| Feature Type: | Mount - Variation of Mountain: Mass of land prominently elevated above the surrounding terrain, bounded by steep slopes and rising to a summit and/or peaks. ["Mount" preceding the name usually indicates that the feature is named after a person.] |
| Status: | Official |
| Name Authority: | BC Geographical Names Office |
| Relative Location: | Between Lakes McArthur and O'Hara in Yoho National Park, Kootenay Land District |
| Latitude-Longitude: | 51°20'39"N, 116°20'23"W at the approximate centre of this feature. |
| Datum: | WGS84 |
| NTS Map: | 82N/8 |
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Origin Notes and History:
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Mount Schaffer adopted in the 5th Report of the Geographic Board of Canada, 30 June 1904. Source: BC place name cards, or correspondence to/from BC's Chief Geographer or BC Geographical Names Office |
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Mis-spelled "Mount Schaffner" in the 10th through 13th Reports of the Geographic Board of Canada, 1911-1914 inclusive. Correctly spelled Mount Schaffer in the 14th Report of the Board, 31 March 1915, and in all subsequent reports and gazetteers. Source: BC place name cards, or correspondence to/from BC's Chief Geographer or BC Geographical Names Office |
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Named in 1894 by Samuel E.S. Allen, after Dr. Charles Schaffer of Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. [Samuel Allen, a Yale college student, was one of the early tourists in the area, naming many of the Lake O'Hara-area features.] According to "In the Heart of the Rockies" by M.B. Williams, and "History of Lake O'Hara" by Lillian Gest, Charles Schaffer (1838-1903) did valuable exploration work in the Rockies, documenting and collecting botanical specimens; his wife, Mary, has been commemorated by nearby Mary Lake. The 15th Report of the Geographic Board of Canada, 31 March 1917, contains the following citation: "Mount Schaffer, after Dr. Schäffer of Philadelphia; Mrs. Schäffer (now Mrs. Warren) is authoress of 'Old Indian Trails'... " Source: BC place name cards, or correspondence to/from BC's Chief Geographer or BC Geographical Names Office |
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"After Dr. and Mrs. Schaffer of Philadelphia. Mrs. Schaffer apparently discovered Maligne Lake [in Alberta's Jasper National Park]." (from History of Lake O'Hara, by Lillian Gest; Philadelphia, 1961). "Henry MacLeod first saw the lake in 1875 and named it Sore-foot Lake; Mary Schaffer wrote that she somewhat arbitrarily renamed the lake and mountain in 1911, in association with Maligne River." (Place Names of Alberta, Vol 1, compiled in 1991 by Alberta Geographical Names Programme). Source: included with note |
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"After botanists Mary Schaffer and her husband Charles who, from 1889 on, made annual trips from Philadelphia to the Rockies. After Charles's death in 1903, Mary and her friend Mollie Adams were among the first women to run packhorse expeditions into the remote parts of the Rockies. In 1911, Mary wrote the book 'Old Indian Trails of the Canadian Rockies' ." (Vancouver Sun, 20 October 1992, p.C2) [note that Shaffer's book was published in 1911 by Putnam/Knickerbocker Press, New York; republished in 1980 by the Whyte Museum, Banff, Alberta.] Source: included with note |