Clearwater River

Feature Type:River - Watercourse of variable size, which has tributaries and flows into a body of water or a larger watercourse.
Status:
Name Authority: BC Geographical Names Office
Relative Location: Flows S through Wells Gray Provincial Park into North Thompson River, E of 100 Mile House, Kamloops Division Yale Land District
Latitude-Longitude: 51°37'59''N, 120°04'50''W at the approximate mouth of this feature.
Datum: NAD83
NTS Map: 92P/9
Related Maps: 92P/16
92P/9
93A/1
93A/16
93A/8
93A/9

Origin Notes and History:

Clearwater River adopted 11 August 1921 for Geological Survey publication 1945, as labelled on Trutch's 1871 map of BC, and on BC map 3J, 1914 et seq; not "Clear Water River" as spelled on Arrowsmith's map "Western Portion of British North America, Showing the Route Followed by Lord Milton and Dr. Cheadle, 1863-4".

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

"We came to a large stream flowing into the Thompson from the west (Clear Water River)..." (Northwest Passage by Land, 5th ed, 1865, p.314.)

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

That portion of the river above Hobson Lake was known as "Big Creek". This channel is labelled "Clearwater River (Big Creek)" on BC Reference Map 23 (1936).

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

Shown on map by W.B. Cheadle, "Cheadle's Journal of a Trip Across Canada, 1862-1863," .... we came to a large clear river....." may have been first applied by him. Headwaters at 52 49 - 120 06 on 93A/16.

Source: Canadian Geographical Names Database, Ottawa