Tag Archives: Surveyor

Côté, Mount

Alberta-BC boundary. Mount
Fraser and Smoky drainages
Between Intersection Mountain and Cecilia Lake
53°53’0″ N 120°0’3″ W — Map 083E13 — GoogleGeoHack
Name officially adopted in 1925
Official in BCCanada
Jean Léon Côté, M.L.A., Edmonton. Ca. 1915

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


J. L. Côté and Reginald Cautley, Dawson, Yukon, ca. 1902

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

Named for the prominent 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.
In the Summer of 1923, Côté received word from Prime Minister MacKenzie King of his appointment to the Senate.
He died suddenly on September 24, 1924, at the age of 57 from peritonitis.

* Richard William Cautley (1873–1953) was later Alberta’s commissioner on the Interprovincial Boundary Commission. Reginald Hutton Cautley (1879–1945) was at the time articling under his brother to become a DLS, and obtained his commission in 1905.

References:

  • Côté, Jean Gustave. Senator Jean Léon Côté: Pioneer Land Surveyor and Early Legislator. Edmonton: Jean G. Côté, 1992. Whyte Museum
  • Alberta Land Surveyors’ Association. J. L. Cote. 2014. ALSA
  • British Columbia Geographical Names. Mount Côté
  • Wikipedia. Jean Côté

Mahood Lake

British Columbia. Lake: North Thompson River drainage
SW side of Wells Gray Provincial Park
51.9306 N 120.3819 W — Map 092P16 — GoogleGeoHack
Name officially adopted in 1955
Official in BCCanada

James Adams Mahood [d. 1901] conducted a Canadian Pacific Railway survey party along the shore of the lake in 1872.

By 1892, Mahood had cut a trail past Indianpoint Lake on his way to Tête Jaune Cache, where he was to meet the Thompson River party of Alfred Richard Cecil Selwyn [1824–1902]. A few months later the CPR chose a route far to the south and the trail fell into disuse.

References:

  • Wright, Richard. “Tales of a trail [Goat River].” BC Outdoors, (1985)
Also see:

Arthur Wheeler’s map of the Mount Robson region 1912

Topographical Map Showing Mount Robson and Mountains of the Continental Divide North of Yellowhead Pass. Arthur O. Wheeler, 1912

Topographical Map Showing Mount Robson and Mountains of the Continental Divide North of Yellowhead Pass. Arthur O. Wheeler, 1912
Victoria Library, University of Toronto


Detail showing stations on the Grand Trunk Pacific Railway.

Detail showing stations on the Grand Trunk Pacific Railway.
Victoria Library, University of Toronto

Topographical Map Showing Mount Robson and Mountains of the Continental Divide North of Yellowhead Pass
To accompany the Reports of the Alpine Club of Canada’s Expedition, 1911
From Photographic Surveys by Arthur Oliver Wheeler [1860–1945], A.C.C., Director
Annual report of the Topographical Surveys Branch, 1911-1912

With an inset showing a detail of the Geological Survey of Canada’s 1900 map of the Yellowhead Pass Route by James McEvoy [1862–1935] .

References:

  • Wheeler, Arthur Oliver [1860–1945]. “The mountains of the Yellowhead Pass.” Alpine Journal, Vol. 26, No.198 (1912):382
  • Wheeler, Arthur Oliver [1860–1945]. “The Alpine Club of Canada’s expedition to Jasper Park, Yellowhead Pass and Mount Robson region, 1911.” Canadian Alpine Journal, Vol. 4 (1912):9-80

Walker Creek

British Columbia. Creek: Fraser River drainage
Flows SW into Torpy River, N of Holy Cross Mountain
53°48’00” N 120°54’00” W — Map 93H/15 — GoogleGeoHack
Earliest known reference to this name is 1930.
Name officially adopted in 1965
Official in BCCanada
James Alexander Walker

James Alexander Walker

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 was born on August 6, 1887 to Mary Milne and Peter Walker in Scotland. Educated as a civil engineer, J. Alexander owned and operated the firm J. Alexander Walker and Associates and later with W.E. Graham at Walker and Graham. He was known as the “Engineer-Secretary” and served as the executive director of the Vancouver Town Planning Commission from its beginning on February 1, 1926 ,until his retirement on October 30, 1952.

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

References:

  • Walker, James Alexander [1887–1959]. South fork of Fraser River, Dore River to Clearwater River. December 15, 1913. Victoria: Government of British Columbia, 1914
  • Walker, James Alexander [1887–1959]. South fork of Fraser River, vicinity of McBride. November 11, 1914. Victoria: Government of British Columbia, 1915
  • Andrews, Gerald Smedley [1903–]. Professional Land Surveyors of British Columbia. Cumulative nominal roll. Victoria: Corporation of Land Surveyors of British Columbia, 1978
  • City of Vancouver Archives. Walker, J. Alexander (2000). City of Vancouver Archives
  • British Columbia Geographical Names. Walker Creek
Also see:

Mount Morkill

Alberta-BC boundary. Mount
Near headwaters of Morkill River
53°42’00” N 119°50’00” W — Map 83E/12 — GoogleGeoHack
Official in BCCanada

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.

Interprovincial Boundary Commission

References:

  • Fay, Samuel Prescott [1884–1971]. The Forgotten Explorer: Samuel Prescott Fay’s 1914 Expedition to the Northern Rockies. Edited by Charles Helm and Mike Murtha. Victoria, B.C.: Rocky Mountain Books, 2009
  • Interprovincial Boundary Commission. Boundary between Alberta and British Columbia. Sheet 37. Ottawa: Office of the Surveyor General, 1924. Internet Archive
  • Wheeler, Arthur Oliver [1860–1945], and Cautley, Richard William [1873–1953]. Report of the Commission Appointed to Delimit the Boundary between the Provinces of Alberta and British Columbia – Part III – from 1918 to 1924. Ottawa: Office of the Surveyor General, 1925
  • British Columbia Geographical Names. Mount Morkill

Morkill River

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

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 the Goat River and Catfish Creek.

Morkill worked on the British Columbia-Alberta boundary 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
  • Corporation of Land Surveyors of the Province of British Columbia. Annual Reports. , 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
  • 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

McLennan River

British Columbia. River: Fraser River drainage
Flows N into Fraser River at Tête Jaune Cache
52°58’05” N 119°27’40” W — Map 83D/14 — GoogleGeoHack
Earliest known reference to this name is 1900 (McEvoy).
Name officially adopted in 1951
Official in BCCanada
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

“McLennan River” appears on James McEvoy’s 1900 map showing the Yellowhead Pass route from Edmonton to Tête-Jaune Cache.

In 1871-72, Canadian Pacific Railway surveyors Roderick McLennan and Charles Horetzky 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: Sanford 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
  • McEvoy, James [1862–1935]. “Map Showing Yellowhead Pass Route From Edmonton To Tête-Jaune Cache.” (1900). Natural Resources Canada
  • Munday, Walter Alfred Don [1890–1950]. “In the Cariboo Range – Mt. David Thompson.” Canadian Alpine Journal, Vol. 15 (1925):130-136, p. 136. Alpine Club of Canada
  • MacGregor, James Grierson. Overland by the Yellowhead. Saskatoon: Western Producer, 1974. Internet Archive
  • Andrews, Gerald Smedley [1903–]. 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

McGregor River

British Columbia. River: Fraser River drainage
Flows W into Fraser River, N of Upper Fraser
54.1794 N 122.0336 W — Map 93J/1 — GoogleGeoHack
Name officially adopted in 1915
Official in BCCanada
Captain James Herrick McGregor

Captain James Herrick McGregor
CVWM

Includes to its source the South Branch of the North Fork of the Fraser River \. Formerly also known as Big Salmon River.

Surveyor James Herrick McGregor [1869–1915] was born in Montreal and received his early education in the east. He came to western Canada in 1891 and obtained his commission as a British Columbia Provincial Land Surveyor. 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. He enlisted in World War I and was killed in the Battle of Ypres.

His obituary in the Victoria Colonist stated: “For the past 25 years Captain McGregor has been one of the best known Victorians. Throughout the Province, too, he was well known, as in past years he visited many sections of British Columbia in his business of a Provincial land surveyor. With his fellow officers of the 50th Gordon Highlanders, and also with the men under his command, he was esteemed for his many sterling qualities. The late Captain McGregor leaves a widow and four children.”

References:

  • Corporation of Land Surveyors of the Province of British Columbia. Annual Reports. , 1956
  • Andrews, Gerald Smedley [1903–2005]. Professional Land Surveyors of British Columbia. Cumulative nominal roll. Victoria: Corporation of Land Surveyors of British Columbia, 1978
  • The Canadian Virtual War Memorial. CVWM, Captain James Herrick McGregor. CVWM
  • British Columbia Geographical Names. McGregor River

Hugh Allan Creek

British Columbia. Creek: Columbia River drainage
Flows NW into Canoe Reach, Kinbasket Lake
52.45 N 118.6667 W — Map 83D/7 — GoogleGeoHack
Name officially adopted in 1974
Official in BCCanada

Hugh Drummond Allan [1887–1917] was born in Scotland and came to Canada around 1907. He became a British Columbia land surveyor in 1912. His professional work was carried on mainly in the Kamloops district and the North Thompson valley. In 1913 he surveyed in the Canoe River area. “From Mile 49 on the Grand Trunk Pacific I proceeded with my party by wagon and reached the Canoe River in one day,” he reported.

After the start of the first World War Allan returned to Scotland and enlisted. In 1916 he was wounded, and in 1917 he was killed leading his company at Croiselles, France. Lieutenant Allan was shortly predeceased by his wife and infant child.

(There is another Hugh Allan [1810-1882], a Scottish-Canadian shipping magnate, apparently unrelated.)

References:

  • Allan, Hugh Drummond [1887–1917]. “Canoe River Valley.” Report of the Minister of Lands, (1914)
  • Corporation of Land Surveyors of the Province of British Columbia. Annual Reports (1956)., 1956
  • 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