Skip to content

PLACE NAMES: Salmo

Salmo is the Latin form of salmon and takes its name from the Salmon River (now Salmo River) that flows through it.
52142westernstar110-Vancouver_Daily_World_Fri__Mar_12__1897_copy
This ad appeared in the Vancouver Daily World on March 12

One-hundred sixty-ninth in an alphabetical series on West Kootenay/Boundary place names

Salmo is the Latin form of salmon and takes its name from the Salmon River (now Salmo River) that flows through it.

In British Columbia Place Names, G.P.V. and Helen Akrigg said the river was mentioned as early as 1859, but the first reference we can find is in the Victoria Daily Colonist of July 28, 1864: “Another party of miners have also arrived from the Salmon River mountains, who report rich discoveries both of quartz and placer diggings on the new trail made by the citizens of Colville from the mouth of the Pen D’Oreille to Kootenais. [sic]” (There are four other Salmon rivers in BC, but none in the Kootenays, so it’s a good bet they were talking about ours.)

The site that became Salmo was called Laprairie on Perry’s Mining Map of March 1893. Although the description was accurate, that name doesn’t appear in any other source. A settlement had appeared by that time, though, because contractor Pete Larson had his headquarters there during construction of the Nelson and Fort Sheppard Railway.

It was rough place, first mentioned in connection with the murder of camp cook Stephen (or Steven) Hamlin, who was robbed and kicked to death following a poker game. A warrant was issued for Billy O’Brien, “a notorious ruffian,” but he skipped across the border and was never heard of again.

The Nelson Tribune of Oct. 5, 1893 reported: “The scene of the crime was a saloon in Salmon City situated near the forks of Salmon river and about two miles from where the Nelson and Fort Shepherd [sic] railway crosses the north fork of the Salmon. Besides being the contractors’ headquarters, it is the rendezvous of the placer miners on Salmon and Hall creeks.”

When the Nelson and Fort Sheppard’s stations were announced in the Tribune on Dec. 14, 1893, Salmon City was simply called Salmon. But it was also known as Salmon Siding, for five days earlier the Nelson Miner mentioned mining properties “located at about seven miles from Salmon Siding.”

Three years later, the area experienced a mini-boom. A Vancouver Daily World correspondent wrote on Nov. 9, 1896: “G.R. Linklater has opened a store at Salmon Siding, which by the way may be called Salmon City before many years.” (In fact, as we’ve seen, it had already been called that.)

That same month the name was changed to Salmo. Why and by whom?

Postmaster Sidney Ross, replying in 1906 to an inquiry from James White of the Canadian Geographic Survey, said: “Salmo was first named by the Nelson and Fort Shepherd [sic] Railway Salmon but the townsite company (Messrs. Davies-Sayward of Victoria) changed it to Salmo.”

A story in the Trail Daily Times of Aug. 5, 1957 suggested the name “was cut down from Salmon Siding on the insistence of Caddy Donaldson and others …”

In the March 1959 edition of Cominco Magazine, Rollie Mifflin further explained: “Salmo [was] called Salmon Siding by the people who built the railway in 1893. The townsite owners disliked the name. It is said that the postal authorities took the view that there were already too many places with the word salmon in their names. After some discussion the word Salmo, a contraction of salmon, and in fact the scientific name for the family of fish to which salmon and trout belong, was selected.”

A post office application was referred to the inspector on Nov. 14, 1896 with the proposed name either Salmo or Samon Siding. The Salmo post office opened on May 1, 1897.

The Rossland Miner of Nov. 27, 1896 announced “There has been quite a business done during the last ten days in ‘Salmon’ townsite lots. It is said to be a beautiful level spot, and well situated for a supply point for the Salmon River country. We are informed that over 130 lots have been sold in the last ten days, Smith, Dean & Co., Rossland are sole agents.”

The next day the Nelson Miner revealed the original townsite survey was done by an American, but because he wasn’t a BC land surveyor, his work wasn’t accepted. John Maclure, the father of noted architect Samuel Maclure, was brought in to redo it.

The first newspaper mention of the new name was in the Vancouver Daily World of Nov. 28: “The principal owners … have taken the initiative in laying out a townsite at the spot hitherto known as Salmon Siding and to be known as Salmo.”

Maclure’s initial survey plan covered 33 blocks, including Main and 1st through 7th streets, plus Baker, Sayward, Davies, Railway, Hutcheson, and Maclure avenues. Apparently you got to name a street after yourself if you surveyed the townsite. The other avenues were named for principals in the West Kootenay Land Co., which owned the property.

Only eight blocks were divided into lots by the time the initial plan was deposited with the land registry on April 13, 1897, but Maclure divided the rest and deposited a revised plan on July 3.

So to recap, the name was either Laprairie or Salmon City for a few months, Salmon or Salmon Siding for three years, and Salmo for the next 120 years and counting.

Previous installments in this series

Introduction

Ainsworth

Alamo

Anaconda

Annable, Apex, and Arrow Park

Annable, revisited

Appledale

Applegrove, Appleby, and Appledale revisited

Argenta and Arrowhead

Aylwin

Bakers, Birds, and Bosun Landing

Balfour

Bannock City, Basin City, and Bear Lake City

Beasley

Beaton

Bealby Point

Bealby Point (aka Florence Park) revisited

Belford and Blewett

Beaverdell and Billings

Birchbank and Birchdale

Blueberry and Bonnington

Boswell, Bosworth, Boulder Mill, and Broadwater

Brandon

Brilliant

Brooklyn, Brouse, and Burnt Flat

Burton

Camborne, Cariboo City, and Carrolls Landing

Carmi, Cedar Point, Circle City, and Clark’s Camp

Carson, Carstens, and Cascade City

Casino and Champion Creek

Castlegar, Part 1

Castlegar, Part 2

Castlegar, Part 3

Christina Lake

Christina City and Christian Valley

Clubb Landing and Coltern

Cody and Champion Creek revisited

Champion Creek revisited, again

Columbia

Columbia City, Columbia Gardens, and Columbia Park

Comaplix

Cooper Creek and Corra Linn

Crawford Bay and Comaplix revisited

Crescent Valley and Craigtown

Davenport

Dawson, Deadwood, and Deanshaven

Deer Park

East Arrow Park and Edgewood

Eholt

English Cove and English Point

Enterprise

Erie

Evans Creek and Evansport

Falls City

Farron

Fauquier

Ferguson

Ferguson, revisited

Fife

Forslund, Fosthall, and Fairview

Fort Shepherd vs. Fort Sheppard, Part 1

Fort Shepherd vs. Fort Sheppard, Part 2

Fort Sheppard, revisited

Fraser’s Landing and Franklin

Fredericton

Fruitvale and Fraine

Galena Bay

Genelle

Gerrard

Gilpin and Glade

Gladstone and Gerrard, revisited

Glendevon and Graham Landing

Gloster City

Goldfields and Gold Hill

Grand Forks, Part 1

Grand Forks, Part 2

Granite Siding and Granite City

Gray Creek, Part 1

Gray Creek, Part 2

Gray Creek, revisited

Green City

Greenwood

Halcyon Hot Springs

Hall Siding and Healy’s Landing

Harrop

Hartford Junction

Hills

Howser, Part 1

Howser, Part 2

Howser, Part 3

Howser, Part 4

Hudu Valley, Huntingtdon, and Healy’s Landing revisited

Inonoaklin Valley (aka Fire Valley)

Jersey, Johnsons Landing, and Jubilee Point

Kaslo, Part 1

Kaslo, Part 2

Kaslo, Part 3

Kaslo, Part 4

Kettle River, Part 1

Kettle River, Part 2

Kinnaird, Part 1

Kinnaird, Part 2

Kitto Landing

Koch Siding and Keen

Kokanee

Kootenay Bay, Kraft, and Krestova

Kuskonook, Part 1

Kuskonook, Part 2

Kuskonook (and Kuskanax), Part 3

Labarthe, Lafferty, and Longbeach

Lardeau, Part 1

Lardeau, Part 2

Lardeau, Part 3

Lardeau, Part 4

Lebahdo

Lemon Creek, Part 1

Lemon Creek, Part 2

Lemon Creek, Part 3

Makinsons Landing and Marblehead

McDonalds Landing, McGuigan, and Meadow Creek

Meadows, Melville, and Miles’ Ferry

Midway

Mineral City and Minton

Mirror Lake and Molly Gibson Landing

Montgomery and Monte Carlo, Part 1

Montgomery and Monte Carlo, Part 2

Montrose and Myncaster

Nakusp, Part 1

Nakusp, Part 2

Nashville

Needles

Nelson, Part 1

Nelson, Part 2

Nelson, Part 3

Nelson, Part 4

Nelson, Wash.

Nelway and New Galway

New Denver, Part 1

New Denver, Part 2

Niagara

Oasis and Oatescott

Ootischenia

Oro

Park Siding and Pass Creek

Passmore

Paterson

Paulson

Perry Siding

Phoenix

Pilot Bay

Pingston

Playmor Junction

Poplar and Porcupine

Porto Rico and Pottersville

Poupore, Powder Point, and Power’s Camp

Procter, Part 1

Procter, Part 2

Queens Bay, Rambler, and Raspberry

Remac and Renata

Retallack

Rhone and Rideau

Riondel

Ritaville, Riverside I, Riverside II, and Rivervale

Robson and Rock Creek

Rosebery and Ross Spur

Rossland, Part 1

Rossland, Part 2

St. Leon and Rosebery, revisited