Bradner Mystery Solved!

By Heather Lemieux, Editor 

Nathan or Beaver Creek?

A Bradner Barker contributor and reader wrote to me recently wondering, "Nathan Creek is actually called Beaver Creek, how it became Nathan is a mystery to all of us". I too have been confused about this very topic and have been curious to find answers. So with a bit of inquiring and research I was able to solve this mystery!

The Glen Valley Watershed Society posted the history of the name origin on their website.

Beaver Creek was known by the Bradner area's early settlers and Nathan Creek is still commonly referred to as Beaver Creek, particularly in the Bradner area of west Abbotsford BC. 

In 1914 a decision was made in Victoria, BC to change the name to Nathan Creek in commemoration of Henry Nathan who pre-empted land at the mouth of the creek in 1875. There doesn't appear to be any further record of Henry Nathan as a settler in the Bradner area. In 1939 the Geographic Names Board of Canada confirmed Nathan as the official name. 

Originally, Nathan Creek flowed several hundred metres East of the present dyke channel and joined the Fraser River through what is now known as Nathan Slough. The creek was diverted and dyked in 1911 - 1912, constructed by the Canadian Northern Railway, protecting much of the fertile natural prairie of Glen Valley from periodic flooding.

While agriculture established in the lower parts of Nathan (Beaver) Creek the fine stands of timber in the uplands attracted loggers. For many years several sawmills flourished in the Bradner area.

In the past, Nathan (Beaver) Creek has provided spawning areas for significant numbers of Coho, Pink, Chum and Steelhead Salmon, as well as Cutthroat and Rainbow Trout. While Chinook salmon are not known to spawn in the system, young Chinook fry from other creeks use the lower reaches to feed and rest as they venture to the ocean. Chum Salmon are no longer common in the system, and there is evidence that populations of Coho, Steelhead and Rainbow are declining.

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