Tulameen is the namesake of both tributary of the Similkameen River and a small village in southern British Columbia. The name comes from the Thompson language and means red earth. The river was valued by the Thompson Salish for its rich deposits of red ochre.1
1. G. P. V. Akrigg and H. B. Akrigg, British Columbia Place Names (Vancouver: UBC Press, 1997), 274-275.