Adopted 2 June 1950 on 93N, as labelled on BC Lands' map 5A, 1917.

Source: BC place name cards, files, correspondence and/or research by BC Chief Geographer/Geographical Names Office.

After an old prospector who spelled his name "Vital"

Source: BC place name cards, files, correspondence and/or research by BC Chief Geographer/Geographical Names Office.

"Vital LaForce was a French-Canadian propsector who discovered gold in the Omineca at this creek; he also found gold on the Finlay River at a place known as Vital's Bar. In 1906, during the latter years of his life, LaForce established a ferry across the Nechako River near Fort Fraser." (Surveying Northern British Columbia: a photojournal of Frank Swannell, by Jay Sherwood, Caitlin Press, Prince George, 2004) A
photograph of Vital's ferry - a rope and tackle clothesline operation to barge supplies across the Nechako River - on p.20 of Sherwood's book.

Source: included with note

"Michael Byrnes (or Burns) and Vital La Force (or Le Fort) played a major role in the Omineca Gold Rush of 1869. Years earlier they were two of the four discoverers of gold on Williams Creek near Barkerville in 1861, along with William Dietz and Edward Stout (see "The Cariboo Road" by Mark S. Wade, page 203). In 1865 and 1866, Byrnes/Burns and Vital LaForce/LeFort were scouts for the Collins Overland Telegraph. Vital Lefort [sic] was born on 19 Sept 1828 in La Prairie, Quebec near Montreal and died by suicide at Cadboro Bay, near Victoria, on 31 Dec 1911 at age 83, and is buried in a known grave at Ross Bay Cemetery in Victoria. There is no headstone to mark his grave." (October & November 2011 advice from researcher K. Guenter, Smithers.) [Note that Provincial Archives' accession BC Archives #G-09467 is a portrait of Vital LaForce, taken by an unknown photographer, however the date cited is 1930.]

Source: included with note