Author Archives: Swany

Hihuna River

British Columbia. Former unofficial name: Fraser River drainage
Resplendent Creek
Not currently an official name.
This former unofficial name appears on:
Jobe map Jarvis to Yellowhead 1915

This name appears on the Jobe map but is not mentioned in her report.

On July 30th [1914] we left Grant Brook station on the Grand Trunk Pacific Railway. We traveled with an outfit of four saddle horses and four pack horses along the Moose River, a three days’ journey to Moose Pass.

References:

  • Jobe Akeley, Mary Lenore [1878–1966]. “Mt. Kitchi: A New Peak in the Canadian Rockies.” Bulletin of the American Geographical Society, Volume 47, No. 7 (1915):481-497. JSTOR
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Blueberry Lake

British Columbia. Local unofficial name: Fraser River drainage
Headwaters of Holmes River near Continental Divide
53.3542 N 119.5436 W GoogleGeoHack
Not currently an official name.

Possibly the Meadow Lake of the Mary Jobe map of 1915.

The Blueberry Lake trail starts just past 42 km on the Holmes Forest Service Road, about 10 km east of McBride. There is a small gravel pit for parking and the signed trailhead is just past. The trailhead is a resupply point on the Great Divide Trail.

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Twintree Lake

Alberta. Lake: Smoky River drainage
Headwaters of Smoky River
53.3892 N 119.1086 W — Map 083E06 — GoogleGeoHack
Name officially adopted in 1956
Topo map from Canadian Geographical Names

This name is associated with the report of a British mountaineering party that attempted an ascent of Mount Robson in 1910. John Norman Collie [1859–1942], Arnold Louis Mumm [1859–1927], and Moritz Inderbinen [1856–1926] were assisted by Fred Stephens [1897–1920] and John Yates [1880–?]. After failing to make an attempt on Robson, they headed north up the Smoky River valley.

Here they came to a beautiful lake with two small islands, each with a single fir tree growing on it. Twintree Lake, as it was naturally named, was situated ten miles north of Moose Pass, the route by which they had first entered this country.

— Taylor

References:

  • Taylor, William C. The Snows of Yesteryear. J. Norman Collie, Mountaineer. Toronto: Holt, Rinehart and Wilson, 1973

Mount Toot-toot

Alberta. Former unofficial name: Athabasca River drainage
N of Yellowhead Pass, N of Miette River
52.98 N 118.4301 W GoogleGeoHack
Not currently an official name.

Mount Bridgland ?

Northward, on the other side of the Yellowhead Ridge, was a wild rocky basin, forming the western source of Miette River. There were numerous lakes scattered about it on benches set out at various levels; we counted thirteen, varying in colour from indigo to ultramarine, though some were mere ponds. The line of the Continental Divide follows a ridge, extending northward from the centre of Yellowhead Ridge, which forms the boundary of the basin. It soon closes to a valley, collecting the various waters and flowing eastward. The stream is joined by the eastern source of a the Miette which comes from behind a rock mass of peculiar shape: at one end a blocky tower a stood up like a clumsy smoke-stack, and the whole looked so like a child’s toy locomotive that I called it “Mt. Toot-Toot.”

— Wheeler

But I shall confine myself to some experiences that perhaps are unknown to you We reached the Mount Robson region. As you know we were making the first topographical survey of what are now Jasper Park and Mount Robson Park. We were locating for the first time hundreds of miles of the inter-provincial boundary line between Alberta and British Columbia, and Wheeler got out the first official map of that region, because of our work that season.

Once, as we were on a peak to the west of Mount Robson, a train whistled far to the south of us. There was a good-sized peak in that region, and Mr. Wheeler said, “We will name that peak Mount Toot Toot.” I do not know whether that name stuck or not, but frequently, from that time on, Conrad would give a toot or two to emphasize some occasion, and the three of us would have secret mirth.

— Letter to Thorington from George Kinney, 1934
References:

  • Wheeler, Arthur Oliver [1860–1945]. “The Alpine Club of Canada’s expedition to Jasper Park, Yellowhead Pass and Mount Robson region, 1911.” Canadian Alpine Journal, Vol. 4 (1912):9-80. Alpine Club of Canada
  • Thorington, James Monroe [1895–1989]. Banff: Whyte Museum Archives. Days remembered AC 106M/6 (1974).
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