Mount Downton is the highest summit of the diameter Itcha Range, located northeast of Anahim Lake and east of Far Mountain in the

Chilcotin District The Chilcotin () region of British Columbia is usually known simply as "the Chilcotin", and also in speech commonly as "the Chilcotin Country" or simply Chilcotin. It is a plateau and mountain region in British Columbia on the inland lee of the C ...

of the Central Interior of

British Columbia British Columbia is the westernmost Provinces and territories of Canada, province of Canada. Situated in the Pacific Northwest between the Pacific Ocean and the Rocky Mountains, the province has a diverse geography, with rugged landscapes that ...

Canada Canada is a country in North America. Its Provinces and territories of Canada, ten provinces and three territories extend from the Atlantic Ocean to the Pacific Ocean and northward into the Arctic Ocean, making it the world's List of coun ...

. It lies within Itcha Ilgachuz Provincial Park. __NOTOC__

Name origin

Mount Downton was named for Geoffrey M. Downton, British Columbia Land Surveyor, for whom

Downton Lake Downton Lake, originally Downton Reservoir, and also known as Downton Lake Reservoir, is a reservoir in the Bridge River Country of the Interior of British Columbia, Canada, formed by Lajoie Dam, the uppermost of the series of dams and diversions ...

, the reservoir behind

Lajoie Dam Lajoie Dam is the uppermost of the storage dams of BC Hydro's Bridge River Power Project, which is located in the southwestern Interior of British Columbia. It is located just west of the small semi-ghost town of Gold Bridge. An earthfill struc ...

in 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 ...

is also named. Downton is credited with first noting the hydroelectric potential inherent in the elevation differential between 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 L ...

and

Seton Lake Seton Lake is a lake in the Squamish-Lillooet region of southwestern British Columbia. On the northeast side is Mission Ridge. On the southwest is the Cayoosh Range. By road, the eastern end is about southwest of Lillooet. Name origin In 1827, ...

on opposing sides of

Mission Pass Mission Pass is a historic mountain pass in the Bridge River-Lillooet Country of the Interior of British Columbia, Canada, around west of Lillooet, towards the west end of Seton Lake Seton Lake is a lake in the Squamish-Lillooet region of so ...

during a visit to the Bridge River Mining District in 1912. 'Short Portage to Lillooet'', Irene Edwards, self-publ. Lillooet 1976/ref>

Geology

Mount Downton is part of the Anahim Volcanic Belt, a west–east trending line of volcanoes formed when the North American Plate moved over a hotspot, similar to the one feeding the

Hawaiian Islands The Hawaiian Islands () are an archipelago of eight major volcanic islands, several atolls, and numerous smaller islets in the Pacific Ocean, North Pacific Ocean, extending some from the Hawaii (island), island of Hawaii in the south to nort ...

, called the

Anahim hotspot The Anahim hotspot is a hypothesized hotspot in the Central Interior of British Columbia, Canada. It has been proposed as the candidate source for volcanism in the Anahim Volcanic Belt, a long chain of volcanoes and other magmatic features th ...

. The Anahim Volcanic Belt includes other immediately nearby ranges, the

Rainbow A rainbow is an optical phenomenon caused by refraction, internal reflection and dispersion of light in water droplets resulting in a continuous spectrum of light appearing in the sky. The rainbow takes the form of a multicoloured circular ...

and

Ilgachuz Range The Ilgachuz Range is a name given to an extinct volcano, extinct shield volcano in British Columbia, Canada. It is not a mountain range in the normal sense, because it was formed as a single volcano that has been erosion, eroded for the past 5 mi ...

References

Two-thousanders of British Columbia Volcanoes of British Columbia Landforms of the Chilcotin Pleistocene volcanoes Itcha Range Range 3 Coast Land District {{cariboo-geo-stub

Name origin

Geology

See also

References