Kanaka Bar Thompson-Nicola Regional District, British Columbia

Locality - A named place or area, generally with a scattered population of 50 or less. E. side of Fraser River, Kamloops Division Yale Land District

Mapped Location

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

 

Information

General information on Kanaka Bar

  • Feature Type: Place

 

Official, historical, colloquial and alternative toponyms for Kanaka Bar

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

Name Description
Kanaka Bar Official

 

Origin Notes and History of Kanaka Bar

References to Kanaka Bar that document the origin of its place name

Adopted 6 October 1936 on 408A map (L.I. 13 November 1957).

B.C. Geographical Names in Province of British Columbia
BC place name cards & correspondence, and/or research by BC Chief Geographer & Geographical Names Office staff, file L.1.57.  |  Province of British Columbia

William Naukana (1813-1909) was one of the Hawaiian Islanders (or Kanakas, a Polynesian word meaning “human beings”) brought to BC in the 1830s and ‘40s to work for the Hudson’s Bay Company (HBC). Many of these immigrants married First Nation women and remained in BC, and small Kanaka communities were formed, especially near Vancouver and Victoria, and on Saltspring Island. Naukana joined the HBC in 1845 and was employed at various posts, including Fort Langley (1848-49) and Fort Victoria (1853-56); he also lived in the San Juan Island after leaving HBC service. With his friend and son-in-law John Paula (see Pellow Its), he pre-empted most of Portland Island in 1875, settled there with his family and farmed. Naukana eventually moved to Isabella Point on Saltspring Island so his children could attend school more easily. Different renditions of his name are seen in historical record: Nanton, Manton, Nowkin, Likameen and Lackaman. Many features in BC are named after the province’s enterprising Hawaiian pioneers, including Kanaka Bar, Kanaka Creek and Kanaka Mountain near the Fraser River and Kanaka Lake east of Salmon Arm. Kanaka Bluff was formerly known as Kanaka Point and Steep Bluff.

B.C. Geographical Names in Province of British Columbia
Scott, Andrew; "The Encyclopedia of Raincoast Place Names"; Harbour Publishing, Madeira Park, 2009, pp. 300-301.  |  Province of British Columbia

Seward relates when and where gold was first found in the province as told by one of the party at the finding. Tom ross was in charge of a HBC bateau loaded with supplies and manned with a Kanaka crew. After reaching Fort Hope, a pack train of horses and Kanakas headed for Kamloops and outlying forts. In 1857 he was returning with his pack train laden with pelts. Normally an overland mountain route would have been taken, but with winter setting in early, he followed the Thompson River to the Fraser River and reached a point 16km below Lytton. During the delay caused while bargaining with [Indigenous People] to buy canoes, a Kanaka, to pass the time, washed a pan of dirt from the bank of the river, finding that it was thickly streaked with gold. “You can easily imagine the excitement of the whole party. Some threw down their packs and with any sort of rude contrivance began to dig and wash out the dirt which was found to be very rich. Lack of proper implements forced them to return to Victoria, bestowing on the bar the name of the finder, Kanaka Bar.” The news of the gold find was brought to Victoria, and from there spread to California and caused the great invasion of 1858 (Roster of the ‘Fifty-Eighters’ in B.C., Old Cemeteries Society Victoria, 2008, pp. 39).

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

 

Thompson-Nicola Regional District

Political Boundaries

Last updated: 2023-10-02