Eight things around the world called Kamloops (and one not): See what we started?

Image Credit: File photo

November 22, 2016 - 6:30 PM

YOU MAY KNOW THE TROUT OR THE KID, BUT HAVE YOU HEARD OF THE CRATER OR THE CAT?

KAMLOOPS - While Kamloops was once a truly unique name, over the years, it's been adopted for some unexpected monikers including a crater, a cat, ships and streets in places like Zambia and Japan.

The name itself, of course, comes from colonialism, like many in Canada. Local First Nations people used the term tk’emlúps, which means 'where the rivers meet' and first adopted by European settlers as 'Kamloops,' later becoming the City of Kamloops. But we're just getting started.

Many ships carry names of notable cities and at least two in Canada have had Kamloops painted on the bow. The SS Kamloops was a steamship shuttling cargo around the Great Lakes in the 1920s. It sank on Dec. 7, 1928, with all 22 lives on board lost, though the wreck was rediscovered in 1977. The WWII-era corvette HMCS Kamloops was launched in 1941 and ran escort duties out of Halifax mostly, but was also used in the wartime film Corvette K225 as a stand-in for the film's namesake.

More well known is the "City of Kamloops" squadron, officially Canada's 419 Squadron, a fleet of bombers in WWII led by Wing Commander John "Moose" Fulton, a Kamloops-born pilot. His nickname and hometown connection remain part of the squad today, which trains air force pilots now. Speaking of names, Fulton's is still used for the Kamloops airport.

Also from WWII is an infamous historical figure, the Kamloops Kid, a notorious Japanese soldier named Kanao Inouye. Inouye grew up in Kamloops, but went to Japan for further education in 1938. There he was conscripted to the Japanese army and, due to his perfect English, was put to work as an interpreter and later an interrogator. While working at prison camps he was famous for cruel punishment of Canadian prisoners of war. After the war he was tried as a war criminal and is one of only two Canadians hanged for treason. His story was recently turned into a play.

Since 1892 a subspecies of rainbow trout has been dubbed the Kamloops trout, with a range in southern B.C., Idaho and seen occasionally in other states. You may also know it by the (much) larger-than-life version of the trout at the Kamloops tourism centre.

The Kamloops crater is in the middle of the image, just south west of the famous Happy Face crater. Image Credit: NASA

For some reason there is a crater on Mars named Kamloops. Named after the city in 1991, it’s kind of a big deal because it’s the biggest neighbour to the planet’s famous ‘Happy Face’ crater. It also has company from western Canada — Hope, Penticton, and Banff are also craters on Mars.

Back on earth, Kamloops appears on many maps. There’s no real surprise that Canadian cities like Vancouver, Ottawa and Toronto have roads named after Kamloops, among dozens of other towns, but so does River Falls, Wisconsin and Palm Bay, Florida. Bakersfield, California, has a neighbourhood filled with names from B.C.’s interior, including Kamloops Drive, Okanagan Crescent and Valemont Drive.

Unfortunately for our southern neighbours, they have a road named Kelwona Way. Sorry, Kelowna.

Off the continent, there are a couple more. The Kamloops sister city of Uji, Japan, has Kamloops Dori (dori means street in Japanese) which goes through one of the city’s major parks. Also, the capital of Zambia, Lusaka, has a Kamloops Road, adjacent to the University of Zambia and a golf course.

Kamloops the kitten is a pet in Texas. Image Credit: mrs.galle via Instagram

And finally, while it’s not clear exactly why — we share the name with this kitten in Texas. And yes, they call him Kami for short.

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