How can Santa Claus see all of this? How can he know what we are doing all of the time? Where exactly does he get his information? While some more imaginative people believe that Santa Claus must have magical, all-knowing, all-seeing powers. Other, more practical-minded folk, insist that he must have a vast network of elfin spies keeping tabs on every boy and girl in his domain. However, here in Alberta we know better. Santa Claus obviously does his recon from his lofty vantage point in the Canadian Rockies from which he can see great distances – perhaps even into your own home (and isn’t that just a little bit creepy?). Read more →
No single event has had such a dramatic impact on place names in Alberta than the First World War Battle of Jutland. Deep in the heart of Kananaskis Country can be found a series of mountains bearing the names of the ships and naval commanders of this naval battle. At least twenty-six mountains bear names commemorating the Battle of Jutland – sixteen of them are named for Royal Navy vessels that took part in the battle and ten are named for the Admirals, ship captains and seamen that lead and fought at Jutland. Additionally, many features associated with the mountains (glaciers, lakes and creeks) have subsequently been given Jutland names. The great number of Jutland-related geographical names in Alberta is curious. While there is no questioning the significance of the Battle of Jutland – it was the only major sea battle of the First World War, one of the few times in which dreadnought battleships fought directly against each other and its results affected strategy and tactics on both sides and altered the course of the war – it was also a battle in which there was no significant Canadian presence; no Canadian ships were involved and only one Canadian casualty has ever been confirmed. So, how did so many of these mountains along the Alberta-British Columbia boundary end up being named to commemorate this battle?
Mount Engadine (left), The Tower (middle) and Mount Galatea (right), taken in 1916 by the Interprovincial Boundary Survey. Mount Engadine and Mount Galatea are named for Royal Navy vessels that fought at the Battle of Jutland, the seaplane carrier HMS Engadine and the light cruiser HMS Galatea. Image Source: Mountain Legacy Project, IMG_3320. The Mountain Legacy Project is based at the School of Environmental Studies, University of Victoria, Victoria, BC. For more information, go to mountainlegacy.ca, or email mntnlgcy@uvic.ca.
One of the most recognizable mountains in the Canadian Rockies is Mount Lougheed. Located approximately 15 kilometres southeast of Canmore, this majestic 3,150 metre (10,335 ft.) mountain is named for Sir James Alexander Lougheed. However, Lougheed is not the only name the mountain has had. In fact, it is not even the first mountain in the area to bear the name Lougheed. The story of how the mountain became known as Mount Lougheed is interesting.
Mount Lougheed from the Trans-Canada Highway, August 2011. The entire massif is known as Mount Lougheed. The large, central peak is likely the feature named “Windy Mountain” by Eugene Bourgeau in 1858. The prominent peak furthest to the right is Windtower Mountain. The peak known today as Wind Mountain is the distinctly pointed peak visible on the horizon at left side of the photograph. Source: Larry Pearson, Historic Places Stewardship Section, Alberta Culture and Tourism.
In 1858, Eugène Bourgeau (sometimes spelled Bourgeaux), a botanist with the Palliser Expedition, accompanied James Hector up the Bow Valley towards what is now Canmore. Bourgeau named many of the mountains and lakes along the way. Bourgeau was struck by the way the clouds swirled around one particular peak. James Hector, in his account of August 11, 1858, noted that Read more →
Located between the Astoria and the Whirlpool rivers is a mountain considered by many to be the most majestic in Jasper National Park, if not the entire Canadian Rocky Mountains. At an impressive altitude of about 3,300 metres, the mountain has been known by a number of names. French Canadian voyageurs using the Athabasca Pass referred to the notable landmark as La Montagne de la Grand Traverse (Mountain of the Great Pass). Dr. James Hector of the Palliser Expedition referred to it as Le Duc, probably after a Metis member of his party. In 1912, Arthur O. Wheeler of the Alpine Club of Canada and the Interprovincial Boundary Survey named it Fitzhugh Mountain, after the townsite of Fitzhugh, which was named for E. L. Fitzhugh, a director of the Grand Trunk Pacific Railway (the townsite of Fitzhugh was later renamed Jasper). It had also been periodically, and incorrectly, referred to as Mount Geikie. Today, and since 1916, the mountain is named Mount Edith Cavell, named for a British nurse who never set foot in Canada, let alone within Jasper National Park or on the mountain itself. How this mountain became a commemoration to Edith Cavell is an interesting lesson in Canada’s role in the First World War, its place in the Empire and the importance of wartime symbolism and the values of myth and memorialization.
North face of Mount Edith Cavell with Lake Cavell in the foreground, ca. 1945. Provincial Archives of Alberta, PA354.1
Alberta’s history is rife with many stories of interesting and fascinating cowboys and ranchers. High in this company stands John Ware, a black cowboy and rancher of near-mythic standing in Alberta’s history. John Ware has become almost an unofficial emblem of Alberta and western Canada, featuring prominently in centennial exhibits, in books and even on a Canada Post stamp. He is often portrayed as an embodiment of western Canadian values and as a demonstration of the levelling effect of the pioneer period and the cultural tolerance that was only possible on the Canadian prairies. There is little doubt that John Ware truly did enjoy the respect of his fellow ranchers and cowboys and his story, even if exaggerated, is an inspiring one. Yet, despite this outpouring of goodwill, respect and admiration, for many years John Ware was commemorated by a racially derogatory name prominently displayed on maps.
John Ware with his wife Mildred and two of their children, Robert and Nettie, ca. 1896. Glenbow Archives: NA-263-1
In a previous post, we looked at the naming of five mountains in Jasper National Park after First World War Victoria Cross recipients. It took a number of years and some persistence from the Geographic Board of Alberta to achieve this natural war monument for the service of five soldiers to the British Commonwealth in the First World War. In addition to naming the mountains, the negotiations between provincial and federal naming authorities resulted in the naming of the Victoria Cross Ranges in Jasper National Park to serve as a long-standing tribute to all recipients of the Victoria Cross. This naming decision created a naming policy that is still honoured today.
Looking west to the Victoria Cross Ranges (Image courtesy of Mountain Nerd on Summit Search)
In 1917, surveyor and mountaineer Arthur O. Wheeler of the Interprovincial Boundary Survey wrote that “in a valley surrounded by towering peaks, lies Upper Kananaskis Lake, a large sheet of deep-blue water of irregular shape, dotted with heavily-timbered islands.” The lake, as described by Wheeler, no longer exists, its shape has changed and its islands are mostly gone.
Upper Kananaskis Lake, 1914, showing the islands (LtoR) Cressy, Pegasus, Hawke, Hogue, Schooner and Aboukir. To compare this photograph alongside a 2007 photograph, go to http://explore.mountainlegacy.ca/historic_captures/1880/comparisons. Mountain Legacy Project, WHE14-6. The Mountain Legacy Project is based at the School of Environmental Studies, University of Victoria, Victoria, BC. For more information, go to mountainlegacy.ca, or email mntnlgcy@uvic.ca.
Most people understand the importance of the oil discovered at Leduc in 1947 and the oil and gas discovered in Turner Valley in 1914. However, Alberta’s oil and gas industry began in 1901 with an isolated oil well alongside a creek near the Canada-United States border.
That creek was known as Oil Creek. Now known as Cameron Creek, this 15 kilometre long creek runs north-easterly for about 9 kilometres before turning and flowing south-easterly into Upper Waterton Lake. The source of the creek is Cameron Lake, a small lake on the Canada-U.S. border deep within Waterton Lakes National Park. The lake was once known as Oil Lake. (Do you see a pattern?)
Aerial Imagery of Waterton Lakes National Park, showing the locations of the Cameron Lake (formerly Oil Lake) Cameron Creek (formerly Oil Creek) and the First Oil Well in Western Canada National Historic Site of Canada.
The lake and the creek were noted, but not named, on George Dawson’s 1884 map of the Bow and Belly River region of the North-West Territories. During his surveys of the area in the 1880s (with the Geological Survey of Canada) and earlier (with the International Boundary Commission) in the 1870s, Dawson was made aware of oil and gas in the Waterton region. In 1901, the Rocky Mountain Development Company drilled Western Canada’s first oil well alongside a creek, which soon became known, for obvious reasons, as Oil Creek.
In 1915, during the survey of the Alberta-British Columbia border, the lake and creek were again noted. The 1917 report on the Alberta- B.C. boundary described them as: “Cameron Lake, a picturesque sheet of water, one mile and a half long by half a mile wide” and “Cameron Brook, a stream of considerable size, which flows to Upper Waterton Lake”.
The lake and creek were named for Maj.-Gen. Donald Roderick Cameron, a Scottish-born Royal Artillery officer and son-in-law to Sir Charles Tupper. Prime Minister John A. Macdonald recommended Cameron’s appointment as the British Boundary Commissioner and head of the British-Canadian delegation to the International Boundary Commission. From 1872-76, Cameron oversaw the surveying of the Canada-U.S. border between the Lake of the Woods (in western Ontario) to the Rocky Mountains. He later represented Canada on numerous international commissions and conferences through the 1880s and he served as commandant of the Royal Military College in Kingston, Ontario from 1888 to 1896. For his services to the boundary commission he was appointed to the Order of St. Michael and St. George by Queen Victoria. General Cameron died in 1921. In 1943, Cameron Falls, just north of the Waterton Park town site, was also named in his honour.
Capt. Donald R. Cameron, head of the British-Canadian contingent of the International Boundary Survey, in 1872.
In 1915, the Geographic Board of Canada adopted Cameron Brook as the official name for the creek. Although, the name of the lake was not officially changed at the time, it nevertheless began appearing on federal government maps as Cameron Lake. The name Cameron Lake was officially adopted in 1928. The following year, the United States Board on Geographic Names adopted the same name for the portion of the lake located in Montana. In 1960, the Canadian Board on Geographical Names renamed Cameron Brook as Cameron Creek.
Cameron Creek, formerly known as Oil Creek, flows through the rugged terrain of Waterton Lakes National Park. Western Canada’s first oil well was located alongside this creek.
Although the names Oil Lake and Oil Creek are no longer official, the significance of the area in the development of Canada’s oil sector is commemorated by the Historic Sites and Monuments Board of Canada. In 1965, a monument was erected at the site the original oil well and the site was named the First Oil Well in Western Canada National Historic Site of Canada.
Written by: Ron Kelland, Historic Places Research Officer and Geographical Names Program Coordinator.
Location
Cameron Creek
National Topographic System Map Sheet: 82 H/04 – Waterton Lakes
Latitude/Longitude: 49°01’11N / 114°02’38”W to 49°02’41”N / 113°54’45”W
Alberta Township System: SW11-01-01-W5 to NW14-01-30-W4
Description: Flows into Upper Waterton Lake within the Waterton Park town site.
Cameron Lake
National Topographic System Map Sheet: 82 G/01 – Sage Creek
Alberta Township System: 2, 3, 10, 11-01-01-W5
Description: On the Canada/US border approximately 11 km south west of the Waterton Park town site and 1 km east of the Alberta/British Columbia boundary.
Additional Resources
More information about Cameron Creek, Cameron Lake, Maj-Gen. Donald R. Cameron and the First Oil Well in Western Canada can be found in:
Edwards, Victoria. “Major General Donald Roderick Cameron C.M.G.” eVeritas [electronic newsletter of the Royal Military College Club], available from http://everitas.rmcclub.ca/?p=4485. (Accessed 16 Oct 2013).
Rees, Tony. Arc of the Medicine Line: mapping the World’s Longest Undefended Border across the Western Plains. Lincoln, NB: University of Nebraska Press, 2007.
Last Sunday (June 2nd) was the 60th anniversary of Queen Elizabeth II’s coronation. She had been Queen for over a year at the time. (She ascended to the throne upon the death of King George VI, her father, in February 1952.) The timing allowed for a period of mourning for the late King and to organise the pomp and ceremony of a coronation.
Canada marked the occasion by naming a large mountain range in Jasper National Park for our new Queen. Many places names in Canada have been inspired by members of the Royal family. To learn more about this you could revisit our post on the Royal Jubilee, Queen Elizabeth II and Place Names.
Written by: Ron Kelland, Historic Places Research Officer and Geographical Names Program Coordinator.
Adams Lake (looking west), August 29, 2012, Alberta Geographical Names Program
The Alberta Historical Resources Foundation and the Minister of Culture has officially adopted the name Adams Lake for a small lake in Red Deer County (see information bulletin). The lake is approximately 100 hectares (250 acres) in size and located about two kilometres south of Raven and 35 kilometres west of Innisfail. The adoption of this name is significant as it commemorates the Adams family, who homesteaded in the region, and recognizes a name that has been used locally for about 100 years.
David Arthur and Julia Marie Adams, 1902, Photograph courtesy of the Adams family
The name commemorates the family of David and Julia Adams. David Arthur Adams was born in Stratford, Ontario. As a young man he met Julia Marie Hedlund, of Chippewa County, Minnesota at a hotel in Lakota, North Dakota. They were married in 1902 and lived for a time with David’s parents in Birtle, Manitoba. The couple soon struck out on their own and lived for a time in Vancouver and Mission, British Columbia and in Calgary, Alberta. Ultimately, in 1912, they settled on a homestead in the Raven District. The homestead, NW2-36-4-W5, was on the eastern shore of a small lake. The lake had been previously noted as “Lake No. 3” in a 1904 Dominion Land Survey Plan of Township 36-4-W5 and it appears unnamed on most federal government maps of the region following that date. It became popular with people from as far away as Spruce View for skating in the winter months and after 1912, it became known to locals as “Adams Lake,” likely due to the family’s proximity.
By the time the Adams’ had settled near Raven, they were raising six children, and four more were born during their time at the homestead. According to David and Julia’s descendents, the land the family was working was not ideal for agriculture and, perhaps for this reason, at the age of 42, David Adams enlisted for service with the 187th (Central Alberta) Regiment during the First World War. Following the war he returned to farming. However, as the older children grew up and left home for farms in the neighbouring districts, and other careers of their own in Spruce View, Bowden, Innisfail and Rocky Mountain House, the farmstead was not sustainable and at some point in the 1920s David and Julia also left the area. David passed away in Calgary in 1942. Julia lived with her children in the Dickson and Kevisville districts and the Pigeon Lake area before also passing away in Calgary in 1966.
Although the Adams family remained in the general area for some time, their direct association with the lake was relatively short. However, field research done by the Alberta Geographical Names Program in 1981 and 2012 found that the name Adams Lake was still being used by many local residents and that the name had been in use since at least the 1920s, probably even longer. The lake has also been identified by that name in local publications, newspapers and water conservation reports for the area.
In Alberta, geographical names are adopted after being evaluated against the “Principles of Geographical Naming.” These principles can be found in the Geographical Names Manual.The principles to approve names are based on national and international standards and guidelines and hold that names that have a demonstrated local and/or historical usage should be given primacy when names are being considered for features with no official name. In 2011, Robert Nanninga, a resident of the Raven area applied to Alberta Culture to have the long-standing, but unofficial name given official recognition by Alberta Culture. A considerable amount of information was provided by the applicant and the region’s local history (Grub Axe to Grain…). However, the real breakthrough came when another area resident put researchers in touch with Ken Adams, a grandson of David and Julia. Through him connections were made with Georgina O’Coin, a granddaughter, and Edith Hudson (née Adams), the last surviving child of David and Julia. When these three family members were interviewed in Red Deer in August 2012, Mrs. Hudson was 101 years old. The information given during this interview proved invaluable in firming up the history of the lake and family by providing more details than were included in the local history. It was a true pleasure to be able to meet with the descendents of this homesteading family.
LtoR: Georgina O’Coin, Ken Adams, Edith Hudson (née Adams). Taken at Red Deer, August 29, 2012, Alberta Geographical Names Program
The Adams Lake naming proposal was supported by the Municipal Council of Red Deer County. The Board of the Alberta Historical Resources Foundation decided to officially adopt the name during their October 20, 2012 meeting in Banff. On November 19, 2012, the Minister of Culture concurred with the board’s decision and the adoption of the name became official. Notification of the adoption of the name Adams Lake was published in Alberta Gazette on January 15, 2013. Notification of the new official name has been communicated to provincial mapping authorities and to the Secretariat of the Geographical Names Board of Canada for inclusion in the Canadian Geographical Names Database, ensuring that the name will appear on new maps of the region produced by the federal and provincial governments.
Written by: Ron Kelland, Historic Places Research Officer and Geographical Names Program Coordinator
Location
National Topographic System Map Sheet: 83 B/1 – Markerville
Latitude/Longitude: 52° 04′ 05″ N & 114° 29′ 05″ W
Alberta Township System: Sec. 3 Twp. 36 Rge. 4 W5
Description: Approximately two km south of Raven and 35 km west of Innisfail (town).
Additional Resources
Additional information about the lake and the Adams family can be found in:
Grub Axe to Grain…: A History of Craig, Dickson, Happy Hill, Heckla, Hola, Markerville, New Hill, North Raven, Raven, Red Raven, Rich Hill, Spruce View (Spruce View: Spruce View School Area Historical Society, 1973).Available from Our Future Our Past: The Alberta Heritage Digitization Project, University of Calgary, http://www.ourfutureourpast.ca/loc_hist/toc.aspx?id=7618.
