Mount Brown

Mount Brown, in British Columbia’s Canadian Rockies west of Athabasca Pass, stands near the southern branch of the Fraser River in a major mountain travel corridor. In 1827, Scottish botanist and naturalist David Douglas made the first ascent and greatly overestimated its elevation at 16,000 to 17,000 feet. Though incorrect, that figure was widely accepted and helped foster the belief that Mount Brown and nearby Mount Hooker were the highest peaks in the Rocky Mountains. Douglas named the mountain for Robert Brown of the British Museum’s botanical gardens. Its importance lies in this early episode of exploration and mistaken mapping rather than exceptional height.

British Columbia · Canada