Adopted 23 April 1940 on Geological Survey sheet 622A, McConnell Creek, as labelled on BC map 5A, 1917, and on BC map 1H, 1917.

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

Named 1912-14 by Frank C. Swannell, BCLS, after Bernhard ("Ben") Wrede, a trapper and prospector who lived at Fort Grahame in 1896 and was found dead a year later at his camp at the mouth of this creek, having met with an accident and died of exposure. See following newspaper excerpts about Wrede's business ventures, his disappearance and the subsequent discovery of his skeletal remains.

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

"The Stag and Pheasant...one of our oldest, most popular and favourably known hotels, lately passed into the hands of Mr. Bernhard Wrede, who, with Mr. Doering, built the house immediately after the fire [13 June 1886] , and has ever since been its manager. Mr. Wrede is therefore a pioneer here in the hotel and catering business and enjoys the reputation of being one of the most genial and obliging of hosts. For several weeks back he has had a staff of men employed in thoroughly renovating and overhauling the house, so that it is now practically new and as complete an establishment in all its appointments as is to be found here or anywhere else. Whilst Mr. Wrede has paid special attention to the accommodation and wants of his guests by supplying the table with the very best the market could produce, he has not neglected the liquors, wines and other viands. This has made the new host of the Stag and Pheasant famous not only in Vancouver but elsewhere throughout the land. Special attention is to be devoted by Mr. Wrede to permanent boarders for the winter. He is determined now that the sole management is in his own hands to make the Stag and Pheasant what a home should be for his guests, whether permanent or transient." (Vancouver Daily World, 3 November 1890, p.2) "Mr. Ben Wrede, formerly a resident of Victoria, and afterwards hotelkeeper in Vancouver and at Lardeau, is reportedly lost in the northern portion of the province. On the 4th of March last, Wrede wrote under date of Bear Lake, outer post, that he was about to start with two sleighs on a 400 mile trip, to try and find a more profitable placer district than the one he had been in. Since that time, no one has seen or heard of him and the belief is general that he has been lost. When he started on the trip the thermometer was 60 below zero, but he wrote that he was in good health... The following letter was received the other day by Mrs. Wrede in Vancouver from the Hudson's Bay Co's agent: (Stuart's Lake, 9 October 1896) I am sorry to inform you that Vetalle LaFort, a gold prospector here, thinks that your husband is lost, as he has not been seen since last March. he made an appointment with Vetalle and another man by the name of Murdock to meet at a certain place on the headwaters of one of the branches of the Finlay river, but although they waited at this place for several days, and saw some of Mr. Wrede's camps, he did not turn up....." (Victoria Daily Colonist, 31 October 1896, p.2) "Death of Ben Wrede: ...died of exposure resulting from an accident while in Omineca on a prospecting tour. His remains have been found. He died some time last winter. The exact cause is not known, but it is supposed he either cut his foot or hurt his leg in some manner, as when his bones were found in February the Indians who discovered them found a crutch lying beside them. He remains were buried by the Indians on the spot. The papers [found with him] furnished undoubted proof of his identify..." (Vancouver Daily World, 15 july 1897, p.3) "Ben Wrede's fate is at last known. He died in the far away Omineca country. His skeleton was found by Indains, papers beside the remains proving his identity. Mr. Wrede went to Victoria from San Fransisco 15 years ago and made money in the hotel business. He moved to Vancouver and built the Stag and Pheasant Hotel, adding materially to his rapidly growing fortune. He afterwards moved to Lardeau City. For the past few years, however, misfortunes have overtaken him, and two years ago he decided to try to retrieve his lost fortune by mining in the scarcely known Omineca country.... He left Fort Graham, on the Finlay River, prospecting on 10 March 1896 and was never seen afterwards. About the end of February [1897] some roaming Stikines found his camp and lots of provisions cached there, but everything looked old, so they examined around the spot and at last found his remains. He had been cutting wood and cut his foot on the instep and had evidently bled to death before getting back to his bed. They buried him and brought a few papers found near his body to McLeod's Lake..." (Victoria Daily Colonist, 16 July 1897, p.3)

Source: included with note

Bernhard Heinrich Wilhelm Wrede was born 9 March 1854 at Glewitz, Germany; childhood home Loitz, Germany. Emigrated to the United States (date not known) eventually reaching Minnesota, where he met and married Mary Schmehl 21 December 1883. Relocated to Vancouver (date not known); proprietor of the Stag & Pheasant on Water Street, Vancouver, 1890; builder (?) and proprietor of Queens Hotel on Cordova Street, Vancouver, 1889. Mary Wrede was living in Vancouver when her husband's death was confirmed, and in 1898 she returned to Hayfield, Minnesota with their 5 children. (biographical information provided June 2004 by grandson David Wrede, Longmont, Colorado) Note: the germanic pronunciation of the family name, Wrede, is "vray da", anglecized by the current generation to "reed".

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

Headwaters at 56 44 - 126 19.

Source: Canadian Geographical Names Database, Ottawa