Lower Mainland

Fraser Canyon

Interior

Barkerville

Ashcroft Town

G.B. Wright, the major contractor for the Cariboo Wagon Road from Lillooet to Cottonwood House (credit: BC Archives #HP28186)

Most people have no idea of what it took to build a proper road during the 1860s. To begin with the contractor needed to have the finances to hire at least 500 men, sometimes as many as 1000 men. There would be 3 crews, each with their own tools, and a cook, who made three meals a day out of a chuckwagon. The first crew would cut down the trees and bushes, and clear the ground ready for the second crew, who would actually build the road bed- 18 feet wide, usually, using shovels, picks, and horse scrapers. The closest thing to any machinery was a wheelbarrow. The third. crew would build bridges and culverts as needed.

Sgt. John McMurphy of the Royal Engineers, supervised much of the construction of the Cariboo Wagon Road (credit: BC Archives #A-02317)

Contracted by the government, and subject to inspection by the Royal Engineers, contractors were allowed to collect road tolls for a specified number of years. They received payment from the government only after they had built a piece of road and had it inspected. Sergeant John McMurphy of the Royal Engineers was the Inspector on Wright's wagon road from Lillooet to Fort Alexandria in 1862 and '63. G.B. Wright was an entrepreneur, and was always swapping one enterprise to finance another. After building the Cariboo Wagon Road from Lillooet to Alexandria in 1862 and 1863, he went on to build part of the road between Quesnel and Barkerville in 1864. ("Trails To Gold", Vol.1, Branwen C. Patenaude, pgs 71-74.)

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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.