Cassiar Mountains
Feature Type:Mountains - Mass of land prominently elevated above the surrounding terrain, bounded by steep slopes and rising to a summit and/or peaks. Plural of Mountain.
Status: Official
Name Authority: BC Geographical Names Office
Relative Location: Extending NW from Spatsizi Plateau into the Yukon, Cassiar Land District
Latitude-Longitude: 58°59'59"N, 129°00'06"W at the approximate centre of this feature.
Datum: WGS84
NTS Map: 104P/2
Related Maps:
Origin Notes and History:

Cassiar Mountains adopted in the 15th Report of the Geographic Board of Canada, 31 March 1917, as labelled on BC map 1H, published earlier that year, not Cassiar Ranges as identified by G.M. Dawson in 1887; Cassiar Mountains re-approved 17 January 1951 on 104O, and 17 January 1952 on 104I.

Source: BC place name cards, or correspondence to/from BC's Chief Geographer or BC Geographical Names Office

A corruption of Kaska, the Nahane [Indigenous] name for McDame Creek.

Source: BC place name cards, or correspondence to/from BC's Chief Geographer or BC Geographical Names Office

"The name Kaska (from which that of the district Cassiar is derived) is applied collectively to two tribes or bands occupying the country to the eastward of the Tahl-tan. Mr. J.W. McKay states, in answer to a question addressed to him on that subject, that Cassiar is a corrupt spelling of the work Kaska. Mr. McKay further adds that he has a suspicion that the word Kaska is connected with "kaska-met", used by the Stuart lake Indians to designate dried beaver meet, though he has been unable to confirm this." (G.M. Dawson, "Notes on the Indian Tribes on the Yukon district and adjacent northern portion of British Columbia", Annual Report to Geological Survey of Canada, 1887-88, p.199B.)

Source: Provincial Archives of BC "Place Names File" compiled 1945-1950 by A.G. Harvey from various sources, with subsequent additions

"The name Cassiar is a corruption of the name Cassa, an [Indigenous person] of the Nehanie tribe owning this part of the country. First adopted by miners and later by Geographic Board of Canada." (French, Charles Hunt (1867-1940), HBC chief factor at Laketon before that post was closed in 1901.)

Source: Provincial Archives of BC "Place Names File" compiled 1945-1950 by A.G. Harvey from various sources, with subsequent additions