Other Names: Windermere Mountain, Morigeau Mountain
It is said that the first shipment of ore from the Windermere Valley was sent from the mountain to the smelter in Swansea, Wales. There is some truth to the story, however it’s also somewhat more complicated than that.
Other names: Lake Maye, Lake of the Hanging Glaciers
“The Glaciers are certainly a spectacle. They hang. They do hang.”30
The fortunes of Thomas Starbird took a sharp turn in Autumn 1913, when Mountain Valley Ranch was destroyed in a fire with all of its contents. There was “very little” insurance.
“Mr. Starke called the property [Delphine Mine] after me. I was in the habit of going to the property with him before the trails were even cut. I was about the first white woman to go to the Selkirks and my trips often occasioned surprise.”6 (Delphine Starke, 1918)
The original Jumbo claim never came to much, although those interested in the claim were definitely onto something. The claim is located just to the north of the Crown Granted claims for the Mineral King Mine, which became a large scale operation in the 1950s.
Other Names: Deadmans Creek, Murder Creek
“We used to call that creek “Deadman’s” and “Murder”, but people seem to be getting squeamish about such things and place names.”54
You won’t likely find Munn Lake on a map: it’s a local name that many locals don’t even know is local. I certainly didn’t. If you want driving directions on your phone type in Wilmer Lake, but if you ask a local there’s a chance they won’t what you’re talking about.
Other names: Columbia City (1898-1899), Peterborough/Peterboro (1899-1902), Klunwakaqlalali?it
“[Wilmer] remains a genuine native product, an epitome of the life of the Valley. Wilmer is not pushful. It is old enough to have acquired dignity, and if it ever adventures itself, it does so with becoming moderation.”
(Columbia Valley Times, 21 December 1912)
Jack Taynton was described as “a bit of a renegade.” His brother, Bill, was “soft spoken, loved flowers and displayed gentlemanly manners.” Both brothers, and their sons, ended up living or retiring alongside Windermere Lake in an area that became known as Tayntonville or Taynton Bay.
The area of Law Creek (and now Mount Law) is interesting in that it is named after a man who, by all accounts, had left the Kootenays by 1892 never to return. It is also unique as the name “Law Creek” is the best evidence I’ve been able to find for Charles Frederick Law ever having done prospecting work in that area.
In The Windermere 