Bessette Creek
Feature Type:Creek (1) - Watercourse, usually smaller than a river.
Status: Official
Name Authority: BC Geographical Names Office
Relative Location: Flows NE into Shuswap River, S of Mabel Lake, Osoyoos Division Yale Land District
Latitude-Longitude: 50°18'22"N, 118°49'18"W at the approximate mouth of this feature.
Datum: WGS84
NTS Map: 82L/7
Related Maps:
Origin Notes and History:

Adopted 11 January 1922 on BC map 4J, as labelled on BC map 1EM, 1915.

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

Various mis-spellings: Bisset Creek on BC map 1A, 1912; Bassett Creek on BC map 1EM 1915, BC Map 1E, 1930; Bissette Creek on BC Ref Map 7 (date not cited)

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

Named after 1877 pre-emptor Pierre ("Peter") Bessette; one of the founders of the French Canadian settlement at Lumby. Obtained Lot 18 Osoyoos District by Crown Grant, 6 March 1877.

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

Crown Grant 2958/77, 6 March 1877, Lot 18, specifies "Pierre Bissett.... X ....(his mark)".
Crown Grant 2448/83, 1883, Lot 407, and accompanying statutory declaration is signed "Eugene Bessette" (additional names cited: Albert Bessette, Charles Bessette, Clarence Bessette, Georgina Bessette, Melvina Bessette, Beauden Bessette)

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

Headwaters at 50 12 - 119 00 on 82L/3.

Source: Canadian Geographical Names Database, Ottawa