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British Columbia Place Names (UBC $19.95)
Everyone knows Spuzzum -- but what about Houdini Needles? Miniskirt? Elephant Crossing? They're three of the thousand-plus names for towns, rivers, mountains and lakes explained by Philip and Helen Akrigg in their updated and revised British Columbia Place Names (UBC $19.95), based on over forty years of research.
According to the Akriggs, Houdini Needles, located in the Adamant Mountains (northeast of Revelstoke), is "so named because only a contortionist like Houdini could ascend these peaks." Miniskirt, northwest of Victoria, is near Skirt Mountain. When a name was required in 1976 for 'a minor eminence to the northeast of the mountain', Miniskirt seemed a logical choice.
The derivation of the name Elephant Crossing, near the Canadian Armed Forces base at Holberg (west of Port Hardy), is much more complicated.
When a logging truck is unloaded, the trailer portion is hoisted up behind the driver's cab and carried piggyback for the return journey, with the 'reach' (the long connecting bar) jutting out above the cab. Upon seeing this strange sight at a roadway crossing, a warrant officer, newly arrived from Ontario, remarked that the empty trucks looked like elephants holding up their trunks.
The intersection on Vancouver Island became known as Elephant Crossing. A sign embellished with pink elephants now marks the spot and the name is in the Gazetteer of Canada.
The Akriggs' 1001 B.C. Place Names first appeared in 1969. Now retired UBC professors, they were the first recipients of the new B.C. Heritage Award to celebrate outstanding contributions to the understanding of B.C.'s past. The Akriggs pioneered B.C.'s self-publishing tradition when they began their own imprint, Discovery Press, for British Columbia Chronicles, a two-volume history which appeared in 1975 and 1977.
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According to the Akriggs, Houdini Needles, located in the Adamant Mountains (northeast of Revelstoke), is "so named because only a contortionist like Houdini could ascend these peaks." Miniskirt, northwest of Victoria, is near Skirt Mountain. When a name was required in 1976 for 'a minor eminence to the northeast of the mountain', Miniskirt seemed a logical choice.
The derivation of the name Elephant Crossing, near the Canadian Armed Forces base at Holberg (west of Port Hardy), is much more complicated.
When a logging truck is unloaded, the trailer portion is hoisted up behind the driver's cab and carried piggyback for the return journey, with the 'reach' (the long connecting bar) jutting out above the cab. Upon seeing this strange sight at a roadway crossing, a warrant officer, newly arrived from Ontario, remarked that the empty trucks looked like elephants holding up their trunks.
The intersection on Vancouver Island became known as Elephant Crossing. A sign embellished with pink elephants now marks the spot and the name is in the Gazetteer of Canada.
The Akriggs' 1001 B.C. Place Names first appeared in 1969. Now retired UBC professors, they were the first recipients of the new B.C. Heritage Award to celebrate outstanding contributions to the understanding of B.C.'s past. The Akriggs pioneered B.C.'s self-publishing tradition when they began their own imprint, Discovery Press, for British Columbia Chronicles, a two-volume history which appeared in 1975 and 1977.
0 7748 0637 0
Submitted on August 12, 2003 in By David.
