Botanie Mountain

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Botanie Mountain
Thomson Frasier Confluence Lytton.JPG
The confluence of the Fraser & Thompson Rivers showing the mixing of the two different coloured waters. Botanie Mountain right background, Lillooet Ranges at left.
Highest point
Elevation 2,077 m (6,814 ft) [1]
Prominence 855 m (2,805 ft) [1]
Listing Mountains of British Columbia
Coordinates 50°22′15″N121°36′02″W / 50.37083°N 121.60056°W / 50.37083; -121.60056 Coordinates: 50°22′15″N121°36′02″W / 50.37083°N 121.60056°W / 50.37083; -121.60056 [2]
Geography
Canada British Columbia relief location map.jpg
Red triangle with thick white border.svg
Botanie Mountain
Location in British Columbia
Location British Columbia, Canada
DistrictKamloops Division Yale Land District
Parent range Clear Range (Fraser Plateau)
Topo map NTS 92I5 [2]

Botanie Mountain, also spelled Bootahnie Mountain, is a mountain in the Clear Range of the Southern Interior of British Columbia, Canada. It is located immediately north of the village of Lytton, which is situated at the confluence of the Thompson and Fraser Rivers.

Contents

Access and fire lookout

A fire lookout stands atop a peak approximately 3.5 kilometers (2.2 mi) to the south (elevation 1,992 m (6,535 ft)) which is owned and maintained by the local wireless society for TV, radio, and digital transmission. The current view from the lookout can be seen via a live webcam. The lookout is accessible by two very rough 4x4 roads which approach from either end of the mountain, which is somewhat ridge-like, on a north-south axis. The roads have been decommissioned and are no longer driveable above a certain elevation. The summit is one of the highest on the east flank of the Fraser Canyon and enjoys views over the Scarped Range and Thompson Plateau to the east and southeast, across the Thompson River's lower canyon, the Clear Range to the north and northwest, the Cascade Mountains to the south, and west across the Fraser to the Lillooet Ranges.

Name

The older spelling "Boothanie" is suggestive of the proper pronunciation of the mountain's name, i.e. it is unlike the English word "botany" and has been "phonetically" spelled as Boo-TAW-ny. In the language of the Thompson or Nlaka'pamux people, it means "covered", "covering" or "blanketed all over", which is thought to be a reference to its shroud of cloud or fog in times of bad weather, or else a reference to the abundant plant cover in the area. The Botanie Valley, which is formed by Botanie Creek on its east flank and runs south from Botanie Lake, is an important food-plant gathering area for the Nlaka'pamux.

A publication of the Geological Survey of Canada, Summary Report from 1894, asserts the name-origin (p. 402B) to the Shuswap language of the Secwepemc people, meaning "perpetual root place". Secwepemc territory today begins in the basin of Hat Creek, which lies on the "inside" of the Clear Range to the northwest of Botanie Mountain. The mountain is, however, decidedly in Nlaka'pamux territory.

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Nlakapamux Ethnic group of British Columbia

The Nlaka'pamux or Nlakapamuk, also previously known as the Thompson, Thompson River Salish, Thompson Salish, Thompson River Indians or Thompson River people, and historically as the Klackarpun, Haukamaugh, Knife Indians, and Couteau Indians, are an Indigenous First Nations people of the Interior Salish language group in southern British Columbia. Their traditional territory includes parts of the North Cascades region of Washington.

Botanie Valley is in British Columbia's southern interior near Lytton. It is a traditional food source for the Nlaka'pamux people. The name itself means "covering" possibly referring to the abundant plant life covering the area. Botanie Creek enters the Thompson River a few kilometres upstream of its confluence with the Fraser River, making Botanie the Thompson River's last tributary.

Texas Creek is a medium-sized right tributary of the Fraser River in the Fraser Canyon region of that river's course, located approximately 16 miles down the river from the town of Lillooet. Texas Creek is also the name of the rural neighbourhood in the area of the creek, and also that of the Texas Creek Ranch which is one of the larger holdings.

References

  1. 1 2 "Botanie Mountain". Bivouac.com. Retrieved 2009-01-02.
  2. 1 2 "Botanie Mountain". BC Geographical Names . Retrieved 2008-12-31.