Author Archives: Swany

Canadian National Railway map 1925

Rand McNally railway map [detail], 1925

Rand McNally railway map [detail], 1925

[1020] Excerpted from a Rand McNally map dated March 1925, reproduced in the March 1928 issue of the Official Railway Equipment Register.
References:

  • Bohi, Charles W., and Kozma, Leslie S. Canadian National’s Western Stations. Don Mills, Ontario: Fitzhenry & Whiteside, 2002

Snaring (railway point)

Alberta. Railway point and locality
Between Interlaken and Henry House (CNoR) on Canadian National Railway
53.075 N 118.0783 W — Map 083E01 — GoogleGeoHack
Name officially adopted in 1956
Topo map from Canadian Geographical Names
33 miles east of the Yellowhead Pass on the Canadian National Railway
Canadian Northern Railway station built in 1915
References:

  • Bohi, Charles W., and Kozma, Leslie S. Canadian National’s Western Stations. Don Mills, Ontario: Fitzhenry & Whiteside, 2002
Also see:

Jasper House

Alberta. Former fur trade post and railway point
34 km NE of Jasper on Canadian National Railway
53.1383 N 117.9806 W — Map 083F04 — GoogleGeoHack
Not currently an official name.
40 miles east of the Yellowhead Pass on the Canadian National Railway
Jasper House East Side Rocky Mountains Paul Kane. Field sketch, November 7, 1847

Jasper House East Side Rocky Mountains
Paul Kane. Field sketch, November 7, 1847 Wikipedia


‘Jasper House.’ Outlying trading huts of the Hudson Bay Company, near foot of the Leatherhead Pass, Rocky’s. Graves of Company’s Servants, murdered by Indian [1872]

‘Jasper House.’ Outlying trading huts of the Hudson Bay Company, near foot of the Leatherhead Pass, Rocky’s. Graves of Company’s Servants, murdered by Indian [1872] [1]


Jasper House and Roche Miette, Sandford Fleming expedition. Photo: Charles Horetzky, 1872

Jasper House and Roche Miette, Sandford Fleming expedition. Photo: Charles Horetzky, 1872 [2]


Jasper House. A “bush inn,” or stopping-place, where meals are served at two shillings per time. R. C. W. Lett photo, ca. 1911

Jasper House. A “bush inn,” or stopping-place, where meals are served at two shillings per time. R. C. W. Lett photo, ca. 1911 Talbot, Making Good in Canada, p. 103 [accessed 15 February 2025][3]

Hudson’s Bay Company [founded 1670] governor George Simpson [1792–1860] voyaged through the area in 1824:

The situation of Jaspers House is beautifully Wild and romantic, on the borders of the Athabasca River which here spreads itself out into a small Lake surrounded by Lofty Mountains. This is a temporary summer post for the convenience of the Columbians in crossing; the Winter Establishment of last Year on the borders of the Smoky River about 80 to 100 miles Northward, but it was this Season determined that it should be removed to Moose or Cranberry Lake situated more in the heart of the Mountain near the height of Land and where we suppose Frazers River takes its source; the object of this is to draw the Freemen further into the Mountain than they have been in the habit of gound, where they are expected to make good hunts as it has been rarely Wrought and thereby the lower parts of Smoky river and the Country they used to occupy towards Lesser Slave Lake will be allowed to recruit, we have it likewise in view to draw the Shewhoppes or natives of the North Branch of Thompsons river to the mountain from the Establishmnent of Kamloops or Thompsons River which they have hitherto frequented as that post on account of the heavy Establishment of people required for the purpose of defence yields little or no profit. [4]

References:

  • 1. Rylatt, Robert M. [fl. mid-1800s]. Surveying the Canadian Pacific: Memoir of a Railroad Pioneer. Salt Lake City: University of Utah Press, 1991
  • 2. Kane, Paul [1810–1871]. Wanderings of an artist among the Indians of North America. From Canada to Vancouver’s Island and Oregon through the Hudson’s Bay Company’s territory and back again. London: Longman, Brown, 1859. Internet Archive
  • 3. Talbot, Frederick Arthur Ambrose [1880–1924]. Making Good in Canada. London: Adam and Charles Black, 1912, p. 142. Internet Archive [accessed 15 February 2025]
  • 4. Simpson, George [1792–1860], and Merk, Frederick [1887–1977], editor. Fur trade and empire. George Simpson’s journal entitled Remarks connected with fur trade in consequence of a voyage from York Factory to Fort George and back to York Factory 1824-25. Cambridge, Mass.: Harvard University Press, 1931, p. 30. University of British Columbia Library

Interlaken

Alberta. Former railway point
E of Jasper on Canadian National Railway
53°5’52” N 117°59’39” W — Map 083F04 — GoogleGeoHack
Earliest known reference to this name is 1912 (GTP map)
Not currently an official name.
20 miles east of the Yellowhead Pass on the Canadian National Railway
Grand Trunk Pacific Railway station built in 1913. Abandoned on site in 1921; turned over to Parks Department in 1923, for use as base for Park fire rangers.
This station appears on:

Interlaken was between Jasper House and Henry House on the Grand Trunk Pacific Railway. Possibly situated between Jasper Lake and Talbot Lake.

Bohi records it as being in Edson Division, Pocahontas Branch, of the
Canadian National Railway, originally a Type E Depot (Plan100-152) built by the GTP in 1913. Abandoned on site in 1921; turned over to Parks Department in 1923, for use as base for Park fire rangers.

(Interlaken is a resort town located between two lakes in the mountainous Bernese Oberland region of central Switzerland, the home town of guides Edouard Feuz, Jr., and Gottfried Feuz, who worked in Canada.)

References:

  • Bridgland, Morrison P. [1878–1948]. “Report of the Chief Mountaineer [Yoho camp].” Canadian Alpine Journal, Vol. 1 (1907):131. Alpine Club of Canada
  • Bohi, Charles W., and Kozma, Leslie S. Canadian National’s Western Stations. Don Mills, Ontario: Fitzhenry & Whiteside, 2002

Albreda (Grand Trunk Pacific Railway)

British Columbia. Former railway point
Grand Trunk Pacific Railway between Mount Robson and Tête Jaune station
53.4608 N 119.3028 W GoogleGeoHack
Earliest known reference to this name is 1912
Not currently an official name.

On the 1912 map of Mount Robson by Arthur Oliver Wheeler [1860–1945] and a Grand Trunk Pacific Railway map from around 1912 there is an “Albreda” station between Tête Jaune Cache and Mount Robson.

The current Albreda railway point is on the North Thompson River.

Mount Cavell

Alberta. Railway point
Former name
52.8853 N 118.3803 W GoogleGeoHack
Not currently an official name.
5 miles east of the Yellowhead Pass on the Canadian National Railway

Former station name on the Grand Trunk Pacific Railway, between Geikie and Yellowhead Pass.

Undoubtedly related to British nurse Edith Cavell, namesake of nearby Mount Edith Cavell, which was named in 1916.

Cottonwood Creek

British Columbia. Creek: Fraser River drainage
Flows S into head of Fraser River, below Yellowhead Lake
52.8722 N 118.6861 W — Map 083D15 — GoogleGeoHack
Name officially adopted in 1956
Official in BCCanada

Adopted in 1956 on Jasper National Park map, as labelled on BC Reference Map 18A (date not cited).

There are only 10 Cottonwood Creeks in Canada.

References:

Seven Sisters

British Columbia. Former unofficial name
Yellowhead Mountain, above Yellowhead Lake
52.8811 N 118.6156 W GoogleGeoHack
Not currently an official name.
Seven Sisters Yellowhead Lake, Lucerne, B.C.
William James Topley, 1914

Seven Sisters Yellowhead Lake, Lucerne, B.C.
William James Topley, 1914
Library and Archives Canada


Mr. C. H. Cummings cottage Yellowhead Lake, Lucerne, B.C. (with Seven Sister Peaks). 
William James Topley, 1914

Mr. C. H. Cummings cottage Yellowhead Lake, Lucerne, B.C. (with Seven Sister Peaks).
William James Topley, 1914
Library and Archives Canada

Photographer William James Topley [1845–1930] accompanied Arthur Conan Doyle [1859–1930] on his family trip to Jasper National Park of Canada in 1914.

A special train was organized to take Conan Doyle, his wife, and friends to visit the area near Mount Robson. The mountain, located just over the Alberta border in British Columbia, is one of the highest and most iconic mountains in the Canadian Rockies. William Topley, the celebrated Ottawa photographer, dutifully took these photos.

References:

  • Library and Archives Canada. Sir Arthur Conan Doyle Tour of Western Canada – Visit to Jasper National Park. 2015. Library and Archives Canada