Tlell River
Feature Type:River - Watercourse of variable size, which has tributaries and flows into a body of water or a larger watercourse.
Status: Official
Name Authority: BC Geographical Names Office
Relative Location: Flows NE into Hecate Strait, S of Cape Ball, Queen Charlotte Land District
Latitude-Longitude: 53°37'06"N, 131°55'57"W at the approximate mouth of this feature.
Datum: WGS84
NTS Map: 103G/12
Related Maps:
Origin Notes and History:

Adopted 7 March 1933 on C.G.S. 278A, "Prince George Sheet," as established on BC Provincial Map 3L, 1915, and in the 1930 Gazetteer of Canada. Confirmed 3 July 1946 on Map 103/SE.

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

The small community of Tlell is named after the Tlell River, but the meaning of the name, a Haida word, is uncertain. QCI historian Kathleen Dalzell records two meanings for it: “place of big surf” and “land of berries.” The area was first settled by William Thomas Hodges, or “Mexican Tom,” in 1904. He built up a homestead, now known as the Richardson Ranch, on the banks of the river, and an early hotel was established nearby. (Entry for Tlell)

Source: Scott, Andrew; "The Encyclopedia of Raincoast Place Names"; Harbour Publishing, Madeira Park, 2009, page 595.