Newcomen Creek adopted 19 January 1956 for Columbia River Basin manuscript #63, as identified in Water Rights Branch records. (WR file 017629)

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

Chris Newcomen applied for water rights on this creek in January 1920, conditional licence 4797 issued sometime thereafter; Final Licence issued 26 January 1926. The creek is identified as "Newcomer Creek" in Water Rights Branch records until the mid 1950s - presumably a misinterpretation of the applicant's name.

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

Chris Newcomen was an old time prospector and early resident who held the first licence on this creek; born in the UK in 1874, arrival in BC not recorded; appointed JP for the Vallican area, and was often employed as foreman of road construction crews working in the area; a lifelong bachelor, he died in 1962 at Nelson hospital, age 88. (information shared February 2014 by Larry Reibin, Castlegar, whose family's property was adjacent to Newcomen's; sometime before leaving the area in the early 1960s, Reibin remembers Chris Newcomen pointing out the creek name as spelled on his original water licence - "Newcomer Creek" - with a wink and a comment about the play on his own name.)

Source: included with note