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The Kettle River was named by July 31, 1860 when the Victoria Daily British Colonist quoted a New Westminster Times report about gold being found “on all the tributaries of the Okinakin [sic] Rock Creek, Kettle River, and Semilkameen [sic] in paying quantities.”
There are a couple of theories about the name’s origin. As G.P.V. and Helen Akrigg put it in British Columbia Place Names, one possibility is that it “comes from the boiling, seething Kettle Falls, which were known as La Chaudiére [The Boiler] to early explorers.” |
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Alternatively, it comes from “the round holes, shaped like cauldrons, which water has hollowed out in the rocks.” Hudson’s Bay Co. governor George Simpson gave the latter explanation in 1847, according to the Akriggs, although they didn’t say where.
The river, and its valley, was previously known by the Okanagan name Nehoialpitku, according to Lt. Charles Wilson of the British Boundary Commission, who wrote on Aug. 31, 1860: “We started for to continue our journey to Colville and passing throughout he town of Rock Creek followed down the stream of the Nehoialpitku. Oh! Valley of the Nehoialpitku, how shall I sing thy praises!” |
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