| Feature Type: | Community - An unincorporated populated place, generally with a population of 50 or more, and having a recognized central area that might contain a post office, store and/or community hall, etc, intended for the use of the general public in the region. |
| Status: | Official |
| Name Authority: | BC Geographical Names Office |
| Relative Location: | Between Williams Lake and Quesnel, N of junction of Cuisson Creek and Fraser River., Cariboo Land District |
| Latitude-Longitude: | 52°37'59"N, 122°27'04"W at the approximate population centre of this feature. |
| Datum: | WGS84 |
| NTS Map: | 93B/9 |
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Origin Notes and History:
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Alexandria (Post Office) labelled on BC map 1G, 1916. Alexandria (Railway Point) adopted 10 September 1953; form of name changed to Alexandria (community) 15 April 1983. Source: BC place name cards, or correspondence to/from BC's Chief Geographer or BC Geographical Names Office |
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After Sir Alexander Mackenzie (1763-1820), leader of the first party to cross the continent, 1793. The town stands at the most southerly point on the Fraser River reached by Mackenzie in 1793, before the Indians disuaded him from venturing farther down the Fraser River; Mackenzie then partly retraced his steps and struck out west to reach the Pacific Ocean. The North West Company established Fort Alexandria here 28 years later (in 1821), located on L445 on the east side of the river, that location abandoned in 1836 because the river bank was sliding into the river. Alexandria Trading Post was re-established later that year on the west side of the Fraser River, L46, about 1 mile from the site of the original fort (Field Book 1697/09, Plan 1, Cariboo IR). Alexandria Post Office opened 1 October 1876, closed 15 April 1950. Parks Canada has installed a National Historic Site cairn here. Source: BC place name cards, or correspondence to/from BC's Chief Geographer or BC Geographical Names Office |
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Fort Alexandria was established in 1821 (the year after Mackenzie's death) - the last fort to be established west of the Rocky Mountains by the North West Company before it merged later that year with the Hudson's Bay Company. This continued to be a strategic location in HBC's transportation system - furs were shipped by river from interior points to this fort, and thence overland to Fort Okanagan and down the Columbia River to Fort Vancouver. Source: Provincial Archives of BC "Place Names File" compiled 1945-1950 by A.G. Harvey from various sources, with subsequent additions |
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"...hence the erection in 1821 of a fort on the Fraser River, just at the place where Sir Alexander Mackenzie turned back, in memory of whom the new post was called Alexandria". (The History of the Northern Interior of British Columbia, Rev. A.G. Morice, 1905, p.119) Source: included with note |