Prior to the building of the wagon road in 1862, travel through the Fraser Canyon was almost impossible. By fall of 1858, miners going by way of the 13 mile Douglas Portage had pushed a mule trail through from Chapman's Bar, on the east bank of the Fraser River, to Lytton, a distance of nearly 60 miles. This led to the building of the Port Douglas to Lillooet trail that summer, and the proposal to build a wagon road through the Fraser Canyon. In 1861 the Royal Engineers were sent to survey a route, and the work of blasting the rocks began .The Engineers built the first 6 miles of road in 1862. ("History of B.C." Vol.2, By F.W.Howay & E.O.S. Scholefield, 1912, p.99
Hell's Gate, Fraser Canyon (credit: BC Archives #HP-15032)
| Home| Lower Fraser| Fraser Canyon | Clinton | Barkerville | Text TOC | Indexes | Team |
|
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.
|