| Feature Type: | River - Watercourse of variable size, which has tributaries and flows into a body of water or a larger watercourse. |
| Status: | Official |
| Name Authority: | BC Geographical Names Office |
| Relative Location: | Flows SE into Columbia River, W of Spillimacheen (Community), N of Invermere (Municipality), Kootenay Land District |
| Latitude-Longitude: | 50°55'46"N, 116°23'47"W at the approximate mouth of this feature. |
| Datum: | WGS84 |
| NTS Map: | 82K/16 |
| Related Maps: |
82K/16 82N/6 |
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Origin Notes and History:
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Adopted 31 March 1924 on 82K/16 as appears in 1910 Gazetteer and as labeled on Reference Map I.E.M. "Kootenay, Osoyoos, and Smilikameen Mining Divisions" (1915). May have previously appeared as Speylumacheen or Spillimochene River. Source: BC place name cards & correspondence, and/or research by BC Chief Geographer & Geographical Names Office staff. |
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"This comes from one or other of two [Indigenous] words: 'spil-a-mi-shine' meaning 'flat mouth,' or 'spal-lum-sin' meaning 'flat meadow.' Early spellings of the name often give it four syllables." (p. 160) Source: Akrigg, Helen B. and Akrigg, G.P.V; "1001 British Columbia Place Names"; Discovery Press, Vancouver, 1973. |
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"[Spillimacheen] first appears in the mining recoreder reports... and translates to 'flat meadow.'" (Glen Boles, Roger Laurilla, and William Putnam. "Canadian Mountain Place Names: The Rockies and Columbia Mountains"; Rocky Mountain Books, Surrey, 2006; p. 237) Source: included with note |
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Headwaters at 51 17, 117 16 on 82N/6. Source: Canadian Geographical Names Database, Ottawa |