Kispiox Regional District of Kitimat-Stikine, British Columbia

Community - An unincorporated populated place, generally with a population of 50 or more, and having a recognized central area that might contain a post office, store and/or community hall, etc, intended for the use of the general public in the region. At junction of Kispiox and Skeena Rivers, N of Hazelton, Cassiar Land District

Mapped Location

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

 

Information

General information on Kispiox

  • Feature Type: Place

 

Official, historical, colloquial and alternative toponyms for Kispiox

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

Name Description
Kispiox Official

 

Origin Notes and History of Kispiox

References to Kispiox that document the origin of its place name

Kispiox (settlement) adopted 1 March 1938 on Geological Survey sheet 448A, Hazelton, as identified in the Handbook of the Indians of Canada, published by Geographic Board of Canada 1912, and as identified in the 1930 BC Gazetteer.

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

This was the location of Fort Stager, the station at what proved to be the northern terminus of the Collins Overland Telegraph, c1866. Population of Kispiox: 222 in 1911 (Handbook of the Indians of Canada, Geographic Board of Canada, 1912). Kispiox Post Office was opened 1 December 1910; closed 28 February 1931.

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

"Kispiox River (not Kispyox nor Kis-py-ox)"; named after an [Indigenous] Tribe; name means "place of ancestor Piyeoux."

B.C. Geographical Names in Province of British Columbia
18th Report of the Geographic Board of Canada, 31 March 1924 (supplement to the Annual Report of the Dept of the Interior, 1924, Ottawa)  |  Province of British Columbia

"The name means "refugee lurk" or hiding place; an [Indigenous] woman, sole survivor of an attack by the Nisga'a found refuge here among the tall fireweed. She married her rescuer and their prolific offspring became the Fireweed clan."

B.C. Geographical Names in Province of British Columbia
Provincial Archives' Place Names File (the "Harvey File") compiled 1945-1950 by A.G. Harvey from various sources, with subsequent additions  |  Province of British Columbia

"The village of Kispiox... at the mouth of the tributary of that name, which means "loud talkers"." (Large, R.G., Skeena: River of Destiny; Mitchell Press, Vancouver, 1957, p.6)

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

 

Regional District of Kitimat-Stikine

Political Boundaries

Last updated: 2023-10-01