Botanie Mountain, also spelled Bootahnie Mountain, is a

mountain A mountain is an elevated portion of the Earth's crust, generally with steep sides that show significant exposed bedrock. Although definitions vary, a mountain may differ from a plateau in having a limited summit area, and is usually highe ...

in the

Clear Range The Clear Range is a small mountain range located in the angle of the Fraser and Thompson Rivers in south-central British Columbia. It has a small subdivision just northeast of that confluence named the Scarped Range. The Clear Range totals 16,27 ...

of the

Southern Interior of British Columbia Southern may refer to: Businesses * China Southern Airlines, airline based in Guangzhou, China * Southern Airways, defunct US airline * Southern Air, air cargo transportation company based in Norwalk, Connecticut, US * Southern Airways Express, ...

, Canada. It is located immediately north of the village of Lytton, which is situated at the confluence of the

Thompson Thompson may refer to: People * Thompson (surname) * Thompson M. Scoon (1888–1953), New York politician Places Australia *Thompson Beach, South Australia, a locality Bulgaria * Thompson, Bulgaria, a village in Sofia Province Canada * ...

and Fraser Rivers.

Access and fire lookout

fire lookout A fire lookout (partly also called a fire watcher) is a person assigned the duty to look for fire from atop a building known as a fire lookout tower. These towers are used in remote areas, normally on mountain tops with high elevation and a ...

stands atop a peak approximately to the south (elevation ) 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 The Fraser Canyon is a major landform of the Fraser River where it descends rapidly through narrow rock gorges in the Coast Mountains en route from the Interior Plateau of British Columbia to the Fraser Valley. Colloquially, the term "Fraser ...

and enjoys views over the Scarped Range and

Thompson Plateau The Thompson Plateau forms the southern portion of the Interior Plateau of British Columbia, Canada, lying to the west of Okanagan Lake, south of the Thompson River and east of (although never adjoining it) the Fraser River. At its most southern p ...

to the east and southeast, across the Thompson River's lower canyon, the

to the north and northwest, the

Cascade Mountains The Cascade Range or Cascades is a major mountain range of western North America, extending from southern British Columbia through Washington and Oregon to Northern California. It includes both non-volcanic mountains, such as the North Cascades, a ...

to the south, and west across the Fraser to the

Lillooet Ranges The Lillooet Ranges are the southeasternmost subdivision of the Pacific Ranges of the Coast Mountains of British Columbia. They are located between the drainage of the Lillooet River and Harrison Lake on the west and the canyon of the Fraser Rive ...

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 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'', ''Kni ...

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 The Geological Survey of Canada (GSC; french: Commission géologique du Canada (CGC)) is a Canadian federal government agency responsible for performing geological surveys of the country, developing Canada's natural resources and protecting the e ...

, Summary Report from 1894, asserts the name-origin (p. 402B) to the

Shuswap language The Shuswap language (; shs, Secwepemctsín ) is the traditional language of the Shuswap people ( shs, Secwépemc ) of British Columbia. An endangered language, Shuswap is spoken mainly in the Central and Southern Interior of British Columbia b ...

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.

References

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External links

Botanie Valley Advisory Committee
a society dedicated to the social and ecological integrity of Botanie Valley. Two-thousanders of British Columbia Fraser Canyon Fire lookout towers Towers in British Columbia Kamloops Division Yale Land District