Selkirk Mountains
Feature Type:Mountains - Mass of land prominently elevated above the surrounding terrain, bounded by steep slopes and rising to a summit and/or peaks. Plural of Mountain.
Status: Official
Name Authority: BC Geographical Names Office
Relative Location: Extends S from Big Bend, Columbia River, into Montana, between Kootenay and Arrow Lakes, Kootenay Land District
Latitude-Longitude: 50°29'59"N, 117°30'04"W at the approximate centre of this feature.
Datum: WGS84
NTS Map: 82K/12
Related Maps:
Origin Notes and History:

Originally approved in the 1930 BC Gazetteer, centered at 50 30 - 117 00. Application altered 7 May 1959 to exclude the Purcell Mountains.

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

These mountains were originally called Nelson's Mountains by David Thompson, after the hero of Trafalgar. After the union of the North West Company and the Hudson's Bay Company in 1821, they were renamed in honour of Thomas Douglas, 5th Earl of Selkirk (1771-1820).

Source: Akrigg, Helen B. and Akrigg, G.P.V; British Columbia Place Names; Sono Nis Press, Victoria 1986 /or University of British Columbia Press 1997

North limit: Big Bend of Columbia River; west limit: Lake Revelstoke, Upper & Lower Arrow Lakes; east limit Columbia Reach Kinbasket Lake, Duncan River, Kootenay Lake.

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