La Salle Lakes

British Columbia. Lakes: Fraser River drainage
NW of Goat River station, SW of Crescent Spur
53°30’44″N N 120°39’34” W — Map 093H10 — GoogleGeoHack
Name officially adopted in 1965
Official in BCCanada

American businessman J. LaSalle (or Laselle), in partnership with Willian F. Cook and Nick S. Clark, purchased the South Fort George townsite in 1909.

Ellice Blackman of Tête Jaune has photographs of caribou trophies “procured by Joe LaSalle party, 1915, McBride.”

A small tributary of Goat River between North Star Creek and Milk River was formerly identified as La Salle Creek, but the name was cancelled in 1965 because of its close proximity to Laselle Creek. At the same time, the spelling Leselle was changed to La Salle to be consistent with the La Salle Lakes across the Fraser River.

References:

  • Canadian Federation of University Women. Prince George, British Columbia. Street names. A-Z.. Prince George, B.C.: Canadian Federation of University Women, Prince George branch, 1970
  • Wheeler, Marilyn. The Robson Valley Story. McBride, B.C.: Robson Valley Story Group, 1979
  • British Columbia Geographical Names. La Salle Lakes
Also see:

One thought on “La Salle Lakes

  1. Roy Howard

    There was a Joe La Salle, trapper in the Goat River ca. 1912. He had cabins, one of which is still standing, but barely, at Km6 of the Goat R. Forest Service Road. He wrote and published an article in the Hunter-Trader-Trapper magazine in 1912, about his experiences in the Goat River area. I would guess that LaSalle Lakes and LaSalle Creek were named for him, and assume that the photos that Ellice Blackman of Tete Jaune has refers to him. It seems unlikely that he is the same person as the American businessman mentioned that purchased South Ft. George in 1909. See Hunter-Trader-Trapper. v.24 1912 Apr-Sep.

    https://babel.hathitrust.org/cgi/pt?id=mdp.39015073140314;view=1up;seq=13
    https://catalog.hathitrust.org/Record/000059382

    Reply

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