The final section of the Cariboo Wagon road took some time to complete. G.B. Wright who had been the major contractor from Lillooet to Soda Creek had a major interest in the sternwheelers that plied between Soda Creek and Quesnel. He was in no hurry to build a wagon road along the river that would compete with his successful steamers. He did however take the contract to build the wagon road from Quesnel to the Cottonwood valley. From there another contractor took it along Lightning Creek to VanWinkle and Stanley. From there it worked south around the mountains to come into Richfield and Barkerville from the south. Though finally completed in 1865 the Cariboo Wagon road would only be used for a few more years as the main conduit for the flood of humanity following the gold rush, any gold rush. Very soon the easy workings along the numerous creeks were worked over by tenacious miners exploring every possible gold bearing stream. What was left after the Barkerville fire destroyed much of the original town was a series of very successful company mines. As the workings went deeper into the earth searching out the original gold channels (now mostly covered by fill by the last glaciers) you had to have more capital investment to build the Cornish Water wheels to keep the diggings free of water. The companies still employed a large number of miners but the days of making a fortune with only a gold pan and a rocker were soon gone. As the main thrust of the gold rush subsided the Chinese moved in to work the abandoned gold claims. Indeed for many decades Quesnel Forks was the winter home for a large Chinese miner population as they waited for the snow to lift in the spring. The Cariboo Wagon road continued to be traveled by miners, dreamers, freight wagons and the BX stage for many more decades. Barkerville itself remained a vibrant, living town until World War II. The Cariboo Wagon road opened up the Interior of British Columbia and it still forms the backbone of its transportation system.
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All text and images
© Quesnel & District Museum and Archives unless otherwise
noted. Thanks to the B.C. Archives for permission to show various
images. Thanks to the BC Encyclopedia for permission to quote information
on the roadhouse communities. Thanks to the Living Landscapes Project,
the Royal British Columbia Museum, Ministry of Community, Aboriginal
and Women's Services for their support of site development.
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