Category Archives: Place

Cow Dung Lake

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British Columbia. Lake: Fraser River drainage
Former name of Yellowhead Lake
Earliest known reference to this name is 1824 (Simpson)
Not currently an official name.
4 miles west of the Yellowhead Pass on the Canadian National Railway
This lake appears on:
John Arrowsmith’s map British North America 1832
John Arrowsmith’s map BC 1859
Grand Trunk Pacific Railway stations

In 1824, George Simpson [1792–1860], heading for the Athabasca Pass, noted, “the track for Cranberry Lake takes a Northerly direction by Cow Dung River.” The Cow Dung River was the Miette and Simpson’s Cranberry Lake may have been preset-day Yellowhead Lake.

John Arrowsmith’s 1859 map shows “Cow dung L.” as the western lobe of Yellowhead Lake (the eastern lobe is labeled “Moose L.”).

In 1862, when the Overlander gold seekers crossed Yellowhead Pass (which they called Leather Pass) they camped on Cow Dung Lake. A year later, the lake was known to Milton and Cheadle as Buffalo Dung Lake.

The name “Cowdung L.” appears on B.C. Surveyor General Joseph Trutch’s 1871 map of British Columbia, between Moose Lake and the Yellowhead or Leather Pass.

References:

  • 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. University of British Columbia Library
  • Arrowsmith, John [1790–1873]. Provinces of British Columbia and Vancouver Island; with portions of the United States and Hudson’s Bay Territories. 1859. UVic
  • Milton, William Wentworth Fitzwilliam [1839–1877], and 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
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Cottonwood River

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British Columbia. Local name: Fraser River drainage
Local name of Castle Creek
53.2333 N 120.0333 W Google — GeoHack
Earliest known reference to this name is 1909 (Washburn)
Not currently an official name.
This local name appears on:
Collie’s map Yellowhead Pass 1912

“Cottonwood River,” the local name of Castle Creek, was known to travel writer Stanley Washburn [1878–1950] in 1909, among those names “given by the trappers.”

References:

  • Washburn, Stanley [1878–1950]. Trails, Trappers and Tenderfeet in the New Empire of Western Canada. New York and London: Henry Holt, Andrew Melrose, 1912. Hathi Trust

Committee Punch Bowl

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Alberta-BC boundary. Lake
Athabasca River and Columbia River drainages
Headwaters of Pacific Creek and Whirlpool River
52.3917 N 118.175 W — Map 83D/8 — Google — GeoHack
Earliest known reference to this name is 1824 (Simpson)
Name officially adopted in 1930
Official in BC – Topo map from Canadian Geographical Names
This lake appears on:
John Arrowsmith’s map BC 1859
Milton and Cheadle’s map 1865
Trutch’s map of BC 1871
Schäffer map of visits in 1907 and 1908
Boundary Commission Sheet 27 (surveyed in 1920 & 1921)
Boundary Commission Sheet 27 A (surveyed in 1921)
Committee’s Punch-bowl at the Source of the Whirlpool River. Hand-coloured lantern slide by Mary T.S. Schäffer. Photo taken in 1908

Committee’s Punch-bowl at the Source of the Whirlpool River. Hand-coloured lantern slide by Mary T.S. Schäffer. Photo taken in 1908
Archives Canada

Hudson’s Bay Company governor George Simpson [1792–1860] described crossing the Athabasca Pass in 1824:

At the very top of the pass or height of Land is a small circular Lake or Basin of water which empties itself in opposite directions and may be said to be the source of the Columbia and Athabasca Rivers as it bestows its favors on both these prodigious Streams. That this basin should send its Waters to each side of the Continent and give birth to two of the principal rivers in North America is no less strange than true both the Dr. & myself having examined the currents flowing from it East and West and the circumstance appearing remarkable I thought it should be honored by a distinguishing title and it was forthwith named the “Committee’s Punch Bowl.”

The Doctor was John McLoughlin [1784–1857]. The Committee was the executive of the Hudson’s Bay Company.

Fur trader Alexander Ross [1783–1856], who was travelling with Simpson’s party, published this account in 1825:

On the top of this height was six inches of newly-fallen snow, and a small circular pond of water about twenty feet in diameter. This height I named after our Governor, Mount Simpson ; and the basin of water on its top, the Governor’s Punch Bowl. No elevated height in this country can present a more interesting prospect than that viewed from the top of Mount Simpson: to the west, in particular, it is of a highly picturesque character.

Fur traders paused at this natural campsite to drink a toast “to their Honours the Governors,” the governing committee of the Hudson’s Bay Company in London.

The Athabasca Pass forms the watershed between the two great river systems of the Athabasca and the Columbia, whose waters flow out at either end (a somewhat rare and remarkable phenomenon) of a small mountain tarn rejoicing in the name of “The Committee’s Punch-Bowl.” West and east of the tarn, forming the Titanic pillars of this natural gateway to the north, were said to be the two great peaks, Mount Brown and Mount Hooker.

— Stutfield 1903

A lake with this “rare and remarkable phenomenon” is called a bifurcation lake.

References:

  • 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. University of British Columbia Library
  • Ross, Alexander [1783–1856]. Fur Hunters of the Far West. A Narrative of Adventures in the Oregon and Rocky Mountains. Vol II. London: Smith, Elder and Co., 1855. Internet Archive
  • Stutfield, Hugh Edward Millington [1858–1929], and Collie, John Norman [1859–1942]. Climbs and Explorations in the Canadian Rockies. London: Longmans, Green, 1903. University of British Columbia Library
  • Schäffer Warren, Mary T. S. [1861–1939]. Old Indian trails. Incidents of camp and trail life, covering two years’ exploration through the Rocky Mountains of Canada. [1907 and 1908]. New York: Putnam, 1911. Internet Archive
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Colonel Pass

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Alberta-BC boundary. Pass
Between Colonel Creek and Snaring River
53.0833 N 118.7667 W — Map 83E/2 — Google — GeoHack
Earliest known reference to this name is 1922
Name officially adopted in 1923
Official in BC – Canada
This pass appears on:
Boundary Commission Sheet 30 (surveyed in 1924)
Boundary Commission Sheet 31 (surveyed in 1922)

Named in association with “The Colonel” (mountain).

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Colonel Creek

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British Columbia. Creek: Fraser River drainage
Flows W into Moose River NW of Salient Mountain
53.0736 N 118.8622 W — Map 083E02 — Google — GeoHack
Name officially adopted in 1923
Official in BC – Canada
This creek appears on:
Wheeler’s map Mount Robson 1912
Jobe’s map Jarvis Pass to Yellowhead 1915
Boundary Commission Sheet 30 (surveyed in 1924)
Boundary Commission Sheet 31 (surveyed in 1922)

Named in association with “The Colonel” (mountain). Adopted in 1923 as labelled on Wheeler’s map of Mount Robson (1912).

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Coleman Glacier

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Alberta. Glacier: Smoky River drainage
Head of Smoky River
53.1781 N 119.0478 W — Map 083E03 — Google — GeoHack
Name officially adopted in 1956
Topo map from Canadian Geographical Names
This glacier appears on:
Wheeler’s map Mount Robson 1912
Dr. A. P. Coleman. Lantern slide by Mary T. S. Schäffer Warren, 1907.

Dr. A. P. Coleman. Lantern slide by Mary T. S. Schäffer Warren, 1907. Whyte Museum of the Canadian Rockies, Moore family fonds

Arthur Philemon Coleman [1852–1939], a professor of geology at the University of Toronto, was the first person of European descent to attempt to climb Mount Robson, mounting unsuccesful attempts in 1907 and 1908.

The first mention of the name is in the report of Arthur Oliver Wheeler [1860–1945] on the Alpine Club Of Canada’s 1911 expedition to Jasper Park, Yellowhead Pass and the Mount Robson region:

The Yates trail comes out in an open at the highest point. It might well be called “Exclamation Point.” Looking south in the V of the valley, Mt. Resplendent stands a great white cone, clad from head to foot in eternal snows. Below, to the left, Yates Torrent issues from the forefoot of Coleman Glacier, a splendid icefall, the main northern outflow of Reef Névé.

References:

  • Coleman, Arthur Philemon [1852–1939]. “Expedition to Mt. Robson.” Canadian Alpine Journal, Vol. 1, No. 2 (1908):100-103. Alpine Club of Canada
  • Coleman, Arthur Philemon [1852–1939]. “Mount Robson, the Highest Point in the Canadian Rockies.” The Geographical Journal (London), Vol. 36, No. 1 (July 1910). JSTOR [accessed 3 March 2025]
  • 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
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