Mount Pereleshin

Lore & Background

Mount Pereleshin was first cited in 1906 in the Coast Survey by Baker and was misattributed as being of native origin, with an alternate spelling Peerleshin. The name actually honors Russian Navy Lieutenant Pereleshin, who was dispatched by Rear-Admiral Andrei Alexandrovich Popov to assess whether Russian interests had been affected by gold-mining activity from the Stikine Gold Rush of 1861–1862. Pereleshin entered the region in the company of American professor and geologist William P. Blake, whose journal is the only record of the expedition. The party camped on its sixth night near the Flood Glacier, which Pereleshin considered the extreme of Russian territorial claims, and then returned to the coast. Pereleshin Mountain first appears on Blake's 1868 map, published with his 'Geographical Notes upon Russian America and the Stickeen River.'

Reader's Guide

Mount Pereleshin stands as a geographical marker of a little-known Russian expedition into the Pacific Northwest during the Stikine Gold Rush. The mountain's naming reflects a brief moment when Russian naval interests intersected with American exploration, as Lieutenant Pereleshin's mission was prompted by concerns over gold-mining encroachment on Russian claims. The only record of the journey comes from American geologist William P. Blake, whose 1868 map first depicted the peak. The mountain was once part of the disputed Alaska boundary claim, and its name was officially adopted in Canada in 1924, then altered in 1954 to conform to national naming standards. Today, it remains a remote summit in the Boundary Ranges, its history preserved in Blake's notes and the official Canadian gazetteer.

Did You Know?

• Mount Pereleshin was originally named Pereleshin Mountain and was officially adopted in Canada in 1924.
• The mountain's name was changed to its current form in 1954 in accordance with national naming standards.
• The name was misattributed as being of native origin, with an alternate spelling Peerleshin.
• The only record of Lieutenant Pereleshin's expedition is the journal of American geologist William P. Blake.