Gold miners follow a simple strategy dictated by the weight of gold fragments:
follow the trace of gold upstream, testing as you go, until you
reach the source. If the gold is a fine dust, as was true of much
of the Fraser River sand bars, it had come a long ways before accumulating
behind a boulder or concentrating in an eddy where the water slowed
down. As the gold becomes coarser and you begin to find rough flakes
and nuggets you are getting closer to the mother lode. The miners
therefore followed the Fraser river upstream through a treacherous
and difficult canyon, ignoring the dangers of the river and of the
natives because that was where the gold led. They followed up the
Fraser, rejected the Thomson river and numerous others as they worked
their way north, turning up the Quesnel River and into the mountains
above Quesnel Lake. The initial trails were built to access Quesnel
Forks (where the Cariboo River reaches the Quesnel River just emerging
from Quesnel Lake), Keithly Creek and Antler, the initial focus
of the gold rush. The Harrison Lake route to the gold fields worked with a combination of paddlewheelers and a rough cut trail. However it entailed packing and repacking so many times that many pack trains selected their own routes into the interior often moving far enough east to connect to the old Hudson Bay Fur Brigade route. The Harrison Lake route, however, determined a large number of names in the Cariboo since the road building in the interior started from Lillooet. While the Royal Engineers tackled the Fraser Canyon other contractors started the wagon road from Lillooet, heading for Soda Creek where steamers could once again navigate the river. It is from Lillooet that the numerous "mile houses" take their measure, so 100 Mile House was 100 miles from Lillooet. Once the wagon road was pushed through the Canyon and up to Clinton where it met the road from Lillooet both Lillooet and the Lake Harrison trail route were completely bypassed. The wagon road through the canyon was to remain the sole economic life line to the interior until the Canadian National railway was built. Even today it is a crucial economic link for the province. Once it was built the prices of all goods dropped radically and more importantly it meant that now families with women and children rode into the Cariboo to join in the gold rush and the development of the province.
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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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