Category Archives: Place

McLennan River

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British Columbia. River: Fraser River drainage
Flows N into Fraser River at Tête Jaune Cache
52.9681 N 119.4611 W — Map 83D/14 — Google — GeoHack
Earliest known reference to this name is 1900 (McEvoy)
Name officially adopted in 1951
Official in BC – Canada
This river appears on:
McEvoy’s map Yellowhead Pass 1900
Collie’s map Yellowhead Pass 1912
The First Canadian Pacific R.R. and Geological Survey parties for British Columbia, July 22 1871 Left to right : L. N. Rheaumis, Roderick McLennan, A. S. Hall, West West Ireland, Alfred Selwyn, Alex Maclennan, Walter Moberly, C. E. Gilette, James Richardson, -- -- McDonald, George Watt.

The First Canadian Pacific R.R. and Geological Survey parties for British Columbia, July 22 1871 Left to right : L. N. Rheaumis, Roderick McLennan, A. S. Hall, West West Ireland, Alfred Selwyn, Alex Maclennan, Walter Moberly, C. E. Gilette, James Richardson, — — McDonald, George Watt.
Toronto Public Library


Detail: Roderick McLennan

Detail: Roderick McLennan
Toronto Public Library

In 1871-72, Canadian Pacific Railway surveyors Roderick M. McLennan [1805–] and Charles Horetzky [1838–1900] made a reconnaisance from the Big Bend of the Columbia River up to the North Thompson River. McLennan left Kamloops on August 19, 1871, and in October decided to winter his party in the vicinity of Tête Jaune Cache. He built a camp four or five miles upstream from the Canoe River on what consequently came to be named Camp Creek. In 1872 he undertook an expedition to Moose Lake.

George Monro Grant mentions McLennan in his book Ocean to Ocean:

[South of Albreda] the trail was as bad as could well be, although a great amount of honest work had been expended on it. Before McCord [surveyor] had come through, it must havbe been simple impassable except for an Indian on foot, — worse than when Milton and Cheadle forced through with their one pack-horse at the rate of three miles a day; for the large Canadian party [Overlanders] had immediately preceded them, whereas no one attempted to follow in their steps till McLellan [McLennan ?] , in 1871, and in the intervening nine years much of the trail had been buried out of sight, or hopelessly blocked up by masses of timber, torrents, landslides, or debris.

“The stream here called McLennan River, its real source, is also known as Mica Creek,” reported Munday in 1925.

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, p. 265. Google Books
  • Munday, Walter Alfred Don [1890–1950]. “In the Cariboo Range – Mt. David Thompson.” Canadian Alpine Journal, Vol. 15 (1925):130-136
  • MacGregor, James Grierson [1905–]. Overland by the Yellowhead. Saskatoon: Western Producer, 1974. Internet Archive
  • Andrews, Gerald Smedley [1903–2005]. Professional Land Surveyors of British Columbia. Cumulative nominal roll. Victoria: Corporation of Land Surveyors of British Columbia, 1978
  • Fairhall, Charles. “Surveyors of the Past. Roderick M. McLennan, 1805–1908. Civil Engineer, Land Surveyor, Explorer.” Ontario Land Surveyor, Summer (1983):27-28. Krcmar
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McKirdy Creek

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British Columbia. Creek: Columbia River drainage
Flows S into Canoe River SE of Valemount
52.8 N 119.2 W — Map 83D/14 — Google — GeoHack
Earliest known reference to this name is 1907 (McKirdy)
Name officially adopted in 1982
Official in BC – Canada
Fulton McKirdy, Swift Creek (Valemount)

Fulton McKirdy, Swift Creek (Valemount)
Valemount and Area Museum

Fulton Alexander McKirdy (1874-1960) was born in Toronto, the youngest of eleven children. His father died when he was seven, and his mother moved to a farm near Wingham. In 1884 Fulton went to live in Nipigon with a brother, who operated a guiding outfit and trading post. In 1896 he started working on bridges for the Canadian Pacific Railway, and two years later came west to work on the Crow’s Nest branch. Almost the whole crew contacted typhoid fever; McKirdy was one of the few to recover.

With horses bought in Cranbrook, McKirdy and H. Dart travelled to Golden and prospected north up the Columbia River to the mouth of the Canoe River. In 1899, after a return to Golden, he prospected along the Canoe, Swift Current, and Fraser rivers. During the winter he trapped. In 1906 or 1907 he was one of the first to stake a homestead in the township of Cranberry Lake (now Valemount). McKirdy chose a field that had been burnt off for horse-pasture by the Indians who passed through the valley during summer hunting trips. When he first plowed his field, he unearthed Indian arrowheads and other artifacts. He named the creek that bordered his property “McKirdy Creek.”

In 1910 fires from the railroad right-of-way clearing and slash burning were spreading into valuable timber. McKirdy was appointed fire warden, reporting to Revelstoke until 1912, when the divisional headquarters were moved to Tête Jaune Cache. McKirdy became an assistant forest ranger in 1917 and remained in that capacity until 1940. After 1940, he became a forest fire look-out, first on Mount McLennan, Birch Island, and then on Tum Tum Mountain [in Washington state?] until his retirement at age 82 in 1956.

In 1919 McKirdy married Margaret Waite (1900-1983), who had come from Vancouver to Swift Creek in 1918 as a schoolteacher. In 1923 he was appointed justice of the peace.
Many descendants live in the Valemount area.

References:

  • Robson Valley Courier. Weekly newspaper published by Pyramid Press of Jasper from 1968–88 (1968–1988).
  • Valemount Historic Society. Yellowhead Pass and its People. Valemount, B.C.: 1984
  • McKirdy, Fern. “The early history of the Yellowhead and Tête Jaune.” Canoe Mountain Echo, (2 & 9 September 1987)
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McKale River

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British Columbia. River: Fraser River drainage
Flows SW into Fraser NW of McBride
53.3975 N 120.3422 W — Map 093H08 — Google — GeoHack
Earliest known reference to this name is 1915
Name officially adopted in 1963
Official in BC – Canada
This river appears on:
Jobe’s map Jarvis Pass to Yellowhead 1915
Pre-emptor’s map Tête Jaune 3H 1919 [McKale River (Blackwater)]

Two McKale brothers settled in the valley after the First World War. James R. McKale first came through on the railway survey (presumably the Grand Trunk Pacific Railway). He was a charter member of the Royal Canadian Legion, in 1927, and one of the initial trustees of Elks Lodge 247, in 1933. Jack B. McKale was a stationary fireman on the railroad up to the time of the end of steam locomotives in the mid-1950s. He ran the ice house in McBride in early 1920s, and also the local dray business. The house he built on Main Street still exists.

R. E. McKale (1910-1950), relationship unknown, is buried in the McBride cemetery.

Locally the river is known as the Blackwater Riverr.

References:

  • Wheeler, Marilyn [1932–2016]. The Robson Valley Story. McBride, B.C.: Robson Valley Story Group, 1979
  • McBride Cemetary. Grave markers. 2000
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McIntosh Creek

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British Columbia. Creek: Fraser River drainage
Flows NE into Fraser River, NW of McBride
53.3833 N 120.3333 W — Map 093H08 — Google — GeoHack
Name officially adopted in 1965
Official in BC – Topo map from Canadian Geographical Names
This creek appears on:
Pre-emptor’s map Tête Jaune 3H 1919
Grand Trunk Pacific Railway topographical crew of Elliot, Semple, Anderson, and McIntosh at an improvised table in the woods, 1912 (P986.5.80)

Grand Trunk Pacific Railway topographical crew of Elliot, Semple, Anderson, and McIntosh at an improvised table in the woods, 1912 (P986.5.80)
Exploration Place — Fraser Fort George Regional Museum

McIntosh Creek is shown on the 1931 Pre-emptor’s map (Tête Jaune Sheet) but not on the 1923 Sheet.

A McBride marriage registry shows “George Frederick Oettle [and] Mary Isabelle Mcintosh 1928.”(1)

The Robson Valley Chapter of the Back Country Horsemen of BC created an equestrian recreation site on Mcintosh Road (off Highway 16, 12 km west of McBride) around 2023.

References:

McGregor River

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British Columbia. River: Fraser River drainage
Flows W into Fraser River, N of Upper Fraser
54.1794 N 122.0336 W — Map 93J/1 — Google — GeoHack
Name officially adopted in 1915
Official in BC – Topo map from Canadian Geographical Names
Captain James Herrick McGregor

Captain James Herrick McGregor
CVWM

Previous to 1915 this river was known as the Fraser River North Fork (or South Branch of North Fork Fraser River, and also formerly known as Big Salmon River.

Surveyor James Herrick McGregor [1869–1915] was born in Montreal and received his early education in the east. He obtained his commission as a British Columbia Provincial Land Surveyor 1891. He practiced his profession for a few years in the Kootenays and subsequently settled in Victoria.

McGregor was involved in the 1891-98 triangulation and photo-topographic surveys of the southern Rocky Mountains in the vicinity of the Alberta-British Columbia boundary.

McGregor did much of the exploration and survey work in the area around the confluence of the Fraser River and McGregor River upstream of Prince George.(1)

He enlisted in World War I and was killed in the Battle of Ypres.

References:

Also see:

McGregor Range

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British Columbia. Range
Between McGregor River and Torpy River
54.05 N 121.2833 W — Map 093I03 — Google — GeoHack
Name officially adopted in 1958
Official in BC – Canada

“McGregor Mountains” adopted in the 1930 BC Gazetteer as labelled on BC Lands’ map 1H, 1917. Form of name changed to “McGregor Range” in 1958.

Named in association with McGregor River.

References:

McGillivray Ridge

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Alberta-BC boundary. Ridge
N of Athabasca Pass
52.3928 N 118.1769 W — Map 083D08 — Google — GeoHack
Earliest known reference to this name is 1812
Name officially adopted in 1924
Official in BC – Canada
This ridge appears on:
Boundary Commission Sheet 27 (surveyed in 1920 & 1921)
Boundary Commission Sheet 27 A (surveyed in 1921)
William McGillivray

William McGillivray

Gabriel Franchère [1786–1863], who travelled through the Athabasca Pass with the North West Company’s brigade in 1814, wrote, “Mr J. Henry, who first discovered the pass, gave this extraordinary rock the name of M’Gillivray’s Rock, in honor of one of the partners of the N. W. Company.”

William McGillivray [1764?-1825] , elder brother of Simon McGillivray and uncle of Duncan McGillivray, was one of the leading members of the North West Company. He was a member of the House of Assembly of Lower Canada, 1808-09, for Montreal West, and of the Legislative Council of Lower Canada, 1811-25. He died in 1825 in London, England.

McGillivray was born in Scotland and brought to Montreal in 1784 by his uncle Simon McTavish of McTavish, Frobisher and Company. McGillivray was made a partner in the North West Company in 1790, and on McTavish’s death in 1804 McGillivray became the company’s chief director. Fort William, the company’s headquarters on Lake Superior, was named in his honor in 1807. McGillivray commanded a company of voyageurs in the War of 1812, assisting Issac Brock at the capture of Detroit. In recognition of these services he was appointed to the legislative council of Lower Canada in 1814. Between 1814 and 1816 he directed the North West Company’s opposition to the Red River Settlement and was captured when Lord Selkirk seized Fort William in 1816 as a reprisal for the destruction of the settlement. McGillivray emerged unscathed from the protracted legal proceedings that followed. He was associated with his brother Simon and with Edward Ellice in 1821 during the negotiations that ended in union between the Hudson’s Bay and North West companies and was made a member of the joint board formed to manage the fur trade. He died in London, England.

McGillivray’s Rock is close to the lake known as the Committee Punch Bowl at the summit of Athabasca Pass.

Gabriel Franchère was probably mistaken in crediting “J. Henry” with naming and discovering the Athabasca Pass. David Thompson was the first European recorded to have crossed the Athabasca Pass, early in 1811.

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, p. 35. University of British Columbia Library
  • Franchère, Gabriel [1786–1863]. Narrative of a Voyage to the Northwest Coast of America, in the years 1811, 1812, 1813, and 1814, or the First American Settlement on the Pacific. Translated and edited by J. V. Huntington. New York: Bedfield, 1854. Gutenberg
  • Canadian Board on Geographical Names. Place-names of Alberta. Published for the Geographic Board by the Department of the Interior. Ottawa: Department of the Interior, 1928. Hathi Trust
  • Story, Norah. The Oxford Companion to Canadian History and Literature. Toronto: Oxford University Press, 1967
  • Gainer, Brenda. The human history of Jasper National Park, Alberta. Manuscript report 441. Ottawa: Parks Canada, 1981. Parks Canada
  • Wikipedia. William McGillivray
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McDonell Peak

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Alberta-BC boundary. Peak
A peak of Mount Fraser
52.6508 N 118.3061 W — Map 083D09 — Google — GeoHack
Name officially adopted in 1951
Official in BC – Canada
This peak appears on:
Boundary Commission Sheet 28 (surveyed in 1921)

The wife of Simon Fraser [1776–1862] was daughter of Colonel Allan McDonell of Dundas County, Ontario.

The feature was named by the Alberta-British Columbia Boundary Commission in 1921.

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
  • Holmgren, Eric J., and Holmgren, Patricia M. Over 2,000 place names of Alberta. Saskatoon, Saskatchewan: Modern Press, 1973. Internet Archive
Also see:

McCabe

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British Columbia. Railway Point
Canadian National Railway, between Valemount and Tête Jaune Cache
52.9389 N 119.4069 W — Map 083D14 — Google — GeoHack
Name officially adopted in 1989
Official in BC – Canada

G. S. McCabe was Canadian National Railroad trainmaster at Jasper. He had previously been rules inspector at Prince George and general yardmaster at Kamloops.

References:

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