| 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 NW then SW then W into head of Howe Sound, New Westminster Land District |
| Latitude-Longitude: | 49°41'16"N, 123°09'16"W at the approximate mouth of this feature. |
| Datum: | WGS84 |
| NTS Map: | 92G/11 |
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Origin Notes and History:
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Adopted 4 May 1926 on 92G/11 as labeled on Reference Map 2D "Powell Lake" (1923). May have previously appeared as Staamus, Straamus, or Stawamus Creek (maps/dates not cited). Likely named in association with Stawamus Lake. Source: BC place name cards & correspondence, and/or research by BC Chief Geographer & Geographical Names Office staff. |
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"Takes its name from a once populous village of the Squamish [Nation] which stands at the mouth of this river. According to [Indigenous oral] tradition, people from this village greeted Captain Vancouver off nearby Watts Point in 1792." 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, page 287. |
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L.I. 20.11.14 (file not listed) it is recorded from F.H. Smith on behalf of Mountaineering Clubs and Independent Climbers of B.C. Stawamus R. is listed as meaning "birthplace of the winds, - it is said to be "[an Indigenous] name." (miscellaneous Geo BC file, broken into various name files). Source: BC place name cards & correspondence, and/or research by BC Chief Geographer & Geographical Names Office staff. |