Places mentioned in the CorrespondenceKim Shortreed-WebbMartin Holmes
Published by the University of Victoria.
This is a born-digital resource based on research by the team working on the Colonial
Despatches of B.C. and Vancouver Island.
Alexander Archipelago54.679456 -131.99527854.691792 -133.56000556.001800 -134.79029156.981046 -135.93632557.912899 -136.65706258.295276 -136.97674758.607706 -137.70983058.780286 -138.05234859.182099 -138.93013459.550843 -139.94900159.894398 -139.59534060.067528 -139.16700059.235135 -137.57741958.919150 -137.51768459.173446 -136.60179559.450070 -136.45191059.777777 -135.51244758.411540 -133.40406457.218819 -132.21745156.614392 -131.58642256.323990 -130.69915655.974890 -131.17143155.714214 -130.93754355.507743 -130.91211955.281928 -130.93403155.168961 -131.15629754.997359 -131.38061154.679456 -131.995278The Alexander Archipelago is a group of over one thousand islands in southeast
Alaska, and although they are part of the United States politically, they are closer
geographically to British Columbia. The archipelago was named in 1867 in honour of
Alexander II, Russia tsar, by the U.S. Coast and Geodetic Survey (Encyclopædia
Britannica, <ref type="external"
target="http://www.britannica.com/EBchecked/topic/14160/Alexander-Archipelago"
>Alexander Archipelago</ref>,Encyclopædia Britannica Online).Astoria46.187884 -123.831253Astoria, now a port city in the State of Oregon, was named after John Jacob Astor,
a German who migrated to England, and then set to further his fortunes in the marine
fur trade of the Pacific coast, and he did so with the Pacific Fur Company (Morton,
489). This fort, now a city, at the mouth of the Columbia River, was a key location in the Oregon Territory land dispute. In 1813,
the British captured and renamed it Fort George, but it would regain its former mantle
in 1818, when it was returned to the United States (Middleton, 12).Lynn Middleton, Placenames of the Pacific Northwest
Coast (Victoria: Elldee Publishing Company, 1969).Arthur S. Morton, A History of the Canadian West to
1870-71 (London: Thomas Nelson & Sons, 1939).Barkley Sound48.875466 -125.218398Barkley Sound is on the west coast of Vancouver Island, North of the entrance to the Juan de Fuca Strait. It was named after Charles William Barkley, though a common misspelling on early
charts was Barclay (Andrew Scott, The Encyclopedia of Raincoast
Placenames (Madeira Park, BC: Harbour Publishing, 2009),
59).Barkley, apparently not the humblest of gentlemen,
named the sound after himself in 1787, during an independent trade adventure to the
area (59). On this trip, he carried aboard his young wife, Frances Hornby Trevor,
thought to be the first European woman to set eyes on the British Columbia coast (59).
The Spanish called the sound Baia de Carrasco, after naval officer Juan Carrasco
(59).Beaver Harbour50.7 -127.4This small harbour, just northeast of Port
Hardy, was likely named after the historic Hudson's Bay Company steamship
Beaver (John T. Walbran, British Columbia Place Names (Vancouver: Douglas & McIntyre,
1971), 64).The area around this harbour was of interest for its coal deposits, to such an
extent that Fort Rupert was constructed
nearby, to manage the extraction of the valuable ship-fuel mineral (513). See this despatch for further reading.Becher Bay48.319619 -123.60346148.320364 -123.60202048.321957 -123.59882248.323639 -123.59709848.325117 -123.59535348.326813 -123.59342848.328606 -123.59152748.330209 -123.59171248.331978 -123.59124648.334512 -123.59156648.336203 -123.58852748.338948 -123.58982348.341156 -123.58738148.342640 -123.58848148.342826 -123.59124948.339157 -123.59377648.338733 -123.59774348.337464 -123.60073448.335670 -123.60264648.334654 -123.60422048.334083 -123.60841348.336298 -123.61298748.336262 -123.62400348.334984 -123.62575448.336379 -123.62682148.337067 -123.62746848.334617 -123.63196248.327493 -123.63476748.325726 -123.62937948.323939 -123.63580648.317504 -123.63797748.319619 -123.603461This bay islocated on the sothern coast Vancouver Island, just to the southeast of the Sooke Basin, and west of Pedder Bay.Becher Bay, along with other Becher features, was named by Captain Kellett in 1846, during the latter's survey of southern Island waters, in homage to Alexander
Bridport Becher (1796-1876), a Royal Navy hydrographer (Andrew Scott, The Encyclopedia of Raincoast Placenames (Madeira Park, BC:
Harbour Publishing, 2009), 65). Becher is often confused with Beecher, likely
as a result of Beechey Head's proximity
to the bay.Beechey Head48.319619 -123.603461Beechey Head is on the southwestern shore of Vancouver Island, and marks the western entrance to
Becher Bay, a feature with which its name
is often confused. Beechey Head was named by Captain Kellett, in 1846,
after Rear Admiral William James Robert Beechey, a Royal Navy navigator of some
report, especially as, in 1818, he served under the legendary Lieutenant John
Franklin; Beechey later became president of the Royal Geographical Society, from
1855-56 (Andrew Scott, The Encyclopedia of Raincoast
Placenames (Madeira Park, BC: Harbour Publishing, 2009),
66).Belcher Point49.41628 -126.06961Belcher Point is located on the west side Vancouver Island, and is named after Sir Edward
Belcher (1799-1877), a career naval officer who, among his many exploits, led an
expedition 1852 in search of the fate of the famously tragic Franklin expedition
(Andrew Scott, The Encyclopedia of Raincoast
Placenames (Madeira Park, BC: Harbour Publishing, 2009),
67).Bellingham48.759553 -122.488225Bellingham is a city located just south of the Canada/U.S. border, on the
northeastern shores of the Puget Sound, in
the Salish Sea; it is the largest city in
Whatcom County.Bellingham was named so by Captain Vancouver in
1792 after Sir William Bellingham. As with today, a number of Indigenous groups,
including the Lummi, Nooksack, and Coast Salish, called the land around Bellingham
home prior to European settlement (City of Bellingham, Washington, <ref type="external" target="http://www.cob.org/visiting/about.aspx"
>About Bellingham</ref>,City of Bellingham, Washington).Bentinck Island48.312 -123.546Bentinck Island islocated off of southern Vancouver Island. It was, perhaps, named after Lord
George Bentinck (1802-48), a British politician (Andrew Scott, The Encyclopedia of Raincoast Placenames (Madeira Park, BC: Harbour
Publishing, 2009), 70).This island served as the new lazaretto in 1924, following the colony closure on
D'Arcy Island, and would remain so
until 1956 (70). Evidence of the colony remains, including a cemetery, where 13
Hansen's Disease patients who died on the island are buried (70).Birch Bay48.895159 -122.78976748.894745 -122.78457448.897412 -122.77811748.900577 -122.77457348.903075 -122.77153548.905907 -122.76735748.906740 -122.76368448.907573 -122.75887148.909905 -122.75266448.914401 -122.74823148.918730 -122.74582448.923976 -122.74544448.929887 -122.74595048.933801 -122.74886548.936798 -122.75254148.940711 -122.76116148.942541 -122.76965548.931378 -122.78739248.931710 -122.79195548.894492 -122.79331348.895159 -122.789767Birch Bay is located just south of the Canada/U.S. border, in southeastern Georgia Strait. To the West, across the
Strait from the bay, sits the southern Gulf
Islands. In 1792, Vancouver anchored in the
bay, and was inspired to name it in reference to the abundant birch on the bay’s
shores; the Spanish knew it as Ensenda de Garzon (Lynn Middleton, Placenames of the Pacific Northwest Coast (Victoria: Elldee
Publishing Company, 1969), 23).According to George Davidson, a British painter on Vancouver’s expedition, one of the Indigenous names for the bay was, in
Davidson’s Anglicization, “Tsan-wuch” (23).Boston42.34926 -71.07838Boston city is located in the northeastern United States, and it is the capital of
Massachusetts. Puritans from England established a colony on the Shawmut Peninsula in
1630 (Encyclopædia Britannica, <ref type="external"
target="http://www.britannica.com/EBchecked/topic/74844/Boston"
>Boston</ref>,Encyclopædia Britannica). Boston would go on to play
a pivotal role in the American Revolution (Encyclopædia
Britannica).Broughton Strait50.616667 -127.05Broughton Strait runs between the shores of northeast Vancouver Island and Malcolm Island. A cluster geograpic features near the
Strait—including Broughton Archipelago, Broughton Island, and more—are named after
Lt. William Robert Broughton (1762-1821), who commanded
one of Vancouver's smaller exploration vessels, the
Chatham, on a visit to the area in 1791
(Andrew Scott, The Encyclopedia of Raincoast
Placenames (Madeira Park, BC: Harbour Publishing, 2009),
89).Cadboro Bay48.453447 -123.29962748.453153 -123.29930248.452197 -123.29853148.451273 -123.29549148.450466 -123.29604548.449395 -123.29438748.449801 -123.29310948.450904 -123.29299648.451271 -123.29244048.450609 -123.29194348.450094 -123.29183348.448470 -123.29094948.447884 -123.29161648.448103 -123.29261548.447590 -123.29300448.446118 -123.29206448.444903 -123.29084648.443945 -123.28951748.450155 -123.28073948.450635 -123.28107848.451152 -123.28113948.451630 -123.28164148.451887 -123.28229648.452254 -123.28224148.452769 -123.28311848.452659 -123.28367048.453396 -123.28417448.453983 -123.28396048.454022 -123.28550448.454464 -123.28633648.455420 -123.28700048.456637 -123.28826948.457400 -123.28783248.458459 -123.28739148.458797 -123.28760648.459247 -123.28893048.459252 -123.29159248.458410 -123.29436848.457087 -123.29719948.454645 -123.29932248.453447 -123.299627Cadboro Bay is located near the southern-most end of Vancouver Island, and it looks out onto where the
Juan de Fuca Strait blends with
Haro Strait waters. It was named after
the Hudson's Bay Company (HBC) trading brigantine Cadborough by HBC crew in 1842 (Scott, 98); though, it appears as Cadboroin several despatches.According to Walbran, the Cadborough was
the first European vessel to anchor in the bay (76), which is known as Sungayka, "snow
patches," by the Songhees First Nation (98).Andrew Scott, The Encyclopedia of Raincoast
Placenames (Madeira Park, BC: Harbour Publishing, 2009).John T. Walbran, British Columbia Place Names
(Vancouver: Douglas & McIntyre, 1971).Callao-12.04364 -77.141997Callao is a seaport city on the mid-west coast of Peru.Camosun48.421850 -123.367970Variant spellings of Camosun include Camoosan and Camõsack. James Douglas, prior to his years as
Governor, was tasked by the Hudson's Bay Company (HBC) in 1842 to find appropriate
land on which to establish a trading fort. Reports of southern Vancouver Island lands had been embellished to date.
Nevertheless, Douglas found the Songhees people's lands
surrounding modern-day Victoria harbour
agreeable to settlement. He found six square miles fit for till or pasture, a secure
harbour, timber for building, and a source for water-power nearby, though he
recommended wells be dug for a reliable source for fresh water (Rich, 718-19).At this time, the HBC felt pressure to shift its depots from the coasts, in part,
in response to growing tensions with the U.S. By 1843, Fort Victoria was established adjacent to a Songhees village.
The Songhees helped to build the fort, located on present-day Bastion Square. In 1844,
the Songhess moved their village to the west shore of Victoria harbour, and by 1853, the village became a reserve
(<ref type="external"
target="http://www.songheesnation.com/html/history/current.htm">The Songhees
Nation Information and Resource Site</ref>).E.E. Rich, Hudson's Bay Company 1670-1870, Volume III:
1821-1870 (New York: The Macmillan Company, 1961).The Songhees Nation Information and Resource Site, <ref
type="external"
target="http://www.songheesnation.com/html/history/current.htm">Current
History</ref>,The Songhees Nation Information and Resource Site.Cape Flattery48.391739 -124.738087This weather-beaten point is the farthest northwest of contiguous U.S. land; it is
where the Strait of Juan de Fuca
meets the Pacific Ocean. On March 22, 1778, Captain James Cook
(1728-1779) gave the point its English name, in reference to its flattering prospect
of a forthcoming strait—the Juan de
Fuca (Cook, 509).Cape Flattery makes up a part of the
Makah Reservation. The Makah traversed these rough waters to hunt and fish in a
variety of canoes, from cargo to sailing designs (<ref
type="external" target="http://www.makah.com/history.html"
>Makah.com</ref>). James Cook, <ref type="external"
target="http://books.google.ca/books?id=xxUXAAAAYAAJ&pg=PA509#v=onepage&q=&f=false"
>Captain Cook's Three Voyages Around the World</ref> (London: George
Routledge and Sons, 1880).Makah.com, <ref type="external"
target="http://www.makah.com/history.html">Our History</ref>,Makah.com.Cape Mudge49.99964 -125.18617Cape Mudge is located on the South end of Quadra Island, which lies off the mid-eastern coast of Vancouver Island. This cape, that juts into
notoriously hazardous waters, is named after Zachary Mudge (1770-1852), a first
lieutenant of Vancouver's Discovery; Mudge's name is attached to several coastal
features (Andrew Scott, The Encyclopedia of Raincoast
Placenames (Madeira Park, BC: Harbour Publishing, 2009), 106).
Today, the cape is part of We-wai-kai lands, whose name for the cape is Yaculta
(106).Cape Saint James51.933333 -131.016667Cape Saint James is on the southern end of Saint James Island. It was named so by Dixon, who rounded the cape on Saint Jame's day, in 1787
(Andrew Scott, The Encyclopedia of Raincoast
Placenames (Madeira Park, BC: Harbour Publishing, 2009), 107). The
Haida First Nation name for the cape is Rangxiid Kun (107). The cape has been home to
a lighthouse, a meteorological station, and a WWII radar station—as of 1992, the
lighthouse has become automated (107). Cape Scott50.783333 -128.433333Cape Scott is on northwestern tip of Vancouver Island. This exposed cape looks west to the open Pacific and
north, across Queen Charlotte
Sound, to Haida Gwaii, or the
Queen Charlotte Islands. It was named
after David Scott (1746-1805), Mumbai merchant, fur-trade
financier, and, later in his career, chairman of the East India Company (Scott,
107).Merchant-vessel Captains Lowrie and Guiseuring named the point in 1786, while on a Scott-funded expedition to the region (<ref
type="external" target="http://ilmbwww.gov.bc.ca/bcgn-bin/bcg10?name=51611"
>BCGNIS</ref>). In the late eighteen hundreds, Cape Scott was the site of
an unsuccessful Danish settler colony (Scott, 107). Cape Scott is now part of the Cape
Scott Provincial Park, established in 1973 (107).BC Geographical Names Information System (BCGNIS), <ref
type="external" target="http://ilmbwww.gov.bc.ca/bcgn-bin/bcg10?name=51611"
>Cape Scott</ref>,BCGNIS.Andrew Scott, The Encyclopedia of Raincoast
Placenames (Madeira Park, BC: Harbour Publishing, 2009).Caribbean10.100414 -60.9544989.994576 -61.93393310.120425 -62.00896310.791424 -61.75775311.986901 -61.97205813.373660 -61.27529813.830406 -61.13709914.746706 -61.32520815.429592 -61.52796216.685505 -62.29394717.433505 -63.10028517.610614 -64.71134117.880874 -67.16734717.403790 -71.62692617.628880 -77.25599719.018287 -81.50752221.810089 -85.04554622.469191 -84.79784724.411276 -80.37025627.469276 -79.19548627.527908 -78.33415626.824605 -77.01218624.156351 -74.37897821.871676 -71.50396020.630547 -69.33702118.430062 -62.95258517.308839 -61.48563416.350941 -60.78838515.486388 -60.69112714.443530 -60.34605913.259673 -59.25502512.600199 -59.33335210.999553 -60.31047110.281970 -60.78078410.109327 -60.93601510.098544 -60.95371510.100414 -60.954498The Caribbean, as a region, is made up of the Caribbean Sea and numerous islands,
each with a rich and diverse history. These islands are split into three larger
groups, with the Bahamas to the North of the chain, the Greater Antilles roughly in
the middle, and the Lesser Antilles to the South.The first documented inhabitants of the region were the Carribeans—comprised
mostly of the Taínos, or Arawaks, in the Greater Antilles, and the Caribs, or
Callinagoes, of the Lesser Antilles (Janice McLean, <ref
type="external"
target="http://www.oxfordreference.com/views/ENTRY.html?subview=Main&entry=t301.e086"
>Caribbean</ref>,The Oxford Encyclopedia of African Thought). In
1492, it was the former which Columbus met, on a Bahamian island, and was then
convinced he had reached the East Indies, which explains the derivation of “West
Indies” associated with the region (McLean).In the period covered by the Colonial Despatches collection, the Caribbean was a
tangle of Colonial rule and Triangular Trade, largely at the hands of Britain, Spain,
the Netherlands, and France. Cedar Hill48.493056 -123.346667This 260-metre hill is located on southwest Vancouver Island. As of 1910, Cedar Hill adopted the
name Mount Douglas, presumably after
Governor Douglas (BC Geographical Names
Information System (BCGNIS), <ref type="external"
target="http://ilmbwww.gov.bc.ca/bcgn-bin/bcg10?name=14790">Douglas,
Mount</ref>,BCGNIS).In an 1850 despatch, Blanshard refers to an Hudson's
Bay Company survey, where from the boundaries to Company lands in the area are
“bounded by a line drawn nearly due North from the head of Victoria harbour to a hill marked on the charts as Cedar Hill,
or Mount Douglas.”This hill, now a municipal park, provided the lumber to build the palisades
surrounding Fort Victoria in the early 1840s
(BCGNIS).Chemainus River48.882645 -123.67791048.878680 -123.70359648.907594 -123.73738048.885541 -123.77883848.884786 -123.79215748.883074 -123.79784048.880832 -123.79588848.872547 -123.80413348.867777 -123.81099448.860098 -123.81194848.852721 -123.81317048.849201 -123.81619748.849197 -123.82193648.842442 -123.82881048.838810 -123.82542548.836255 -123.83240848.832974 -123.83154348.835398 -123.84372048.837621 -123.84431548.836440 -123.88828748.843942 -123.92161548.841453 -123.93271948.845704 -123.94346248.849171 -123.95454148.852545 -123.96206548.872677 -123.99654048.914455 -124.07097948.932606 -124.11789648.935311 -124.181439The Chemainus River is located on southeastern Vancouver Island. Its headwaters begin, roughly, North
of the Cowichan River; it then travels
southeasterly to outflow in the Georgia
Strait, passing through the coastal town of Chemainus. The river, along with
the town and district, was named in the 1850s after the Chemainus First Nation (Scott,
117). Recently, however, the Chemainus have become the Stz’uminus First Nation, to
reflect their original Hul'qumi'num language name (Stz’uminus First Nation).Andrew Scott, The Encyclopedia of Raincoast
Placenames (Madeira Park, BC: Harbour Publishing, 2009).Stz’uminus First Nation, <ref type="external"
target="http://www.stzuminus.com/">Home</ref>,Stz’uminus First Nation.Christmas Hill48.476290 -123.38053948.471471 -123.38053948.471471 -123.37272748.476290 -123.372727Christmas Hill is located near Victoria,
in the municipality of Saanich. It
was marked as Lake Hill, perhaps in
reference to the nearby Swan Lake, on a 1911 British Admiralty chart (BC
Geographical Names Information System (BCGNIS), <ref
type="external" target="http://archive.ilmb.gov.bc.ca/bcgn-bin/bcg10?name=5950"
>Christmas Hill</ref>,BCGNIS). The name Christmas Hill was adopted,
officially, in 1934 (BCGNIS).The Columbia River51.648448 -119.05141049.667232 -115.83056550.077096 -118.13951145.590981 -118.72013045.318066 -122.73697446.057155 -123.99024546.414825 -124.10794246.115225 -120.39415147.915698 -120.63689249.590778 -120.054749This 2000 kilometre river, roughly 800 kilometres of which wends through Canada,
has its source in southeastern British Columbia's Columbia Lake (Marsh). It passes into the USA where it meets the Pacific Ocean at the divide
between Washington and Oregon State.Spanish explorers had named it Rio de San Roque in 1775, and it was called Oregon
River by Jonathan Carver in 1766; it was not until 1792 that
Boston trader Captain Robert Gray named it after his ship
(BCGNIS). David Thompson, then of the North West
Company, explored the westward Columbia in 1811 to find American traders already
present in Fort Astoria, on the south side of
the Columbia's delta (Marsh).As several early despatches show, this river served as a natural border between
British and U.S. interests until, and after much tension in Oregon Territory, the Oregon Treaty of 1846 settled an
enforceable borderline north of the Columbia to the 49th parallel, which is now the
Canada/U.S. border.BC Geographical Names Information System (BCGNIS) , <ref
type="external" target="http://ilmbwww.gov.bc.ca/bcgn-bin/bcg10?name=37961"
>Columbia River</ref>,BCGNIS.James Marsh, <ref type="external"
target="http://www.thecanadianencyclopedia.com/index.cfm?PgNm=TCE&Params=A1ARTA0001777"
>Columbia River</ref>,The Canadian Encyclopedia.Cordova Bay48.49964 -123.3359Cordova Bay is located on the southeastern shores of Vancouver Island. It lies on the eastern shore of the
Saanich Peninsula, roughly 10
kilometres north of Victoria, and looks
across to U.S. Waters and San Juan
Island.In 1790, Spanish navy sub-lieutenant Manuel Quimper
named what is known now as Esquimalt
Harbour Puerto de Cordova, after the 46th viceroy of Mexico (BC
Geographical Names Information System (BCGNIS), <ref
type="external" target="http://ilmbwww.gov.bc.ca/bcgn-bin/bcg10?name=13038"
>Cordova Bay</ref>,BCGNIS). Hudson's Bay Company officers anglicized
and relocated the name to its present location in, circa, 1842, which had been
labelled alternatively as Cormorant Bay by British Admiralty in the 1840s (BCGNIS). However, in 1905, Captain Walbran, famous for his knowledge, and
book, on west-coast place names, led the charge to list Cordova Bay as the official
name (BCGNIS).Couteau RiverIn this despatch, Merivale minutes that he "cannot find the 'Couteau River' on the maps," but
he presumes that "from the description to be between Fraser & Thom[p]son's rivers."Cowichan Bay48.75 -123.616667Cowichan Bay is located on southern Vancouver Island. It is the outflow point for Cowichan River, which flows East from Cowichan Lake.Cowichan Bay was named by HBC officers, and is home to, along with the surrounding
Cowichan region, the Quw'utsun Nation, the largest Coast Salish Nation in British
Columbia (Andrew Scott, The Encyclopedia of Raincoast
Placenames (Madeira Park, BC: Harbour Publishing, 2009), 137). The
name Cowichan, likely derived from one of the many forms of Quw'utsun, is an
Anglicization of the Island Halkomelem term for "warming the back" (Scott,
138).Cowichan Head48.566667 -123.366667Cowichan Head is located on the eastern shores of the Saanich Peninsula, North of Cordova Bay. It was named in 1859 by Captain Richards, of HMS Plumper. According to one provincial archivist, the land surrounding
Cowichan Head was sold to the HBC by local First Nations.See the Cowichan Bay entry for more
on Cowichan name origins and meanings.Cowichan Lake48.921999 -124.46108948.915326 -124.38235448.923340 -124.37600948.903018 -124.29291848.853344 -124.11121348.825284 -124.05539448.805037 -124.08313348.810016 -124.16304348.825900 -124.19096248.846059 -124.20037648.880673 -124.35983248.916860 -124.455300Cowichan Lake is located on southern Vancouver Island. It is the headwater for Cowichan River, which flows East to Cowichan Bay.See the Cowichan Bay entry for more
on Cowichan name origins and meanings.Cowichan Region48.647475 -124.83349148.623003 -124.79136348.532140 -124.52511848.722242 -124.28161348.640816 -124.14495248.640635 -123.85598748.574601 -123.79699148.619598 -123.69014448.520633 -123.60556348.535728 -123.55157548.555006 -123.54221648.564507 -123.50372648.707268 -123.50813248.725619 -123.52361648.734744 -123.55087848.763523 -123.56838448.778176 -123.55302348.798689 -123.55574948.815835 -123.57734448.830673 -123.57694748.922353 -123.61554648.981401 -123.63099548.985606 -123.61521149.019459 -123.57977449.039571 -123.59564549.122049 -123.68240449.129287 -123.69907049.126895 -123.71850849.089634 -123.71960549.055740 -123.76049649.057341 -123.86379648.994017 -124.38900849.145718 -124.57510949.014653 -124.63521248.935725 -124.53502748.866085 -124.63872048.670217 -124.85347648.647475 -124.833491The Cowichan region is located on southern Vancouver Island, and has its easterly shores in the
Georgia Strait, and its western
shores in the Pacific Ocean. In it are a number of landmarks mentioned in the
despatches, including Cowichan Lake,
river, head, and bay; as well, the region's western reach encompasses Nitinat Lake, and to the southeast, Malahat Ridge.The region is named after the most populous Coast Salish Nation in British
Columbia, the Quw'utsun', whose tribes include the Comeakin, Quamichan, Clemclemaluts,
Khenipsen, Kilpaulus, Somena, and Koksilah Nations. The Quw'utsun' have inhabited many
parts of southern B.C., and the Puget
Sound, for over four-thousand years (Cowitchantribes.com).The despatches list a variety of names for “Cowichan,” which include Cowitchin,
Cowetchin, Cowegin, Cowetchen, and others. The map link, above, denotes the Cowichan
Valley Regional District, which incorporated as such in 1967 (BCGNIS).BC Geographical Names Information System (BCGNIS), <ref
type="external"
target="http://archive.ilmb.gov.bc.ca/bcgn-bin/bcg10?name=25212">Cowichan
Valley Regional District</ref>,BCGNIS.Cowitchantribes.com, <ref type="external"
target="http://cowichantribes.com/about/History">Columbia River</ref>,Cowitchantribes.com.Cowichan River48.825175 -124.05856548.831117 -124.03234848.813904 -124.00101448.793458 -123.99610048.779421 -123.95834348.777152 -123.89677348.766630 -123.89021948.766579 -123.76421048.776066 -123.67195648.757800 -123.628371Cowichan River is located on southern Vancouver Island. It flows East from Cowichan Lake until its outflow into Cowichan Bay.See the Cowichan Bay entry for more
on Cowichan name origins and meanings.Cowlitz Region46.174647 -122.77469046.291538 -123.28836246.713981 -123.11149346.586613 -122.629709The Cowlitz region is in present-day southwest Washington State, and is named
after the Cowlitz, a Salish-speaking people who, upon European contact, shared this
area with numerous other tribes of varying populations (Ryser). Cowlitz and the surrounding area
was a nexus of British and U.S. land disputes in the mid-eighteen hundreds and, amidst
increased in trade-rights rivalry, the Puget's Sound Agricultural Company—ostensibly,
the Hudson's Bay Company (HBC)—established a farm at the headwaters of the Cowlitz
River, which branches north from the Columbia
River (Morton, 727).James Douglas, then Chief Trader of the HBC, oversaw
the formation of the Cowlitz farm in 1838, as
it was hoped that, after the ongoing boundary disputes between Britain and the US, the
British would gain land north of the Columbia
River (Rich, 686). However, the Oregon Treaty of 1846 moved the British
boundary to the 49th parallel.Arthur S. Morton, A History of the Canadian West to
1870-71 (London: Thomas Nelson & Sons, 1939).E.E. Rich, Hudson's Bay Company 1670-1870, Volume III:
1821-1870 (New York: The Macmillan Company, 1961).Rudolph C. Ryser, <ref type="external"
target="http://cwis.org/cowlitz.html">Background and History of the Cowlitz
Tribe</ref>,The Center for World Indigenous Studies.Cumberland49.61634 -125.03613Cumberland is a village just inland from the eastern shores of central Vancouver Island. Originally, the
settlement, that would become a mining mecca, was named Union, until it was renamed by
Dunsmuir, apparently after Cumberland County, a mining
centre in northern England. It incorporated as a city in 1898, though, it has since
become a Village Municipality.Cypress Island48.608963 -122.71473148.607334 -122.71963048.603833 -122.72480648.596386 -122.73002048.585066 -122.74135948.572093 -122.73937048.566908 -122.73472448.561115 -122.71994148.559177 -122.72180548.550829 -122.72480848.539550 -122.72301648.539197 -122.71662548.542844 -122.68659848.544255 -122.68255148.548261 -122.68140748.552273 -122.68126148.555711 -122.68400048.563235 -122.67235548.565711 -122.66764048.568250 -122.66763848.577093 -122.67793048.590926 -122.69131348.592667 -122.69432148.594354 -122.69428348.595787 -122.69314048.599993 -122.69835848.604671 -122.70464148.609038 -122.71084248.608963 -122.714731Cypress Island is part of the San Juan
Islands. It lies between Blakey Island, to the West, and Guemes Island, to
the East. Cypress' sinuous western coastline looks on to Rosario Strait and is home to Strawberry Bay. In 1792, Vancouver named it Cypress, in reference to the abundance of what were, in
fact, juniper trees (Lynn Middleton, Placenames of the Pacific
Northwest Coast (Victoria: Elldee Publishing Company, 1969), 56).
Despite this botanical misidentification, the name Cypress stuck. Its earlier Spanish
name was Isla de Saint Vincente (56).The Dalles45.594564 -121.178682The Dalles, Oregon, is a city on the Columbia River. It is, roughly, 100 kilometres East of Portland, and the largest community in Wasco County. The city
incorporated in 1857, but it was a significant settlement for many years prior,
especially as it was considered the town at the end of the Oregon Trail (City of The
Dalles)—it was inhabited by the Wasco and Wishram tribes for some 10,000 years
before European arrival (Native-languages.org). The
Dalles, as with other cities on the Columbia, was embroiled in the Oregon Territory land disputes of the mid-1800s. In extracts associated with this
despatch, The Dalles appears as a site of conflict between U.S. Troops and the
Yakima, as well as other Indigenous groups. The Dalles, or “the flagstones,” from the
French “dalle,” was so name due to the rocks and rapids on the city's
riverfront.City of The Dalles, <ref type="external"
target="http://www.ci.the-dalles.or.us/historygeo">City History and
Geographical Area</ref>,City of The Dalles.Concise Dictionary of World Place-Names, <ref type="external"
target="http://www.oxfordreference.com/views/ENTRY.html?subview=Main&entry=t209.e7361"
>The Dalles</ref>,Oxford Reference Online.Native-languages.org, <ref type="external"
target="http://www.native-languages.org/oregon.htm">Native American Tribes of
Oregon</ref>,Native-languages.org.D'Arcy Island48.567037 -123.278936D'Arcy Island is located in the Haro
Strait, whose waters run between southern Vancouver Island and, roughly, San Juan Island. Little D'Arcy Island is tucked up near
the easter side of its larger partner, and today, the area is part of a provincial
marine park, established in 1961 (Andrew Scott, The
Encyclopedia of Raincoast Placenames (Madeira Park, BC: Harbour
Publishing, 2009), 148). D'Arcy Island was a lazaretto from 1891 to 1924, for
mostly Chinese sufferers of Hansen's Disease (148). The Sencot'en name for the island
is Ctesu (148).Deception Pass48.405861 -122.642135Deception Pass is part of the Salish
Sea, in eastern Juan de Fuca
Strait, north of Puget
Sound.The indomitable rowing machine, otherwise know as Joseph Whidbey, had surveyed
recently the surrounding region. Whidbey, who had spent days likely dodging rocks and
braving currents, was deceived by what he surmised was a cove: this turned out to be a
narrow passage that Vancouver would call,
appropriately, Deception Pass. In homage to Whidbey's toil and endurance, Vancouver named this newly-proved island Whidbey.Descanso Bay49.183333 -123.866667Descanso Bay is on the West end of Gabriola Island. It was named Cala del Descanso, or "cove of rest" in the
early 1790s by Spanish explorers, though Captain Richards marked it as Rocky Bay
during his 1862 survey of the area (Andrew Scott, The
Encyclopedia of Raincoast Placenames (Madeira Park, BC: Harbour
Publishing, 2009), 158).Duwamish River47.584444 -122.360278The Duwamish River feeds from the South into Seattle, and Puget Sound; it
connects to the Green River, roughly twenty kilometres inland. It draws its name from
the Duwamish Tribe, Duwamish being an Anglicization of
DḵẖʷʼDuwʼAbsh, which means "The People of the
Inside," in reference to living inside and around the waterways of Elliott Bay, the
Duwamish River, and other lakes and waterways considered
DḵẖʷʼDuwʼAbsh ancestral land (Duwamish Tribe,
<ref type="external"
target="http://www.duwamishtribe.org/culture.html">Culture and
History</ref>,Duwamish Tribe).Ellenborough Peninsula50.616192 -127.12980450.608984 -127.07332050.599513 -127.07543350.599115 -127.135104 This peninsula is located on the northeastern side of Vancouver Island. Walbran notes that Ellenborough
Peninsula was named in 1846 by Commander Gordon
(John T. Walbran, British Columbia Place Names
(Vancouver: Douglas & McIntyre, 1971), 222). Walbran adds that the name
is obselete [as of circa 1906] but places the peninsula "on the opposite side of Broughton strait and westward of Port McNeill" (222).Englefield Bay52.983333 -132.416667Englefield Bay is located on the west side of Haida Gwaii, in Mitchell
Inlet, off northwest Moresby Island. It was named after a friend of Capitan Vancouver, Sir Henry Charles Englefield
(1752-1822)—this bay is known unofficially as Gold Harbour, following the discovery of gold, likely on the shores of Mitchell Inlet, in the mid-eighteen-fifties
(Andrew Scott, The Encyclopedia of Raincoast
Placenames (Madeira Park, BC: Harbour Publishing, 2009),
184).Esquimalt48.429589 -123.406854Esquimalt, near Victoria, is part of the
southern shores of Vancouver Island.
The Esquimalt First Nation had a longstanding village on the east side of this
cove-notched harbour, which James Douglas declared as
"one of the best harbours of the Coast" during his survey of the area for the
Hudson's Bay Company (HBC), though he referred to it "Is-whoy-malth" at the time.
"Esquimalt" is an Anglicization of Coast Salish term for "a place gradually shoaling"
(Walbran, 171). Douglas would later negotiate treaties
with several First Nation groups in the area, largely for the development of HBC
supply farms (Scott, 187).The British Royal Navy had military interests in Esquimalt as early as the 1840s,
but it was not until the 1860s that Esquimalt replaced Valparaiso, Chile, as the headquaters for the Royal Navy's Pacific Station
(188). Today, this area is home to Maritime Forces Pacific (MARPAC) and Canadian
Forces Base Esquimalt (Maritime
Forces Pacific).Maritime Forces Pacific, <ref type="external"
target="http://www.navy.forces.gc.ca/marpac/0/0-w_eng.asp?category=39"
>Maritime Forces Pacific, Welcome</ref>,Canadian Navy.Andrew Scott, The Encyclopedia of Raincoast
Placenames (Madeira Park, BC: Harbour Publishing, 2009).John T. Walbran, British Columbia Place Names
(Vancouver: Douglas & McIntyre, 1971).Esquimalt Harbour48.433333 -123.433333Esquimalt Harbour is located on southern Vancouver Island. This sheltered and cove-cut harbour, west of Esquimalt, opens into the Juan de Fuca Strait.Fort Colvile48.622728 -118.115094Fort Colvile was a key depot and trade hub for the HBC's Columbia Department
(Rich, 718). Simpson chose the site for the fort, at
Kettle Falls, to buttress Company interests in the Columbia District, and with hope of
its rise as a profitable alternative to Spokane House (448), which was established by
the Northwest company in 1810, at the confluence of the Spokane and Little Spokane rivers (Emerson).In August of 1825, Work oversaw construction of the
fort, but due to a lackadaisical construction team, the fort was not, as planned,
completed for winter storage, and the HBC was forced to rely upon Spokane House (Emerson).Fort Colvile's fate was dictated, in part, by the Oregon Territory boundary dispute, and, following the
1846 treaty, the U.S., perhaps uncharacteristically, continued to recognize British
possessory rights over Fort Colvile (Emerson). However, the fort dwindled in trade as conflicts with Indigenous
groups in the area rose, and, by 1859, the U.S. Army established nearby, in the
Colville Valley, their own Fort Colville—with two Ls. The HBC officially abandoned
Fort Colvile in 1871 (Emerson). Today, the site of the fort, and Kettle Falls, rests beneath the
waters of Lake Roosevelt, as a result of the 1940 Grand Coulee Dam project (Emerson).Stephen B. Emerson, <ref type="external"
target="http://www.historylink.org/index.cfm?DisplayPage=output.cfm&file_id=7993"
>Hudson's Bay Company begins constructing Fort Colvile near Kettle Falls in
early August 1825</ref>,HistoryLink.org.E.E. Rich, Hudson's Bay Company 1670-1870, Volume III:
1821-1870 (New York: The Macmillan Company, 1961).Fort Henrietta45.748303 -119.198214In an enclosure to this despatchSinclair reports from what he calls "Fort Kelly," which
appears to be Fort Henrietta, by virtue of both location and the Fort's commander,
James K. Kelly.Fort Henrietta was built just outside the town of Echo, Oregon, which was part of
the Oregon Trail (City of Echo, <ref type="external"
target="http://www.echo-oregon.com/history.html">History of Echo</ref>,City of Echo). Travelers crossed the Umatilla River
near the site, and would use the area to refresh themselves, and their livestock,
before pushing farther West (City of Echo). The Utilla
Indian Agency was constructed near the preferred crossing in 1851, and so became the
first local agency for the Cayuse, Walla Walla and Umatilla peoples; it served, also,
as a post office and trading post (City of Echo). During the
Yakima Indian Wars, in 1855, the Agency burned down and the diminutive military
stockade of Fort Henrietta was built on its cinders (City of Echo).Fort Langley49.166667 -122.583333Fort Langley is located in present-day Langley, British Columbia. The original
fort was constructed by the HBC in 1827, as part of a growing trade network dependent
on the Fraser River (Parks Canada, <ref type="external"
target="http://www.pc.gc.ca/lhn-nhs/bc/langley/natcul/natcul2.aspx">Fort Langley
National Historic Site of Canada</ref>,Parks Canada). The fort traded mainly in fur and
salmon with local Indigenous groups. It was also an arrival point and depot for
European goods destined for the interior (Parks
Canada).Politically, it stabilized of the British foothold on lands north of the 49th
parallel. The old fort was abandoned and new one constructed 4 kilometres upstream,
but it burned down 10 months later, after which it was rebuilt (Parks
Canada). Roughly twenty years of flush trade followed, in grain, salted pork
and beef, and thousands of barrels a year in salted salmon, which was especially
popular in the Hawaiʻian Islands (Parks
Canada).Fort Rupert, or T'sakis50.697375 -127.393540Fort Rupert is on the southeast shore of Beaver Harbour, which is on northeast Vancouver Island. Captain
McNeill superintended the fort's construction, with assistance from Blenkinsop, his second in command, in 1849 (Walbran,
185).Fort Rupert was named after Prince Rupert
(1619-82), famed most, perhaps, for his larger claim of Rupert's Land. Coal deposits in the area drove the fort's
construction more so than the Hudson's Bay Company's push for a trading post—by the
time the first coal shaft had sunk, richer deposits drew extraction interests
southward, particularly near present-day Nanaimo (Scott, 513-14).Once Fort Rupert was built, a number of Kwagiulth people settled nearby, in the
present-day community of T'sakis (513). Today, the term Kwakiutl applies to only those
from T'sakis; along with other groups in the area, the Kwakiutl are part of the
Kwakwaka'wakw—people who speak Kwakwala (Kwakiutl Indian Band). In
1889, the fort burned down, and now only a rubbled chimney marks the presence of the
original Fort Rupert (Scott, 514).Kwakiutl Indian Band, <ref type="external"
target="http://www.kwakiutl.bc.ca/land/history.htm">Kwakiutl in Fort Rupert: A
Short History</ref>,Kwakiutl Indian Band.Andrew Scott, The Encyclopedia of Raincoast
Placenames (Madeira Park, BC: Harbour Publishing, 2009).John T. Walbran, British Columbia Place Names
(Vancouver: Douglas & McIntyre, 1971).Fort Simpson61.86269 -121.35159Fort Simpson is located in present-day Northwest Territory, at the confluence of the Mackenzie and Liard rivers. In 1804, the North West Company established
"Fort of the Forks" in the area, but after the 1821 merger of the NWC and the HBC its
name changed, in honour of the occasionally bilious Sir George
Simpson (Annelies Pool, <ref type="external"
target="http://www.thecanadianencyclopedia.com/index.cfm?PgNm=TCE&Params=A1ARTA0002967"
>Fort Simpson</ref>,The Canadian Encyclopedia). Fort Simpson is the
oldest continually occupied trading post on the Mackenzie (Pool).Fort Vancouver45.625395 -122.658153In its first incarnation, in 1825, Fort Vancouver was built near the Columbia River, in present-day Vancouver, Washington State, USA (Morton,
717). Four years later, this fur-trade post shifted two kilometers west, closer to the
river, and from there would grow to become the Hudson's Bay Company's (HBC) Columbia-District headquarters, where it
administered all manner of commercial activity, from trade and shipping to fishing and
farming; moreover, Fort Vancouver became a flashpoint for tensions between British,
U.S., and Indigenous interests (718-20).After the Oregon Treaty of 1486 was ratified, and Fort Vancouver found itself on
U.S. soil, the HBC turned its presence north of the 49th parallel, to Fort Victoria, as the base of its west-coast
operations; the old fort was abandoned in 1860 (Madill).Dennis F.K. Madill, “<ref type="external"
target="http://www.thecanadianencyclopedia.com/index.cfm?PgNm=TCE&Params=A1ARTA0002971"
>Fort Vancouver</ref>,The Canadian Encyclopedia.Arthur S. Morton, A History of the Canadian West to
1870-71 (London: Thomas Nelson & Sons, 1939).Fraser River49.116667 -123.183333The Fraser River runs across the province of British Columbia. It flows from Rocky Mountains, south and west, to its
outflow into the Georgia Strait, near
Vancouver (Andrew Scott, The Encyclopedia of Raincoast Placenames (Madeira Park, BC:
Harbour Publishing, 2009), 208).The river was named by David Thompson after Simon Fraser (1776-1862)—both men were fur traders with the
North West Company, which would, eventually, merge with the Hudson' Bay Company (208).
At nearly fourteen-hundred kilometres in length, the Fraser is the longest river
entirely within the BC provincial border (208).Friendly Cove, or Yuquot49.6 -126.616667This cove is located on the southeast end of Nootka Island, which is nestled into the west coast of
Vancouver Island. The cove looks
out to Nootka Sound. From the 1774, when
Spanish Captain Juan Pérez—who named it Santa Cruz at the
time—first anchored there, but did not touch land, this area served as a locus of
European and Indigenous political, social, and cultural exchange (Scott, 211).Among Yuquot's other fames, it was here in 1792 that Spanish Captain Don Juan Francisco de la Bodega y Quadra “seduced” Captain Vancouver “with charm and polite perseverance”
(Fireman, 428) into, ultimately, deferring the territorial stalemate between Spain and
Britain back to their respective governments, which likely abated the area from, and
for some time the region, the effects of European entrenchment (Lillard,
48-50).This protracted and seminal meeting was, no doubt, tempered by Yuquot's famous
Nuu-chah-nulth chief, Muquinna, who hosted and entertained
the captains during their lengthy talks; Muquinna also
held sway over the fur-trade business in the region (Scott, 211).Today, this history-rich cove is home to the Mowachaht/Muchalaht First Nations
(Mowachaht/Muchalaht
First Nation).Janet R. Fireman, “<ref type="external"
target="http://www.jstor.org/stable/3638666">The Seduction of George
Vancouver: A Nootka Affair</ref>,JSTOR.Charles Lillard, Seven Shillings a Year: The History of
Vancouver Island (Ganges, BC: Horsdal & Schubart, 1986).Mowachaht/Muchalaht First Nation, “<ref type="external"
target="http://www.yuquot.ca/yuquot.html">Yuquot</ref>,Mowachaht/Muchalaht First Nation.Gabriola Island49.200436 -123.86475549.200327 -123.84755149.203903 -123.81750949.189227 -123.81541849.183857 -123.79992849.178508 -123.78667449.175642 -123.78137649.173178 -123.77612949.172382 -123.77317749.169884 -123.76854549.166287 -123.75948949.160845 -123.70926049.159138 -123.69918249.155047 -123.69565349.151541 -123.69510649.148960 -123.69506949.145646 -123.69366549.143059 -123.68847949.129070 -123.69407249.128636 -123.70398649.128550 -123.71138849.125686 -123.73176549.128799 -123.76395649.137175 -123.78970349.139682 -123.80228249.150752 -123.84943649.156917 -123.86330649.168764 -123.87298449.176776 -123.87095649.192962 -123.87641149.196084 -123.87264449.200436 -123.864755Gabriola Island is located just off the southeastern coast of Vancouver Island, near Nanaimo city, and is the northernmost of the Gulf Islands.Gabriola is likely a corruption, based on a mispronunciation, of the Spanish
gaviota, or seagull, as in Punta de Gaviola—Cape Seagull—the name for a point on the
eastern end of the island on Spanish maps from the 1790s (BC Geographical Names
Information System (BCGNIS), <ref type="external"
target="http://ilmbwww.gov.bc.ca/bcgn-bin/bcg10?name=5212">Gabriola
Island</ref>,BCGNIS).Galiano Island49.007564 -123.59360749.015125 -123.58679849.016860 -123.57299649.013228 -123.56762048.963635 -123.50971548.944206 -123.45332048.931283 -123.42379448.912971 -123.37287148.906036 -123.34460048.900607 -123.33896248.897430 -123.33480348.892728 -123.33327848.890492 -123.33364848.885621 -123.31787948.882232 -123.31260248.878121 -123.30951448.873828 -123.30870348.870207 -123.30870048.865616 -123.31089148.861289 -123.31245648.859968 -123.31558848.860274 -123.32992648.864036 -123.34396348.858241 -123.35286948.859796 -123.36996148.861225 -123.37621948.863616 -123.38348448.868392 -123.39161648.871828 -123.39534648.874340 -123.38929448.878035 -123.39188248.883895 -123.39978348.895193 -123.41284648.901152 -123.41145548.923424 -123.46654048.943401 -123.52117248.959491 -123.54934248.971519 -123.56437448.997119 -123.58963649.007564 -123.593607Galiano is a long, narrow island in the Gulf
Islands group; its eastern shore looks out to the Georgia Strait. Royal Navy surveyor George Richards named the island in 1859 after Spanish
explorer Alcalá-Galiano (Andrew Scott, The Encyclopedia of Raincoast Placenames (Madeira Park, BC:
Harbour Publishing, 2009), 213). Europeans began to settle Galiano in the 1870s. Today, the 57-square-kilometre
island is home to roughly 1000 people (213).Georgia Strait48.767480 -123.00881449.990158 -125.173624This 200 kilometre-long strait separates mainland southern British Columbia from
Vancouver Island. From its start in
the Gulf Islands in the south, to its
northernmost point, Cape Mudge on Quadra
Island, the Georgia Strait contains several clusters of smaller
islands.In 1791, Spanish naval officers called it the Gran Canal de Nuestra Señor del
Rosario la Marinera, but in 1792, British Captain George
Vancouver named it the Gulph of Georgia in honour if King George III, which was particularly jingoistic given strained Spanish
and British relations, which would play out further in a meeting between Captains
Quadra and Vancouver in
Friendly Cove the same year
(Andrew Scott, The Encyclopedia of Raincoast
Placenames (Madeira Park, BC: Harbour Publishing, 2009),
218).By 1858, its name changed officially to the Strait of Georgia, though, with the
recent move to include the Strait, and Puget
Sound in the US to the south, as part of the cross-border Salish Sea, its name may soon change once more (218).Gold Harbour52.95 -132.166667Gold Harbour is the unofficial name for Englefield Bay; see the Mitchell
Inlet entry for more information on the conflicts over gold there in the
mid-eighteen fifties (Andrew Scott, The Encyclopedia of
Raincoast Placenames (Madeira Park, BC: Harbour Publishing, 2009),
184).Gonzales Point48.411944 -123.294167Gonzales Point is on the south side of Victoria
City, on Vancouver Island.
Gonzales Point was named Gonzalo in 1790, after Manuel
Quimper's first officer aboard the Princess Real, Gonzalo López de Haro, whose name
would also inspire the name Haro Strait
(BC Geographical Names Information System (BCGNIS), <ref
type="external" target="http://ilmbwww.gov.bc.ca/bcgn-bin/bcg10?name=39918"
>Gonzales Point</ref>,BCGNIS).In an 1852 despatch to Earl Grey, James Douglas
speaks to the Hudson's Bay Company's "25 square miles on the south east corner of
Vancouver's Island;" the land
commences at Victoria harbour, then runs in a
large loop to "near Knocken Hill," then
to "Lake Hill, and Mount Douglas to Cordova Bay, on the Canal de
Arro, from whence it follows the coast by Gordon Head and Point
Gonzales, to the point of commencement at Victoria Harbour."Gordon Head48.48294 -123.3193Gordon Head, a suburb of Victoria, is
located east of Mount Douglas,
overlooking the Haro Strait. The area was
named after Captain Gordon, who was, according to
Walbran, "detailed for special service on the coast" from 1845-46 (John T.
Walbran, British Columbia Place Names (Vancouver: Douglas
& McIntyre, 1971), 209).Finlayson writes of Gordon's 1845 visit to Fort
Victoria, during which Gordon remarked that he
"would not give one of the barren hills of Scotland for all he saw around him" (210).
How far up the political chain this unfavorable opinion reached is difficult to say;
perhaps Gordon's slight was significant for the Oregon Territory dispute, which would be
settled, at least on paper, a year later with the signing of the Oregon Treaty.Graham Island53.333333 -132.416667Graham Island is part of the Haida
Gwaii archipelago, and is the largest island in the group, at over 6,000
square kilometres, and second in size only to Vancouver Island (Andrew Scott, The Encyclopedia of Raincoast Placenames (Madeira Park, BC: Harbour
Publishing, 2009), 232). It sits North of Moresby Island (Haida Gwaii), the third largest
island in BC.Like Moresby Island, it was
named by Prevost in 1853, who was, at the time,
commander of the HMS Virago (232). Prevost named it in honour of Sir James
Robert Graham, a key member of Grey's party
(232).Gulf Islands49.198725 -123.87804649.206261 -123.81501449.159362 -123.67294949.109516 -123.66179248.960995 -123.49380348.795624 -123.02138848.756449 -123.08825048.693720 -123.28014848.562803 -123.25615748.554612 -123.28742848.587496 -123.35769648.617189 -123.38448348.653661 -123.38612648.676997 -123.39589348.677570 -123.39843148.680513 -123.40077548.683425 -123.40193748.685043 -123.40037348.695126 -123.40340348.710129 -123.47637748.713654 -123.51743448.763107 -123.57025048.785052 -123.55468348.824158 -123.57451948.868501 -123.57727348.970284 -123.70905649.083078 -123.73566049.114428 -123.79770649.131551 -123.81212449.135490 -123.81771249.143446 -123.82262649.162594 -123.87500649.195539 -123.877837The Gulf Islands are commonly understood to comprise an archipelago off of
southeastern Vancouver Island, in the
waters of the Georgia Strait, with
D'Arcy Island the most southwestern,
Saturna Island the most southeastern, and
Gabriola Island, across from the
city of Nanaimo, the northernmost feature
(BC Geographical Names Information System (BCGNIS), <ref
type="external" target="http://ilmbwww.gov.bc.ca/bcgn-bin/bcg10?name=4119">Gulf
Islands</ref>,BCGNIS).The Gulf Island name is likely related to the “Gulph of Georgia,” Captain Vancouver's name for what is now the Georgia Strait (BCGNIS). Guyana8.550900 -59.9788548.299075 -59.7902497.798924 -60.5261907.516547 -60.7030807.229774 -60.6362467.134416 -60.5344827.155246 -60.3366447.004062 -60.3007746.706489 -61.1185926.558507 -61.2104116.192169 -61.1545385.948287 -61.4060585.190335 -60.7312965.252971 -60.1243885.081509 -59.9671394.533419 -60.1478174.365018 -59.6704404.170481 -59.7253243.948841 -59.5350363.583586 -59.8534772.857383 -59.9927422.273547 -59.7530171.844903 -59.7483511.428170 -59.2958761.303958 -58.9234341.164950 -58.8147391.275044 -58.4928241.426287 -58.4950941.558081 -58.1495211.963621 -57.2818141.993592 -57.0800161.876593 -56.8219581.941058 -56.4874702.012254 -56.5638662.032901 -56.6754932.799850 -57.1209103.378876 -57.3071443.373662 -57.6702623.540115 -57.6803993.970394 -58.0345874.143234 -58.0705034.668750 -57.8257954.774895 -57.9323184.946642 -57.8213275.027209 -57.3102475.996916 -57.1263966.144138 -57.1279166.854594 -58.0760387.055580 -58.4211407.398751 -58.4830737.773866 -58.8823238.080422 -59.1614688.381993 -59.7385618.550900 -59.978854The Co-operative Republic Guyana is located on the northeast corner of South
America. Its name reflects the Indigenous people who lived there prior to Eauropean
settlement, whose Anglicized name for the region, guiana, means “land of water”
(Encyclopædia Britannica, <ref type="external"
target="http://search.eb.com/eb/article-9106274">Guyana</ref>,Encyclopædia Britannica Online). Politically, Guyana
shed its colonial designation of British Guiana when it became independent in 1966—for
three centuries prior, Guyana was a colonial wrestling mat for the Spanish, Portugese,
French, British, and Dutch (Encyclopædia
Britannica).Haddington Island50.601229 -127.023232This tiny island, just northeast of Port
McNiell, was a quarry site from 1896 to 1966; some of its andesite, a
fine-grained stone, can be found on Victoria's Empress Hotel, the original Vancouver courthouse, now the Vancouver Art Gallery, and British Columbia's
Parliament Buildings (Andrew Scott, The Encyclopedia of Raincoast
Placenames (Madeira Park, BC: Harbour Publishing, 2009), 242).The Island, as well as a reef and nearby passage, was named after Thomas Hamilton, 9th Earl of Haddington (1780-1858) (242).
Curiously, an 1846 despatch makes reference
to another Hamilton, "Captain Baillie Hamilton
Secretary of the Admiralty," after whom Commander Gordon
names a coal-rich bay, "about eight miles further down the coast" from, roughly,
present-day Port McNiell, and the
archaically named Ellenborough
Peninsula.Haida Gwaii54.280674 -133.03900754.233891 -131.60580153.226085 -131.73042853.037217 -131.55007352.219499 -130.93140952.083979 -130.90678351.880838 -130.95754551.954241 -131.10556453.072908 -132.60323353.535027 -133.07216353.930038 -133.24544254.277416 -133.113039Haida Gwaii, formerly Queen Charlotte Islands (QCI), is a dense archipelago that
lies north Vancouver Island, across
the Queen Charlotte Sound. It is
separated from mainland British Columbia by Hecate Strait. Haida Gwaii comprises hundreds of islands—for a total area of
almost 10,000 square kilometres—which are the traditional home of the Haida First
Nation (Scott, 485).Juan Pérez sighted what would become known as QCI in
1774, but he did not make landfall, nor apply to them an English name. George Dixon did so in 1787, after his vessel, Queen Charlotte, which was named after
amateur botanist Queen Charlotte (1744-1818), wife to
King George III of England (485-6).In December, 2009, the B.C. government "committed to renaming the Queen Charlotte
Islands as Haida Gwaii, in recognition of the long history and habitation of the Haida
Nation" (Office of the Premier).Office of the Premier [of British Columbia], <ref
type="external"
target="http://www2.news.gov.bc.ca/news_releases_2009-2013/2009PREM0079-000754.htm"
>B.C. And Haida Achieve Historic Reconcilitation Protocol</ref>,Office of the Premier.Andrew Scott, The Encyclopedia of Raincoast
Placenames (Madeira Park, BC: Harbour Publishing, 2009).Haro Strait48.411515 -123.29359048.438054 -123.29125848.455 -123.26477648.495487 -123.30630448.515623 -123.36424048.597830 -123.37065748.629693 -123.40987548.647591 -123.39145948.675754 -123.39619548.701801 -123.40755948.724351 -123.35647748.698793 -123.29910048.657866 -123.18463148.562077 -123.17632848.527962 -123.16473448.498087 -123.13309648.457845 -123.03699048.449788 -122.962997This small strait flows through both Canadian and U.S. waters, between southeast
Vancouver Island and San Juan Island, respectively. Like Gonzales Point, Haro Strait was named in 1790
after Spanish naval officer Manuel Quimper's 1st officer,
Gonzalo López de Haro (Andrew Scott, The
Encyclopedia of Raincoast Placenames (Madeira Park, BC: Harbour Publishing,
2009), 250).Throughout the late 1700s, and for sometime afterward, Haro had variant English
spellings such as Aro, Arrow, and Canal de Arro, as seen, for example, in this Despatch, or Canal de Arra, as in this example (250).Hawaiʻian Islands25.655414 -175.12953424.612090 -171.01908223.756360 -168.29617622.720697 -164.68939621.825237 -161.38025620.046845 -158.07472918.114391 -155.47071418.299307 -153.89375119.913015 -153.61213421.391674 -155.86739523.194048 -160.29696924.577543 -164.49224026.555887 -169.58448927.172808 -173.01764428.851965 -175.10491129.594573 -178.40775828.728333 -179.78294027.660070 -179.13733725.655414 -175.129534Hawaiʻi, now a state in the USA, is an island chain in the Pacific ocean.
This archipelago comprises dozens of islands, but the eight most prominent in the
group are Hawaiʻi, Maui, Kahoʻolawe, Lanaʻi, Molokaʻi, Oʻahu,
Kauaʻi, and Niʻihau. At a distance of over 4000 kilometres from Vancouver Island, Hawaiʻi was,
nevertheless, an overwinter location for famous west-coast explorers such as Cook, Vancouver, and Douglas, with the Cook being the
first European to make contact with the Hawaiʻian people in 1778 (Okihiro, 53).
Several despatches refer to the location of "Woahoo," which is
likely an archaism for Oʻahu. Throughout much of the 1800s, the Hudson's Bay
Company traded in dried salmon, and timber, to the "Sandwich Islands," and sometimes
drew from the Hawaiʻian labour pool for ship's crew, and workmen (Rich,
622-23).By the 1820s, Hawaiʻians were a common enough presence on the west coast to
be recorded in Chinook Jargon as "Owhyhees," who became known by the Hawaiʻian
word for human beings: Kanaka (Salt Spring
Archives).Gary Y. Okihiro, Island World: A History of Hawaii and the
United States (Berkely: University of California Press, 2008).Salt Spring Archives, <ref type="external"
target="http://saltspringarchives.com/kanaka/barb/timeline.html">Kanaka
Timeline—Hawaii to the Pacific NorthWest</ref>,Salt Spring Archives.E.E. Rich, Hudson's Bay Company 1670-1870, Volume III:
1821-1870 (New York: The Macmillan Company, 1961).Hecate Strait51.899545 -130.96634452.091187 -130.93702653.253669 -131.80018153.565353 -131.92255154.18277 -131.6533254.21614 -130.7867252.422928 -129.000370This famously blustery strait flows between Haida Gwaii and mainland British Columbia. It was named after HMS Hecate, a paddle-wheeled survey sloop that plied
west-coast waters, including the strait, in the early 1860s; the Haida Nation refer to
Hecate Strait as Siigaay (Andrew Scott, The Encyclopedia of
Raincoast Placenames (Madeira Park, BC: Harbour Publishing, 2009),
256).Johnstone Strait50.510743 -126.30010150.481963 -126.08021250.472514 -125.99093250.414446 -125.85206650.380950 -125.75383250.379590 -125.55049150.349144 -125.44305250.330546 -125.44018950.332035 -125.48453850.368098 -125.57904950.356709 -125.72210050.369272 -125.79230750.384066 -125.82817250.381963 -125.87503250.388330 -125.90748850.390758 -125.94842250.406059 -125.97239850.450863 -126.09590450.462011 -126.19468550.479292 -126.316095Johnstone Strait links Queen
Charlotte Sound in the north to Georgia Strait in the south. This narrow, busy strait is named after James Johnson (1759-1823), who, among his other notable naval
exploits, served under Captain Vancouver on HMS Chatham—the tender to Vancouver's HMS Discovery during
the latter's time on the Pacific coast from 1791-95 (Andrew Scott, The Encyclopedia of Raincoast Placenames (Madeira Park, BC:
Harbour Publishing, 2009), 293).Juan de Fuca Strait48.386228 -124.72739848.596267 -124.72794648.280881 -123.52537348.442864 -123.03677348.185026 -123.09874948.151461 -123.55189348.219359 -124.10690848.394304 -124.65773148.3911011 -124.717173The Juan de Fuca Strait flows, primarily, between Vancouver Island and Washington State's Olympic Peninsula. Cape Flattery marks the southern entrance to this strait,
whose naming has mythic provenance, for several reasons. In 1778, James Cook sailed past the roughly
20-kilometre-wide entrance to the strait (Andrew Scott, The
Encyclopedia of Raincoast Placenames (Madeira Park, BC: Harbour
Publishing, 2009), 295). In 1787, Captain Charles William
Barkley named it after Greek mariner Apostolos
Valerianos, who, while employed as a pilot under the Spanish navy, was called
Juan de Fuca (296).Legend has it that Valerianos marked the strait, including
several specific geographic features, during his 1590s exploration to discover a
sailable passage through North America—a journey detailed in a 1625 book by Samuel Purchas (296). Presumably, Barkley knew of Valerianos' account, and trusted it
enough to name the strait in his honour.Kefalonia, Greece38.25 20.583333Kefalonia, or Cefalonia, is a large island in western Greece.Knockan Hill48.464577 -123.42258448.464577 -123.40885248.474641 -123.40885248.474641 -123.422584Knockan Hill is located on the southern end of Vancouver Island, northwest of Victoria in the suburb of Saanich. It appears on an 1855 Hudson's Bay Company
map; the name was adopted officially in 1934 (BC Geographical Names Information
System (BCGNIS), <ref type="external"
target="http://ilmbwww.gov.bc.ca/bcgn-bin/bcg10?name=51611">Knockan
Hill</ref>,BCGNIS). Knockan appears to be an Anglicization of
the Songhees "Nga 'k 'un, or "rock(s) on top;" this hill is home to a rich and
compelling story which the BCGNIS notes as "The Wives of the Stars" (BCGNIS)Kochi9.939254 76.259635Kochin, formerly known as Cochin, is a port city on the southwest coast of India,
famed for, among other things, its role in the spice trade for the last several
hundred years.Kuper Island48.982982 -123.66748348.984062 -123.66208148.984386 -123.65919448.983943 -123.65801348.983500 -123.65458048.981931 -123.65154448.980044 -123.64284648.982484 -123.64220048.983458 -123.63439648.982961 -123.63400048.982170 -123.63444648.981353 -123.63505848.979995 -123.63480548.977380 -123.63655148.975296 -123.63562448.970727 -123.63163848.966265 -123.62977848.959031 -123.62903248.953256 -123.62726948.945457 -123.62690248.938792 -123.62735748.934247 -123.62922348.932881 -123.63168748.935681 -123.63851048.937775 -123.64056248.943858 -123.65255048.949512 -123.65809848.957088 -123.66272348.958273 -123.66281948.960929 -123.65990148.964816 -123.66254548.966134 -123.66171348.968524 -123.65913148.976502 -123.66692348.980394 -123.67016248.982982 -123.667483Kuper Island is part of the Gulf
Islands chain, off southeastern Vancouver Island. It is separated from Thetis Island, to the North, by a
narrow, artificial canal called The Cut. Kuper draws its name from Captain Kuper, who was, among other Naval designations, commander of the HMS
Thetis—a ship upon which he was sent to
survey parts of Haida Gwaii for gold
(Scott, 105).The Penelakut First Nation had and have villages on Kuper Island, along with
several locations in the surrounding region. According to the Hul'qumi'num Treaty
Group website, the term Penelakut refers to all Hul'qumi'num people, who have,
historically, lived on Kuper Island from time to time (Hul'qumi'num Treaty
Group).Hul'qumi'num Treaty Group, <ref type="external"
target="http://www.hulquminum.bc.ca/hulquminum_people/penelakut">Hul'qumi'num
People</ref>,Hul'qumi'num Treaty Group.Andrew Scott, The Encyclopedia of Raincoast
Placenames (Madeira Park, BC: Harbour Publishing, 2009).Lake Hill48.476290 -123.38053948.471471 -123.38053948.471471 -123.37272748.476290 -123.372727"Lake Hill" is identified on maps dating from the 1840s, as in this 1852 map, but according to the
BCGNIS, the name Christmas
Hill was adopted officially in 1934 (BC Geographical Names Information
System (BCGNIS), <ref type="external"
target="http://ilmbwww.gov.bc.ca/bcgn-bin/bcg10?name=5950">Christmas
Hill</ref>,BCGNIS).Lake Huron44.973578 -82.191720Lake Huron is the second largest Great Lake, and the world's fifth largest
(M. Munawar, <ref type="external"
target="http://www.thecanadianencyclopedia.com/index.cfm?PgNm=TCE&Params=A1ARTA0003921"
>Huron, Lake</ref>,The Canadian Encyclopedia). It is 332 kilometres
long and 295 kilometres wide, for a total square area of roughly 60,000 kilometres
(Munawar). Huron flows into Lake Erie via the Saint Clair River, Lake Saint
Clair, and the Detroit River.Lake of the Woods49.15 -94.833333This long-named and island-dotted lake straddles the Canada/U.S. border, and
covers over 4,000 square kilometres, most of which is on the Canadian side, in western
Ontario. It is fed from the south by Rainy River, and drains northwest to the Winnipeg
River (James Marsh, <ref type="external"
target="http://www.thecanadianencyclopedia.com/index.cfm?PgNm=TCE&Params=A1ARTA0004474"
> Lake of the Woods</ref>,The Canadian Encyclopedia). Lake of the Woods, and
the surrounding lake-riddled lands, were part of a main fur-trade route (Marsh). Indigenous groups in the area include the Cree, Ojibwa, and Sioux
(Marsh).Lake Superior47.873281 -86.754773This greatest of the Great Lakes is the largest freshwater lake in the world, and
its scale is truly massive: it runs 563 by 257 kilometres, covering over 82,000 square
kilometres, and is fed by over 200 rivers (James Marsh, <ref
type="external"
target="http://www.thecanadianencyclopedia.com/index.cfm?PgNm=TCE&Params=A1ARTA0007796"
>Superior, Lake</ref>,The Canadian Encyclopedia). The French designated it
as Lac Supérieur, a mantle equally potent in English—it is thought that French
explorer Étienne Brûlé was the first European to see the lake in 1622, and thereafter,
and for hundreds of years to follow, this lake would see many a fur-trade canoe (Marsh). Presently, Thunder Bay City hosts the lake's largest port, which is
the greatest by trade in Canada (Marsh).Laurel Point48.423875 -123.376518Laurel Point is on the south side of the entrance to Victoria Harbour. However, an 1846 map shows it on the north side,
with the current location of Laurel Point marked as "Crown Point".Apparently, the "laurels" on this Songhees-Nation burial ground were arbutus trees
(Andrew Scott, The Encyclopedia of Raincoast
Placenames (Madeira Park, BC: Harbour Publishing, 2009), 330). It
was known, also, as Sehl's Point for a time in late 1800s, after furniture maker who
constructed a factory in the area (330).Liard River61.849030 -121.29461661.804834 -121.26688461.778150 -121.20112861.690814 -121.31170061.652157 -121.47708961.553195 -121.42108361.427144 -121.58840161.243779 -122.65793961.083071 -123.00036461.039340 -123.30400660.646847 -123.53790360.306748 -123.33468160.061986 -123.84854059.547365 -124.00959059.743802 -124.49063959.354689 -124.93738559.285498 -125.40230559.412945 -126.08132259.598471 -126.69299159.646362 -127.13367859.727025 -127.49846059.942039 -127.49732160.000950 -127.93759459.931819 -128.50096560.026552 -128.66841760.050865 -128.90832660.281014 -129.18468960.321873 -129.45225460.469750 -129.68875960.576883 -129.84687360.696756 -130.05499460.785455 -130.46010061.066296 -131.043819The Liard River is 1,115 kilometres long, and flows through the southeastern Yukon, dips into northern BC, and the Rocky Mountains, on its way to its
junction at the Mackenzie River at
Fort Simpson.It was named after the French word for a species of poplar tree, or "liards," that
cluster along the banks of the river (James Marsh, <ref
type="external"
target="http://www.thecanadianencyclopedia.com/index.cfm?PgNm=TCE&Params=A1ARTA0004669"
>Liard River</ref>,The Canadian Encyclopedia.). The Liard served as a
transport and trade route during the Klondike gold rush (Marsh).London51.500152 -0.126236"Londinium" became the capital of Roman Britain from, roughly, AD 60 onwards, as
the former provincial capital, Colchester, was destroyed by the Boudiccan revolt of
the same year (A Dictionary of British History).London must have felt deific to her Imperial rulers during the period of the
colonial correspondence. Arguably, the city was the locus of Britain's power, whose
tendrils of trade, unapologetic conquest, and Empire building reached nearly every
continent. In 1851, the city hosted the Great Exhibition of Industry of All Nations—a
characteristically Eurocentric title in post-colonial terms—which drew over 6 million
people and showcased Victorian London as the envied seat of industry, trade, science,
and political power (Schulenburg).London's population built to a swarm throughout the 1800s, from 1.35 million in
1825 to 6.5 million by the turn of the century (Schulenburg). London was, however, mired in more than mass of steam, steel,
soot, and top hats. The administrative and military demands required for colonial
dominance pressed continually, and Britain could not keep pace with its conquests,
and, as Hendrickson points out, "nobody 'ran' the Empire," at least in the
mid-to-late-nineteenth century. Further to this, Hendrickson adds that
"both politicians and the Colonial Office tended to be reactive instead of proactive
to events in its many dependencies." Indeed, evidence for this notion is apparent
throughout the colonial correspondences between the Colonial Office, Vancouver Island, and later, British
Columbia.The word "london" is Celtic-rooted, and translates loosely as "place at the
navigable or unfordable river" (A Dictionary of British Place-Names). This etymology seems a snug fit for
this port city's life of prolific trade and seaborne dominance.A Dictionary of British History, <ref type="external"
target="http://www.oxfordreference.com/views/ENTRY.html?subview=Main&entry=t43.e2112"
>London</ref>,Oxford Reference Online.A Dictionary of British Place-Names, <ref type="external"
target="http://www.oxfordreference.com/views/ENTRY.html?subview=Main&entry=t40.e8718"
>London</ref>,Oxford Reference Online.James E. Hendrickson, <ref type="external"
target="http://bcgenesis.uvic.ca/intro.htm#co_1858">The Colonial Office in
1858</ref>,Colonial Despatches.Alexander Hugo Schulenburg, <ref type="external"
target="http://www.oxfordreference.com/views/ENTRY.html?subview=Main&entry=t254.e917"
>London</ref>,The Oxford Encyclopedia of Modern World.Lopez Island48.556111 -122.89887148.551638 -122.90368148.549818 -122.90670148.549320 -122.91264848.551144 -122.91852248.551281 -122.91957348.550700 -122.92038648.548970 -122.92033048.541919 -122.92220548.539081 -122.92236548.523125 -122.91716548.521382 -122.92686748.517276 -122.93237548.513922 -122.93423648.496565 -122.94229048.483754 -122.94523148.476840 -122.94587248.465206 -122.94588648.460043 -122.94281548.455666 -122.93889448.454506 -122.93471948.457112 -122.93403648.460154 -122.92547248.454026 -122.91560748.451940 -122.91760948.448170 -122.91594448.446135 -122.91024448.445007 -122.88072648.440561 -122.86277948.435388 -122.86668748.439483 -122.87711548.438836 -122.88467448.436228 -122.89084748.431229 -122.87801648.427471 -122.87818948.427567 -122.88416748.422782 -122.89461448.421723 -122.89538048.420068 -122.89287248.420310 -122.88845248.418378 -122.88423448.417691 -122.87323448.420617 -122.86947048.420485 -122.86761748.419050 -122.86201648.419593 -122.85900248.419722 -122.85434448.423941 -122.85193848.426795 -122.86257148.430363 -122.86010748.424761 -122.84228048.424281 -122.82734648.421052 -122.81381948.421632 -122.81127948.426931 -122.80221048.432016 -122.80381748.431178 -122.81279048.447134 -122.79971648.453509 -122.80429048.453067 -122.81252848.459059 -122.81965648.472324 -122.81260048.478726 -122.81962448.477058 -122.82435048.473001 -122.83030648.470152 -122.83371948.467624 -122.83374348.467473 -122.83162348.464506 -122.83069948.464313 -122.82987848.462086 -122.82256748.455500 -122.83299248.446026 -122.84876348.447466 -122.85371348.460588 -122.84212048.460771 -122.84534248.458584 -122.85673148.460508 -122.86068748.466863 -122.85463548.477997 -122.85119148.481145 -122.85113548.486147 -122.85382748.494609 -122.86511048.496810 -122.86631148.503729 -122.87294748.507158 -122.87105248.509705 -122.86806748.510646 -122.86687748.532399 -122.85860548.534420 -122.85749348.536551 -122.84976648.536856 -122.85025048.538018 -122.85725748.541013 -122.85847048.543133 -122.86115648.542837 -122.86486848.541652 -122.86889948.541356 -122.87043548.543221 -122.87510648.545461 -122.87644448.553883 -122.86896648.553476 -122.86639748.555284 -122.86396948.563834 -122.86639648.565059 -122.87025548.564525 -122.87184448.562573 -122.87288948.558854 -122.87368148.553725 -122.87212548.554631 -122.88329848.558034 -122.88215648.567339 -122.88395648.571656 -122.88176648.572944 -122.88403848.572349 -122.88683448.568823 -122.89196848.564591 -122.89243148.560924 -122.89184148.558457 -122.89094748.556849 -122.89310648.556704 -122.89699848.556489 -122.89814148.556111 -122.898871Lopez Island is located in Washington State, and Salish Sea, waters, just South of the Canada/U.S. border,
southeast of San Juan Island. As with
the Lopez Island, other Lopez-named features in the area, Lopez Pass, and Lopez Sound,
were named after Lopez Gonzales de Haro, whose surname marks features north of the
border, such as Haro Strait and Haro
Island (Lynn Middleton, Placenames of the Pacific Northwest
Coast (Victoria: Elldee Publishing Company, 1969), 124). Lopez
Island appears on Spanish charts from 1791, as part of their Isla y Archipelago de San
Juan, or, in English terms, San Juan
Islands (Middleton).Mackenzie River69.351549 -133.90198568.971044 -134.65609568.417502 -134.18831668.110663 -134.22786067.705766 -134.60666767.564376 -134.00337367.191509 -132.88998267.468265 -130.95327866.774144 -129.89861366.359273 -128.81683465.711813 -128.81212664.808694 -125.17883963.143037 -123.43529662.263001 -123.38924161.864665 -121.19568861.239453 -119.62598761.444384 -118.11943861.049212 -116.518787The Mackenzie is the largest river in Canada, at 4,241 kilometres long, and the
second largest in North America, after the Mississippi (James Marsh, <ref type="external"
target="http://www.thecanadianencyclopedia.com/index.cfm?PgNm=TCE&Params=A1ARTA0004954"
>Mackenzie River</ref>,The Canadian Encyclopedia.). And, the Mackenzie's
drainage basin is equally prolific, at 1.8 million square kilometres. The river is
named after Alexander Mackenzie, who traversed its length
by canoe in 1789 (Marsh).Malahat Ridge48.566667 -123.583333Malahat Ridge is located on the souther end of Vancouver Island, northwest of Victoria. Malahat is a First Nation name with several possible
meanings, but the peak of the ridge, Yaas or Yos, is sacred to the local Salish people
(Andrew Scott, The Encyclopedia of Raincoast
Placenames (Madeira Park, BC: Harbour Publishing, 2009),
355).The Malahat is an imposing geographical feature, and, historically, difficult to
traverse. Even today, the scenic Malahat drive is considered by locals to be a
notoriously dangerous 16 kilometre section of highway (355).Malcolm Island50.65 -126.983333Malcolm Island is separated from the northeastern shores of Vancouver Island by the Broughton Strait, opposite Port McNeill.The island was named after Admiral Sir Pulteney Malcolm
(1758-1838), and at the turn of the 19th century it became the site of an attempted
colonization by Finnish socialists, who formed the village of Sointula (Andrew Scott, The
Encyclopedia of Raincoast Placenames (Madeira Park, BC: Harbour
Publishing, 2009), 355-56). Marseille43.297612 5.381042Marseille is a Mediterranean port city in southeast France. It has endured surges
of trade and conquest well after it held the ancient Greek name of Massilla
(John Barzman, <ref type="external"
target="http://www.oxfordreference.com/views/ENTRY.html?subview=Main&entry=t232.e0520"
>Marseille</ref>,The Oxford Encyclopedia of Maritime History).During the nineteenth century, Marseille's port traffic swelled considerably
following the French conquest of North Africa, and the completion of the Suez Canal.
It is, currently, France's chief port, and a cosmopolitan, multi-faith city, with
immigrant communities built from all corners of the Mediterranean (Barzman).Masset54.010000 -132.138056The community of Masset is located in northeastern Haida Gwaii, on Graham Island. Masset draws its name from
the nearby Maast Island, whose etymology is traced to a Haida account in which a
European officer named Masseta died during a visit to the area. His body was buried on
a little island near their ship's anchorage, which the Haida of the day called
“mah-sh-t,” likely, a Haida pronunciation of Masseta.Masset, along with Skidegate, served as
congregation points for the Haida during the devastating smallpox epidemics that swept
through Haida Gwaii villages in the early-to-mid 1800s. The HBC maintained a trading
post at Masset for some time, and the Anglican Church established a mission there in
1876 (Scott, 366).Massetbc.com, <ref type="external"
target="http://www.massetbc.com/html/history.html">Origin of European Settled
Masset</ref>,Massetbc.com.Andrew Scott, The Encyclopedia of Raincoast
Placenames (Madeira Park, BC: Harbour Publishing, 2009).Maurelle Island50.28295 -125.1529Maurelle Island is located off the mid-east coast of Vancouver Island. Rapid tidal channels surround the
island, which was considered, until the 1870s, Valdes Island, along with Quadra and Sonora islands—these three islands did not receive their
individual names until 1903 (Andrew Scott, The Encyclopedia of
Raincoast Placenames (Madeira Park, BC: Harbour Publishing, 2009),
556).Maurelle, however, held the name Middle Valdes Island for some time (368). The 54
square kilometre Maurelle Island was named after Spanish naval officer Francisco
Antonio Maurelle (1754-1820), deputy commander to Quadra
during his expeditions to the area in the 1770s (368-9).Metchosin48.379735 -123.531906The municipality of Metchosin, on the south end of Vancouver Island, is a rural and agricultural suburb
of Victoria. "Metchosin," which is Salishan
First Nation in origin, refers to a place of fish oil or stinking fish (Scott,
385).In 1842, Douglas visited the area during his surveys
of the Island's coast, where, in this despatch, he makes reference to a “Whoyring,” present-day Becher Bay, although Akrigg and Akrigg appear to misspell it as
"Belcher," perhaps in confusion with the West Coast's Belcher Point (349).G.P.V. Akrigg and H.B. Akrigg, British Columbia Chronicle,
1778-1846 (Victoria: Discovery Press, 1975).Andrew Scott, The Encyclopedia of Raincoast
Placenames (Madeira Park, BC: Harbour Publishing, 2009).Mitchell Inlet52.95 -132.166667Mitchell Inlet is located on the on the northwest side of Moresby Island, in Haida Gwaii. The Inlet branches roughly South
from Englefield Bay, which is known
unofficially as Gold Harbour—a brawl over the precious metal occurred here, in 1851,
between Haida and HBC men, which is described by Boys in this letter, and by Douglas in this despatch.Mitchell Inlet is named after William Mitchell (1802-76), an HBC master mariner,
who, in 1859, was put in charge of Fort
Rupert (Andrew Scott, The Encyclopedia of Raincoast
Placenames (Madeira Park, BC: Harbour Publishing, 2009), 393-94). Moore Channel52.963545 -132.268598Moore Channel runs northwest of Moresby
Island (Haida Gwaii). It was named after George
Moore, master of the HMS Thetis,
under Kuper's command from 1851-53 (Andrew Scott,
The Encyclopedia of Raincoast Placenames (Madeira Park,
BC: Harbour Publishing, 2009), 399).The channel was surveyed in 1852, as was the surrounding area, for gold, which had
been found earlier at Mitchell Inlet
(399).Moresby Island48.730871 -123.33154348.732261 -123.32078148.732775 -123.31579048.731952 -123.31220348.731386 -123.30814848.729586 -123.30697948.724391 -123.30323748.721356 -123.29840448.719350 -123.29552048.717394 -123.29154448.714668 -123.28897348.712611 -123.28912948.708085 -123.29263948.704948 -123.29458848.701656 -123.29708348.699032 -123.29622748.697798 -123.29794148.698364 -123.30082548.700886 -123.30822848.706235 -123.31836048.710298 -123.32288148.714463 -123.32685848.717394 -123.33348548.720891 -123.33489148.723309 -123.33302048.725676 -123.33005948.727322 -123.32725248.728248 -123.32686248.729225 -123.32818948.729379 -123.33076248.730099 -123.331464Moresby Island is located in the Gulf
Islands group, off the southeastern coast of Vancouver Island. Like its bigger namesake, Moresby Island (Haida Gwaii), it was
named after Rear Admiral Moresby (Andrew Scott,
The Encyclopedia of Raincoast Placenames (Madeira Park,
BC: Harbour Publishing, 2009), 400).Moresby Island (Haida Gwaii)52.41626 -131.50331Of the roughly 150 islands that comprise the Haida Gwaii archipelago, the two largest islands are Graham to the North and Moresby to the South. Not to be
confused with the much smaller, at 6.5 square kilometres, Moresby Island in the Gulf Islands group, this Moresby is BC's third largest
island at over 2,000 square kilometres: only Graham Island and Vancouver
Island are larger (Andrew Scott, The Encyclopedia of
Raincoast Placenames (Madeira Park, BC: Harbour Publishing, 2009),
400-01).Moresby Island was named so in 1853 by Prevost, at
the time, commander of the HMS Virago, and
Moresby's son-in-law (401).Mount Douglas48.49134 -123.3484The name Mount Douglas was adopted in 1910 by the Geographic Board of Canada,
based on J.D. Pemberton's 1855 map of the area
(BC Geographical Names Information System (BCGNIS), <ref
type="external" target="http://ilmbwww.gov.bc.ca/bcgn-bin/bcg10?name=14790"
>Douglas, Mount</ref>,BCGNIS). For more, see the Cedar Hill entry.Nahwitti (region and features)50.866667 -128.05Geographical locations that bear the Nahwitti name appear, largely, toward the
northern end of Vancouver Island. The
name Nahwitti refers to the Nahwitti First Nations, which comrpise three distinct
peoples: Tlatlasikwala, Nakumgilisala, and Yutlinuk (Andrew Scott, The Encyclopedia of Raincoast Placenames (Madeira Park, BC:
Harbour Publishing, 2009), 416-17).Several despatches make reference to variant spellings of Nahwhitti, but one, Newitty, is used often, especially in despatches concerning the murder of
three British deserters near Fort
Rupert.Nanaimo49.16634 -123.93601Nanaimo is a port city on the east coast of Vancouver Island, roughly 100 kilometres north of
Victoria. The name Nanaimo is derived from
the Snuneymuxw people, part of the the Island Halkomelem First Nation, who continue to
live in the area; the name has, historically, had many European spellings, including
Sna Ney Mous, Sne-ny-mo, Snanaimuq, and Nanymo (Scott,
417). The Spanish explorer Narváez was the first recorded European to see Nanaimo
harbour in 1701 (417).In the mid-eighteen hundreds, this coal-rich area attracted Hudson's Bay Company
mining interests, which saw the creation of a trading post, and then Colvile Town,
named after Colvile, a name discontinued in maps of the
area after 1860 (BCGNIS).Andrew Scott, The Encyclopedia of Raincoast
Placenames (Madeira Park, BC: Harbour Publishing, 2009).BC Geographical Names Information System (BCGNIS), <ref
type="external" target="http://ilmbwww.gov.bc.ca/bcgn-bin/bcg10?name=9032"
>Nanaimo</ref>,BCGNISNanaimo Harbour49.151802 -123.923016Nanaimo Harbour lies before the city of Nanaimo, on eastern Vancouver
Island. Spanish explorer Narváez named it Boca de Winthuysen after Spanish
naval officer Francisco Xavier de Winthuysen, spelling variations of which pepper the
despatches, as this name was in use by HBC officials in the 1850s (Andrew Scott,
The Encyclopedia of Raincoast Placenames (Madeira Park,
BC: Harbour Publishing, 2009), 417).Nanaimo River49.074580 -124.06520949.073518 -124.05505149.077356 -124.05071049.077896 -124.03537549.076582 -124.01648749.071729 -124.00992049.072327 -123.97470349.063807 -123.96335549.071969 -123.94165449.069888 -123.92810849.072563 -123.92214949.069264 -123.88599249.081389 -123.87132349.080716 -123.86217149.085583 -123.85720849.106416 -123.86601749.129465 -123.893167Nanaimo River is located to in the southeast region of Vancouver Island. It flows East and then North to
empty, as a small delta, into Nanaimo
Harbour.Neah Bay50.39961 -126.96983Neah Bay is located on the Makah People's land reserve, on the northwestern shore
of the Olympic Peninsula. It looks
out to the Juan de Fuca Strait,
just East of Cape Flattery.Neah Bay has gone by several names: in 1790, the Spanish named it Bahia de Nunez
Gaona, after an Archbishop, while U.S. traders came to call it Poverty Cove, and it
was known as Scarborough Harbour, after HBC captain, James Scarborough (Lynn
Middleton, Placenames of the Pacific Northwest Coast
(Victoria: Elldee Publishing Company, 1969), 142). Perhaps most dramatically,
in late December, 1852, Neah Bay was the site of the beaching and burning of the HBC
ship Una amidst a conflict between Europeans and,
likely, people of the Callam Nation; read Boys' histrionic
account of the incident here.New Brunswick44.899322 -66.73794645.020017 -66.45226445.156981 -66.07218745.171271 -65.83328545.241583 -65.67097545.586292 -64.78833345.744192 -64.48047745.878302 -64.24838046.018638 -64.00190046.077119 -63.75474146.142510 -63.76245246.195176 -63.92818246.239750 -64.16849246.287358 -64.43380746.383030 -64.46722646.632498 -64.64243246.853066 -64.85370246.980156 -64.75513247.092086 -64.77430447.138693 -64.96023147.322676 -64.89203447.649048 -64.73334647.744760 -64.56731647.961898 -64.42394348.012549 -64.43934448.045845 -64.52240247.845244 -65.19910447.684732 -65.57886347.823575 -65.69069047.923205 -65.83587948.050219 -66.31586548.084195 -66.38707847.992240 -66.75511447.882875 -67.21470947.858654 -67.37826947.932215 -67.59446648.001200 -67.59842947.998527 -68.11787847.916683 -68.11847347.912768 -68.38181347.554273 -68.38316747.427832 -68.57898747.351401 -68.80181447.302246 -69.05468947.243172 -69.03642847.178194 -68.89761347.233707 -68.66233947.275989 -68.58938747.286933 -68.37214447.326716 -68.38867047.361565 -68.31170647.321284 -68.15783947.197866 -67.96383247.068151 -67.78973746.750468 -67.78473845.941148 -67.78408145.679129 -67.80140745.625425 -67.66824445.598779 -67.44777445.499932 -67.41810645.484236 -67.50510245.379883 -67.41994745.286150 -67.48334645.159464 -67.40652845.123211 -67.32747345.187780 -67.28027945.162080 -67.15921644.954623 -67.02302044.911030 -66.96644644.868483 -66.98558844.821784 -66.95610344.899322 -66.737946New Brunswick is one of three provinces in eastern Canada that comprise the
Maritimes, the remaining are Nova Scotia
and Prince Edward Island. In 1784, the British split what was Nova Scotia in two,
naming the north and west portion New Brunswick, after the German duchy of
Brunswick-Lunenburg, ruled by King George III of England at the time (Ernest R.
Forbes, <ref type="external"
target="http://www.thecanadianencyclopedia.com/index.cfm?PgNm=TCE&Params=A1ARTA0005695"
>New Brunswick</ref>,The Canadian Encyclopedia).New Brunswick was one of the four original provinces and, arguably, a swing
province in the push for confederation (Forbes).The first settlers to the area now know as New Brunswick were the Micmac, who had
communities across the Maritimes. As far back as the 16th century, the Micmac had
established European trade in the region (Forbes).New Caledonia48.504428 -124.76431448.297413 -123.99265348.224338 -123.54077348.282489 -123.24653048.419512 -123.11371948.541503 -123.22340048.691788 -123.27200148.771131 -123.01856748.829672 -123.00455449.001890 -123.32063849.000476 -121.56323048.996178 -119.86349049.001433 -118.06588248.999347 -114.07936550.064848 -114.68667251.365231 -116.06049853.329063 -119.46255853.703714 -119.94712254.187094 -125.39107254.266692 -130.46936554.381508 -133.04568453.961711 -133.29202553.325497 -132.81156452.165483 -131.39503151.201756 -130.28520150.259320 -128.42351349.655843 -127.23774948.735109 -125.50076248.504428 -124.764314The region defined by the moniker New Caledonia has changed over time. In 1806,
Fraser used the title for the central and high plateau
region of present-day British Columbia, in reference to Scotland—though Fraser had never been there (Barry M. Gough, <ref type="external"
target="http://www.thecanadianencyclopedia.com/index.cfm?PgNm=TCE&Params=A1ARTA0005698"
> New Caledonia</ref>,The Canadian Encyclopedia). Names for the same
region included Oregon, thanks to the Americans, New Hanover, a holdover from Captain Vancouver, and even North West Georgia, so called
by the North West Company; and, when the NWC merged with the HBC in 1821, the former
carried the New Caledonia name with it (Gough).Once the British established, officially, a crown colony in 1858, Colonial Secretary Bulwer-Lytton proposed New Caledonia,
but the French had a South Pacific colony of the same name, so Queen Victoria's choice
of British Columbia won out, officially again, on August 2, 1858 (Gough).Newcastle Island49.194311 -123.94863149.203342 -123.94595149.203236 -123.93725249.200846 -123.93172449.199411 -123.92757849.199198 -123.92326949.196701 -123.92180749.192664 -123.92172749.189477 -123.92067149.186768 -123.92107949.184909 -123.92164849.182997 -123.92368049.179279 -123.92701349.177048 -123.93335149.176092 -123.93692649.179651 -123.94074549.183847 -123.94318449.194311 -123.948631Newcastle Island lies just off-shore from Nanaimo Harbour. It draws its name not from the Duke
of Newcastle, but from the British city of Newcastle upon Tyne, a hotbed of
coal extraction (Andrew Scott, The Encyclopedia of Raincoast
Placenames (Madeira Park, BC: Harbour Publishing, 2009), 425).
Though this tiny island is hardly comparable in its coal reserves, the seams were rich
enough to remind the HBC of the famous city during their mining of the area in the
early 1850s, which would continue until 1883 (425).Quarries operated on the island from 1870 to 1932, which produced sandstone blocks
for a variety of well-known buildings, including the Nanaimo post office, San
Francisco's Mint (425). Newcastle Island has been home to Coast Salish
villages, a CPR-built resort, and, following the city of Nanaimo's purchase of it in 1955, a provincial marine park,
established in 1961 (425).Nimpkish Lake50.39961 -126.96983Nimpkish Lake is located on the northeastern end of Vancouver Island, near Port McNeill. From the western end of this lake, which
Walbran offers the alternative name of Karmutzen, flows the Nimpkish River (John
T. Walbran, British Columbia Place Names (Vancouver:
Douglas & McIntyre, 1971), 357).Nimpkish River50.566667 -126.983333This river flows northwest from Nimpkish
Lake, on northeast Vancouver
Island, into Broughton
Strait; the river is named after the 'Namgis or Nimpkish people (Andrew
Scott, The Encyclopedia of Raincoast Placenames (Madeira
Park, BC: Harbour Publishing, 2009), 428).Nisqually, or Fort Nisqually47.299485 -122.519583Nisqually, or Fort Nisqually was
established by the Hudson's Bay Company (HBC) on what was the Nisqually people's land. The HBC wanted an increased presence
in Oregon Territory, land shared
jointly and delicately with the U.S., so it petitioned the British Parliament for the
right to form a farming colony. Parliament refused, citing concerns of umbrage from
the U.S., but it did extend the HBC's license to the land, unchanged from the terms of
the original license, for a further 21 years (HBC).The Puget Sound Agricultural Company formed in response to Parliament's play, and
it established its headquarters at Fort
Nisqually, near modern-day Tacoma,
Washington State. This was a shadow company for the HBC, and led by HBC staff and
investors. It became a locus of shipping and agriculture (Rich, 685-87).Dr. William F. Tolmie was Fort Nisqually's Chief Trader until he left for Vancouver Island in 1859 (HBC).E.E. Rich, Hudson's Bay Company 1670-1870, Volume III:
1821-1870 (New York: The Macmillan Company, 1961).Hudson's Bay Company, <ref type="external"
target="http://www.hbc.com/hbcheritage/history/business/other/pugetsound.asp"
>The Puget Sound Agricultural Company</ref>, HBC [website].Nitinat48.668506 -124.85495248.673629 -124.85463148.683546 -124.85729248.689436 -124.85218548.692728 -124.82445348.703637 -124.80382748.713881 -124.80400348.726530 -124.79096348.733729 -124.78088748.736787 -124.77658148.737661 -124.76782448.746925 -124.76055448.750522 -124.75394348.751939 -124.74865348.750522 -124.74402548.751285 -124.74303248.761858 -124.74732948.770252 -124.73938848.775691 -124.73684048.785388 -124.72244648.801296 -124.70257748.811615 -124.69032148.820441 -124.68716648.817823 -124.68286648.820656 -124.68120648.823269 -124.67739548.821194 -124.67077648.816941 -124.66681048.811818 -124.66582648.805942 -124.67940748.800167 -124.68106948.792428 -124.67992148.774706 -124.71574348.759017 -124.73063348.751367 -124.72518148.733061 -124.74402748.731317 -124.75328048.733170 -124.75592448.731317 -124.76021948.728700 -124.76798548.698719 -124.78880848.691303 -124.80217548.683338 -124.81801548.682573 -124.82197748.685295 -124.82610848.682021 -124.83155248.683323 -124.83964548.685934 -124.84526548.684513 -124.84988748.682329 -124.85335148.676684 -124.85089748.673631 -124.85188148.667528 -124.848896There are several related features named Nitinat, which is on the southwestern
coast of Vancouver Island, including
a bar, a lake, a narrows, and a river.According to Scott, "Nitinat" is a variant of the older Nittinaht, and before
that, Ditidaht; both names are in reference to the Ditidaht Nation, who are loosely
connected to the Nuu-chah-nulth confederacy, despite their lack of membership to the
same (Andrew Scott, The Encyclopedia of Raincoast
Placenames (Madeira Park, BC: Harbour Publishing, 2009),428). The
narrow and shallow entrance to Nitinat Lake, which is actually a saltwater fjord, has
a reputation as treacherous to mariners to this day (428).Nootka Island49.75 -126.75Nootka Island is nestled into the channel-cut west coast of Vancouver Island. The southern shore of Nootka Island
is home to the famed Yuquot, or Friendly
Cove. The island's southern shore faces Nootka Sound.According to Walbran, Nootka Island is listed on Spanish explorer Dionisio Alcalá-Galiano's 1795 chart as "Isla de Nutka;"
further, the island was, for a time, named "Ilsa de Mazarredo" after Spanish naval
officer Josef de Mazarredo (John T. Walbran, British Columbia Place Names (Vancouver: Douglas & McIntyre,
1971), 362).Nootka Sound49.59961 -126.56967Nootka Sound lies just off the west coast of Vancouver Island, just south of Nootka Island. Nootka Sound is part of the traditional
and current homes of the Nuu-chah-nulth-aht, or "people all along the mountains and
sea" (Nuu-chah-nulth
Tribal Council), whose language Captain Cook mistook,
and Anglicized, upon his famous visit to the area in 1778 (Scott, 430).Cook was the first European to explore the sound
specifically; initially, he entitled it King George's Sound, but upon later inquiry as
to the local name, Cook somehow confused the Nuu-chah-nulth
words for "go around"—nootka-a—as the location name (430).Yuquot, or Friendly Cove, a place famed politicially and culturally,
looks out to Nootka Sound, from the southern shore of Nootka Island.Nuu-chah-nulth Tribal Council, <ref type="external"
target="http://www.nuuchahnulth.org/tribal-council/welcome.html"
>Nuu-chah-nulth Tribal Council Vision and Mission</ref>,Nuu-chah-nulth Tribal Council.Andrew Scott, The Encyclopedia of Raincoast
Placenames (Madeira Park, BC: Harbour Publishing, 2009).North-West Territory (1825)69.756834 -141.20322370.560560 -126.90692874.405246 -125.25119375.729726 -79.50361773.685643 -76.89359266.658417 -61.14043061.379135 -64.38061064.380072 -70.02551067.810013 -69.25307171.793525 -82.08849367.281721 -84.50051862.392300 -107.09514657.063039 -100.09609552.130893 -117.01366053.785284 -120.08441154.297514 -130.42246356.063393 -129.94888657.069628 -132.10609259.839617 -135.38568159.074475 -137.28067460.324874 -140.915632“North-West Territory (1825)” refers to the sweeping lands north and west of Rupert's Land. After several border
permutations, these two vast territories would be amalgamated and transferred, with
several territorial changes, and renamed The North-West Territories in 1870. The lands
that held the title of Northwest Territories shifted several times, as late as 1993,
with the creation of Nunavut Territory, through the Nunavut
Act—Nunavut became a "constitutional entity" in 1999 (Craufurd-Lewis).In 1825, the North-West Territory had Rupert's Land on its eastern border, Oregon Territory to the south, and Russian Territory to the west and northwest. These
borders were established by both the Russo-American Treaty of 1824 and the
Anglo-Russian Convention of 1825, which fixed Russia's southern boundary at 54˚ 40',
and marked the northernmost reach for British settlements (Morton, 507). This
boundary, in particular, would agitate disputes over Oregon Territory, which would reach a thorny
resolution through the Oregon Treaty of 1846.Michael Craufurd-Lewis, <ref type="external"
target="http://www.thecanadianencyclopedia.com/index.cfm?PgNm=TCE&Params=A1ARTA0005849"
>Nunavut</ref>,The Canadian Encyclopedia.Arthur S. Morton, A History of the Canadian West to
1870-71 (London: Thomas Nelson & Sons, 1939).Nova Scotia44.255532 -66.41709644.230162 -66.41809544.202436 -66.33780244.198212 -66.26572644.076016 -66.24250143.796654 -66.20924543.607140 -66.17340543.488347 -66.10196443.366287 -66.03485943.368096 -65.61017843.407774 -65.44934143.450582 -65.34326643.555363 -65.26210543.623573 -65.07853943.688686 -64.95074043.743938 -64.84904643.864055 -64.70380743.969507 -64.60586944.058280 -64.47941044.143855 -64.29847944.246587 -64.11400444.347137 -63.96251944.396082 -63.86121044.380321 -63.74021244.393242 -63.57441244.489208 -63.39184744.565663 -63.31779344.623667 -63.16600744.621065 -63.01268644.641189 -62.83929944.694455 -62.67762944.749916 -62.50949044.781953 -62.36916444.816177 -62.19910444.872364 -62.03701144.931171 -61.94685444.997185 -61.80518245.040026 -61.65483345.088384 -61.47256545.139432 -61.28376545.163317 -61.13955245.224847 -60.96328345.283378 -60.87704645.364202 -60.87030945.433895 -60.85519845.490906 -60.79736445.523841 -60.71025545.564060 -60.57575545.608289 -60.38958645.665890 -60.22903845.725805 -60.09678845.800936 -59.97300345.875545 -59.86942245.904968 -59.78554245.953049 -59.70904446.005070 -59.64114446.066541 -59.62897746.114422 -59.69189946.183931 -59.75997946.233115 -59.85748346.275872 -59.99104246.310125 -60.12379246.345395 -60.23857546.429558 -60.37003046.508124 -60.36097846.584133 -60.31212346.693656 -60.26933946.838591 -60.24144846.907759 -60.27290446.963242 -60.32122447.059459 -60.37027347.084738 -60.44214547.093810 -60.54651347.088302 -60.63275247.024284 -60.71431546.951308 -60.76719946.869903 -60.86023346.793730 -60.94713846.693612 -61.04994246.607252 -61.11244446.521737 -61.16254646.431013 -61.26495646.328660 -61.33547246.250534 -61.45287846.139776 -61.52726346.054823 -61.61895745.976310 -61.68696145.881273 -61.65364545.795444 -61.60956045.696434 -61.68549045.695443 -61.76700545.775915 -61.81402945.862320 -61.83764445.913518 -61.88860245.931162 -61.98912845.884151 -62.04855345.837585 -62.18565145.836041 -62.32286345.861656 -62.48894845.847525 -62.60878945.835423 -62.75318345.849900 -62.94111345.918448 -63.43564545.928773 -63.69444645.941753 -63.77396045.987379 -63.84890146.010844 -63.90610246.025424 -63.98482045.836742 -64.31577945.681915 -64.53388645.455249 -64.94776445.365173 -64.98898145.260906 -65.07455345.160409 -65.08689145.096666 -65.05967444.763258 -65.76442644.670635 -65.92475944.389077 -66.27661644.254749 -66.41774944.255532 -66.417096Nova Scotia, Latin for New Scotland, is one of three provinces in eastern Canada
that comprise the Maritimes, the remaining are New Brunswick and Prince Edward Island. The first settlers to the area known
as the Maritimes were Micmac, who established European trade, largely with the French
and English (Ernest R. Forbes, <ref type="external"
target="http://www.thecanadianencyclopedia.com/index.cfm?PgNm=TCE&Params=A1ARTA0005695"
>New Brunswick</ref>,The Canadian Encyclopedia). However, a European
presence can be traced much farther back, to circa 1000 AD, at the Norse settlement
now known as L'Anse aux Meadows (Forbes).John Cabot landed on Nova Scotia shores in 1497, and boatloads of European fishers
and explorers plied nearby waters until the establishment of Port-Royal in 1605, which
served as a prologue to the Acadian saga (Forbes). Nova Scotia was thereafter a cauldron of trade conflict,
immigration, exodus, and high political drama. It confederated in 1867 to become one
of the first four provinces of Canada. A year later, however, Nova Scotia parliament
motioned to refuse the legitimacy of Confederation, but as deep and long as the the
anti-Confederation movement ran, it did not, in the years that followed, gain the
political traction necessary for Nova Scotia to shake loose (Forbes).Nutts Island52.962901 -132.36209353.004992 -132.39284253.012142 -132.31564053.003532 -132.25916852.987757 -132.19230652.975727 -132.18314952.967868 -132.23879652.957956 -132.32737852.962901 -132.362093The location of Nutts Island is unknown. It is mentioned in this despatch alone, thus far, in reference to disputes over gold in Englefield Bay and Mitchell Inlet—likely, Nutts Island is somewhere near,
or within, these features.Oak Bay48.436798 -123.29526248.438167 -123.29785048.437299 -123.29992948.435661 -123.30173048.433493 -123.30332848.431966 -123.30413848.430872 -123.30409848.430207 -123.30445348.429509 -123.30480948.429110 -123.30566048.429241 -123.30630648.428842 -123.30685748.428111 -123.30711448.427309 -123.30750248.426711 -123.30755348.426247 -123.30702148.425314 -123.30707048.424714 -123.30661448.424314 -123.30586048.424447 -123.30536048.424980 -123.30461248.424480 -123.30401048.423747 -123.30294748.436798 -123.295262Oak Bay is on the southeastern end of Vancouver Island, just east of Victoria. It draws its name from the wealth of Garry Oak trees that grow in
the surrounding lands (Andrew Scott, The Encyclopedia of
Raincoast Placenames (Madeira Park, BC: Harbour Publishing, 2009),
434).Tod was the first European to settle permanently in Oak
Bay, which is now an affluent municipality, in a home and farm he built in the early
1850s (434). Oak Bay appears on Captain Kellett's Royal
Navy survey map of 1847, and earlier, on an 1830s Hudson's Bay Company map, as Bone
Bay (434). Ogden Point48.416667 -123.389889Ogden Point is located on southern Vancouver Island, and marks the entrance to Victoria's harbour. It was named after Ogden in 1843, by Hudson's Bay Company officers aboard the Beaver.Olympia47.037874 -122.900695Olympia, Washington, U.S.A., is a coastal city at the southernmost reach of Puget Sound. The area around and including
present-day Olympia was and is home to several Coastal Salish groups, which include
the Duwamish, Nisqually, and Squaxin (The City of Olympia).Olympia had a variety of names, such as "Stu-chus-and," "Stitchas," and even "New
Market," though Colonel Issac Ebey is credited with suggesting the name Olympia, no
doubt in reference to the mountain of the same name that looms high on the Olympic Peninsula (Middleton,
153).Lynn Middleton, Placenames of the Pacific Northwest
Coast (Victoria: Elldee Publishing Company, 1969).The City of Olympia, <ref type="external"
target="http://olympiawa.gov/community/about-olympia/history-of-olympia-washington.aspx"
>History of Olympia, Washington</ref>,The City of Olympia.Olympic Peninsula48.471372 -124.77867648.171936 -122.75351448.102688 -122.66454247.905742 -122.62633347.879799 -122.59430547.719986 -122.76423847.680560 -122.76022747.637126 -122.92147047.506648 -123.04451047.356083 -123.14807447.548937 -124.39441347.759510 -124.53645747.960682 -124.73023948.177864 -124.78656948.404916 -124.766845The Olympic Peninsula juts out from the northwestern tip of Washington State, USA,
where Cape Flattery marks the US
entrance to the Juan de Fuca
Strait. Its name likely originates from the English name for the mountains it
contains, the Olympics, the largest of which was marked on British maps from the late
1700s as Mount Olympus, though Spanish Captain Juan Perez called it El Cero de la
Santa Rosalia (Lynn Middleton, Placenames of the Pacific
Northwest Coast (Victoria: Elldee Publishing Company, 1969),
153).Orcas Island48.608794 -123.02403448.609845 -123.01831648.610780 -123.01591448.612650 -123.01202348.613585 -123.00987048.615233 -123.00787048.618195 -123.00688448.620937 -123.00656148.621706 -123.00590048.621874 -123.00349548.614201 -123.00081748.609163 -122.99590948.605821 -122.99424048.601985 -122.99240548.601001 -122.99008148.600183 -122.98618248.598601 -122.97913048.599537 -122.97623148.601786 -122.97499348.604418 -122.97524848.606555 -122.97600048.609899 -122.97708748.614357 -122.97701548.617483 -122.97718948.621644 -122.98184548.624710 -122.98542048.627728 -122.98385348.630195 -122.98419148.632161 -122.99066848.633037 -122.99108548.638360 -122.98836248.640391 -122.98687448.641269 -122.98604748.641381 -122.98413848.640287 -122.98206148.629661 -122.97199448.627627 -122.96915048.627959 -122.96574948.628840 -122.96293048.629174 -122.95828548.628682 -122.95703948.627312 -122.95612448.625558 -122.95429548.622157 -122.95619648.615137 -122.95692848.609874 -122.95583848.602857 -122.95507648.600281 -122.95308148.598090 -122.95141748.595834 -122.94825748.595783 -122.94303448.593758 -122.93930048.591186 -122.93258148.590699 -122.92359348.590541 -122.91298348.590928 -122.90602048.590108 -122.90054748.588138 -122.89305248.587426 -122.89015048.588470 -122.88567448.592201 -122.87597848.594231 -122.87158648.598673 -122.86661348.602841 -122.86255248.606844 -122.86097848.610902 -122.86158148.613259 -122.86199648.614410 -122.86531548.615123 -122.86780348.616713 -122.86830248.621154 -122.87203648.627555 -122.87552548.631392 -122.87793348.638201 -122.88150548.642250 -122.88665348.647839 -122.89703148.651564 -122.90500348.655437 -122.90863648.663202 -122.90997448.665944 -122.90889848.672963 -122.90890748.676799 -122.91323048.683672 -122.91548148.686357 -122.91731248.688991 -122.91540548.691022 -122.91108948.692284 -122.90984548.693381 -122.90926548.693382 -122.90793548.692286 -122.90652248.690147 -122.90627048.688559 -122.90302948.688121 -122.90045448.689110 -122.89779748.690536 -122.89705148.692729 -122.89763448.693388 -122.89514348.691416 -122.89057248.688621 -122.88658348.685112 -122.88566748.671115 -122.88547748.664754 -122.88622048.656405 -122.88485648.649936 -122.88119948.642329 -122.87416148.642768 -122.87275148.644084 -122.87150748.645072 -122.86910048.644524 -122.86785548.622453 -122.85190348.620118 -122.84760048.617541 -122.84138048.616553 -122.83491148.614798 -122.82993548.604929 -122.83250948.602461 -122.83267548.600378 -122.83217848.599155 -122.82926748.599154 -122.82570248.599976 -122.82139148.600579 -122.81964948.602078 -122.81811648.603339 -122.81720348.604654 -122.81595948.604982 -122.81322248.604762 -122.81065248.603885 -122.80965748.602788 -122.80866348.601526 -122.80626048.600757 -122.80261248.600592 -122.79979248.601687 -122.79788448.603277 -122.79746848.605562 -122.79871048.607537 -122.80078148.610961 -122.80301848.612770 -122.80359748.613922 -122.80500648.616159 -122.80763748.617968 -122.80771948.619928 -122.80588648.621352 -122.80281548.622502 -122.80015948.624750 -122.79824948.626723 -122.79708648.628532 -122.79534148.631133 -122.79530148.631680 -122.79330948.631899 -122.79123448.632883 -122.78971348.633870 -122.78880048.634307 -122.78631048.634525 -122.78373748.635731 -122.78257448.637760 -122.78406648.638911 -122.78199048.639018 -122.77850448.638797 -122.77448748.640492 -122.76834348.642812 -122.76404748.644784 -122.76172148.646426 -122.75773548.648890 -122.75366348.650613 -122.75333748.652478 -122.75424648.654561 -122.75324748.655436 -122.75150248.657243 -122.74768048.659048 -122.74269548.660776 -122.74039748.662367 -122.74155648.664381 -122.74559848.666031 -122.75115848.670049 -122.76580748.672852 -122.77634848.677355 -122.78896448.684202 -122.80266548.693819 -122.82177848.697659 -122.82958448.701391 -122.84100148.703420 -122.84881148.706380 -122.86260048.707695 -122.86625648.712166 -122.87390448.713591 -122.87751548.713974 -122.88017448.713754 -122.88324848.713807 -122.88648948.714903 -122.89049048.715450 -122.89323348.715283 -122.89738848.715226 -122.90195948.714841 -122.90561548.714948 -122.90927148.714332 -122.91308648.714439 -122.91774048.713779 -122.92014948.712845 -122.92330548.712073 -122.92961948.712048 -122.93279448.710838 -122.93786148.711000 -122.94126848.712855 -122.95124448.712087 -122.95207348.710169 -122.95049048.708746 -122.94766248.707378 -122.94491848.705062 -122.94383248.702650 -122.94332948.701662 -122.94399248.697601 -122.94838748.695242 -122.94946248.693266 -122.95178448.691904 -122.95606048.691846 -122.95946648.691241 -122.96145848.690637 -122.96245348.689321 -122.96245048.688061 -122.96086948.686800 -122.96095048.685098 -122.96327148.683120 -122.96667248.681800 -122.97065448.680534 -122.97488648.678283 -122.97996548.676909 -122.98286848.675920 -122.98460948.674099 -122.98655048.672343 -122.98787448.667237 -122.99259148.665516 -122.99492648.664911 -122.99633548.664142 -122.99749548.662441 -122.99848648.659364 -123.00329248.658264 -123.00594448.656286 -123.00867748.655790 -123.01025248.654308 -123.01190848.652135 -123.01314548.650159 -123.01455048.645975 -123.01594648.642904 -123.01660048.642518 -123.01767748.641201 -123.01891748.639116 -123.01998948.637029 -123.02230548.635381 -123.02395948.633533 -123.02667048.631279 -123.03056148.630126 -123.03138648.628591 -123.03121548.626836 -123.03154048.623272 -123.03169348.619983 -123.03101748.618285 -123.03001548.616859 -123.03017648.614666 -123.03016848.612419 -123.02924748.611105 -123.02799948.608809 -123.02395748.608794 -123.024034Orcas is a horseshoe-shaped island in the San Juan group, Washington State, and its name arises
from complex and murky origins. Middleton writes that Francisco de Eliza, a Spanish
explorer, named it after the ship Boca de Horcasitas, and, as it was Anglicized and
truncated, Horcasitas lost its H and became Orcas (153-54). However, Brokenshire is
convinced that another Spaniard on the same voyage, Pantoja, named the island in
reference to the volume of killer whales, or "orcas" in Spanish, that surrounded his
longboat during his surveys in the area (152).Both sources agree that Captain Kellet did the work to
restore the name Orcas to the Island in 1847, as it had been known for a time as Hull
Island, a mantle given by U.S. explorer Charles Wilkes during his expedition to the
region from 1838-1842 (Brokenshire, 152 and Middleton, 153-54).Doug Brokenshire, Washington State place names: from
Alki to Yelm (Caldwell, ID: Caxton Printers, 1993).Lynn Middleton, Placenames of the Pacific Northwest
Coast (Victoria: Elldee Publishing Company, 1969).Oregon Territory, or Columbia District54.570551 -131.56844454.405098 -122.27308344.380661 -110.74322942.018654 -108.07727242.016378 -117.09350042.011374 -125.05210448.532360 -124.85927448.214459 -123.49999348.982679 -122.97080050.313965 -125.46674550.572438 -126.77277451.098334 -127.93371253.569497 -130.820435The Oregon Territory, in northwest North America, was formed, in part, as a result
of U.S. and British territorial claims and tensions. The Treaty of Ghent of 1814
decreed that the British and U.S. concede, respectively, territories seized during the
War of 1812 (Akrigg and Akrigg, 169). The port city of Astoria, at the mouth of the Columbia River, became, for a time, the focus of these
repatriations, wherein both governments postured as sovereigns (169). The Convention
of 1818 quelled the stalemate's fury, temporarily, by decreeing co-occupation, in
which the lands "westward of the Stony
Mountains" were made "free and open, for the term of ten years" to "the
vessels, citizens, and subjects of the two Powers" (170).The British referred to the Oregon Territory as the Columbia District, while the
U.S. referred to it most commonly as Oregon Country—the regions in question were
subject to a variety of designations. Britain claimed a border as far south as the
42nd parallel, and the U.S. claimed as high as 54° 40'. Arguably, the hotly contested
regions, largely for reasons of trade, were the lands between the Columbia River and the 49th parallel (Morton,
748-50).Eventually, and after much politicking, the 49th marked the territorial divide
ratified in the Oregon Treaty of 1846, whereby the British received Vancouver Island, and lands equal roughly to half of
present-day British Columbia (749). The U.S. secured the land up to the 49th, which
included the region between the Columbia and the 49th—roughly present-day Washington,
Oregon, and Idaho States.G.P.V. Akrigg and H.B. Akrigg, British Columbia Chronicle,
1788-1846 (Victoria: Discovery Press, 1975).Arthur S. Morton, A History of the Canadian West to
1870-71 (London: Thomas Nelson & Sons, 1939).Panama8.994203 -79.518786The Republic of Panama, with Panama City as its capital, is on the isthmus that
links Central and South America. Christopher Columbus landed in Panama in 1502
(World Encyclopedia, <ref type="external"
target="http://www.oxfordreference.com/views/ENTRY.html?subview=Main&entry=t142.e8661"
>Panama</ref>,Oxford Reference Online). And, he was a precursor to
larger Spanish interests, which carried troops to the region and European diseases to
the Indigenous population. Panama became the Province of Columbia in 1821, and thereafter, the U.S. impressed
itself and its interests upon the region; arguably, the Panama Canal is evidence of
the desire for the U.S. to control Panama, as it was built by the them between 1904 to
1914 (World Encyclopedia). The U.S. relinquished control of the canal, politically,
to Panama in 1999 (World Encyclopedia).Parry Bay48.386180 -123.47735548.384592 -123.48242448.385246 -123.48861348.385433 -123.49226848.385528 -123.49592248.385901 -123.50126648.383380 -123.50393848.383099 -123.50674748.385899 -123.51054248.383379 -123.51532748.377135 -123.52216248.373394 -123.52472148.370589 -123.52936448.360313 -123.53555148.355294 -123.54365748.351257 -123.54453148.347445 -123.54057948.344634 -123.54002748.341165 -123.53989848.339859 -123.53863248.341174 -123.53286948.342551 -123.52712748.386180 -123.477355Parry Bay is on the southeast coast of Vancouver Island, east of Sooke and
south of Metchosin. Quimper had named it Rada de Solano in 1790, until Captain Kellett called it Parry Bay in 1846, after his friend, the legendary
Admiral Sir William Edward Parry, who was a naval officer, Arctic and North-West
passage explorer, and hydrographer (Andrew Scott, The
Encyclopedia of Raincoast Placenames (Madeira Park, BC: Harbour
Publishing, 2009), 448-49).Pedder Bay48.337466 -123.53672148.338467 -123.53867748.338744 -123.53980648.337359 -123.54131548.339328 -123.54319948.339745 -123.54578448.340743 -123.54686148.340081 -123.54869048.340024 -123.55082548.340360 -123.55278048.343290 -123.55557048.344527 -123.55835248.345194 -123.56080648.345498 -123.56350148.346915 -123.56658948.347026 -123.56688148.350690 -123.57334848.350410 -123.57326148.349681 -123.57283148.348441 -123.57147048.347605 -123.57213148.348439 -123.57430148.348517 -123.57541648.349206 -123.57824148.348600 -123.57795948.346525 -123.57275948.346693 -123.56976148.344413 -123.56303948.343943 -123.56137248.343110 -123.55999648.341750 -123.55941348.340862 -123.55986948.335290 -123.55445548.333398 -123.55278748.331994 -123.55125148.332451 -123.54823948.325412 -123.54025048.337466 -123.536721Pedder Bay is on the South coast of Vancouver Island, just to the southeast of the Sooke Basin, and east of Becher Bay. Captain Kellett named
this narrowing bay in 1846, presumably, after his friend William Pedder, a former
Royal Navy officer (Scott, 454 & Walbran, 376).Andrew Scott, The Encyclopedia of Raincoast
Placenames (Madeira Park, BC: Harbour Publishing, 2009).John T. Walbran, British Columbia Place Names
(Vancouver: Douglas & McIntyre, 1971).Point Roberts49.002028 -123.03491049.002079 -123.09100548.995476 -123.08921448.990417 -123.08799348.987329 -123.08636848.983654 -123.08531148.981098 -123.08490448.978488 -123.08506548.975399 -123.08538848.973215 -123.08579348.971085 -123.08595548.970020 -123.08400748.969968 -123.08173548.970714 -123.07857148.972154 -123.07183748.972634 -123.06705148.973699 -123.06015548.974285 -123.05390848.975349 -123.04595748.975242 -123.04027748.973696 -123.03427348.973108 -123.02786348.974172 -123.02315648.975822 -123.02080248.977260 -123.01998948.978645 -123.02104348.979924 -123.02250448.981788 -123.02363948.983652 -123.02339448.985037 -123.02363748.987168 -123.02590848.990577 -123.02769248.994199 -123.02980148.998407 -123.03328949.000217 -123.03434349.002028 -123.034910Point Roberts juts into the Georgia
Strait, though, politically, it is part of Washington State. Its border
speaks to the complicated nature of the boundary dispute, which was settled, in part,
through the Oregon Treaty of 1846—since Point Roberts fell below the 49th parallel, it
was annexed to the United States (John T. Walbran, British
Columbia Place Names (Vancouver: Douglas & McIntyre, 1971),
425).Captain Vancouver named the point, in 1792, in
honour of his sailing comrade Captain Henry Roberts, who
was initially set to command the Discovery,
with Vancouver as second in command (425-26). However,
because of pressures at Nootka Sound, the
British Navy jostled its fleet to meet the potential threat of the Spanish, should
they mass a presence in response to the Nootka tensions (425). In the shuffle to make the "The Spanish Armament"
Roberts was relocated to the Caribbean, so Vancouver was
assigned command of the Discovery mission,
whose purpose, beyond scientific and navigational observation, was to reassert command
over the lands the Spanish had apparently seized (425).In this despatchDouglas writes to Lytton
that it is "reasonable to infer that the intention of the [boundary commission]
negociators must have been to carry on the line of Boundary along the 49th Parallel to
the middle of the channel which separates the land of Point Roberts from the land
shewn in the charts of that day as the East Coast of Vancouver's Island."Portage Inlet48.451826 -123.42358548.451793 -123.42355748.452335 -123.42265348.452403 -123.42273248.452509 -123.42285048.452706 -123.42301748.452994 -123.42312948.453339 -123.42329648.453655 -123.42335948.454114 -123.42334748.454315 -123.42326048.454726 -123.42301648.454816 -123.42304748.454939 -123.42286748.455149 -123.42268848.455322 -123.42255848.455519 -123.42234848.455765 -123.42224348.455872 -123.42220648.456068 -123.42218148.456499 -123.42177348.456655 -123.42147648.456803 -123.42114748.456931 -123.42074548.457017 -123.42069648.457161 -123.42074548.457305 -123.42082048.457588 -123.42067248.457933 -123.42048648.458196 -123.42031348.458585 -123.41994248.458679 -123.41982448.458692 -123.41955248.458675 -123.41929248.458626 -123.41895148.458581 -123.41870948.458368 -123.41855448.458162 -123.41848648.457994 -123.41817048.457953 -123.41807148.457841 -123.41813748.457685 -123.41824248.457397 -123.41819948.457249 -123.41809348.457208 -123.41796948.457303 -123.41785248.457307 -123.41769148.457048 -123.41778348.456913 -123.41787048.456822 -123.41816148.456728 -123.41826648.456703 -123.41845248.456477 -123.41856948.456329 -123.41856348.456161 -123.41838348.455960 -123.41811748.455939 -123.41785048.455972 -123.41765848.456194 -123.41736748.456400 -123.41718848.456621 -123.41707748.456839 -123.41700348.457016 -123.41690448.457247 -123.41672448.457362 -123.41655748.457346 -123.41614848.457276 -123.41577048.457305 -123.41539948.457400 -123.41525048.457507 -123.41508348.457474 -123.41477348.457244 -123.41464048.457117 -123.41453548.457039 -123.41423748.457063 -123.41402148.457232 -123.41382348.457417 -123.41355648.457655 -123.41330948.457851 -123.41318648.458012 -123.41326048.458069 -123.41345248.458344 -123.41353348.458656 -123.41352748.458907 -123.41338548.459150 -123.41311948.459265 -123.41286148.459392 -123.41246548.459495 -123.41212548.459504 -123.41180248.459450 -123.41162348.459374 -123.41137948.459255 -123.41104448.459152 -123.41079648.459041 -123.41056748.458943 -123.41017748.458820 -123.40978048.458652 -123.40945248.458321 -123.40875148.458255 -123.40860248.458169 -123.40825548.458058 -123.40787748.457939 -123.40743748.457808 -123.40710948.457751 -123.40695448.457685 -123.40688648.457562 -123.40670648.457145 -123.40592748.457051 -123.40573548.456911 -123.40568548.456817 -123.40566648.456809 -123.40547448.456805 -123.40520248.456801 -123.40483048.456702 -123.40450848.456583 -123.40426748.456308 -123.40400148.456025 -123.40372248.455680 -123.40328248.455294 -123.40258848.455080 -123.40218648.455064 -123.40208648.455141 -123.40208148.455240 -123.40231648.455470 -123.40270148.455724 -123.40312248.456049 -123.40349448.456459 -123.40390948.456743 -123.40431148.456821 -123.40443548.456870 -123.40460348.456928 -123.40485748.456936 -123.40504248.457051 -123.40527248.457199 -123.40550148.457350 -123.40565448.457457 -123.40576048.457585 -123.40566148.457609 -123.40579148.457523 -123.40595248.457506 -123.40610748.457566 -123.40629748.457680 -123.40647048.457836 -123.40670648.457954 -123.40704148.458012 -123.40727148.458131 -123.40746948.458168 -123.40777948.458326 -123.40825048.458408 -123.40851048.458634 -123.40901048.458736 -123.40927148.458896 -123.40958448.459032 -123.40983248.459360 -123.41090648.459438 -123.41111148.459590 -123.41119848.459837 -123.41140648.460083 -123.41171648.460326 -123.41207548.460547 -123.41249148.460659 -123.41286548.460840 -123.41323648.461107 -123.41356548.461381 -123.41399448.461730 -123.41462048.462107 -123.41533348.462341 -123.41576148.462550 -123.41604348.462640 -123.41635348.462919 -123.41680548.463207 -123.41717148.463407 -123.41752148.463415 -123.41781848.463361 -123.41821548.463341 -123.41847548.463464 -123.41880348.463587 -123.41891548.463653 -123.41915748.463628 -123.41968348.463508 -123.42063148.463491 -123.42111348.463433 -123.42276048.463313 -123.42398148.463253 -123.42418348.463306 -123.42439448.463372 -123.42457448.463429 -123.42489048.463347 -123.42510048.463018 -123.42542848.462784 -123.42577548.462562 -123.42630148.461987 -123.42754848.461745 -123.42779048.461585 -123.42783948.461309 -123.42778948.460746 -123.42782048.460565 -123.42772048.460426 -123.42754748.460360 -123.42728648.460138 -123.42708848.459908 -123.42682148.459741 -123.42668248.459585 -123.42660248.458297 -123.42682348.458088 -123.42690948.457857 -123.42726348.457758 -123.42755448.457754 -123.42787048.457831 -123.42827248.457954 -123.42859648.458037 -123.42872648.458172 -123.42876448.458353 -123.42878248.458488 -123.42883248.458673 -123.42895648.458899 -123.42913048.459091 -123.42930448.459136 -123.42944648.459276 -123.42954548.459415 -123.42959548.459625 -123.42970748.459776 -123.42973848.459924 -123.42979448.460056 -123.42979448.460052 -123.42986848.459961 -123.42996748.459867 -123.43012848.459912 -123.43030248.459961 -123.43042048.459953 -123.43050048.459842 -123.43045748.459752 -123.43028948.459641 -123.43006648.459513 -123.43002948.459362 -123.42993648.459136 -123.42970048.458976 -123.42947748.458709 -123.42921048.458553 -123.42904348.458421 -123.42901248.458220 -123.42896248.458059 -123.42898648.457862 -123.42883148.457665 -123.42875148.457328 -123.42894248.457012 -123.42912148.456514 -123.42921648.455884 -123.42925248.455728 -123.42932048.455671 -123.42952548.455765 -123.42973548.456007 -123.43004548.456241 -123.43034648.456314 -123.43067448.456400 -123.43151148.456486 -123.43240948.456441 -123.43253348.456305 -123.43260148.456120 -123.43224148.455891 -123.43156648.455797 -123.43116948.455669 -123.43078548.455450 -123.43041048.455216 -123.43012548.454945 -123.42988948.454682 -123.42988948.454312 -123.43003148.454016 -123.42991948.453906 -123.42973348.453437 -123.42962748.453548 -123.42941748.453795 -123.42907748.453968 -123.42859448.454091 -123.42804348.454203 -123.42776648.454482 -123.42792748.454979 -123.42832448.455303 -123.42850448.455576 -123.42844248.455781 -123.42805848.455893 -123.42756348.456184 -123.42720448.456691 -123.42624648.457097 -123.42573248.457405 -123.42508148.458185 -123.42471748.458830 -123.42478648.459233 -123.42465048.459471 -123.42447348.459665 -123.42390948.460104 -123.42381748.460992 -123.42344048.461173 -123.42313048.460996 -123.42226948.460804 -123.42167448.460504 -123.42151948.459672 -123.42207448.459610 -123.42252048.459343 -123.42310948.458994 -123.42354848.458637 -123.42324448.458686 -123.42287948.458772 -123.42271848.458740 -123.42243948.458194 -123.42248848.457795 -123.42270448.457706 -123.42343348.457443 -123.42381748.456574 -123.42404548.456459 -123.42416248.456430 -123.42449748.456368 -123.42490648.456203 -123.42512648.455796 -123.42526848.455406 -123.42545348.455021 -123.42605748.454725 -123.42626748.454450 -123.42608148.454036 -123.42515248.453813 -123.42476448.453341 -123.42461548.452684 -123.42421248.451862 -123.42361048.451826 -123.423585Portage Inlet is located northwest of the Gorge Waterway, at the narrow head of
Victoria harbour. It appears on an 1855 map
by Joseph Pemberton, and on Admiralty charts
thereafter (Andrew Scott, The Encyclopedia of Raincoast
Placenames (Madeira Park, BC: Harbour Publishing, 2009), 469).
According to Scott, an ancient First Nation trail ran between the head of the Inlet
and Thetis Cove, in Esquimalt Harbour (469). It draws its European names
from Pemberton's era, when small-craft navy sailors
chose to portage across the nearby land to avoid rougher outside waters (469).Port Hardy50.723991 -127.492237Port Hardy is located on the northeastern shore of Vancouver Island, and looks out onto Hardy Bay. Both the city and the bay derive their name, along
with other features in the vicinity such as Hardy Island and
Hardy Peak, from Vice Admiral Sir Thomas
Masterman Hardy (1769-1839), the man who heard Admiral
Lord Nelson's final death-bed words, "Kiss me, Hardy," during the Battle of Trafalgar, in 1805 (Andrew Scott, The Encyclopedia of Raincoast Placenames (Madeira Park, BC:
Harbour Publishing, 2009), 249).Portland45.514986 -122.679039Portland City, Oregon, U.S.A. is on the southern banks of the Columbia River, across from Vancouver, Washington. The Willamette River intersects the Columbia through the city centre, splitting Portland
into east and west sectors.Port McNeill50.583333 -127.1Port McNeill is located on the northeastern shore of Vancouver Island, on the south side of Broughton Strait. Starting in the
mid-eighteen hundreds, this area became of interest to the Hudson's Bay Company (HBC)
for its coal deposits; in fact, it draws its name from Captain
William McNeill, who established Fort
Rupert, near Port Hardy, on behalf
of HBC interests (Andrew Scott, The Encyclopedia of Raincoast
Placenames (Madeira Park, BC: Harbour Publishing, 2009),
473).In this 1846 despatch, Ogden and Douglas consider a coal-extraction establishment at “McNeil's
Harbour” an “object of importance;” their coordinates for this apparently coal-rich
area [≈ 50.65 -127.16] appear just northwest of present-day Port McNeill, on the
western shores of Malcolm
Island.Port Townsend48.117039 -122.760457Port Townsend is located on the shores of northwest Puget Sound, in Washington State, and its name speaks
plainly to its history. It was, certainly in the pre-steam era, a choice port of call
for vessels of all sizes, particularly those from England (Brokenshire, 173). And, it is at the end of the Olympic Peninsula. Prior to Spanish arrival to the
area, circa 1789-92, the region was, as with today, populated by a variety of
Salish-speaking peoples (Brokenshire, 171). However, the site of Port Townsend was the traditional
land of the Chimacum (National Park Service).In 1792, Vancouver arrived there after a year at
sea, as part of his mission to divine a rumoured waterway through which to lead
vessels from the North American coast, across the continent, and into the Atlantic.
Instead, he sailed to the southern reaches of Puget Sound. And, as with the Sound, Vancouver named Port Townsend after a
naval colleague: the Marquis Lord Townshend (1724 - 1807), who was a key figure in the
siege of Quebec.Later, though, the first U.S. settlers to the region dropped the H from Townshend
(Brokenshire, 171). The town dropped its pretensions—arguably, to the
floor—particularly, in the mid-1850s, as Port Townsend became a port of depravity. The
town was rumoured to have one saloon for every seventy residents (171). Drunkards, gamblers, and soon-to-be-"Shanghaied" sailors stumbled
through the streets and cavorted with prostitutes. Generally, sin abounded (171).According to J. Ross Browne's 1853 article in the San Francisco Chronicle, even
the U.S. Customs employees were somehow seduced by base pursuits, as they apparently
spent what free time they had "...uselessly engaged in chasing wild Indians and
porpoises" (171).Doug Brokenshire, Washington State place names: from
Alki to Yelm (Caldwell, ID: Caxton Printers, 1993).[U.S.] National Park Service, <ref type="external"
target="http://ilmbwww.gov.bc.ca/bcgn-bin/bcg10?name=51611">Native American
Groups of the Olympic Peninsula</ref>,National Park Service.Prince of Wales Archipelago56.334441 -133.72193855.947701 -133.96580955.860094 -133.97355255.774826 -133.88197855.677287 -133.80428555.513045 -133.85689155.435657 -133.92931155.310164 -133.85062455.179232 -133.66026555.118168 -133.35664154.924910 -133.24276654.783340 -133.11856554.658724 -132.92014954.607218 -132.62925154.640485 -132.21108554.658550 -131.98479654.755493 -131.86995054.891497 -131.85200854.975871 -131.74999954.904654 -131.62445354.853257 -131.46499154.825565 -131.23011454.893377 -131.07168655.060972 -131.12096855.148583 -131.14223255.846200 -131.48352056.280580 -131.73770356.472568 -132.07080256.576918 -132.38292856.587626 -132.49850756.522319 -132.65411056.469863 -132.72364256.475624 -132.88916756.433902 -133.03072156.388545 -133.38024956.384878 -133.58150656.379103 -133.67475056.355924 -133.69969056.334441 -133.721938Prince of Wales Archipelago is part of the larger Alexander Archipelago, in Alaskan waters, off the
northwest B.C. coast. In this despatchDouglas makes reference to the "Prince of Wales'
Archipelago," which is presumed to refer to what would be considered commonly today as
the Alexander Archipelago. Among
these islands is Prince of Wales, which is rather large at, roughly, 200 by 70
kilometres. The earliest use of this name for the island appears in an 1825 treaty
between Britain and Russia.Puget Sound48.162970 -123.03637848.223696 -122.77461347.861736 -122.34285647.341064 -122.33344147.276465 -122.54168648.115490 -122.883432Puget Sound, now part of the Salish
Sea, is a body of water on the west coast of North America. Puget Sound flows
between the Olympic Peninsula and
mainland Washington State. The cities of Seattle and Tacoma look out onto
this estuary-riddled stretch of water, which, was named in 1792 by Captain Vancouver after his 2nd Lieutenant on the Discovery, Peter Puget (Walbran,
404).Puget Sound was, in the mid-eighteen hundreds, part of the Hudson's Bay Company's
administrative and trade link between Fort
Vancouver, on the banks of the Columbia River in the south, and Fort
Victoria, on Vancouver
Island in the north, a region central to Oregon Territory disputes, which were settled with the
Oregon Treaty of 1846 (Morton, 730-32).Arthur S. Morton, A History of the Canadian West to
1870-71 (London: Thomas Nelson & Sons, 1939).John T. Walbran, British Columbia Place Names
(Vancouver: Douglas & McIntyre, 1971).Quadra Island50.19965 -125.2529Quadra Island is located off the mid-east coast of Vancouver Island. Turbulent tidal channels surround
the island, which was considered, until the 1870s, Valdes Island, along with Sonora and Maurelle islands—these three islands did not receive
their individual names until 1903 (Andrew Scott, The
Encyclopedia of Raincoast Placenames (Madeira Park, BC: Harbour
Publishing, 2009), 483).Quadra Island was named after Spanish naval explorer Captain
Don Juan Francisco de la Bodega y Quadra, who met and debated with Vancouver at Friendly Cove.Queen Charlotte Sound51.899545 -130.96634452.422928 -129.00037051.162796 -127.78776850.876280 -128.05361450.785415 -128.430566Queen Charlotte Sound is the body of water that separates Haida Gwaii from Vancouver Island.Its waters merge with the Hecate
Strait to the north, the Pacific Ocean to the west, and Queen Charlotte Strait to the south. It was,
along with other "Queen Charlotte" locations, named after Queen
Charlotte (1744-1818), wife to King George III
of England (Andrew Scott, The Encyclopedia of Raincoast
Placenames (Madeira Park, BC: Harbour Publishing, 2009),
485).Queen Charlotte Strait50.74963 -127.25314Queen Charlotte Strait is the body of water that separates northeastern Vancouver Island (VI) from mainland
British Columbia. Its waters merge with Queen Charlotte Sound to the north and, as it hits the cluster of islands
between VI and the mainland, it
eventually connects to Johnstone
Strait to the south.This strait was, along with other "Queen Charlotte" locations, named after Queen Charlotte (1744-1818), wife to King George III of England (Andrew Scott, The
Encyclopedia of Raincoast Placenames (Madeira Park, BC: Harbour
Publishing, 2009), 486). The prevailing view is that James Strange, an English fur trader, named it in 1786, during an expedition
to the region (486).Race Point50.113837 -125.325837GeoBC lists two Race Points: one on the northwest point
of Galiano Island (BC
Geographical Names Information System (BCGNIS), <ref
type="external" target="http://apps.gov.bc.ca/pub/bcgnws/names/22340.html"
/>,BCGNIS.), and another on the West side of Discovery
Passage (BC Geographical Names Information System (BCGNIS), <ref type="external" target="http://apps.gov.bc.ca/pub/bcgnws/names/22341.html"
/>,BCGNIS.).Race Rocks48.304612 -123.53417048.300520 -123.54008448.299369 -123.53902748.299464 -123.53580648.297513 -123.53345248.296810 -123.53229948.296777 -123.53042448.297257 -123.52946348.297129 -123.52864648.297320 -123.52826148.303972 -123.53099748.304612 -123.534170This small collection of rocky islets in the Juan de Fuca Strait, off the south coast of Vancouver Island, has been an ecological
reserve since 1980 (Scott, 488). In 1846, Captain Kellett
adopted the name given to these treacherous rocks by officers of the Hudson's Bay
Company, circa 1842 (Walbran, 412). In his log, Kellett
described the name as appropriate, as the "tide makes a perfect race around it"
(412).A lighthouse was built on Race Rocks from 1859-1860, and recently received some
much-needed restoration (Racerocks.com). The presence and maintenance of the lighthouse appears
essential, as at least 35 ships have wrecked on or near the Rocks over the years
(Scott, 488).Racerocks.com, <ref type="external"
target="http://www.racerocks.com/racerock/history/restoration/restoration.htm"
>Restoration</ref>,Racerocks.com.Andrew Scott, The Encyclopedia of Raincoast
Placenames (Madeira Park, BC: Harbour Publishing, 2009).John T. Walbran, British Columbia Place Names
(Vancouver: Douglas & McIntyre, 1971).Red River Settlement49.895452 -97.138273Red River Settlement, or Colony, was located at the intersection of the Red and
Assiniboine rivers in what is now Winnipeg.
The Earl of Selkirk founded the colony in 1812, on lands
claimed by the Hudson's Bay Company, a company with which he was invested (J.M.
Bumsted, <ref type="external"
target="http://www.thecanadianencyclopedia.com/index.cfm?PgNm=TCE&Params=A1ARTA0006725"
>Red River Colony</ref>,The Canadian Encyclopedia).The colony was embroiled in political, land-claim, and trading controversy from
its inception onward, which prompted, among other Canadian historical milestones, the
Red River Rebellion (Bumsted). The Rocky Mountains58.966444 -129.27138159.316076 -124.54599136.015831 -102.90589635.376501 -107.400548The Rocky Mountains, or The Rockies, are part of North America's Continental
Divide, which separates the Pacific, Arctic, and Atlantic basins; they run 4800
kilometres from Alaska to northern Mexico, and for a number of large rivers the
Rockies act as either drainage or as a source, including the Yukon, Columbia, and Fraser (BC Geographical Names
Information System (BCGNIS), <ref type="external"
target="http://ilmbwww.gov.bc.ca/bcgn-bin/bcg10?name=35916">Rocky
Mountains</ref>, BCGNIS).The BC section of The Rockies cover a length of roughly 1200 kilometres, from just
shy of the Yukon border in the north, to the
Canada/Montanta State U.S.A. border to the south (BCGNIS).Rocky Point48.31633 -123.53591This point is located on Bentinck
Island, which lies just off the Sooke
coast, on southern Vancouver Island. Rosario Strait48.743599 -122.82678548.713899 -122.87820048.705882 -122.86060248.699269 -122.83535748.688881 -122.81326348.677523 -122.79160148.669804 -122.76607848.664159 -122.74596248.661285 -122.74115748.653624 -122.75268848.647676 -122.75568748.639742 -122.76873448.638052 -122.78148348.634978 -122.78372948.629224 -122.79436948.621786 -122.80140548.616329 -122.80814348.613000 -122.80394148.606066 -122.79928348.601804 -122.79867748.596191 -122.80427148.587426 -122.80845748.581238 -122.79181048.571821 -122.78130348.564131 -122.77386648.561248 -122.76966548.555691 -122.77127448.551309 -122.77288348.545588 -122.78095048.535217 -122.79368748.524536 -122.78786448.513212 -122.78317148.510007 -122.78300648.506369 -122.79138848.503012 -122.79267448.496492 -122.79718048.493818 -122.80024048.487076 -122.81602748.472014 -122.81261648.458654 -122.81935948.453104 -122.81177748.453536 -122.80565648.451294 -122.80227048.447877 -122.79952648.446488 -122.79984648.436012 -122.80804348.431527 -122.80368848.426949 -122.80191048.415386 -122.66508148.417156 -122.66653348.418039 -122.66495848.419647 -122.66556248.421177 -122.67113148.423750 -122.67452048.425358 -122.67548748.439022 -122.67923048.442628 -122.67983148.444315 -122.67801348.444636 -122.67619548.442624 -122.67147248.443104 -122.66795848.452425 -122.66201148.462468 -122.65727248.468737 -122.65811248.477822 -122.66525448.480153 -122.66707048.483288 -122.66670248.486182 -122.66985148.487872 -122.67494248.490206 -122.68197348.491413 -122.68852148.489968 -122.69385748.490210 -122.69737348.491658 -122.70307248.492584 -122.70416348.496603 -122.70197948.499496 -122.70234148.500541 -122.70052148.501022 -122.69639848.501262 -122.69312348.506164 -122.68960248.540368 -122.72299848.542124 -122.72342248.550827 -122.72448148.554688 -122.72373948.558338 -122.72236048.561287 -122.71992148.564587 -122.72904548.567516 -122.73514248.570955 -122.73822048.574605 -122.74002448.576641 -122.73960048.579097 -122.73854048.581343 -122.73885948.583519 -122.74013348.585063 -122.74119548.586158 -122.74063048.588873 -122.73147848.596077 -122.73100648.603093 -122.72579848.607060 -122.72090448.609147 -122.71348448.610119 -122.71111448.617216 -122.69958648.623688 -122.69974148.625193 -122.69400448.629782 -122.68136648.631136 -122.67315248.666096 -122.65494148.674395 -122.66457348.679932 -122.67389448.686823 -122.67894748.690581 -122.67989348.698517 -122.68605348.710211 -122.69174048.711288 -122.69381548.712856 -122.69919548.716306 -122.71881648.717454 -122.72087348.723091 -122.72277248.731025 -122.72324748.738958 -122.72039848.748875 -122.71596448.743599 -122.82678548.743599 -122.826785Rosario Strait runs East of the San Juan
Islands, northeast of Puget
Sound, in Washington State, between the Georgia and Juan de Fuca
Straits. At roughly forty kilometres in length, it seems diminutive compared to its
Spanish name, first used in 1791: Gran Canal de Nuestra Senora del Rosario la Marinera
(Middleton, 178). It was Captain Kellett who, in 1847,
dropped all but Rosario on his charts of the area (178).This was a strait of much consequence during the Oregon Treaty boundary disputes
of the latter 19th and early 20th century, which divided the U.S. from British
territory at "the middle of the channel which separates the continent from Vancouver's Island" (National Park
Service). Further to this, in this despatch, Douglas argues in his third point
to Lytton that it is the Rosario and not the Haro Strait to which the treaty must
refer:"3. In those Despatches I stated the reasons which induced me to assume that the
Islands of San Juan, Lopez and Orcas, to which the United States have set up a claim did
of right belong to Her Majesty the Queen, and come within the jurisdiction of the
Government of Vancouver's Island, or
in other words that 'Vancouver's Strait' now more generally known as 'Rosario Strait'
is the true channel through which the line of Water Boundary was intended to be
carried."Lynn Middleton, Placenames of the Pacific Northwest
Coast (Victoria: Elldee Publishing Company, 1969).[U.S.] National Park Service, <ref type="external"
target="http://www.nps.gov/archive/sajh/Pig_War_new.htm">San Juan Island
National Historical Park</ref>,Racerocks.com.Rupert's Land49.006444 -114.05694153.862602 -119.90468358.385391 -103.59515162.483872 -105.79459466.777708 -85.53925271.193591 -84.46908471.567097 -78.47419267.535998 -68.58156163.949243 -69.30257361.868403 -64.67315751.972780 -55.86195546.527638 -79.78759650.825303 -88.95353248.097873 -90.19990249.003876 -95.15642849.008744 -104.03429549.005636 -108.457097Rupert's Land was granted to the Hudson's Bay Company (HBC) in 1670 by Charles II, King of England (1630-85), who chose the name in
homage to Prince Rupert, his cousin and first
governor of the HBC (Shirlee Anne Smith, <ref type="external"
target="http://www.thecanadianencyclopedia.com/index.cfm?PgNm=TCE&Params=A1ARTA0007006"
>Rupert's Land</ref>,The Canadian Encyclopedia).The grant was sweeping in geographical, economic, and political terms, with its
heart in the Hudson's Bay and its veins reaching out through the Bay's drainage, to
cover an area equivalent to roughly half of present-day Canada (Smith).Rupert's Land, in title, held on two years after the British North America Act,
and Canadian Confederation, to 1869, when the HBC signed at last a deed drafted to
transfer its chartered territories to the Crown and governments of Great Britain and
Canada (Smith).Russian Territory54.720086 -130.67579255.293092 -129.97868656.104911 -130.10091759.798274 -135.47531159.251210 -137.62010360.345271 -139.10692260.320993 -141.00691569.786410 -140.93785171.429310 -156.50219068.044621 -171.50225652.928071 -172.36631850.259387 -179.36235651.833655 -160.20551359.666180 -144.69112854.388213 -132.876054Russian Territory, here, refers to the lands owned and worked by Russia on the
North American continent—roughly, the lands covered by present-day Alaska,
U.S.A.Perhaps most relevant to the years covered by the Colonial Despatches are the
treaties between Russia, the U.S.A., and Britain in 1824 and 1825, which fixed
Russia's southernmost border on the continent at 54° 40'; this line became the
northern boundary of British settlements, and later, the divide between British
Columbia and the State of Alaska (Arthur S. Morton, A History
of the Canadian West to 1870-71 (London: Thomas Nelson & Sons, 1939),
507).Saanich Inlet48.61634 -123.50263Saanich Inlet cuts into southeastern Vancouver Island, and divides Malahat
Ridge on the west from the Saanich
Peninsula to the east. Scott says that "[t]here is uncertainty as to the
origins of the word Saanich," which is associated with local First Nations, who,
according to Scott, self-identify as Wsanec First Nations, made up of the Pauquachin,
Tsartlip, Tsawout, and Tseycum groups (Andrew Scott, The
Encyclopedia of Raincoast Placenames (Madeira Park, BC: Harbour
Publishing, 2009), 516).Saanich Peninsula48.559318 -123.50411748.559367 -123.48340548.545468 -123.48315148.545884 -123.36393348.560908 -123.35967348.582125 -123.36918448.598884 -123.36956748.599660 -123.37446848.592502 -123.38002348.602656 -123.39018948.629369 -123.40808248.642124 -123.39595248.647496 -123.38937548.665708 -123.39180048.673141 -123.40820048.674442 -123.39532248.677507 -123.39817048.677956 -123.39864048.678587 -123.39938648.681712 -123.40259848.683935 -123.40158248.684838 -123.40012248.687734 -123.40120448.689818 -123.40375248.699650 -123.43839848.700154 -123.44558348.695513 -123.48324648.691102 -123.48937748.687218 -123.48576748.685542 -123.47806848.682835 -123.47831148.678070 -123.49110448.670805 -123.48671048.663049 -123.47488548.661547 -123.46514248.662741 -123.46002448.657004 -123.45257148.652439 -123.45127148.641557 -123.47683548.637660 -123.47937848.625804 -123.48316748.622595 -123.48033548.626172 -123.47062148.617865 -123.47647448.607749 -123.48466548.601664 -123.48233148.597093 -123.48358848.589172 -123.46973648.584772 -123.47073848.579689 -123.47429548.574623 -123.47018048.578985 -123.48707948.576606 -123.49141648.565596 -123.49698748.559318 -123.504117Saanich Peninsula is located on the southeastern end of Vancouver Island, and is north of Victoria, and contains three distinct districts: Central
Saanich, North Saanich, and Sidney (SaanichPeninsula.ca).The Peninsula is peppered with rolling hills and farmlands, as well as several
urban centres, including the towns of Brentwood Bay, on the west side, and Sidney, on
the northeastern end. To its west are the waters of Saanich Inlet, to the north, the Georgia Strait, and to the east, the Haro Strait. According to the BCGNIS website, Saanich means
"raised up" in Wsanec (BCGNIS).BC Geographical Names Information System (BCGNIS), <ref
type="external" target="http://ilmbwww.gov.bc.ca/bcgn-bin/bcg10?name=40828"
>Saanich Peninsula</ref>,BCGNIS.SaanichPeninsula.ca, SaanichPeninsula.ca, SaanichPeninsula.ca.Saint Helena-15.998914 -5.786186-16.014198 -5.766928-16.027429 -5.747424-16.026396 -5.729828-16.012438 -5.709249-16.003971 -5.686397-15.984813 -5.656556-15.969227 -5.640892-15.933889 -5.640660-15.922649 -5.646438-15.902951 -5.652753-15.905157 -5.670304-15.903565 -5.687959-15.897285 -5.705135-15.902356 -5.720784-15.922194 -5.743013-15.941356 -5.773470-15.979736 -5.790049-15.998914 -5.786186Saint Helena is part of a remote British island territory in the southern Atlantic
Ocean, which includes Ascension Island and the Tristan da Cunha group; it is
characterized by its geographical isolation. Ascension Island is over 1000 kilometres
to the North, and Tristan da Cunha lies over 2000 kilometres to the South. Most
sources agree that the island was first discovered by a Eurpoean, at least, in 1502 by
João da Nova Castella (c.1460–1509), a Portuguese sailor who happened upon it on the
feast day of Saint Helena, and so named it became. The East India Company took
possession of the island, effectively, on behalf of Britain, in 1659—it became an
official crown colony in 1834 (Concise Dictionary of World Place-Names).Access to Saint Helena has not changed much since its heyday as a 19th-century
trans-Atlantic waypoint for all manner of sea traffic. Today, the only regular
transport to the 75 square kilomter island is by the Royal Mail Ship (RMS) St Helena,
the last of the Royal Mail Ships, which visits occasionally with critical cargo and
the odd clutch of tourists (Saint Helena Access
Project). Napoleon Bonaparte was exiled to Saint Helena in 1815, until his
death in 1821 (BBC
News).Concise Dictionary of World Place-Names, <ref type="external"
target="http://www.oxfordreference.com/views/ENTRY.html?subview=Main&entry=t209.e6474"
>Saint Helena</ref>,Oxford Reference Online.Simon Hancock, Life on One of the World's Most Remote Islands, BBC News Magazine Online.Saint Helena Access Project, <ref type="external"
target="http://www.sainthelenaaccess.com/island/index.html">Saint
Helena—Island Background Information</ref>,Sainthelenaaccess.com.Saint James Island51.937751 -131.017661Tiny and rocky Saint James Island is part of the Haida Gwaii archipelago. On its southern end is Cape Saint James. Formerly, it was known as
Hummock Island (Andrew Scott, The Encyclopedia of Raincoast
Placenames (Madeira Park, BC: Harbour Publishing, 2009),
107).Salish Sea48.391739 -124.73808748.583915 -124.73366848.296439 -123.55730548.418686 -123.25991548.632540 -123.40571748.685591 -123.40153649.235049 -123.94438249.518314 -124.83452649.985861 -125.21155650.067671 -124.86678749.272995 -123.28713749.008440 -123.18727748.964891 -123.01300449.043193 -123.04246749.082090 -122.90100448.733590 -122.67357148.015210 -122.23983947.338649 -122.33351047.297917 -122.54137748.143542 -122.75674648.204155 -124.082408The Salish Sea is a collective name for the marine waters of Juan de Fuca Strait, the Georgia Strait, and Puget Sound, and their channels, passes, and straits. This 18,000 square
kilometre sea has its western entrance at the mouth of the Juan de Fuca Strait, its northern boundary just
above the top of the Georgia Strait,
and its southern boundary near the base of Puget
Sound (BC Geographical Names Information System (BCGNIS), <ref type="external"
target="http://ilmbwww.gov.bc.ca/bcgn-bin/bcg10?name=53200">Salish
Sea</ref>,BCGNIS.).The name Salish Sea was proposed in 1989, but not considered again until 2009,
when it was proposed again, and, finally, accepted in British Columbia's Throne Speech
of February 9th, 2010 (BCGNIS). San Francisco37.774930 -122.419416San Francisco is a port city located roughly midway along the California State
coast. Though the waters near where the large city stands today were sailed past in
the late sixteenth century, it would be the late eighteenth century that would see the
city take shape. The tussle for coastal domination between Spain, England, and Russia
fell, in this case, to the Spanish, who set occupied the area with both military and
religious intentions (O’Day).San Francisco became a locus for those afflicted with gold fever during the
mid-eighteen hundreds, a time when the city's population boomed. In 1850, the year San
Francisco incorporated, 60,244 men and 1,979 women arrived (San Francisco Gold Rush
Chronology).Edward F. O’Day, <ref type="external"
target="http://www.sfmuseum.net/hist/chron2.html">The Founding of San
Francisco</ref>,The Virtual Museum of the City of San Francisco.The Virtual Museum of the City of San Francisco, San Francisco
Gold Rush Chronology, The Virtual Museum of the
City of San Francisco.San Juan Island48.448557 -122.95540248.454133 -123.03897348.479039 -123.09791848.497751 -123.13985948.528962 -123.16763148.572174 -123.18128148.598630 -123.17184948.599810 -123.16755748.607391 -123.16822048.614988 -123.15859548.624860 -123.15390248.622996 -123.09980048.539382 -122.97840848.529148 -122.97661348.528319 -122.97317648.522598 -122.96783448.511832 -122.98243848.509074 -123.01497148.474921 -122.98390848.464312 -122.95207348.458056 -122.959923San Juan Island is located in U.S. waters, south and east of Vancouver Island. This island is at the heart of
several bodies of water, including the Salish
Sea. Its western shore looks to the Haro
Strait, its southern end rests in the Juan de Fuca Strait, and points to Puget Sound, farther south. The Spanish named
the island in the late 1700s, which Vancouver also
adopted on his charts, though early fur traders knew Port San Juan as Poverty Bay
(Scott, 474).San Juan Island staged the colloquially named "Pig War," when, in 1859, a U.S.
farmer shot a British farmer's pig, during Anglo-America joint occupation of the
Island—theirs was a conflict in miniature of the larger border concerns left
unresolved following the Oregon Treaty of 1846, which settled, at least, so it was
thought, the disputes over Oregon
Territory (San Juan Island National
Historical Park [SJINHP]).The ambiguous treaty-clause in question stated that the boundary lie in "the
middle of the channel which separates the continent from Vancouver's Island" (SJINHP). Unfortunately, San Juan Island touched two channels: the Haro Strait to the left and the Rosario Strait
to the right. After much posturing, both political and naval, the whole matter was
settled by Kaiser Wilhelm I in 1872, when an arbitration commission ruled the Haro Strait to be the boundary strait, thus
awarding the Island to the U.S. (SJINHP).San Juan Island National Historical Park, The
Pig War, National Park Service.Andrew Scott, The Encyclopedia of Raincoast
Placenames (Madeira Park, BC: Harbour Publishing, 2009).San Juan Islands48.687681 -123.24536748.685334 -123.24563348.593891 -123.21746648.543390 -123.18522248.499082 -123.14829248.466408 -123.08420148.437775 -122.97048148.409374 -122.86718448.409793 -122.81327448.485045 -122.72402548.505617 -122.70352948.518294 -122.65592748.522325 -122.63595548.525456 -122.58879048.526723 -122.56788248.638496 -122.60315048.660250 -122.60532148.696232 -122.64168648.744703 -122.68609948.750810 -122.71863348.770844 -122.87065948.777346 -122.89661048.794323 -122.96107048.788712 -122.98436648.739966 -123.04631448.691875 -123.10581348.690125 -123.24501348.687681 -123.245367This archipelago rests North of Puget
Sound, in the Juan de Fuca
Strait, Washington State, and is part of the Salish Sea. The San Juan Islands are divided from their
nearby Canadian cousins, the Gulf
Islands, by the Haro Strait. Of the
collection of more than 170 islands, the largest are San Juan, Orcas, and Lopez, followed by
the smaller, sparsely inhabited, Stuart, Waldron, Lummi, Shaw, Blakey, Cypress,
Guemes, and Decatur islands (Encyclopædia Britannica, San Juan
Islands, Encyclopædia Britannica
Online).Though San Juan Island planted the
seed for the Pig War, the surrounding islands, too, were swept into the outcome of the
political fray, and ceded to the U.S. in 1872 by boundary-arbiter Emperor William I of
Germany (Encyclopædia Britannica).Saturna Island48.783333 -123.15Saturna is the eastermost of the Gulf
Islands. It draws its name from the Spanish naval vessel Santa Saturnia, a ship in which Spanish explorers sailed throughout the
Georgia Strait in 1791 (Andrew
Scott, The Encyclopedia of Raincoast Placenames (Madeira
Park, BC: Harbour Publishing, 2009), 527).Today, Saturna is considered a rather remote Gulf Island, with minimal population, and a large part of its land and
shores protected as part of the Gulf Island National Park Reserve (527). Its
Sencot'en—Coast Salish—name is Teketsen, which means "long nose" (527).Scott Islands50.834682 -129.11637850.751185 -128.57661950.824768 -128.54794250.883358 -129.10321550.834682 -129.116378A cluster of exposed islands west of Cape
Scott; see the Cape Scott entry
for more information.Seattle47.634845 -122.418860Seattle is a coastal city on the eastern shores of Puget Sound, Washington State. According to Middleton, the
name Seattle refers to a Suquamish chief, who was baptized as "Noah Sealth" by Father Demers (185).The variations on Seattle, such as "See-yat" and "See-yalt" stem from the European
inability to glean the correct pronounciation of, likely, "Sealth" (The
Suquamish Tribe). The local name for the area was "Tzee-Tzee-lal-itch," or
"little portage," in reference to a trail to a nearby lake (Middleton, 186).Lynn Middleton, Placenames of the Pacific Northwest
Coast (Victoria: Elldee Publishing Company, 1969).The Suquamish Tribe, <ref type="external"
target="http://www.suquamish.nsn.us/HistoryCulture/tabid/57/Default.aspx"
>History & Culture</ref>,The Suquamish Tribe.Seymour Narrows50.15 -125.35Seymour Narrows is a precarious body of water that flows with tidal rushes up to
16 knots between Vancouver Island's
central east coast and Quadra Island, which Captain George Vancouver called “one of the vilest
stretches of water in the world” (Scott, 538), perhaps, because Ripple Rock hid mere
feet below the surface.By the mid-twentieth century this vilified twin-peaked rock damaged and sunk 119
vessels, until, in 1958, it was packed with dynamite and decapitated in the world's
largest non-nuclear peacetime explosion (CBC).Seymour Narrows was named after Rear Admiral George Francis
Seymour (1787-1870), who was commander of the Pacific Station from 1844-88,
while the Station was located at Valparaiso, Chile (Scott, 538).CBC Digital Archives, <ref type="external"
target="http://archives.cbc.ca/on_this_day/04/05/">B.C.'s Deadly Ripple Rock
Blown Up</ref>,Canadian Broadcasting Corporation.Andrew Scott, The Encyclopedia of Raincoast
Placenames (Madeira Park, BC: Harbour Publishing, 2009).Sitka Sound57.026700 -135.433838In this despatch, Douglas makes reference to "the Russian Settlements in Norfolk Sound," which
is likely Sitka Sound.Sitka City, and Sound, is located in southeastern Alaska, on the eastern shores of
the Gulf of Alaska, on Baranof Island, which is part of the Alexander Archipelago (Encyclopædia
Britannica, <ref type="external"
target="http://search.eb.com/eb/article-9068019">Sitka</ref>,Encyclopædia Britannica Online.). The Sitka region
is the traditional and current home to the Tlingit, some of whom would have met a
Russian expedition to that region in 1741.The Russians had trade interests there, and built a fort near present-day Sitka
City in 1799, which a group of Tlingit destroyed during a skirmish with the Russians
in 1802 (Encyclopædia Britannica). Despite such hostilities, the Russian-American
Company relocated its trade headquarters to Sitka in 1804, from Kodiak (Encyclopædia
Britannica).Sitka, Tlingit for “on the outside of Shee [Baranof Island],” served as
territorial capital for nine years, after the 1867 transfer of Alaska to the U.S.
(Encyclopædia
Britannica).Skidegate53.248164 -132.011609Skidegate is located on the southeast side of Graham Island, in Haida Gwaii. Skidegate is, in one meaning, a hereditary
name for the head of the surrounding Haida community. Along with the community, there
is Skidegate Channel, Inlet, and Landing.Fur trader Charles Duncan visited the Skidegate region in 1788, and since his
arrival, both European and U.S. explorers and traders have named the surrounding
features dozens of English names. Variants on the now-standard Skidegate, adopted on
British Admiralty charts in 1866, include Sge'dagits, Skitekat, Skit-ei-get,
Skittagets, Skettegats, and others. One 1853 despatch refers to "specimens of Coal at Skiddegate's harbour,"
while another letter,
in the same year, pushes for the "Port of Skidigate" to be "declared a Free Port," and
to encourage "British Subjects" to settle there by offering land for "Six pence an
Acre."Sointula50.631173 -127.017745Sointula is a community on Malcolm
Island, just off the northeastern shore of Vancouver Island, across from Port McNeill.In 1901, Finnish settlers attempted to set up a Socialist colony, and received a
provincial land grant to do so (Andrew Scott, The Encyclopedia
of Raincoast Placenames (Madeira Park, BC: Harbour Publishing, 2009),
555). The colony peaked at a population of roughly 2000, which dissolved
until its demise in 1905; nevertheless, many colonists remained, and today, the
community has a trace of its Finnish roots, albeit at the reduced population of around
700 permanent residents (555).Sonora Island50.36634 -125.25291Sonora Island is located off the mid-east coast of Vancouver Island. Fierce tidal channels surround the
island, which was considered, until the 1870s, Valdes Island, along with Quadra and Maurelle islands—these three islands did not receive
their individual names until 1903 (Andrew Scott, The
Encyclopedia of Raincoast Placenames (Madeira Park, BC: Harbour
Publishing, 2009), 556).The 174 square kilometre Sonora Island was named after the Sonora, an 11 metre Spanish vessel that sailed west-coast waters
in the 1770s (556).Snohomish River48.0212071 -122.2084705This river feeds into mid-eastern Puget
Sound; it goes by several names, which include Sdoh-doh-hohbsh, Sinahomis,
Sinnahamis, and Tuxpam River (United States Geographic Names Information System
(GNIS), <ref type="external"
target="http://geonames.usgs.gov/pls/gnispublic/f?p=gnispq:3:107117308864194::NO::P3_FID:1508473"
>Feature Detail Report for: Snohomish River</ref>,GNIS).Society Islands-16.52946 -151.65350The Society Islands are located in the South Pacific, and are part of French
Polynesia.Sooke48.377315 -123.723832In 1842, James Douglas refers to Sooke as
"Sy-yousung," and makes several entries about the geographical features of Sooke in
this despatch. In another spelling, with
the addition of the letter "i," Douglas refers to
"Sy-yousuing" again in an 1849 despatch,
wherein he states that it is "25 miles distant from Fort Victoria," and "has the important advantage of a good mill stream and a
great abundance of fine timber."Another possible Sooke-landscape reference exists in the name "Whoyring," present day Becher Bay, which Douglas refers to as a port, located eight miles east of
"Sy-yousuing" (G.P.V. Akrigg and H.B. Akrigg, British Columbia
Chronicle, 1788-1846 (Victoria: Discovery Press, 1975),
349).Sooke Basin48.379167 -123.658333The Sooke Basin is part of the Sooke region,
with its relative location east of Sooke
Harbour, on the southwest side of Vancouver Island.In 1790, Quimper applied the name "Puerto de Revilla
Gigedo" to the basin, harbour, and inlet (BC Geographical Names Information
System (BCGNIS), <ref type="external"
target="http://archive.ilmb.gov.bc.ca/bcgn-bin/bcg10?name=19764">Sooke
Basin</ref>,BCGNIS).Spokane River47.89988 -118.34555The Spokane River flows in Washington and Idaho States, U.S.A. It is a tributary
of the Columbia River.Steilacoom47.179 -122.564Steilacoom is located on the southern shore of Puget Sound, just southwest of Tacoma. It's name is an Anglicization of
"č'tilqʷɘbš" (pronounced "CH'tilQWubSH"), in the Steilacoom People's
language, Whulshootseed, a subdialect of Puget
Sound Salish (Steilacoom Tribe).In 1792, Vancouver's crew sailed past and met with
Indigenous people offshore from Steilacoom, and by 1824, the Hudson's Bay Company
visited the village (Town of Steilacoom).This 1856 despatch makes reference to a "principal military station" at
Steilacoom.Steilacoom Tribe, <ref type="external"
target="http://www.steilacoomtribe.com/tribehistory.html">Steilacoom Tribe
History</ref>,Steilacoom Tribe.Town of Steilacoom, <ref type="external"
target="http://www.townofsteilacoom.com/history/timeline.htm">Historic
Timeline</ref>,Town of Steilacoom.Strawberry Bay48.558063 -122.72168848.560712 -122.71948448.562063 -122.71901048.564876 -122.72373748.565788 -122.72676548.565520 -122.72765148.565204 -122.72784848.564798 -122.72842248.558063 -122.721688Strawberry Bay rests on the western shore of Cypress Island, which is in the Rosario Strait; it is part of the San Juan Islands group. It, as with Strawberry Island, was given its European name by
Vancouver on June 6, 1792, in reference, presumably,
to the abundance of wild strawberry that grew in the area (Lynn Middleton,
Placenames of the Pacific Northwest Coast (Victoria:
Elldee Publishing Company, 1969), 199).48.563862 -122.73648648.563492 -122.73660748.562688 -122.73654848.561505 -122.73634048.559853 -122.73675348.559012 -122.73614148.559022 -122.73594448.560409 -122.73505648.561937 -122.73451948.562787 -122.73475348.563359 -122.73505648.563857 -122.73562248.564033 -122.73613248.563862 -122.736486Strawberry IslandThe tiny Strawberry Island lies just off of western Cypress Island. It is part of the San Juan group. Strawberry Island, as with Strawberry Bay, was given its European name
by Vancouver on June 6, 1792, in reference, presumably,
to the abundance of wild strawberry that grew in the area (Lynn Middleton,
Placenames of the Pacific Northwest Coast (Victoria:
Elldee Publishing Company, 1969), 199).Swansea51.620442 -3.946629Swansea is a port town in south Wales, England. In the 19th century, it was a
thriving coal exporter (World Encyclopedia, <ref
type="external"
target="http://www.oxfordreference.com/views/ENTRY.html?subview=Main&entry=t142.e11249"
>Swansea</ref>,Oxford Reference Online).Tacoma47.244542 -122.442563Tacoma, Washington State, U.S.A., is located at the southern end of Puget Sound, and now surrounds the historical
site of Fort Nisqually, a Hudson's Bay
Company trading post.In 1884, Tacoma incorporated, and by 1890 its population reached 36,000, thanks to
booming business in lumber processing, coal mining, and a variety of exports
(City of Tacoma, <ref type="external"
target="http://www.cityoftacoma.org/Page.aspx?nid=28">Tacoma’s
History</ref>,City of Tacoma).Thetis Cove48.45 -123.433333Thetis Cove is on the East side of Esquimalt Harbour. It, as with other Thetis features, was named after HMS
Thetis, a Royal Navy ship that sailed
west-coast waters in the 1850s (Andrew Scott, The Encyclopedia
of Raincoast Placenames (Madeira Park, BC: Harbour Publishing, 2009),
588-89).Interestingly, Kuper makes reference to another "Thetis" Cove, presumably somewhere on western Haida Gwaii.Thetis Island48.983118 -123.66719748.984559 -123.65881548.986146 -123.65681548.988189 -123.65233448.991905 -123.64993548.993315 -123.65092348.994914 -123.65294849.003082 -123.66004049.006339 -123.66547949.012421 -123.67301749.013632 -123.67257049.016365 -123.67490649.019397 -123.68018149.022823 -123.68990049.021255 -123.69128149.017844 -123.68838749.012986 -123.69543149.017800 -123.70066649.020535 -123.70960149.020030 -123.71092949.010880 -123.70638049.000564 -123.70262148.996278 -123.70067048.988528 -123.69543148.981028 -123.69145148.979863 -123.68761648.981342 -123.67944248.971786 -123.67372648.970561 -123.67560948.969081 -123.67454948.968402 -123.67332548.969028 -123.66790848.971390 -123.66707048.974001 -123.66778548.977987 -123.67022348.982252 -123.67345848.983783 -123.67601848.984150 -123.67319548.983489 -123.67052148.982022 -123.66885348.982666 -123.66789948.983118 -123.667197Thetis Island is part of the Gulf
Islands chain, off southeastern Vancouver Island. It is separated from Kuper Island, to the South, by a narrow, artificial canal called The Cut.
Thetis Island was named after HMS Thetis—commanded by Captain Kuper during most of its
life on the coast (Andrew Scott, The Encyclopedia of Raincoast
Placenames (Madeira Park, BC: Harbour Publishing, 2009), 588-89).
This famous, or infamous, ship also gave names to Thetis Anchorage, Cove, and another
Thetis Island.Thetis Island, in Esquimalt Harbour48.432463 -123.43243548.432123 -123.43099648.431340 -123.43145648.431739 -123.43290348.432463 -123.432435This tiny Thetis Island appears on an early map of Esquimalt
Harbour, all but smothered, as it most certainly is today, by naval
infrastructure. It was the site of a navy coal store.This 1859 despatch notes that it was
part of "Lot 53," which was "sold in 5 acre lots with the exception of Thetis Island
itself (which consists of only one acre) and which was sold separately to a person of
the name of Jeremiah Nagle." Thompson River50.223523 -121.58456450.231789 -121.58649150.235795 -121.58209750.243159 -121.57572250.252316 -121.56478350.263996 -121.53852550.250431 -121.48500050.269148 -121.40259050.383459 -121.39973550.415280 -121.36471150.427696 -121.31443950.505469 -121.28321550.540662 -121.28730550.579459 -121.30477650.623370 -121.31331850.674240 -121.30296550.724646 -121.28691650.750961 -121.24233750.745596 -121.21210450.788333 -121.12401550.757260 -120.99544750.746564 -120.90248650.755050 -120.86285450.780953 -120.74499950.739551 -120.65359150.705073 -120.48881850.694340 -120.39518950.680403 -120.33748950.681809 -120.27058650.671850 -120.19101450.657916 -120.02703250.646726 -119.91120150.697254 -119.80960750.761881 -119.74351650.794317 -119.71238150.815079 -119.71450350.830325 -119.694969Thompson River is in southern interior of B.C. It flows West from Kamloops, and
South and West into the Fraser River, at Lytton. The Thompson was named in 1908 by
Simon Fraser, after prolific geographer and explorer David Thompson (BC
Geographical Names Information System (BCGNIS), <ref
type="external" target="http://apps.gov.bc.ca/pub/bcgnws/names/40908.html"
>Thompson River</ref>,BCGNIS).Travancore8.081306 77.5544218.089135 77.5519498.140256 77.5468028.197119 77.5436608.380050 77.3843588.588858 77.2573978.841339 77.2079699.091387 77.2582059.280104 77.3150929.599107 77.2669119.667323 77.26042210.030035 77.27441310.233115 77.33174910.265169 77.22478510.255374 77.09448910.225437 76.94560210.244545 76.83415410.233364 76.58247010.193740 76.28467510.195634 76.23181910.180461 76.15753410.015867 76.2007129.651166 76.2777189.445264 76.3223598.863772 76.5606108.380554 76.9639078.242385 77.1235438.111737 77.3105778.068377 77.5092498.070014 77.5568268.081306 77.554421Travancore is a southern Indian state, which merged with Cochin in 1949, and both
merged with Malabar in 1956 to become Kerala State (Concise Dictionary of World
Place-Names, <ref type="external"
target="http://www.oxfordreference.com/views/ENTRY.html?subview=Main&entry=t209.e7516"
>Travancore</ref>,Oxford Reference Online).Turks and Caicos Islands21.609546 -72.49295321.585367 -72.46396921.498219 -72.29622521.336263 -71.96259721.263346 -71.69547221.162967 -71.31855321.164307 -71.20221221.242744 -71.12430921.374342 -71.04127721.507455 -71.03648521.620119 -71.17957021.783249 -71.49352921.898956 -71.74365521.975842 -71.89165521.983378 -72.04097821.882606 -72.34160521.791775 -72.47336821.628479 -72.50389021.609546 -72.492953The Turks and Caicos Islands are a group of roughly fifty islands in the
Caribbean. They incorporated into the Bahamas in 1799, and were under Jamaican rule
from 1859 to 1959, until the latter gained independence, and the Federation of the
West Indies dissolved—the Turks and Caicos became a British Overseas Territory in
1962, though they are a self-governing territory with respect to domestic affairs
(A Dictionary of Contemporary World History, <ref
type="external"
target="http://www.oxfordreference.com/views/ENTRY.html?subview=Main&entry=t46.e2367"
>Travancore</ref>,Oxford Reference Online).Umatilla River45.9192993 -119.355573945.8748547 -119.318906045.7884653 -119.251125945.7498541 -119.210012445.6895745 -119.125840445.6726310 -119.001110245.6579084 -118.875824245.6734638 -118.751094445.6673529 -118.626086545.7009652 -118.376072045.7256889 -118.1880056Umatilla River runs through Umatilla County, Oregon State, roughly 250 kilometres
East of Portland. It is a tributary of the
Columbia, from which it branches off
southernly at Umatilla City.Una Point52.956451 -132.179285Una Point is located on the northwest side of Moresby Island, in Haida Gwaii, near the southwest side of Mitchell Inlet. It was named after the New Brunswick-built brigantine Una, which is mentioned in the despatches, mostly in connection with its role in the
discovery of gold in Haida Gwaii in the
early 1850s. One 1857 despatch notes that a "bluff of Green Stone formation" is "now
called Una Point."Valdivia-39.813854 -73.245828Valdivia is a port city on the west coast of Chile. This 1855 despatch notes that Captain Mills was on
route to Vancouver Island to "convey
Goods and 212 Passengers, coal miners and other Servants of the Hudson's Bay Company,"
but when he stopped in at "the Port of Valdivia" there was, apparently, a "mutiny of
the Passengers."Valparaiso-33.05 -71.616667Valparaiso is the capital of Chile. This port city is mentioned throughout the Despatches, especially as it was a way point for many ships
headed up the coast to Vancouver
Island.In 1865, The Royal Navy established Esquimalt as an alternative station to Valparaiso for its Pacific Fleet, and
the former became more strategically necessary, largely, in answer to U.S. and Russian
expansionism (CFB Esquimalt Naval & Military Museum, <ref
type="external"
target="http://www.navalandmilitarymuseum.org/info_pages/history/naden.html"
>History of Naden at CFB Esquimalt</ref>,CFB Esquimalt Naval & Military Museum).Vancouver, B.C.49.263582 -123.138577Vancouver is British Columbia's largest city. It is located on the southwest
shores of the province, roughly fifty kilometres north of the Canada/U.S.A. border,
and a ninety-minute ferry ride from Vancouver Island. Vancouver looks out to the Georgia Strait, and the Salish Sea, into which the nearby Fraser River flows.The city was named, posthumously, after Captain
Vancouver, who sailed nearby waters in the 1790s. In 1906, Walbran
characterized it as "growing and prosperous" (507). Further, Walbran notes that the
area was known as Granville, prior to Canadian Pacific Railway adopting Vancouver as
its terminus; and thanks, in part, to the rail line, the city grew. It incorporated in
1886 as Vancouver—a handle proposed by William van Horn, general manager of the CPR
(Scott, 619).Andrew Scott, The Encyclopedia of Raincoast
Placenames (Madeira Park, BC: Harbour Publishing, 2009).John T. Walbran, British Columbia Place Names
(Vancouver: Douglas & McIntyre, 1971).Vancouver, Washington45.673804 -122.681248Vancouver, Washington, U.S.A. is on
the northern banks of the Columbia
River, across from Portland,
Oregon.Vancouver Island50.745818 -128.52627450.915371 -128.04528950.506788 -126.64286450.331880 -125.44800449.361765 -124.39016648.738511 -123.04206148.253097 -123.53130948.694516 -125.15583849.342525 -126.63124850.089328 -127.936374Vancouver Island (VI), in the Canadian province of British Columbia (BC), is the
largest island in the Pacific Northwest region at just over 31,000 square
kilometres—nearly the size of the Netherlands; it is roughly 460 kilometres long and
50-120 kilometres wide (Artibise). VI is separated from mainland BC by Queen Charlotte Sound to the north, the Georgia Strait to the east, and, from the
USA, by the Juan de Fuca Strait to
the south. VI is home to BC's provincial capital of Victoria.Human presence on VI goes back several thousand years (Artibise), and a variety of Indigenous groups still inhabit nearly every
region. VI received its English name from British Royal Navy Captain George Vancouver, who made exploration surveys of VI and its
surrounding waters, at various times, between 1792 and 1794 (Walbran, 501).Initially, the island was named Quadra and Vancouver's Island to commemorate
Spanish Captain Don Juan Francisco de la Bodega y Quadra and
Vancouver's amicable meeting at Nootka in 1792, amidst increased naval tensions in the
area between Spain and Britain (502). VI became the focus of Hudson Bay Company and
British interests, particularly after the Oregon Treaty of 1846, which established the
49th parallel, including VI, as part of the boundary between US and British territory
(Rich, 735 & 749-86).Alan F.J. Artibise, <ref type="external"
target="http://www.thecanadianencyclopedia.com/index.cfm?PgNm=TCE&Params=A1ARTA0008308"
>Vancouver Island</ref>,The Canadian Encyclopedia.E.E. Rich, Hudson's Bay Company 1670-1870, Volume III:
1821-1870 (New York: Macmillan, 1961).John T. Walbran, British Columbia Place Names
(Vancouver: Douglas & McIntyre, 1971).Victoria48.433333 -123.366667Victoria City, formerly Fort Victoria, is located on the south end of Vancouver Island. Now British Columbia's
capital, this city sprouted from meager means as the Hudson's Bay Company fur-trade
post of Fort Victoria, christened as such in honour of Queen Victoria in 1843—a change from its shared name, to that point, as Fort
Albert, and the originally intended Fort Adelaide (Madill). By the mid-eighteen
hundreds, and following the Oregon
Territory boundary dispute, Fort Victoria would become the HBC's Pacific
headquarters (Madill).The Songhees Nation, now located in Esquimalt, had villages on the land where much of present Victoria stands,
including the B.C. Legislature building, and had contributed labour to the Fort
Victoria's construction (Songheesnation.com). As with today, the areas surveyed and reported on by
Douglas in 1842, as shown in this despatch, were home to a variety of Indigenous groups (Songheesnation.com).During the the Fraser River gold rush, which started in earnest in the late 1850s,
Victoria's population boomed under the governorship of Douglas, who had replaced his successor, and the first Crown-appointed
Governor, Blanshard. Victoria City incorporated in 1862,
and two years afterward, what remained of the old fort was torn down (Scott, 623). In
1868, Victoria became the capital of the B.C. colony, and then the provincial capital
following B.C.'s confederation in 1871 (623).Denis F.K. Madill, <ref type="external"
target="http://www.thecanadianencyclopedia.com/index.cfm?PgNm=TCE&Params=A1ARTA0002972"
> Fort Victoria</ref>,The Canadian Encyclopedia.Andrew Scott, The Encyclopedia of Raincoast
Placenames (Madeira Park, BC: Harbour Publishing, 2009).Songheesnation.com, <ref type="external"
target="http://www.songheesnation.com/html/history/current.htm">Current
History</ref>,Songheesnation.com.Virgin Islands18.342085 -65.09607618.336360 -65.09508117.704919 -64.92254717.618135 -64.92203117.721065 -64.55795618.587073 -64.15917118.724641 -64.22810618.791528 -64.42619018.518820 -64.52645518.464180 -64.82565518.389820 -65.03904318.342234 -65.09612518.342085 -65.096076The Virgin Islands are part of the Caribbean, in the group known as the Lesser Antilles, and, today, they
divide politically into the British Virgin Islands, and the Virgin Islands of the
United States (Concise Oxford Companion to the English Language, <ref type="external"
target="http://www.oxfordreference.com/views/ENTRY.html?subview=Main&entry=t142.e12200"
>Virgin Islands</ref>,Oxford Reference Online). The main islands in the
former are Jost Van Dyke, Virgin Gorda, Anegada, and Tortola, and, in the latter, St
John, St Croix, and St Thomas. The diversity of these islands' names speak to their
political and cultural past.Walla Walla46.064581 -118.343021Walla Walla is a city in Washington State, just East of the Columbia River. What would become Old Fort Walla Walla
began its life in 1811, as a pole in the ground, thanks to David Thompson passing through the confluence of the Snake and Columbia rivers on behalf of the North West
Company (Wikipedia). In
1818, the NWC shifted its trade centre from Spokane House to Thompson's site, and
built Fort Nez Perces
(http://www.trailtribes.org/umatilla/establishment-of-fort-nez-perces.htm).Largely, the NWC traded with Cayuse, Umatilla, and Walla Walla people, but a rise
in commerce saw a rise in tensions that would, ultimately, result in ongoing
conflicts, which started early with the Cowlitz. As Rich argues, the fort's position
soon had less to do with fur trade and more to do with the security of "the route to
Snake Country" (619), particularly as the U.S. government muscled its politics into
the region (Confederated Tribes of the
Umatilla Indian Reservation).The HBC took over the fort, following the merger with the NWC, in 1821; it was
destroyed by fire in '41, then rebuilt of adobe, but it burned again during conflicts
with Indigenous groups in 1855 (Drayton). The HBC abandoned the fort in 1857, and the U.S. military built an
new Fort Walla Walla several kilometres upstream—the military would go on to build two
more Fort Walla Wallas (Topinka).Confederated Tribes of the Umatilla Indian Reservation, <ref
type="external" target="http://www.umatilla.nsn.us/hist2.html#turmoil">Our
History & Culture: Part 2</ref>,Umatilla.nsn.usJoseph Drayton, <ref type="external"
target="http://www.ohs.org/education/oregonhistory/historical_records/dspDocument.cfm?doc_ID=F6A8332B-99C4-6A9D-DB54C6E7817A2698"
>Fort Nez Perce</ref>,The Oregon History ProjectE.E. Rich, Hudson's Bay Company 1670-1870, Volume III:
1821-1870 (New York: The Macmillan Company, 1961).Lyn Topinka, <ref type="external"
target="http://web.archive.org/web/20070816005122/englishriverwebsite.com/LewisClarkColumbiaRiver/Regions/Places/walla_walla_river.html"
>Fort(s) Walla Walla...</ref>,Web.archive.orgWikipedia, <ref type="external"
target="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fort_Nez_Perc%C3%A9s">Fort Nez
Percés</ref>,Wikipedia.orgWashington City38.895112 -77.036366Washington D.C., for the District of Columbia, is located on the Potomac
River—"potomac" is Algonquin for "trading place" (Encyclopædia Britannica,
<ref type="external"
target="http://search.eb.com/eb/article-9108780">Washington</ref>,Encyclopædia Britannica Online). In 1790, U.S.
Congress drew a 260 square kilometre boundary to mark the capital of the federal
government, called the District of Columbia, even today, D.C. is a territory, not a
state (Encyclopædia Britannica).Washington Territory45.993968 -116.90221745.917538 -112.66001946.233491 -112.68412946.414639 -112.15700746.642200 -112.21229546.975976 -112.54274547.465538 -112.68834348.213742 -112.89642548.993313 -113.68186049.005179 -116.04787748.989433 -118.64117649.001476 -121.43887148.997650 -122.78068348.997611 -123.30815848.835738 -123.00254648.767802 -122.99762548.688356 -123.23660448.426317 -123.12436448.273553 -123.24093148.206855 -123.54893948.507928 -124.73862248.348316 -124.79156448.182901 -124.79813847.962033 -124.73578247.707577 -124.52586947.549195 -124.41952447.341599 -124.37986547.215410 -124.25445046.934964 -124.21081146.850526 -124.15609346.606091 -124.09802746.357094 -124.09281146.264753 -124.11864446.243366 -124.08577546.250423 -124.02874246.227460 -123.93718646.233483 -123.80023046.236962 -123.68561846.258416 -123.48221046.146257 -123.29119746.185016 -123.14489846.147884 -123.03823846.098244 -122.94608346.065186 -122.88225345.957735 -122.82253845.866828 -122.79601745.794403 -122.79269045.680754 -122.78002745.640113 -122.74355345.604088 -122.65048545.562090 -122.33511245.560911 -122.20934045.625119 -121.97720845.708584 -121.81423945.697074 -121.71078845.718322 -121.52358245.698800 -121.41444045.693034 -121.29818645.666190 -121.21117745.583565 -121.18251545.643075 -121.07479845.650447 -121.00562945.640672 -120.90643345.749157 -120.60649445.723734 -120.52703145.689228 -120.47742045.732925 -120.20775745.820786 -119.95252145.867923 -119.66692445.933014 -119.56936245.909967 -119.49242845.933731 -119.24766245.940806 -119.10240846.000991 -118.98443945.995237 -116.94663945.993968 -116.902217Washington Territory was a fallout region of Oregon Treaty of 1846, which saw the
creation, on paper, at least, of Oregon
Territory. Soon after the treaty, settlers north of the Columbia pushed for a separate territory, which came to
pass in U.S. congress in 1853, first on a February bill as "Columbia Territory," and
then amended to "Washington Territory" in March, in honour of the fist U.S. president
(Junius Rochester, <ref type="external"
target="http://www.historylink.org/index.cfm?DisplayPage=output.cfm&file_id=5661"
>Washington Territory and Washington State, Founding of</ref>,HistoryLink.org).Washington Territory became the State it is today in 1889 (Rochester).Whatcom County49.000267 -120.85177949.000303 -120.88052249.000296 -121.11080448.999708 -121.90849549.002177 -122.75363949.001842 -123.32157248.831552 -123.00895548.760391 -122.78465348.651401 -122.69628348.630629 -122.64428548.627068 -122.60706648.645339 -122.48785648.641465 -121.39786748.640814 -120.91086948.657356 -120.91025048.657412 -120.74504548.725679 -120.65593348.773246 -120.72596248.859447 -120.72973948.875843 -120.76123448.922531 -120.76899948.939811 -120.75176448.954751 -120.77048348.954182 -120.79229048.940727 -120.82219348.974474 -120.87806548.998945 -120.85347949.000267 -120.851779Whatcom is the most northern county in Washington State, U.S.A. It is the
traditional home to a variety of Indigenous Peoples, which include the Lummi, Samish,
Nooksack, and Semiahmoo. The Lummi named the area "what-coom," or "noisy, rumbling
water," in reference to a waterfall near Bellingham Bay, Bellingham (Whatcom County, <ref
type="external" target="http://www.co.whatcom.wa.us/history.jsp"
>History</ref>,Whatcomcounty.us).In 1775, the Spanish claimed much of what is considered Whatcom County today, but
as with much of the Salish Sea region,
Whatcom piqued Russian, British, and U.S. trade interests throughout the 19th century
(Whatcom
County). The San Juan
Islands, as part of Whatcom County, were at the fulcrum of the British/U.S.
boundary teeter-totter, which destabilized vigorously after the famous Pig War on
San Juan Island.Whidbey Island48.401566 -122.66666648.367542 -122.67050148.327452 -122.70305048.304407 -122.72655348.230682 -122.77185648.222734 -122.77357948.214828 -122.76727448.198805 -122.73634548.183423 -122.70158548.152614 -122.67998348.160166 -122.65915048.162083 -122.63122948.155202 -122.61416448.137742 -122.60480248.109743 -122.60043748.076810 -122.61692948.070991 -122.61558248.055383 -122.59755548.038192 -122.59929648.031175 -122.60922448.009778 -122.58358247.995508 -122.54459247.977683 -122.55212147.966448 -122.55451947.965934 -122.54691447.972986 -122.51791447.981621 -122.51109347.988997 -122.48586547.985647 -122.47448647.954604 -122.44278847.938861 -122.44734747.929872 -122.44696647.913201 -122.43412647.908975 -122.41381547.903272 -122.37771847.906356 -122.37445647.922637 -122.37401747.937458 -122.35679947.958986 -122.34744047.983904 -122.35154947.998449 -122.36734148.035595 -122.37425148.044649 -122.41431448.058608 -122.44917648.097924 -122.48994548.097744 -122.52651848.063056 -122.51880248.033320 -122.51507548.018937 -122.52623648.019180 -122.53864348.034164 -122.53429248.050583 -122.53704648.076231 -122.54490448.093109 -122.56215948.102933 -122.56947448.116253 -122.55548148.149018 -122.56661648.183281 -122.58492048.208295 -122.60513148.224339 -122.62642248.229087 -122.64737948.222404 -122.69240548.214775 -122.71999548.230751 -122.73011248.237082 -122.69117048.239940 -122.66484848.244972 -122.65463448.254877 -122.65055548.265770 -122.65171848.273667 -122.66177248.281839 -122.65638748.283075 -122.65090748.270536 -122.64118148.266155 -122.63120448.268666 -122.62009648.284457 -122.61894448.290098 -122.62242748.297398 -122.59648848.289862 -122.57105048.281408 -122.56138648.274572 -122.56461548.269105 -122.55764048.272334 -122.55377948.279135 -122.55764748.280684 -122.53093048.287141 -122.51669748.299469 -122.50314448.310390 -122.50508348.321647 -122.51526548.343502 -122.55208748.359314 -122.58472548.373489 -122.57784848.397510 -122.58264048.412253 -122.60407848.412867 -122.60854448.407768 -122.61769048.398539 -122.62971748.404429 -122.63266148.405680 -122.63731048.405806 -122.64236348.406014 -122.64522848.402905 -122.66342248.402232 -122.66476548.401566 -122.666666Whidbey lies southeast of the San Juan
Islands. On the northern end of its serrated shores is Deception Pass, while the southern end of the island
wedges into Puget Sound. It was named by
Vancouver in 1792, after the indefatigable Master,
Joseph Whidbey, who, according to Middleton, explored more coastline in an open boat
than any of Vancouver's officers (223). Walbran
concurs, and concedes that his seminal book on place-names would be incomplete
"without a notice of Whidbey;" Walbran goes on to pen a remarkably thorough and
eloquent obituary for the man (527-30).Lynn Middleton, Placenames of the Pacific Northwest
Coast (Victoria: Elldee Publishing Company, 1969).John T. Walbran, British Columbia Place Names
(Vancouver: Douglas & McIntyre, 1971).White River (Washington, U.S.A.)47.199634 -122.25772047.194865 -122.24531147.187985 -122.23873447.184986 -122.23131247.185852 -122.22542847.188137 -122.22511647.187996 -122.22309347.188107 -122.21695347.172030 -122.21822747.156387 -122.21254347.154753 -122.22087747.130661 -122.23268747.109100 -122.21375247.097343 -122.19198347.088455 -122.18912447.087911 -122.17530647.094031 -122.16427947.098749 -122.15336947.098962 -122.10836647.093554 -122.08212547.073049 -122.05769847.070796 -122.04471447.053904 -122.04532347.035222 -122.03739247.015408 -122.02698046.998447 -121.97871846.989677 -121.93571447.000025 -121.90482446.997704 -121.85732246.991304 -121.84316446.970345 -121.82220846.963523 -121.79451346.950597 -121.79695746.943946 -121.791354White River runs through present-day Washington State, and its headwaters feed
from glaciers on Mount Ranier (King County, <ref
type="external"
target="http://www.kingcounty.gov/environment/watersheds/white-river/facts.aspx"
>White River Watershed Facts</ref>,Kingcounty.gov.In this 1855 despatch, Douglas remarks on "the
tragic events detailed in the Puget Sound
Newspapers" on the apparent attacks on "American Settlements on the White River" by
local Indigenous groups.Willamette River45.680996 -122.83202745.600508 -122.69080445.350282 -122.56332645.163890 -122.94841544.914277 -122.95845744.918699 -123.15969745.312059 -123.03529945.358907 -122.720733This tributary of the Columbia
River runs through, among other farming and urban regions, Portland, Oregon, U.S.A. and the Willamette Valley. The U.S. GNIS cites 18 spelling variations for Willamette, some of which, such as
"Wallamette" appear in this 1846 despatch.Willamette Valley45.500120 -122.501480The Willamette Valley is a fertile region of land in northwest Oregon State,
U.S.A., fed, largely, by the Willamette
River and its wealth of tributaries. Fort Vancouver was established in this region by Dr. John McLoughlin in 1825 with the aim to provide provision-farms to
various Western outposts (Morton, 718).In general terms, the Willamette Valley became a focal point for farming,
settlement, trade, and conflict—Indigenous and otherwise—throughout the mid-eighteen
hundreds (Rich, 680-87). U.S. and British tensions were relieved somewhat by the
Oregon Treaty of 1846, which settled the Oregon Territory question, at least politically.Arthur S. Morton, A History of the Canadian West to
1870-71 (London: Thomas Nelson & Sons, 1939).E.E. Rich, Hudson's Bay Company 1670-1870, Volume III:
1821-1870 (New York: The Macmillan Company, 1961).William Head48.343145 -123.527318William Head is a headland on the southeast coast of Vancouver Island, just to the southeast of the Sooke Basin, and north of Pedder Bay.In 1846, Captain Kellett, of the HMS Herald, named William Head in honour of
accomplished Arctic explorer William Parry (Andrew Scott, The
Encyclopedia of Raincoast Placenames (Madeira Park, BC: Harbour
Publishing, 2009), 645). However, the area is, perhaps, best known as a
former quarantine station for passengers and crew, largely from Asia, who arrived to
Vancouver Island between 1894 and
1958—a year after the station closed it became a minimum-security prison, which it
remains to this day (645). Winnipeg49.87999 -97.170095Winnipeg is the capital city of Manitoba; it incorporated in 1873 with a
population of around 3700 (Alan F.J. Artibise, <ref
type="external"
target="http://www.thecanadianencyclopedia.com/index.cfm?PgNm=TCE&Params=A1ARTA0008644"
> Winnipeg</ref>,The Canadian Encyclopedia). It is roughly 100
kilometres north of the Minnesota, U.S.A. border (Artibise). The area covered by today's city supported European fur-trade
interests as early as 1738, with the building of Fort Rouge, and later, the Red River Settlement (Artibise).Winnipeg derives from the Cree words win-nipi, or murky water, likely in reference
to the Red and Assiniboine Rivers that intersect at the heart of the city (Artibise).Yukon60.037675 -139.21780560.351685 -139.07447960.295433 -141.00289269.643546 -141.00238569.645642 -138.84429768.909325 -136.47086667.036409 -135.85730066.998954 -133.52174860.815944 -126.52583960.929449 -124.56141660.001504 -123.81534159.997902 -128.56000959.999550 -133.25861559.999697 -136.56630459.999708 -137.83775259.999510 -139.06106660.087636 -139.19856560.318724 -139.072100Yukon Territory, or The Yukon, is Canada's northwestern-most territory, and became
so in 1898 (William C. Wonders, <ref type="external"
target="http://www.thecanadianencyclopedia.com/index.cfm?PgNm=TCE&Params=A1ARTA0008773"
>Yukon Territory</ref>,The Canadian Encyclopedia). Its northern border
looks to the Arctic Ocean, its eastern to Northwest Territory, its southern to British Columbia, and most of its
western border runs along the U.S. state of Alaska.This resource-rich territory has fed both the fur and mineral trade, particularly
during the Yukon gold rush of the late 1800s; it draws its name from the Yukon River, whose drainages dominate much of
the Yukon region (Wonders).Yukon River64.355722 -140.215310The Yukon River is located in northwest North America. It is the fifth largest
river on the continent, and flows for roughly 3000 kilometres, from its source in
northwestern British Columbia, through the Yukon
Territory, across Alaska State, U.S.A., and into the Bering Strait
(James Marsh, <ref type="external"
target="http://www.thecanadianencyclopedia.com/index.cfm?PgNm=TCE&Params=A1ARTA0008772"
>Yukon River</ref>,The Canadian Encyclopedia). The river draws its name
from the Gwich'in "Yu-kun-ah," or "great river (Marsh).