Category Archives: Place

Pommel Mountain

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British Columbia. Mountain: Fraser River drainage
Between Kitchi Creek and McGregor River, SW of Mount Sir Alexander
53.9167 N 120.4506 W — Map 093H16 — Google — GeoHack
Name officially adopted in 1965
Official in BC – Topo map from Canadian Geographical Names

Adopted in 1965 on map 93H/16, as labelled on 1929 survey plan 10T264, “McGregor River area,” by Allen John Campbell [1882–1967], British Columbia Land Surveyor, and as identified in the 1953 BC Gazetteer. Presumably named by Campbell.

A pommel is the knob-like protuberance at the front of a saddle, and this feature is located at the end (and is the highest summit) of an undulating ridgeline extending southwesterly from Mount Sir Alexander.

References:

Pauline Creek

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Alberta. Creek: Smoky River drainage
Headwaters of Smoky River, N of Mount Pauline
53.5958 N 119.5781 W — Map 083E12 — Google — GeoHack
Name officially adopted in 1957
Official in Canada
This creek appears on:
Boundary Commission Sheet 35 (surveyed in 1923)
Boundary Commission Sheet 36 (surveyed in 1923)
Pre-emptor’s map Tête Jaune 3H 1931
References:

  • Interprovincial Boundary Commission. Boundary between Alberta and British Columbia. Sheet 35. Ottawa: Office of the Surveyor General, 1924. Internet Archive

Parsnip River

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British Columbia. River: Peace River drainage
Flows NW into Parsnip Reach, S end Williston Lake
55.1728 N 123.0703 W — Map 093O03 — Google — GeoHack
Earliest known reference to this name is 1891
Name officially adopted in 1974
Official in BC – Topo map from Canadian Geographical Names
This river appears on:
BC Lands Central BC 1892
Brownlee’s map Province of BC 1893
Jörgensen Map Province of BC 1895
Morice’s map New Caledonia 1904
Cram’s map British Columbia 1913

Possibly the “Sinew R.” of Harmon’s map interior of North America 1820

Adopted in 1945 as labelled on BC map 1H, 1917, and as identified in the 1930 BC Gazetteer. Coordinates of mouth adjusted 3 June 1974 on 93O/3, because of flooding of Williston Lake.

Having persuaded one of the Sekanais to accompany them in the capacity of guide, Mackenzie and party reached (June 12, 1793) a lake two miles long, which was no other than the source of the Parsnip. After a portage of only 817 paces, they came to another lake, whence they entered a small stream which was to try sorely their patience, and which, for that reason, they called the “Bad River.”

— Morice 1904 [1]

Alexander Mackenzie [1764–1820] called this branch of the Peace River the left branch, the Finlay River being the right branch.

The name of the river comes from the abundance of cow-parsnip (Heracleum maximum) growing on its banks.” (John Macoun, quoted in the report of N. B. Gauvreau, CE, 1891). This plant is sometimes called “Indian Rhubarb” since native Americans eat the petioles or leaf-stalks.

Patterson mentions the “almost tropical growth of the giant cow parsnip from which the river gets is name.” He found this growing up to 7-feet high and says “the din of the rain on the huge leaves was like the rush of a tremendous wind”.

Events pertinent to this place:

Also see

References:

  • 1. Morice, Adrien-Gabriel [1859–1939]. The History of the Northern Interior of British Columbia (formerly New Caledonia). Toronto: William Briggs, 1904. Gutenberg [accessed 20 March 2026]

George Monro Grant’s map of Yellowhead Pass 1872

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Yellow Head Pass to Kamloops. George Monro Grant, plate 34

Yellow Head Pass to Kamloops. George Monro Grant, plate 34
Ocean to Ocean: Sandford Fleming’s Expedition through Canada in 1872

George Monro Grant [1835–1902] was secretary to Sandford Fleming [1827–1915] during the engineer’s survey of the route for the Canadian Pacific Railway in 1872.

Our maps of the country, east of the Rocky Mountains, are mainly from Captain Palliser’s; those of the Pacific slope from Governor Trutch’s map of British Columbia. For a number of the plates illustrating the Dawson route we are indebted to Mr. Desbarats and his artists; to the latter and to a kind lady in Ottawa, for making pictures out of our own rude but, we believe, faithful outlines.

George-Paschal Desbarats [1808–1864] was a French-Canadian printer, publisher, businessman, and landowner. In September 1841 Desbarats and Stewart Derbishire received an appointment as “Her Majesty’s Printer and Law Printer in and for the Province of Canada”; as the Queen’s printers they had an exclusive contract to print and distribute government publications in the Province of Canada, a contract Desbarats maintained throughout his life.

This map includes:
Albreda Lake
Boat Encampment
Mount Brown
Canoe River
Grand Forks River
Moose Lake
North Thompson River
Tête Jaune Cache
Yellowhead Pass
References:

  • Grant, George Monro [1835–1902]. Ocean to Ocean: Sandford Fleming’s Expedition through Canada in 1872. Being a Diary Kept During a Journey from the Atlantic to the Pacific with the Expedition of the Engineer-in-Chief of the Canadian Pacific and Intercolonial Railways. Toronto: James Campbell and Son, 1873. Google Books
Also see:

Fort St. James

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British Columbia. District Municipality
SE end of Stuart Lake
54.4444 N 124.2592 W — Map 093K08 — Google — GeoHack
Name officially adopted in 1995
Official in BC – Canada

Founded as a trading post by Simon Fraser of the North West Company in August 1806. It was referred to simply as Stuart Lake post until 1822 when it became Fort St. James. The reason for the new name is not known.

Hudson’s Bay Company governor George Simpson, visiting here in 1828, described the post as “the capital of Western Caledonia.” It was in fact the administrative centre for the Hudson Bay Company’s department of New Caledonia. The original buildings have all disappeared, but the local people are making a commendable effort to preserve the three surviving buildings which date from the late nineteenth century.

Labelled “Fort James” on Trutch’s 1871 map, presumably a mistake.

Fort St. James Post Office was opened 1 May 1899, seems to have closed the following year then re-opened 1 May 1905.

References:

  • Akrigg, Helen B., and Akrigg, George Philip Vernon [1913–2001]. British Columbia Place Names. Vancouver: UBC Press, 1997. Internet Archive
  • British Columbia Geographical Names. Fort St. James

Fort George

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British Columbia. Former name: Fraser River drainage
Confluence of Nechako River and Fraser River
53.9131 N 122.7453 W — Map 093G15 — Google — GeoHack
Not currently an official name.
234 miles west of the Yellowhead Pass on the Canadian National Railway
This former name appears on:
BC Lands Central BC 1892
Brownlee’s map Province of BC 1893
Frederick Talbot’s map GTP 1910

Fort George, modern-day Prince George, was a fur trading post founded in 1807 by Simon Fraser [1776–1862] of the North West Company and named after King George III of Great Britain.

The Carrier (Dakelh) name for this place at the meeting of the Nechako and Fraser rivers is Thle-et-leh, meaning “the confluence.”

The fur-trading post Fort Astoria, built by the Pacific Fur Company at the mouth of the Columbia Riverin 1811, was renamed Fort George in 1813 when the North West Company bought out the assets of the Pacific Fur Company.

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