Athos Maxwell Narraway

“Narraway River” adopted in 1923 on BC-Alberta boundary sheet 40, not “Sheep Creek” as labelled on BC Lands’ maps 1G, 1916, and 1H, 1917, nor “Crooked River” as submitted on preliminary plans of the interprovincial boundary survey by Richard William Cautley [1873–1953], Dominion Land Surveyor.

Named after Athos Maxwell Narraway [1888–1974], DLS, who had surveyed the trail between Fort St. John and Fort Nelson River in 1921, and, as controller of surveys for the Department of Mines and Resources, Ottawa, had visited this area while inspecting Cautley’s interprovincial boundary survey party in 1922. He was co-author of Aircraft in Forestry: Containing Air Operations for Forest Fire Protection (1928) and Applied Aerial Photography (1929).

Jean Léon Côté, M.L.A., Edmonton. Ca. 1915
Wikipedia

J. L. Côté and Reginald Cautley, Dawson, Yukon, ca. 1902
Provincial Archives of Alberta

Named for the French-Canadian politician Jean Léon Côté (1867-1924), born in Les Éboulements, Canada East. Côté was a surveyor and civil engineer by trade, and first visited the Edmonton area in 1886 as part of a survey crew. He returned to the East and trained as a Dominion Land Surveyor for the Department of the Interior, where he worked from 1893 to 1900. In 1899, Côté was sent by the Department to the Klondike gold rush, arriving in Dawson City that summer. Sometime after his arrival in Dawson City, Côté joined the Cautley brothers in a surveying partnership that lasted several years.

In the spring of 1909, Côté was induced to enter politics as a Liberal as he was well known in the Athabasca, Lesser Slave Lake, Peace River, and Fort McMurray areas through his numerous surveying activities. He was elected in the new Grouard riding in 1913 and re-elected by acclamation in 1918 and again in 1921. Côté was provincial secretary and Minister of Mines, Railways and Telephones. As Minister, Côté promoted the issue and approval by the Government of Alberta of an Order in Council establishing what would become known as the Alberta Research Council.

He died suddenly on September 24, 1924, at the age of 57 from peritonitis.

E. W. Jarvis — Christmas, 1872

The name was adopted by the Geographic Board of Canada in 1917 in recognition of surveyor Edward Worrell Jarvis [1846–1894].

“E.W. Jarvis, CE, and Major C. F. Hanington of Ottawa made an adventurous winter journey across the Rockies in 1875. The pass through which they crossed the mountains was named Jarvis Pass by the Geographic Board of Canada and the name Jarvis is also borne by a mountain on the south side of the pass opposite Mount Hanington. The exploration was undertaken to see if this route across the mountains would be a practicable one for the Canadian Pacific Railway. The elevation of the pass, about 5,000 feet, proved too high. The starting point of the journey was Quesnel, which was left on December 9, 1874, and a 1,000-mile journey, mostly on foot, occupying five and a half months, was concluded at Winnipeg on May 21, 1875.” (extract from Natural Resources Canada, Ottawa, June 1927)

James Alexander Walker
Corporation of BCLS, 1956

British Columbia Land Surveyor James Alexander Walker [1887–1959] started surveys in the upper Fraser River area in 1912. In 1913 and 1914, he surveyed within the three-mile land reserve on the Fraser near McBride, subdividing the country into 40-acre tracts. That year 80,000 acres of land was opened by the provincial government. Walker reported that “a great rush resulted, about 175 pre-emptions having been filed upon. All summer clearing land and building cabins have been the chief industries in the valley. A splendid type of settlers, by far the majority of whom are English-speaking, has come in. There are no Indians in the valley from Tête Jaune Cache to the Fort George Indian reserves.”

Walker Creek (not “East Fork of Torpy River”) identified in the 1930 and 1953 BC Gazetteers.

The camera station “Morkill” was established on this summit in 1923 (BC-Alberta boundary sheet #37, and Report Part III, p.62); so-named by the Interprovincial Boundary Commission in association with Morkill River and Morkill Pass.

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.)