Earl Francis Woodley [1892–?] was postmaster at Red Pass Junction from 1923 to 1946. Earl and his wife Edna (1899-1971) ran the Red Pass general store and hotel from 1923 until 1944. Earl’s father, about 70 years old in 1944, was bartender in the pub. One of the Woodley boys married a Hinkelman girl and lived in McBride.

Called “Flat Heart River” by David Thompson [1770–1857] in 1811, who descended it after crossing the Athabasca Pass.

Our residence was near the junction of two Rivers from the Mountains with the Columbia: the upper Stream which forms the defile by which we came to the Columbia, I named the Flat Heart, from the Men being dispirited ; it had nothing particular. The other was the Canoe River ; which ran through a bold rude valley, of a steady descent, which gave to this River a very rapid descent without any falls….

In his edition of the journal of Edward Ermatinger [1797–1876], who crossed the Athabasca Pass with a fur brigade in 1827, James White notes that “the Wood river was apparently so named after the dense forest traversed by the portage road up its valley.”

Origin of the name unknown.

The first attempted ascent was at the Alpine Club of Canada’s special mountaineering camp at Mount Robson in 1913. The Swiss guide Walter Schauffelberger [1881–1915] led Basil Stewart Darling [1885–1962] and Harley H. Prouty [ca. 1857-1916] to within 400 feet of the summit, but they were turned back by lack of time in an approaching storm.

The first ascent was in 1955, by Don Claunch, Harvey Firestone, and Mike Sherrick

“Up, up we toiled, winding round crags, in and out piles of windfall, over hummocks of rocks, through furiously boiling creeks and innocent-looking muskegs…. All topics of conversation had long been exhausted; dead timber and a windfall-strewn trail, with their pitfalls and dangers, are not conducive to comment, except of a querulous character. ” Frederick Arthur Ambrose Talbot [1880–1924] wasn’t referring to this creek, but almost every early traveller to the region had to fight windfall.

Origin of the name unknown.

William Olexiuk

The addition to the McBride and District Hospital, built in1988, was named after William Olexiuk [1918–1988], who was born at Vilna, Alberta, to Sam and Anne Olexiuk of the Ukraine. In 1934, Olexiuk started working in logging camps in Alberta. In 1940, he married Helen Semeluk of Vilna. In 1945, Bill and Helen moved to Valemont, where he worked in the logging and hauling businesses. He was a member of the McBride and District Hospital Board since its formation in 1954. Olexiuk served terms as president of the Valemount Red Cross and the Valemount Community Association. He was active in the Yellowhead Highway Association in the 1950s.

Location approximate. Origin of the name unknown.

The BC Geographical Names office says the name was “adopted in 1925 as labelled on BC map 3H, 1919.” However, Pre-emptor’s map Tête Jaune 3H 1919 does not appear to include this name.

“Whiteshield Mountain” does appear on Boundary Commission Sheet 33. The Alberta-British Columbia Boundary Commission surveyed the area in 1923.

Origin of the name unknown.