The name does not appear to be associated with Rearguard Mountain, nor does it appear on early maps. Keddie mentions in the report on his archeological survey, 1971:

In the upper Fraser, Chinook salmon head upstream from July 1 to August 31 and return down-stream from mid April to early June. The migration goes as far as Rearguard Falls (east of Tête Jaune Cache) and spawning occurs in almost every stream flowing into the Fraser below this point.

There is a sign at these falls indicating that they mark the limit of the upward migration of chinook salmon on the Fraser River. Hence the name “Rearguard.”

But according to naturalist Art Carson of Valemount:

The falls are now believed by Canada Fisheries and Oceans Department to be an insurmountable barrier to perhaps 90 percent of the salmon which attempt it, however. Of the successful ones (perhaps 350 to 550 per year) a few have even been found spawning in the glacial waters of the Robson River. As far as is known, Overlander Falls several kilometers upstream from Rearguard marks the true upper limit of migration, with the uppermost spawning beds (only large enough for a few fish) being located just below Overlander Falls adjacent to Denny Hogan’s early railway construction camp.

A photo of the Read Family including; Clive, Bernie, Arthur, David, Walter and Ilsa, 1950.
Valley Museum & Archives Society

Clive F. (1933-1985) and Sarah Joyce Read moved to the Dunster area in 1950. Clive, born in Tuxford, Saskatchewan, was a farmer, logging contractor, and breeder of Belgian draft horses. He was a member of the Dunster Community Association and the Farmers’ Institute.

A descriptive name possibly bestowed by the Alberta-British Columbia Boundary Commission in 1922.

“Across the deep valley of Red Pass stood a ridge of rock, where the strata were very nearly vertical, and the snow-filled couloirs so peculiarly shaped as to give the intervening rock the appearance of razor-blades,” wrote Arthur Oliver Wheeler [1860–1945] after the 1911 Alpine Club of Canada–Smithsonian Robson Expedition. “The culminating crest of the ridge was on that account called ‘Razor Peak.’”

According to British Columbia Geographical Names, the original name was “Rivière au Shuswap,” abbreviated as “R. au Shuswap” on Trutch’s 1871 map of British Columbia [the text is compressed, and could easily be misinterpreted as RauShuswap.] Labelled “RauShuswap River” on Jorgensen’s 1895 map of B.C. Labelled “Raush (Raushuswap) River” on BC map 3H, 1914, 1915, 1919, and 1923, following the Geographic Board of Canada suggestion that Raush be adopted, being an abbreviation for Rivière AU SHuswap, in place of Raushuswap, in itself a corrupted abbreviation and too long a name for such a small river.

The river was still known as the Shuswap River in 1910, when Louie Knutson met Secwepemc people (known in English as Shuswap) camping nearby (Kiwa Creek was called the Little Shuswap).

“The local name of the Big Shuswap conflicts with the Shuswap River further south and appears on recent government maps as Raushwap or Rausch River (from Riviere au Shuswap),” wrote Munday in 1925. The government maps that Munday mentions, using the spellings Raushwap and/or Rausch, are not identified.

The Raush Valley post office operated from 1915 to 1923; there are no known examples of the cancellation mark.

In 2023 the Simpcw First Nation declared the Raush River watershed an Indigenous Protected and Conserved Area (IPCA), signaling their intention to protect the valley and exercise their right to control what happens there.

In 1963 the Alpine Club of Canada requested permission from the British Columbia Provincial Parks Branch to build a climbing hut on Mount Robson. The Club stated that shelters placed in well chosen locations will minimize the danger of exposure to mountaineers entering this area, and assist the rescue teams when they are needed in these areas. “Safety is the major reason why we wish to establish shelters and for which we expect cooperation from your department.”

BC Parks issued a Park Use Permit for erection of the shelter The costs of structure and erection were borne by the ACC, but the permit did not give the club sole use or control of use of the cabin. The original dome-shaped hut was built in 1966, replaced by a Pan Abode hut in 1969.

The hut was named for Ralph Forster, who made a generous contribution toward the construction of the new hut. Forster was a long-time member of the ACC, a Fellow of the Royal Geographical Society and of the Alpine Club (London). A native Albertan, he became a chartered accountant after graduating from the University of Alberta. After joining the ACC in 1932, he served as Honorary Auditor until 1952. Although he was ill, he was flown to the hut when materials were being taken up on the first day of construction. He died in 1971 at the age of 74.