Who is the founder of Clearwater?

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Who is the founder of Clearwater?

(This message was originally contributed as a letter to the editor by Muriel Poulton Dunford.)

I bought the encyclopedia as soon as it was out, and congratulate you on a
fine collection that was much needed.

However, since you ask for comments or corrections, please allow me to
point out the error in your entry for Clearwater. The erroneous statement
that "John Smith founded the settlement" has cropped up whenever tourism or
the improvement district is asked about its past. I hate to see it
perpetuated! Writing my 365-page historical book, "North River," published
a year ago, led me into lengthy research, but no one person emerged as
Clearwater's "founder," certainly not John Freemont Smith. Though he
promoted the North Thompson valley in the newspapers, he lived at Louis
Creek and traveled through to his mica mine at Tete Jaune. Nor did he name
Raft River, which was named years before he came and so mentioned by CPR
surveyors in the 1870s.

The very first non-aboriginal to live, even temporarily, at Clearwater, was
Charles Fortier, dealing with the HBC, in the 1860s. Until the first Raft
River post office in 1910, in care of J.D. MacLennan, no individual stands
out as founder; settlers put down roots and the place grew.

Thank you for your attention.

Yours truly,

Muriel Poulton Dunford