellowhead Pass. The party spent some time about Mount Robson, but there was so much snow on the mountains and the weather was so stormy that climbing was out of the question, and they were able to ascend only some of the lesser peaks.

The next summer, 1911, Collie and Mumm made another trip, the first to go north of the Athabasca to explore and climb. They ascended the Stoney River, crossed a high pass to the Smoky River, then up Glacier Creek, which they ascended to Mount Bess.

In 1913 Mumm decided to climb Mount Geikie, which three years earlier, when on Yellowhead Mountain, he had seen rising far above its fellows. He was turned back by a storm. Mumm made many climbs in the Alps, Canada, Japan and New Zealand, in addition to accompanying Tom George Longstaff [1875–1964] to the Himalayas.

Sources of biographical information about Mumm:

  • Wheeler, Arthur Oliver [1860–1945]. “A. L. Mumm — An Appreciation.” Canadian Alpine Journal, Vol. 16 (1927–1927):173-175
Mumm is the namesake of the following places in the Mount Robson region:

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

  • 1906 ACC organized, Mount Robson attempt proposed
  • 1909 English party at Robson
  • 1909 ACC Camp – Lake O’Hara (guest)
  • 1910 Mumm and Collie at Robson
  • 1911 Collie and Mumm Mt Bess
  • 1913 Mumm explores Whirlpool River, Athabasca Pass
  • 1913 ACC Camp – Mount Robson
Works pertinent to the Mount Robson region of which Mumm was author or co-author:

  • —   “An attempt on Mount Robson.” Alpine Journal, Vol. 25 (1910–1911):90
  • —   “An expedition to Mount Robson.” Canadian Alpine Journal, Vol. 2, No. 2 (1910):10-20
  • —   “Mount Robson District. Mumm and Collie’s 1910 Journey.” Alpine Journal, Vol. 25 (1910–1911):466
  • —   “A trip up the Whirlpool River.” Alpine Journal, Vol. 28 (1914):355

Simon Fraser

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Simon Fraser

Simon Fraser

Simon Fraser
b. 20 May 1776 — Mapletown, New York, USA
d. 18 August 1862 — St. Andrews West, Ontario

Fraser opened the fur trade west of the Rocky Mountains, and was the first person of European descent to descend the Fraser River to its mouth. Fraser was came to Québec with his mother after his father, a Loyalist officer, died as a prisoner of war during the American Revolution. Fraser joined the North West Company [1779–1821] in 1792 and was sent to the Athabasca department. He became a partner in the company in 1801. He founded the New Caledonia posts of McLeod Lake (1805), Stuart Lake (later Fort St. James, 1806), Fraser Lake (1806) and Fort George (1807).

During May and June of 1808, with a party of nineteen French Canadian voyageurs, two clerks, and two Native Americans, Fraser made his journey down the Fraser River from just upstream of present-day Prince George to present-day Vancouver. It was a bitter disappointment for him to discover that the river was not the Columbia, and that it was not a practical canoe route to the coast.

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

  • —  and Lamb, William Kaye [1904–1999], editor. The letters and journals of Simon Fraser, 1806-1808. Toronto: MacMillan, 1960. Internet Archive [accessed 3/10/2025]
Fraser is the namesake of the following places in the Mount Robson region:

Fraser is credited with naming the following places:

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

  • 1805 Fraser into New Caledonia
  • 1807 Fraser founds Fort George
  • 1808 Fraser descends Fraser
References:

  • Fraser, Simon [1776–1862], and Lamb, William Kaye [1904–1999], editor. The letters and journals of Simon Fraser, 1806-1808. Toronto: MacMillan, 1960. Internet Archive [accessed 10 March 2025]
  • Wikipedia. Simon Fraser

Jasper National Park

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Alberta. National Park
52.9833 N 118.1 W — Map 083D16 — Google — GeoHack
Name officially adopted in 2001
Official in Canada
This national park appears on:
Boundary Commission Sheet 29 A (surveyed in 1917) [as “Jasper Park”]


Jasper National Park

Extending over 11,000 square kilometres, Jasper National Park is the largest national park in the Canadian Rockies and part of UNESCO’s Canadian Rocky Mountain Parks World Heritage Site.
References:

Also see: