Corning Creek adopted 3 November 1932 on Shuswap Lake sheet, as labelled on Water Rights file 0265251; not "Lee Creek" as labelled on Geological Survey sheet 604, Shuswap, 1898.

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

After R.M. Corning, homesteader in the valley; applied for water rights and the creek was so-named (Water Rights file 0265251, c1910). However native resident Mrs. Barbara Wood advises: "Lee was a prospector looking for gold, who came in the late 1880s and stayed into the 1890s. The remains of his cabin are still there near the creek. Pete Johnson was the first homesteader, on the LeBeau property, in the 1890s. He built a raft and got out because of the extremely high water of 1894. In 1906, Oliver Freeman (Barbara Wood's uncle) homesteaded; the Hopwoods homesteaded east of the Freemans. In 1913 Corning came to Lee's Creek, as the early settlers all called the settlement... in 1919 the school opened, settlers met and named the place Lee Creek (dropping the s)...." (information conveyed January 1982 via Helen Akrigg, file S.3.27)

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

Original name Lee Creek. See letter April 11, 1974 on 82L/13. (Supplement list on names Shuswap Sheet) File 82L/NW. K Lundin of Vancouver said this is locally called Lee Creek (see note on file-A. Rayburn).

Source: Canadian Geographical Names Database, Ottawa