Howser Regional District of Central Kootenay, British Columbia

Locality - A named place or area, generally with a scattered population of 50 or less. SW side of Duncan Lake, N of N end Kootenay Lake, Kootenay Land District

Mapped Location

Howser: The mapped location is an approximation and should not be used for navigation or wayfinding.

 

Information

General information on Howser

  • Feature Type: Place

 

Official, historical, colloquial and alternative toponyms for Howser

A brief list of names that this geographic feature has been named

Name Description
Howser Official

 

Origin Notes and History of Howser

References to Howser that document the origin of its place name

Howser (Post Office and Flag Station) identified in the 1930 BC Gazetteer, population: 25. Howser (Post Office) confirmed 7 July 1955 on Columbia River Basin manuscript #12. Coordinates changed 18 January 1971 on 82K/7. Form of name changed to Howser (locality) 1 May 1979.

B.C. Geographical Names in Province of British Columbia
BC place name cards, or correspondence to/from BC's Chief Geographer or BC Geographical Names Office  |  Province of British Columbia

Labelled "Duncan" on Kootenay map, 1893. Labelled "Duncan City" on Kootenay East & West, 1898. "...coming over from Hamill Creek to Duncan City, or Howser as it is now called..." (BC Mines Annual Report 1899, p.695). Labelled "Howser" on subsequent maps.

B.C. Geographical Names in Province of British Columbia
BC place name cards, or correspondence to/from BC's Chief Geographer or BC Geographical Names Office  |  Province of British Columbia

"Named after an old prospector - Hauser, who report has it, found placer gold on Hauser creek, brought out one summer several hundred dollars worth of gold dust, and the following summer, going back with a partner, neither of them were heard of again." (27 September 1905 letter from Howser postmaster William Simpson to James White, Chief Geographer, Department of the Interior, Ottawa). Note that "Howser Creek" [sic] is identified in "The Mineral Wealth of British Columbia" by George M. Dawson, published in 1887-88 Annual Report of the Geological & Natural History Survey of Canada, Vol III, Part 2, p.133R, hence Mr. Hauser's discovery of placer gold and his subsequent disappearance presumably pre-dates publication of the 1887-88 GSC report.

B.C. Geographical Names in Province of British Columbia
BC place name cards, or correspondence to/from BC's Chief Geographer or BC Geographical Names Office  |  Province of British Columbia

Fred Hauser and his brother John were early prospectors, and lived beside Duncan Lake (1997 advice from historian Martin Lynch, Kaslo, file H.1.54).

B.C. Geographical Names in Province of British Columbia
BC place name cards, files, correspondence and/or research by BC Chief Geographer/Geographical Names Office.  |  Province of British Columbia

Duncan Post Office was opened here 1 September 1899 on the lakefront (Lots 13 &14, Blk 151, DL 528). Renamed Howser Post Office 1 January 1900. "When the Post Office was established here in 1899 the mail for this office and Duncan's Station on Vancouver Island was always getting mixed, so the Departtment, as this was the latest established office insisted on a change of name, so Hauser was selected; the then postmaster in writing the Department spelled it Howser, so it remains to this day." (from Chief Geographer's Place Name Survey: 27 September 1905 letter from Howser postmaster William Simpson to James White, Geographer, Department of the Interior, Ottawa). [Note that the spelling "Howser" (Creek) occurred at least 12 years before the establishment of Howser Post Office, per the G&NHSC Report cited above]. Simpson Brothers General Merchants continued to identify "Hauser, BC" on their Bills of Sale until 1918 or later (copy of 1918 Bill of Sale received 1997, file H.1.54). CPR's Howser Station was located 1 mile inland; closed 26 January 1942 when CPR abandoned the Lardeau-Gerrard line. Howser Post Office was relocated to Lot 2 DL 528 in December 1966, prior to flooding behind Duncan Dam.

B.C. Geographical Names in Province of British Columbia
BC place name cards, or correspondence to/from BC's Chief Geographer or BC Geographical Names Office  |  Province of British Columbia

"As an aside, namesake Fred Hauser had been a passenger on the maiden voyage of the steamer "Forty-Nine", a 10-day journey from Colville, Washington to Death Rapids above Revelstoke, 10-20 April 1866." (Columbia River Chronicles by E.L. Affleck, et al, Alexander Nicolls Press, Vancouver, 1977, pp 123-4.)

B.C. Geographical Names in Province of British Columbia
included with note  |  Province of British Columbia

"We have identified 29 occurrences of the spelling "Howser" on maps up to 1900. On 4th May 1900 a new form of spelling was introduced when a map called "Plan of Hauser" was deposited. A copy of this can be seen at the museum in Nelson. This is a plan of the city previously named Howser on Lot 528 and showed it as a proposed rail terminus for the Great Northern Railway Company with the railway line going through the centre of the city. An interesting feature on the plan, which was presumably drawn up at William Simpson's request, is that the lake has also been renamed Hauser. This appears to be the first time that the "Hauser" spelling has been shown on a map. Why would a change of spelling be introduced at this point in time? A possible explanation is as follows:-
Records show that the Canadian Pacific and the Great Northern Railway companies were, at this time, competing to lay tracks near Howser Lake. It has been stated that the CPR wanted to buy the city from Simpson but he refused their offer believing it to be worth a lot more. CPR then proceeded to bypass the city and built Howser Station about a mile inland. Company records show that CPR generally used the Howser form of spelling while the GNR used Hauser. This difference may have been due to GNR's familiarity with a spelling already being used in the USA - about 180 miles due south of Howser in BC there are geographic features called Hauser Lake, Hauser Creek and Hauser City in Idaho. Maps dated 1888 and 1890 show Hauser Junction and Hauser Post Office. These features are said to have been named after Samuel T. Hauser who was one of the incorporators in 1886 of the Coeur d'Alene Railway and Navigation Company. It is speculated that Simpson, as an owner of the general store and of Lot 528 (Howser City), having failed in negotiations with the CPR, may have decided to adopt the GNR spelling on his city plan to try to encourage them to use his city as their terminus. This could account for the sudden introduction of the Hauser spelling which was in conflict with the spelling being used on other maps of the region. [Eventually] the GNR ceased work in the area and the city continued to be called Howser." (Information provided November 2011 by Paul Howser, Reigate, Surrey, UK). See also an April 2012 encapsulation of all the research undertaken by Paul Howser re: the origin of BC's Howser place names (the complete report, published May 2013, on file H.1.54 )

B.C. Geographical Names in Province of British Columbia
included with note  |  Province of British Columbia

 

Regional District of Central Kootenay

Political Boundaries

Last updated: 2023-09-27