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22-911: The name of the glacier was officially adopted in 1928 after having been submitted by mountaineer Don Munday in August 1927 for its association with the Franklin River. It is the namesake of the Franklin Glacier Complex , a heavily eroded geologic feature consisting of dikes , subvolcanic intrusions and overlying volcanic rocks . A base camp was established on the Franklin Glacier on June 23, 1934, by climbers Neal Carter , Alan Lambert, Alec Dalgleish and Eric Brooks as part of an attempted first ascent of Mount Waddington. Their ascent abruptly ended three days later when Dalgleish fell to his death from Waddington's southeast ridge. This article about

44-473: A glacial moraine and was in danger of slipping into a crevasse. Phyllis helps him restore his balance, but she loses her balance as well. Don managed to grab her until she could regain her feet. They married in February 1920, spending their honeymoon in a cabin on Dam Mountain near Vancouver. Their daughter, Edith was born in 1921, and at 11 weeks she was carried to the top of Crown Mountain . From 1923 to 1926

66-579: A location on the Coast of British Columbia , Canada is a stub . You can help Misplaced Pages by expanding it . This article about a glacier in Canada is a stub . You can help Misplaced Pages by expanding it . Don Munday Walter Alfred Don Munday (1890–1950) was a Canadian explorer , naturalist and mountaineer famous for his explorations of the Coast Mountains with his wife Phyllis , and especially for

88-547: Is a major producer of Chum and Pink salmon . Other fish include Coho and Chinook salmon , Rainbow and Steelhead trout , Cutthroat trout , Bull trout , and Dolly Varden trout . In 2008 nine Grizzly Bear Wildlife Habitat Areas were designated in the Homathko watershed. There have been various plans to develop the Homathko and its neighbouring rivers for hydroelectric power. The Homathko alone has immense hydroelectric potential. Full build-out as first conceived would divert

110-825: Is just west of Chilko Lake , part of the Chilcotin River basin. From there the Homathko River flows south and west, piercing the Pacific Ranges . It is joined by numerous tributaries, including the north-flowing Nostetuko and the Stonsayako Rivers . Downriver, the Homathko is joined by Mosley Creek , which flows south from the Pantheon Range. As the river cuts through the Waddington Range it flows through Waddington Canyon . It empties into Waddington Harbour ,

132-560: The Homathko River valley. They reached the lower northwest summit in 1928, deeming the main summit too risky. Munday died of pneumonia in 1950. Homathko River The Homathko River is one of the major rivers of the southern Coast Mountains of the Canadian province of British Columbia . It is one of the few rivers that penetrates the range from the interior Chilcotin Country to

154-670: The Salishan language family. Colonial influence eroded Xwe’malhkwu culture in the late 19th century. Indian Residential schools further destroyed traditional Xwe’malhkwu culture and language. The upper part of the Homathko River basin was home to the Tsilhqot'in (Chilcotin) people. Although there was occasional trade between the Tsilhqot'in and Xwe’malhkwu, generally the two peoples were antagonistic and sometimes violent. The Xwe’malhkwu and Tsilhqot'in never ceded their lands. Both are currently in

176-577: The Taseko Lakes and Chilko Lake into the Homathko system via Tatlayoko Lake . A series of dams on the Homathko and its tributaries, using the extra power of the water from the Chilcotin 's tributaries, would have generated some of the most power per project in British Columbia. The creation of Tsʼilʔos Provincial Park (the 'ʔ' represents a glottal stop ) and Big Creek Provincial Park have shelved

198-523: The coastal inlets of the Pacific Ocean . The Homathko River reaches the sea at the head of Bute Inlet , just west of the mouth of the Southgate River . The Homathko River Valley is one of the most difficult to navigate. The frigid waters make crossing impossible and the valley itself is lined with devil's club . It is also home to many grizzly bears . The mountains flanking the Homathko River are

220-684: The Mundays lived in a tent, and then a cabin on Grouse Mountain where Don worked cutting a trail from Lonsdale Avenue in North Vancouver to the summit, while Phyllis ran the Alpine Lodge, serving hot drinks and meals to hikers. In 1925, while on a trip to Mount Arrowsmith , Vancouver Island , Don and Phyllis Munday spotted what they believed to be a peak taller than Mount Robson , the then accepted tallest peak entirely within British Columbia . In

242-532: The area and discover the Mount Waddington. Over the next decade, the Mundays mounted several expeditions into the area in an attempt to climb the mountain. Known to them as "The Mystery Mountain", in 1927 the height was measured at 13,260 feet (by triangulation ), and the Canadian Geographic Board gave it the name Mount Waddington after Alfred Waddington who was a proponent of a railway through

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264-634: The exploration of the Waddington Range . Don Munday was born and educated in Portage la Prairie , Manitoba and moved to Vancouver, British Columbia with his family in 1909. In World War I , he served in France with the 47th Battalion . Don met Phyllis in 1918. While on a mountaineering trip an incident occurred which, in Don's words, "lends itself readily to being given a romantic aspect." Don lost his footing on

286-535: The grand plan, as Chilko and Taseko Lakes are protected and cannot be diverted (also for salmon fishery reasons). But the dams proposed for the Homathko Canyon are still on the books and are effectively on sale by the export subsidiary of BC Hydro , Powerex . If ever built, the largest dam and powerhouse will stand at a point in Waddington Canyon that is marked on the map as "Murderer's Bar"—no less than

308-587: The head of Bute Inlet. Several Homalco (or Homalko) Indian reserves are located at the river's mouth. Bute Inlet and the lower reaches of its major rivers, such as the Homathko and Southgate, were and are home to the Xwe’malhkwu, or Homalco First Nation people. The Xwe’malhkwu are part of the K'omoks , or Comox people, and speak a dialect of the Mainland Comox language , part of the Coast Salish branch of

330-654: The highest in the Coast Mountains, and include Mount Waddington west of the river in the Waddington Range and Mount Queen Bess east of the river, adjacent to the Homathko Icefield . Also flanking the Homathko River on the west are the Niut Range , which is in the angle of the Homathko and its main west fork, Mosley Creek, and the Whitemantle Range , which is to the south of the Waddington Range massif, forming

352-544: The licence to build the road, as well as profit from the sale of lots (and some lots were sold, but the townsite never came to anything). In 1871 the Crown Colony of British Columbia joined the Canadian Confederation with certain conditions, one of which was the construction of a transcontinental railroad to link the seaboard of British Columbia with the rest of Canada. The Canadian Pacific Railway began to survey

374-554: The mountainous ridge dividing Bute and Knight Inlets . The Pantheon Range lies west of Mosley Creek and the Niut Range and adjoins the Waddington Range immediately on the north. The Homathko's drainage basin is 5,680 square kilometres (2,190 sq mi) in size. The Homathko begins at an unnamed lake in the northern part of the Niut Range . It flows northeast to the Chilcotin Plateau , skirting it briefly near Tatla Lake , then turns south to Tatlayoko Lake , which

396-468: The process of treaty negotiations with British Columbia and Canada. Both claim aboriginal title to parts of the Homathko River's watershed. In 1861 Alfred Waddington of Victoria sent surveyors to the Homathko River and Bute Inlet, seeking to build Waddington's Road , to compete with the proposed Cariboo Road . Both roads were a reaction to the Cariboo Gold Rush and intended to provide access to

418-561: The remote Cariboo region. In 1864, just below the confluence of Mosley Creek and the Homathko River, a conflict between Waddington's survey party and a group of Tsilhqot'in (Chilcotin) resulted in the death of fourteen members of the surveying party. This was the opening round of the Chilcotin War of 1864. The land-surveyed townsite of Port Waddington on today's maps is a relic of those times. The townsite had been surveyed as part of roadbuilder Alfred Waddington's obligations in having

440-440: The several proposed routes. One such route crossed the Chilcotin Plateau then followed the Homathko River to Bute Inlet and continued across Sonora Island and Quadra Island (then thought to be a single island known as Valdes Island) to reach Vancouver Island via Seymour Narrows . This route would then follow the eastern coast of Vancouver Island to terminate near Victoria . After years of political wrangling Burrard Inlet

462-421: The words of Don Munday "The compass showed the alluring peak stood along a line passing a little east of Bute Inlet and perhaps 150 miles away, where blank spaces on the map left ample room for many nameless mountains." It was debated whether the peak they saw was indeed Mount Waddington (Don Munday observed that the feat is impossible). They likely saw a peak in the Waddington Range , this led to them exploring

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484-688: Was chosen for the railway's terminus-port city, thereby creating the City of Vancouver . The proposed Homathko River route was abandoned. In 1890 a new surveying expedition set out to explore the Homathko River route to the Chilcotin Plateau. Despite memory of the Chilcotin War and fear of the Tsilhqot'in, and although the terrain was challenging in places, the party reached Tatla Lake in the Chilcotin Country without undue incident. The Homathko River

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