Lower Mainland
Fraser Canyon
Interior
Barkerville
Ashcroft Town
As the Cariboo wagon roads were built in the 1860s, wooden milepost markers were erected by the road contractors to indicate the distances from Yale and from Lillooet, to Barkerville. In spite of the fact that the markers had been constructed of 12 by 14 inch squared timbers with "housed" tops to shed the rain, by the 1880s they had all but disappeared. In 1896 when Ashcroft was considered to be the centre of business in the interior, the government of the day decided to re-establish the markers. The mileage would start from Ashcroft, which would change considerably the original mileage of the markers from Yale or Lillooet. The job of marking the nearly 300 miles of road was awarded to Anson M. Bushnell, a homesteader from Clinton. To a bicycle wheel, the axle of which was affixed to a cyclometer, "Old Bush" fastened a set of handles cut from a discarded bar room chair, and on a small shelf erected in front of the wheel he kept a set of stencils, an axe, and a yellow rain slicker. Trundling the homemade barrow, his eyes glued to the cyclometer, Bushnell walked up the centre of the road. At each mile he cut and set up a small stake, about 12 inches high, upon which he stenciled the distance from Ashcroft.
The town of Clinton, known historically as the 47 Milepost (from Lillooet) was to be renumbered as the 32 mile, and at the famous old 70 Mile Bushnell was heard to remark (loud enough for proprietor Bill Boyd to hear) "They'll be calling this the 55 Mile House". To this Boyd hotly replied,"Not at long as I live". As he continued up the road "Old Bush", realizing how unpopular his task was, completed his contract under cover of darkness. But this was not the end of it. Three or four years later it was noticed that very few of Bushnell's markers remained, and he was given another contract to install a second set of markers, this time mounted on 42 inch posts. Ironically, after all the trouble and expense of replacing the markers, very few of the revised mileages were ever adopted.
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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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