The Bendor Range is a small but once-famous subrange of the

Pacific Ranges , photo = Mount Garibaldi (50997016501).jpg , photo_size = 280px , photo_caption = Mount Garibaldi massif as seen from Squamish , map = , map_image = South BC-NW USA-relief PacificRanges.png , m ...

of the

Coast Mountains The Coast Mountains (french: La chaîne Côtière) are a major mountain range in the Pacific Coast Ranges of western North America, extending from southwestern Yukon through the Alaska Panhandle and virtually all of the Coast of British Columbia ...

, about It is approximately 7,000 square kilometres (2,700 mi²) in area and about 40 km long (NW to SE) and about 18 km at its widest. It lies between Anderson Lake on the southeast and the

Carpenter Lake Carpenter Lake, officially Carpenter Lake Reservoir, is the largest of the three reservoirs of the Bridge River Power Project, which is located in the mountains west of Lillooet, British Columbia. The lake is about 185 kilometres north of the pro ...

Reservoir or the

Bridge River Power Project The Bridge River Power Project is a hydroelectric power development in the Canadian province of British Columbia, located in the Lillooet Country between Whistler and Lillooet. It harnesses the power of the Bridge River, a tributary of the Frase ...

on the north, with the gold-rich valley of Cadwallader Creek on its southwest. The range's western flank is the site of a series of now-semi-abandoned mining towns. One of these,

Bralorne Bralorne ( ) is a historic Canadian gold mining community in the Bridge River District of British Columbia, some 130 km on dirt roads west of the town of Lillooet. Background Gold has been the central element in the area's history going bac ...

, is among the deepest mines in Canada and in its heyday was the third-richest gold mine in the world; it has waned from a peak population of 8,000 to less than 300 today. Its shafts plunge a mile beneath sea level under the range, starting at 3500' above. The name "Bendor" is believed by some locally to be a Gaelic-French hybrid - ''ben d'or'' - ''mountain of gold'' (note Welsh: Pen d'awr means the same thing) - and while it does mean that, more or less, the name was conferred in honour of

Bend Or Bend Or (1877–1903) was a British Thoroughbred racehorse who won the 1880 Epsom Derby. His regular jockey Fred Archer, winner of thirteen consecutive British jockey titles, said Bend Or was probably the greatest horse he had ever ridden. Nom ...

, a famous racehorse of the 1890s. The range has only a few small icefields, but a number of extremely high and (for climbers) difficult peaks. The highest is Whitecap Mountain 2918 m (9573 ft), which is visible from the

Lillooet Lillooet () is a district municipality in the Squamish-Lillooet region of southwestern British Columbia. The town is on the west shore of the Fraser River immediately north of the Seton River mouth. On BC Highway 99, the locality is by road abou ...

end of

Seton Lake Seton Lake is a freshwater fjord draining east via the Seton River into the Fraser River at the town of Lillooet, about long, in area and lies at an elevation of . Its depth is . The lake is natural in origin but was raised slightly as part of ...

but, as it is located near the heart of the range, invisible from the towns and lakes around its perimeter. At the northwest of the range, but mostly invisible from the towns below because of the terrain of its flanks, is Mount Truax 2870 m (9416 ft). East of it are Mount Williams 2775 m (9104 ft) and Mount Bobb 2821 m (9255 ft). Note: some classification systems assign the Bendor to the

Chilcotin Ranges The Chilcotin Ranges are a subdivision of the Pacific Ranges of the Coast Mountains (in some classifications they are a separate subdivision). They lie on the inland lea of the Pacific Ranges, abutting the Interior Plateau of British Columbia. T ...

subgrouping of the

, but this is incorrect as it is on the south side of the

Bridge River The Bridge River is an approximately long river in southern British Columbia. It flows south-east from the Coast Mountains. Until 1961, it was a major tributary of the Fraser River, entering that stream about six miles upstream from the town of ...

, which is the limit of the

References

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Bridge River-Lillooet Country ArchiveBendor Range entry in the Canadian Mountain Encyclopedia
Pacific Ranges Bridge River Country Lillooet Country {{Canada-mountain-stub