| Feature Type: | Village (1) - A populated place with legally defined boundaries, incorporated as a village municipality under the provincial Municipal Act. |
| Status: | Official |
| Name Authority: | BC Geographical Names Office |
| Relative Location: | W side Bonaparte River, between Cache Creek and 70 Mile House, Lillooet Land District |
| Latitude-Longitude: | 51°05'29"N, 121°35'12"W at the approximate location of the Municipal Hall. |
| Datum: | WGS84 |
| NTS Map: | 92P/4 |
| Related Maps: |
82M/2 92P 92P/4 |
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Origin Notes and History:
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Clinton (Post Office & Station) adopted 3 March 1955 on 92 P as labelled on BC map 1G, 1916. Incorporated as a Village Municipality 16 July 1963. Source: BC place name cards, or correspondence to/from BC's Chief Geographer or BC Geographical Names Office |
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George Dawson's 1895 map, Kamloops (Geological Survey of Canada map 557) identifies the Indian Village, Pil-te-'uk (meaning "white earth"), just above Clinton on Junction Creek. Source: BC place name cards, or correspondence to/from BC's Chief Geographer or BC Geographical Names Office |
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In the early gold rush days the locality was known as 47 Mile House because of its distance from Lillooet, and also possibly known as simply "The Junction" [the original route to the Cariboo gold fields via Harrison Lake & Lillooet joined the second road, from Yale, at this place]. In 1863, upon completion of the Cariboo Wagon Road, it was renamed in honour of Henry Pelham Clinton (1811-1864), 5th Duke of Newcastle, who served as Colonial Secretary from 1852 to 1854, and again from 1859 until his death in 1964. Some sources indicate that the place had been known previously as Cut Off Valley, but BC records suggest that that name only came into use after Clinton had been named, and "Cut Off Valley" referred to the valley only. Clinton Post Office was opened 10 September 1884. Source: BC place name cards, or correspondence to/from BC's Chief Geographer or BC Geographical Names Office |
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The first 47 Mile House opened on New Year's Day, 1861, at the junction of the old River Trail and the new Cariboo Wagon Road, "....a fine two-storey hewn-log building of seven rooms (and not a nail in it !) ....with a well-stoked bar, good food and kindly generous hosts." (excerpt from Beautiful British Columbia magazine, Spring 1983) Source: BC place name cards, or correspondence to/from BC's Chief Geographer or BC Geographical Names Office |
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"Henry Fiennes Pelham Clinton Source: Provincial Archives of BC "Place Names File" compiled 1945-1950 by A.G. Harvey from various sources, with subsequent additions |