| Language of origin | Not defined: Indigenous origin |
| 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 NE from Washington into Similkameen River, Similkameen Division Yale Land District |
| Tags: | Indigenous |
| Latitude-Longitude: | 49°13'28"N, 119°58'20"W at the approximate mouth of this feature. |
| Datum: | WGS84 |
| NTS Map: | 82E/4 |
| Related Maps: |
82E/4 92H/1 |
|
|
Origin Notes and History:
|
Ashnola River adopted by Geographic Board of Canada in 1917, as labelled on BC map 1EM, 1915; crosses from Washington into BC at 49º00' - 120º23' on 92H/1. Source: BC place name cards, or correspondence to/from BC's Chief Geographer or BC Geographical Names Office |
|
"Nais-nu-loh / Ashtnolow" referenced 1860 in Lord, I, p.321 (Provincial Archives citation). Labelled "Ashnoulou River" on Trutch's 1871 map of British Columbia; "Ashnola: a body of Okinagan in southwest BC, population 37 in 1911..." (Handbook of Indians of Canada, Geographic Board of Canada, 1912); "Ashnola means 'white waters'..." (Wild Land of the Ashnola by Jennifer Maynard, published in BC Motorist magazine July-Aug 1971, p.14). Source: BC place name cards, or correspondence to/from BC's Chief Geographer or BC Geographical Names Office |
|
This name is found, spelt "Ashtnoulou", as early as 1861. It probably comes not from Chief Ashnola John, who was alive in the present century, but from an early [First Nations] village named "Acnulox". 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 |