| Feature Type: | Island - Land area surrounded by water or marsh. |
| Status: | Official |
| Name Authority: | BC Geographical Names Office |
| Relative Location: | In Fraser River opposite Laidlaw, between Hope and Agassiz, Yale Division Yale Land District |
| Latitude-Longitude: | 49°20'19"N, 121°37'35"W at the approximate centre of this feature. |
| Datum: | WGS84 |
| NTS Map: | 92H/5 |
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Origin Notes and History:
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Adopted 7 April 1955 on 92H/SW, as labelled on Dominion Sectional sheet 11, Yale, published in 1913. Wahleach Island IR is identified on Harris' 1905 map of New Westminster. Source: BC place name cards, or correspondence to/from BC's Chief Geographer or BC Geographical Names Office |
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An Indian word meaning "crossing a neck of land between two bodies of water" [ie. portage]. (Information provided by L.A. Agassiz, 1913). No explanation for why a word that translates to portage would be applied to an island. See also Waleach (sic) (railway station). Source: BC place name cards, or correspondence to/from BC's Chief Geographer or BC Geographical Names Office |
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Wahleach Island is spelled "Xwelích" in Halq'eméylem; "the name comes from the name of a man." (You Are Asked to Witness: the Sto:lo in Canada's Pacific Coast History, Sto:lo Heritage Trust, 1996, p.198). Source: included with note |