Itcha Range. Alkali olivine basalts were erupted contemporaneously from younger better preserved cinder cones and form lava flows reaching thick. Once the alkali olivine basalt flows cooled, they formed well-developed columnar joints. Feldspar-phyric, highly vesiculated hawaiites and benmoreites were later erupted from several vents on the summit of Itcha Mountain. In the northwestern and northeastern parts of the shield volcano, basanite lava flows were erupted and are volumetrically subordinate. These represent the youngest known lavas of the Itcha Range. However, a cinder cone in the middle of the shield could be much younger, perhaps as young as the basanites at Nazko Cone to the east, which were erupted 340,000 to 7,100 years ago. The older basanites in the Itcha Range may have been erupted contemporaneously with the late feldspar hawaiites. Parasitic cones Parasitic cones of the Itcha Range shield were formed mainly during the Early Pleistocene mafic capping stage between 2.2 and 0.8 million years ago. These secondary vents are monogenetic in nature, meaning each cone was only active for a single eruption sequence before becoming extinct. The duration of volcanic activity at these cones can last from hours to years. Parasitic cones of the Itcha Range are small cinder cones situated at the summit and flanks of the shield volcano. Human history Naming The Itcha Range has had at least two forms of names throughout its history. It was originally named the Itcha Mountains as identified in the 1930 BC Gazetteer. This form of name remained official until March 13, 1947, when it was changed to its current form, Itcha Range, as part of an official government policy. Larger mountain ranges throughout British Columbia, such as the Coast Mountains, retained their gazetted names whereas smaller ones, especially ranges of larger groupings, were subjected to renaming. In more casual speech, the Itcha Range is referred to as the Itchas. The name Itcha is indigenous in origin, coming from the local Tsilhqot'in people. Mount Downton was named by D. M. MacKay, a member of the British Columbia Land Surveyors (BCLS) who conducted topographical surveys in the area. He named it after Geoffrey M. Downton, another BCLS member who is credited for first noting the hydroelectric potential inherent in the elevation differential between the Bridge River and Seton Lake on opposing sides of Mission Ridge above Shalalth in December 1912. This name for the mountain was adopted on February 7, 1947. The