THE ADVOCATE 283
VOL. 80 PART 2 MARCH 2022
Dear Editor,
Re: “New Judge”
(2021) 79 Advocate 927
The Advocate referred to a recently
appointed judge as having,
in her youth, been “skiing at top
speed down the slopes of what was
then Tod Mountain”. It still is Tod
Mountain.
Mount Tod’s putative demise has
been somewhat exaggerated. The
BC Geographical Names database
advises that the mountain not only
was but still is “E of Louis Creek,
overlooking Sun Peaks (resort
municipality) NE of Kamloops”. It
was named as such in 1932, “after
John Tod (1794-1882), longtime
Hudsons Bay Company employee
and eventually chief trader at the
HBC post in Kamloops, 1842-51”.
The mountain’s Secwepemctsin
name is Skwelkwekwelt.
The website goes on to observe:
“Unsuccessful proposal by owners/
developers of Sun Peaks resort
to rename this mountain ‘Sun
Peaks’ to improve marketing
prospects – ‘tod’ is the German
word for death, and owners were
concerned that the mountain’s
name would negatively impact
potential European clientele.”
Mount Tod is the highest of the
three mountains that comprise Sun
Peaks Resort, a ski area about 50
km NE of Kamloops (Tk’emlúps).The ski area’s maps admit the existence
emlúps).
of a “Mt. Tod”. It was earlier
referred to as “Tod Mountain”,
although the convention in British
Columbia is that if a mountain is
named for person, the name is
“Mount X”, whereas if it is named
for a thing, it is “X Mountain”.
Hence Mount Seymour and Crown
Mountain on Vancouver’s north
shore, the former named for a governor
of British Columbia, the latter
for its resemblance to a crown.
LETTERS TO
THE EDITOR
By R.C. Tino Bella*
* Letters to the editor may be e-mailed to <mbain@the-advocate.ca>. Letters published do not necessarily reflect the views
of the Advocate or its staff. We encourage a diversity of voices and views in our pages.
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