The “Heights” of Mount Robson

Since the early days of written history, the estimated height of Mount Robson has changed several times. The first mention of Robson’s height is also the first written mention of the mountain that we know of. It is claimed that on August 26th, 1862, John M. Sellar (a member of the Overlanders) wrote:

“At 4 p.m. we passed Snow or Cloud Cap Mountain which is the highest and finest on the whole Leather Pass. It is 9000 feet above the level of the valley at its base, and the guide told us that out of twenty-nine times that he had passed it he had only seen the top once before.”

Real photo postcard, hand coloured by Coast Publishing Company, Vancouver, BC.  Note the height of 13,700 feet – likely dating the postcard before 1912. 

In 1863, British explorers, Milton and Cheadle, estimated Mount Robson to be between 10,000 and 15,000 feet. They described the great mountain: 

“On every side the snowy heads of mighty hills crowded round, whilst, immediately behind us, a giant among giants, and immeasurably supreme, rose Robson’s Peak.”

In 1898, James McEvoy, did a geological survey for Canada of the Robson area. He records:

“The actual height of the peak is 13,700 feet, or 10,750 feet above the valley… it has the distinction of being the highest known peak in the Canadian Rockies.”

A.O. Wheeler surveyed Robson in 1912, and calculated the height to be 13,062 feet.

Later, Wheeler would revise that measurement to 12,972 feet while conducting the Alberta-British Columbia Boundary Commission.  This is the established height of Mount Robson to this day. 

Note: From the base of Mount Robson in the Fraser River Valley to its peak there is a 3,000 metre (9,843 foot) rise over a distance of only three kilometres… “it is not far below that of Mount Everest and is unrivaled in the Canadian or U.S. Rocky Mountains” (Bill Corbett).

Sources & Further Reading:

https://www.spiralroad.com/robson/#:~:text=Great%20mountains%20are%20on%20every,10%2C750%20feet%20above%20the%20valley.

https://historynstuff.blogspot.com/2020/02/mount-robson-historic-timeline.html

Ansel Adams at Mount Robson

In the summer of 1928, the Sierra Club’s annual “High Trip” was an expedition to the Canadian Rockies. The members of the expedition left Oakland, California by train and arrived later in Jasper, Alberta before then taking the rail to Mount Robson Provincial Park in BC.

A young photographer by the name of Ansel Adams was invited to come along. He would be one of the official photographers and his expenses would be paid although he would not be. It was on this trip to Canada that “Ansel began to find his voice as a photographer.” 

Mount Robson Peak by Ansel Adams (eBay)

The leader of the expedition, William Colby, wrote about Ansel that he, "…uncomplainingly carried his equipment, weighing unspeakable pounds. His only regret was that the pace required to keep up with the climbing parties did not afford opportunities to photograph all the wonders about him.”  

Ansel himself later said, “The Canadian Rockies have a wonderful mood, but it's one of the most infested areas you can possibly imagine — mosquitoes, horseflies; bad trails and very erratic weather.”  He wrote that he would, “… unload exposed film and load fresh film with my film holders in a changing bag at dusk, while a friend kept the mosquitoes at bay."

But Mount Robson and the other Rockies he visited on that trip left a lasting impression on him as he wrote to his wife:

“These mountains are breathtaking — utterly different than anything we have seen. The peaks and forests and “tone” fulfill almost every ideal I have had of what ‘my’ mountains could be. The cold ice crashes down tremendous cliffs to the very edge of deep, somber forests. No dust here — all is snow, ice, clean black rock and mossy earth covered with thick vegetation — all cool and calm and very strong in the primal aspect. These are great mountains we dream about.”

Ansel Adams is considered one of the greatest photographers of our time, and he began his remarkable career with the great peak of Mount Robson. 

Mount Resplendent by Ansel Adams (eBay)

“A great photograph is a full expression of what one feels about what is being photographed in the deepest sense, and is, thereby, a true expression of what one feels about life in its entirety.”  Ansel Adams

Sources & Further Reading:

Ansel Adams in the Canadian Rockies, Little Brown and Company (October 29, 2013)

https://sheldonkirshner.com/ansel-adams-in-the-canadian-rockies/

https://www.sierraclub.org/library/1928-high-trip-photo-album

https://archive.org/details/convanseladams00adamrich/page/279/mode/1up

The Okanagan and Mission Valley Wagon Road

Long after the well-worn trails of the Indigenous Peoples and the Hudson’s Bay Brigade Trail were established, there arose a need for a wider and more stable roadway throughout the Okanagan.  Thus, the work of the ““Okanagan and Mission Valley Wagon Road” was undertaken in 1875. 

Okanagan historian, F.M. Buckland, recalls in his book “Ogopogo’s Vigil”:

“The contract to construct a wagon road from O’Keefe’s by way of Priest’s Valley, ‘Vernon’, to Okanagan Mission was let in 1875. It was called “Okanagan and Mission Valley Wagon Road”… The road was built in two sections. Section 1 was designated as “from Mission Valley (Kelowna) to ‘the railway’* on Long Lake” … Section 2 was designated as “from the ‘railway’ to O’Keefe’s Ranch at the head of Okanagan Lake.”

Cattle Drive blocks the stagecoach on the Vernon to Mission road at 

“the Railroad” ca. 1900. Lake Country Museum

 

The Okanagan Historical Society also reports:

"In those early years there were practically no roads, only narrow trails, in most parts of the valley, so late in 1875 the provincial government called for tenders to build a wagon road from the Catholic Mission in the south to O'Keefe's Ranch at the northern end of Okanagan lake. Philip Parke was the successful bidder, for a price of $23,000, and by the fall of 1876 the entire road for a length of thirty-eight miles was completed.” OHSR 23:116

The building of the road was no easy feat as described by the 23rd Okanagan Historical Society Report:

“There were no power driven tools or machines in use at that time and the task of constructing the road was accomplished by men with hand tools and horse drawn wagons and scrapers. Altogether there were eleven fourteen foot wide wooden bridges to build, with a combined length of 543 feet, as well as considerable rock had to be hand drilled. 

Eighteen miles of forest had to be cleared to a width of thirty feet and over 300 feet of corduroy laid. A considerable amount of cribbing and walling was necessary, while the entire length of thirty eight miles was graded to a width of eighteen feet and ditched on both sides."

In March 1898, a family by the name of Clement decided to move from the Vernon area to Kelowna (then known as Mission Valley). One of the sons, Percy, recalls part of the trip:

“The road climbed steadily for the first four miles through a district which several years before had been reserved for the residents of Vernon to pasture their cows, and was called the Commonage…After reaching the highest point, the road descended for some distance by many crooks and bends until it reached the shore of Long Lake, now named Kalamalka.”

A Lake Country Museum article states: “The prerailway economy developed within the context of this horse and buggy transportation system.”

The Caribou Wagon Road had been completed in 1865 from Barkerville and connected the north to Kamloops via steamers on the Thomson and Spallumcheen Rivers. Now the Okanagan and Mission Valley wagon road connected Kamloops to the rest of the Okanagan Valley. It became a great asset to the Okanagan furthering trade and transportation. 

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*“The Railway” or "Railroad" is the former name of the isthmus between Wood and Kalamalka lakes in Oyama. For more information on it read the Lake Country Museum’s article. 

Sources & Further Reading:

Ogopogo's Vigil by F.M. Buckland

The History of Lake Country 

Kelowna Daily Courier