IN 1927, CANADA celebrated its diamond jubilee of Confederation -- marking 60 years of growing independence from the government of Great Britain. By then, Canada could advise the Crown on the appointment of its governor general and designate its own ambassadors to foreign countries. More independence was to come during the remaining years of the 20th century -- and some say we still have too many ties to Britain -- but 1927 was a year to celebrate the blossoming of a country.
Coast-to-coast celebrations were accompanied by various propositions to recognize great Canadian achievements. One, proposed in May 1927 by the Modern History Club of Victoria High School, was to name prominent geographical features in British Columbia for the 10 prime ministers who had served since 1867.
George G. Aitken, the B.C. member of the Geographic Board of Canada, liked the idea but pointed out that only four -- Sir John Abbott, Sir John Thompson, Sir Mackenzie Bowell and Mackenzie King -- had not already been honoured. (Aitken should have said five, since no major feature had yet been named for Arthur Meighen).
In July 1927, the board endorsed the idea of naming peaks for the prime ministers not yet honoured, and included Sir Wilfrid Laurier and Meighen. It reserved an area with 18 peaks exceeding 10,000 feet (3,048 metres) in the southern part of the Cariboo Mountains on the west side of the Rocky Mountain Trench and named it Premier Group. ("Premier" was commonly used at the time for the prime minister of each of the British dominions.)
The highest of the peaks, unofficially named Mount Titan by American alpinists Allen Carpe and Rollin Chamberlin in 1924, was renamed Mount Sir Wilfrid Laurier (3,520 metres). Another, near the head of the North Thompson River and first named by Carpe for explorer David Thompson, was renamed Mount Sir John Thompson (3,250 metres). Kiwa Peak, at the head of Kiwa Creek, was changed to Mount Sir John Abbott (3,411 metres). Mount Welcome, also named by Carpe, became Mount Sir Mackenzie Bowell (3,280 metres).
The board hesitated to name mountains for King and Meighen in 1927 because both were still living, making it difficult to select peaks of relative elevation for the two political adversaries.
IN AUGUST 1927, Dr. John D. MacLean, British Columbia's acting premier, requested that a mountain in the Premier Group be named for British prime minister Stanley Baldwin, who was then touring Canada. In short order, Mount Stanley Baldwin (3,249 metres) replaced Mount Challenger the name given by Carpe.
MacLean also proposed that a mountain in the group be named for John Oliver, premier of British Columbia from 1918 until his death in August 1927. A mountain visible firm the Mount Robson and Tête Jaune CN railway sidings was selected by the province and approved by the board. Initially called Mount Aspiration in 1925 by climber Don Munday, Mount John Oliver (3,120 metres) is the only one in the area named for a British Columbia premier.
The renaming of these peaks did not sit well with the mountain climbing community. American alpinist Dr. J. Monroe Thorington claimed the board was violating its own rules by not giving priority to names published or used locally. The board's secretary, Robert Douglas, acknowledged the contributions of Carpe and Chamberlin but pointed out that they had not submitted their names to the board for endorsement, so the features were considered officially unnamed. Other alpinists regretted that significant peaks were being reserved for future prime ministers, while naming of lesser features, such as Penny Mountain, proceeded.
IN 1962 -- TWO YEARS after Arthur Meighen's death and 12 after Mackenzie King's -- the naming of peaks for those prime ministers was proposed again. One mountain was named Mount Mackenzie King (3,280 metres) by the newly created Canadian Permanent Committee on Geographical Names. Munday had named it Mount Hostility in 1925. Another peak, which an American climbing team had named after Allen Carpe in 1949, was named Mount Arthur Meighen (3,150 metres). At the same time, Mount Richard Bennett (3,190 metres) was chosen to honour the Conservative prime minister who had governed for five years during the Great Depression. The committee also renamed the group Premier Range.
In 1963, Arthur Laing, then minister of Northern Affairs and Natural Resources, suggested naming a peak for former prime minister Louis St-Laurent, who had retired from public life in 1958. Prime Minister Lester B. Pearson endorsed the proposal. A peak said to be 10,365 feet in height, but later found to be only 9,900 feet (3,018 metres), was selected, and officially named Mount Louis St-Laurent in October 1964.
Pearson himself was honoured shortly after his death in December 1972. Mount Lester Pearson (3,060 metres), formerly an unnamed peak, was proclaimed in September 1973.
The following year, a premier from the pre-confederation era was honoured. Mount Sir Allan MacNab, which rises to only 2,360 metres, was named for the co-premier of Canada from September 1854 to May 1856.
ON THE DEATH OF John Diefenbaker in August 1979, American alpinist Richard Estock, who had climbed in the Premier Range earlier that summer, reported that other climbers were proposing to rename a mountain, unofficially called Pyramid Peak, for "The Chief." Because a huge reservoir on the South Saskatchewan River had been named Lake Diefenbaker in 1967 -- but more likely because of strained relations between British Columbians and the federal government -- Estock was informed by Don Pearson, the B.C. representative on the Canadian Permanent Committee on Geographical Names, that there were no plans at that time to name a peak in the Premier Range for Diefenbaker.
Eight peaks with elevations exceeding 10,000 feet (3,048 metres) remain unnamed in the Premier Range. Any decisions to name them rests entirely with the names authority of British Columbia.
