Category Archives: Place

Mount Chamberlin

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British Columbia. Mount
SW of Mount Robson
53.0083 N 119.3375 W — Map 83E/3 — Google — GeoHack
Official in BC – Canada
Peakfinder
Edson Joseph Chamberlin

Edson Joseph Chamberlin
Wikipedia

Name adopted by the Geographic Board of Canada in 1917 after Edson Joseph Chamberlin [1852-1924], president of the Grand Trunk Pacific Railway at the time. Edson Chamberlin is also the namesake of the town of Edson, Alberta.

In 1909 Chamberlin became general manager and then vice president of the Grand Trunk. In 1912 he became the president when Charles Melville Hays lost his life on the RMS Titanic. Chamberlin’s presidency differed from Hays’s in that he led the Grand Trunk to expand westward as part of the Canadian transcontinental railway. He remained president until he retired in 1917. Chamberlin died at Pasadena, California, in 1924.

Edson Chamberlin is not related to Rollin Thomas Chamberlin [1881–1948], the American geologist who is namesake of Chamberlin Peak and Chamberlin Glacier, in the Cariboo Mountains about 50 kilometres to the south.

References:

  • Anon. “Place names in the Premier Range, Cariboo Mountains, B.C.” Canadian Alpine Journal, Vol. 46 (1963):20
  • Wikipedia. Edson Joseph Chamberlin
  • British Columbia Geographical Names. Chamberlin, Mount
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Mount Challenger

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British Columbia. Other name of Mount Stanley Baldwin

In 1924, Rollin T. Chamberlin, Allen Carpé, and A. L. Withers made a number of first ascents in the Cariboo Mountains, including Mount Titan (now Mount Sir Wilfred Laurier) and Mount Challenger (now Mount Stanley Baldwin).

References:

  • H. S. Hall, Jr. “Allen Carpé 1894–1932.” Canadian Alpine Journal, Vol. 21 (1932):163. Alpine Club of Canada
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Mount Carpé

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British Columbia. Mount
S of Canoe River, just SW of Valemount
52.7 N 119.5333 W — Map 83D/12 — Google — GeoHack
Earliest known reference to this name is 1949
Name officially adopted in 1963
Official in BC – Topo map from Canadian Geographical Names
Rollin T. Chamberlin, L. E. “Slim” Goodell, Allen Carpe, A. L. Withers. Photo George Burns

Rollin T. Chamberlin, L. E. “Slim” Goodell, Allen Carpe, A. L. Withers. Photo George Burns
University of Chicago

Allen Carpé [1894–1932] was an American engineer and mountaineer who in 1924, along with Rollin Thomas Chamberlin [1881–1948], and A. L. (Pete) Withers, went up Tête Creek “and made some fine climbs, among them Mount Sir Wilfrid Laurier.” (1) Carpé was a member of the Alpine Club of Canada since 1920. He lost his life on Mount McKinley in May 1932, as the leader of a party making scientific observations relating to cosmic rays.

The name was adopted at the suggestion of the Alpine Club of Canada following a proposal by the 1949 mountaineering party of Sterling Brown Hendricks [1902–1981] and Andrew John Kauffman [1920–2002].(2)

References:

  • 1. Zillmer, Raymond T. [1887–1960]. “Explorations in the Southern Cariboos.” Canadian Alpine Journal, Vol. 27 (1939):48-61
  • 2. Hendricks, Sterling Brown [1902–1981], and Kauffman, Andrew John [1920–2002]. “Cariboo Climbing.” American Alpine Journal, 7:2 (1950). American Alpine Club
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Mount Assiniboine

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Feature type: mount
Province: British Columbia
Elevation: 3618 m
Assiniboin

Assiniboin

Mount Assiniboine, also known as Assiniboine Mountain, is a mountain located on the Great Divide, on the British Columbia/Alberta border in Canada.At 3,618 m (11,870 ft), it is the highest peak in the Southern Continental Ranges of the Canadian Rockies. Due to Assiniboine’s pyramidal shape, it has been unofficially named the “Matterhorn” of North America. Mt. Assiniboine rises nearly 1,525 m (5,003 ft) above Lake Magog.

Mt. Assiniboine was named by George M. Dawson in 1885. When Dawson saw Mt. Assiniboine from Copper Mountain, he saw a plume of clouds trailing away from the top. This reminded him of the plumes of smoke emanating from the teepees of Assiniboine Indians.

Morkill River

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British Columbia. River: Fraser River drainage
Flows SW into Fraser River near Loos
53.6 N 120.7 W — Map 93H/10 — Google — GeoHack
Earliest known reference to this name is 1915
Name officially adopted in 1925
Official in BC – Canada
This river appears on:
Phillips’s map NW of Robson 1915
Pre-emptor’s map Tête Jaune 3H 1919 [as Morkill (Little Smoky)]
Boundary Commission Sheet 36 (surveyed in 1923)
Boundary Commission Sheet 37 (surveyed in 1923 & 1924)

The name was adopted in 1925 to recognize surveyor Dalby Brooks Morkill [1880–1955].

Morkill was born in Sherbrooke, Québec, and came to British Columbia in 1898. He received his commission as a British Columbia Land Surveyor in 1910. Morkill was employed in 1912 by the British Columbia government making surveys on the Fraser River between Horsey Creek and Holmes River. In 1913, with Alan S. Thompson, Morkill surveyed between Goat River and Catfish Creek.

Morkill worked on the Alberta-British Columbia Boundary Commission surveys north of Yellowhead Pass in the early 1920s. Subsequently Morkill surveyed in several other areas of the Province. During his last years he spent summers at his residence at Barkerville and winters in Vancouver.

The Morkill River is known locally as the Smoky River, a name that dates back to at least 1909. (There is also a Smoky River in Alberta, headwaters at Robson Pass.)

References:

  • Cautley, Richard William [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
  • Cautley, Richard William [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. Parts IIIA & IIIB, 1918 to 1924. From Yellowhead Pass Northerly. Ottawa: Office of the Surveyor General, 1925. Whyte Museum
  • Association of British Columbia Land Surveyors. Annual Report (1956)., 1956
  • Robson Valley Courier. Weekly newspaper published by Pyramid Press of Jasper from 1968–88 (1968–1988).
  • Andrews, Gerald Smedley [1903–2005]. Métis outpost. Memoirs of the first schoolmaster at the Métis settlement of Kelly Lake, B.C. 1923-1925. Victoria: G.S. Andrews, 1985. Internet Archive
  • Akrigg, Helen B., and Akrigg, George Philip Vernon [1913–2001]. British Columbia Place Names. Vancouver: UBC Press, 1997. Internet Archive
  • British Columbia Geographical Names. Morkill River
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Morkill Pass

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Alberta-BC boundary. Pass
Fraser River and Smoky River drainages
Headwaters of Morkill River and Muddywater River
53.6833 N 119.7833 W — Map 83E/12 — Google — GeoHack
Name officially adopted in 1925
Official in BC – Canada
This pass appears on:
Boundary Commission Sheet 36 (surveyed in 1923)
Boundary Commission Sheet 37 (surveyed in 1923 & 1924)
Pre-emptor’s map Tête Jaune 3H 1931

Morgan Road

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Feature type: road
Province: British Columbia
Location: Forks off Eddy Road W of Hankins Creek

Joe Morgan, one of McBride’s earliest pioneers, homesteaded the Cedarbrook Ranch in 1914. They say he was a barber.

References:

  • Robson Valley Courier. Weekly newspaper published by Pyramid Press of Jasper from1969–88.

Morey

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British Columbia. Railway point
Canadian National Railway, E of Tête Jaune Cache
52.9889 N 119.2889 W — Map 83D/14 — Google — GeoHack
Name officially adopted in 1989
Official in BC – Canada
39 miles west of the Yellowhead Pass on the Canadian National Railway
Mile 57 in Albreda Subdivision (Jasper to Blue River as of 1977)
This railway point appears on:
Pre-emptor’s map Tête Jaune 3H 1919

Named after one of the workers on the construction of this section of the Canadian Northern Railway in the 1910s.

References:

  • CN (Canadian National Railway). Transportation planning branch, Edmonton, and historical office, Montréal. 2000

Moose River

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British Columbia. River: Fraser River drainage
Flows SE into Fraser River, E of Moose Lake
52.9167 N 118.8 W — Map 83D/15 — Google — GeoHack
Earliest known reference to this name is 1863 (Milton and Cheadle)
Name officially adopted in 1923
Official in BC – Canada
This river appears on:
Trutch’s map of BC 1871
McEvoy’s map Yellowhead Pass 1900
Coleman’s map of Mount Robson 1910
Collie’s map Yellowhead Pass 1912
Wheeler’s map Mount Robson 1912
Boundary Commission Sheet 31 (surveyed in 1922)
Driving ties on Moose River. This river-valley contains about twenty square miles of unalienated timber.

Driving ties on Moose River. This river-valley contains about twenty square miles of unalienated timber.
Report of the Minister of Lands for British Columbia for the yer ending December 31, 1912

Hudson’s Bay Company governor George Simpson referred to Moose Lake in 1824, and Milton and Cheadle referred to Moose River in their account of July 1863:

Soon after we started, we came to Moose River, which was somewhat difficult to ford, for the water was high and rapid, pouring over the horses’ shoulders in the deepest part. Mr. O’B[ierne] lost nerve and steered badly, his horse lost its footing, and nearly took a voyage into the Fraser; the rider, however, gripped mane and saddle firmly, and both got ashore together, adding another hair’s-breadth escape to Mr. O’B.’s list.

References:

  • Simpson, George [1792–1860]. 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. Frederick Merk, editor. Cambridge, Mass.: Harvard University Press, 1931. University of British Columbia Library
  • 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, P. 263. Internet Archive
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