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5400 Hospital Road |
British Columbia Tourism Region : Northern BC
Description From Owner:
John Bennett CreekMurray RiverSukunka River
- Formerly Little Prairie but renamed after Ralph L.T. Chetwynd. The son of an English baronet, Chetwynd came to Canada at the age of eighteen and became manager of the Marquess of Anglesey's holdings at Walhachin (q.v.).
- He won the Military Cross during World War I.
- Entering politics, he became Minister of Railways. Speaking on a proposed extension of the PGE Railway (now the BC Railway), he bet a hat that the first train for the Peace River would leave North Vancouver on June 1956 at 4:15 p.m.
- Since he soon had bets for $800 worth of Stetson hats, it was fortunate for him that the train did pull out on time.
- John Bennett Creek - Commemorates the tragic death of an eighteen-year-old English lad, John Noel Patch Bennett, heir to a fortune back home.
- In late October 1930, en route to Prince George, disregarding the advice of experienced woodsmen, he set out to cross the Pine Pass, wearing light shoes, having insufficient food and clothing, no guide, and only one packhorse.
- His diary, found with his remains the following spring, told of wet matches, frozen hands and feet, a trail lost in the snow, and all the other disasters that can befall a tenderfoot.
- Found in his packsack was a Latin-English dictionary.
- Murray River - After N.F. Murray, CE, who surveyed the region for the British Columbia Forest Service. In World War I, he enlisted in the 67th Battalion and was killed in action in France.
- Sukunka River - The last two syllables of Sukunka, a Sekani Indian word, mean 'fire' and 'along [the river].'
- With permission from G.P.V and Helen B. Akrigg 1997 British Columbia Place Names. UBC Press.
Address of this page: http://bc.ruralroutes.com/chetwynd