Category Archives: People

Alberta-British Columbia Boundary Commission

Alberta-British Columbia Boundary Commission

The Commission produced the following maps of the Mount Robson area:
Alberta-British Columbia Boundary Commission maps 1924

The Interprovincial Boundary Commission as first formed in 1913 was composed of three members, Viz., J. N. Wallace, D.L.S., Dominion representative, A. O. Wheeler, B.C.L.S., British Columbia representative, and R. W. Cautley, A.L.S., Alberta representative. These three gentlemen carried on the work of the Commission until July, 1915, when the Dominion Government decided that its interests could be looked after by the Alberta representative, Mr. Cautley. So, from July, 1915, Messrs. Wheeler and Cautley have carried on the boundary work to the satisfaction of the various governments involved.

— McCaw 1919

References:

  • Wheeler, Arthur Oliver [1860–1945]. Boundary survey between the provinces of British Columbia and Alberta. Victoria: Government of British Columbia, 1913
  • Wheeler, Arthur Oliver [1860–1945]. Boundary survey between the provinces of British Columbia and Alberta. Victoria: Government of British Columbia, 1914
  • Wheeler, Arthur Oliver [1860–1945]. Boundary survey between the provinces of British Columbia and Alberta. Victoria: Government of British Columbia, 1915
  • Wheeler, Arthur Oliver [1860–1945]. Survey of the boundary between the provinces of Alberta and British Columbia. Victoria: Government of British Columbia, 1916
  • Wheeler, Arthur Oliver [1860–1945]. Survey of the boundary between the Provinces of Alberta and British Columbia.. Victoria: Government of British Columbia, 1917
  • Cautley, Richard William, D.L.S., A.L.S., C.E. [1873–1953], and Wheeler, Arthur Oliver [1860–1945]. Report of the Commission Appointed to Delimit the Boundary between the Provinces of Alberta and British Columbia. Part I: From 1913 to 1916. Ottawa: Office of the Surveyor General, 1917. Internet Archive
  • McCaw, R. D. “Report of the Alberta and British Columbia Boundary Survey, Part I., 1913 to 1916 [review].” Canadian Alpine Journal, Vol. 10 (1919):77-79, p. 77
  • Cautley, Richard William, D.L.S., A.L.S., C.E. [1873–1953], and Wheeler, Arthur Oliver [1860–1945]. Report of the Commission appointed to delimit the boundary between the Provinces of Alberta and British Columbia. Part II. 1917 to 1921. From Kicking Horse Pass to Yellowhead Pass.. Ottawa: Office of the Surveyor General, 1924. Whyte Museum
  • Boundary between Alberta and British Columbia. Index Sheet 3. Ottawa: Office of the Surveyor General, 1924. Internet Archive
  • Cautley, Richard William, D.L.S., A.L.S., C.E. [1873–1953], and Wheeler, Arthur Oliver [1860–1945]. Report of the Commission Appointed to Delimit the Boundary between the Provinces of Alberta and British Columbia – Part III – from 1918 to 1924. Atlas. Ottawa: Office of the Surveyor General, 1925
  • Sherwood, Jay. Surveying the Great Divide. The Alberta/BC Boundary Survey, 1913-1917. Qualicum Beach, BC: Caitlin Press, 2017
  • Sherwood, Jay. Surveying the 120th Meridian and the Great Divide: The Alberta/BC Boundary Survey, 1918–1924. Qualicum Beach, BC: Caitlin Press, 2019

Milton and Cheadle

Our party across the mountains. Milton and Cheadle

Our party across the mountains. Milton and Cheadle
The North-West Passage by Land. [accessed 2 November 2021]


George A. Walkem [left], Dr. Walter Cheadle [seated], Viscount Milton [right, with hat in left hand], photographed in San Francisco, 1863

George A. Walkem [left], Dr. Walter Cheadle [seated], Viscount Milton [right, with hat in left hand], photographed in San Francisco, 1863
British Columbia Archives

Milton and Cheadle

William Wentworth Fitzwilliam Milton [1839–1877] was a British nobleman, explorer, and Liberal Party politician. Walter Butler Cheadle [1835–1910] was an English paediatrician. They travelled across Canada in 1862-1863. Departing from Quebec City in July, they wintered near Fort Carlton in present-day Saskatchewan. In 1863 they became the first “tourists” to travel through the Yellowhead Pass. After a challenging and at times humorous summer, they reached Victoria, British Columbia.

They chronicled their trip in The North-West Passage by Land. Being the narrative of an expedition from the Atlantic to the Pacific, undertaken with the view of exploring a route across the continent to British Columbia through British territory, by one of the northern passes in the Rocky Mountains (1865).

Works pertinent to the Mount Robson region of which Milton and Cheadle were authors or co-authors:

  • Cheadle, Walter Butler [1835–1910], and —   Cheadle’s Journal of Trip Across Canada 1862-63. Ottawa: Graphic Publishers, 1931. University of British Columbia Library
  • — and Milton, William Wentworth Fitzwilliam [1839–1877]; Cheadle, Walter Butler [1835–1910]. The North-West Passage by Land. Being the narrative of an expedition from the Atlantic to the Pacific, undertaken with the view of exploring a route across the continent to British Columbia through British territory, by one of the northern passes in the Rocky Mountains. London: Cassell, Petter and Galpin, 1865. Internet Archive [accessed 3/10/2025]
  • — and Milton, William Wentworth Fitzwilliam [1839–1877]; Cheadle, Walter Butler [1835–1910]. Voyage de l’Atlantique au Pacifique, à travers le Canada, les montagnes Rocheuses et la Colombie anglaise. Paris: Hachette, 1872
Events in the Mount Robson region in which Milton and Cheadle was involved:

  • 1863 Milton and Cheadle through YHP
References:

  • Zillmer, Raymond T. [1887–1960]. “The location of Mt. Milton and the restoration of the names ‘Mt. Milton and Mt. Cheadle’.” American Alpine Journal, Vol. 5, No. 1 (1943). American Alpine Club