Mount Allan Brooks

Mt. Allan Brooks from Lake Helen Mackenzie

Taking advantage of the beautiful day yesterday, the Comox District Mountaineering Club had a hike up Mount Allan Brooks. The name of Mount Brooks was first adopted on Dec. 12, 1939 after being submitted by Eugene Croteau and the Comox District Mountaineering Club in Oct. 1935. Prior to that the mountain was known as Limestone Ridge - a misnomer, although fossils can indeed be found in the Cretaceous sedimentary rock.

The name recognition was for Major Allan Cyril Brooks, 1869-1946, eminent ornithologist & wildlife artist, who spent winters in Comox BC. The Allan Brooks Nature Centre near Vernon BC marks one of his favourite areas. Major Brooks' work inspired artists such as Robert Bateman.

Interestingly the name of the Strathcona Park mountain was changed to Mount Allan Brooks on Nov. 4, 2004 to also honour Major Brooks' son, Allan Cecil Brooks, 1926-2000, an expert naturalist in his own right, who moved to the Comox area in the 1980's.  Ruth Masters submitted the proposed name change with the agreement of the Brooks family & it was endorsed by BC Parks.

A small booklet about Major Allan Brooks & several other notable birdmen of the Comox area by E.J.Brooks is available from the Comox Valley Naturalists Society.