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Why is Cariboo Road important?
A road to the interior would relieve the plight of the miners forced to pay exorbitant rates for supplies and would make the Fraser River the great commercial highway of BC. The rest of the construction was let out to private contractors, and the road was opened in 1865.
Why was the Cariboo Wagon Road built?
The Cariboo Wagon Road is often referred to as British Columbia’s first mega-project. The 650-kilometre road was constructed under direction of the Royal Engineers between 1862 and 1865 from Yale in the south to Bakerville in the north to provide access to gold fields during the Cariboo Gold Rush.
When was the Cariboo Wagon Road built?
1862
Constructed between 1862 and 1865 at a cost of $1,500,000, the 400 mile Cariboo Road was the best and most used of several routes into the Cariboo gold fields. Until 1885 the road began at Yale, the head of steam navigation on the Fraser, and aimed tosecure all trade for that river, thus excluding American competition.
Who built the Caribou road?
The Cariboo Road (also called the Cariboo Wagon Road, the Great North Road or the Queen’s Highway) was a project initiated in 1860 by the Governor of the Colony of British Columbia, James Douglas.
What gold rush led to the construction of Cariboo Road?
The boom in the Cariboo goldfields was the impetus for the construction of the Cariboo Wagon Road by the Royal Engineers, which bypassed the older routes via the Fraser Canyon and the Lakes Route (Douglas Road) via Lillooet by using the canyon of the Thompson River to Ashcroft and from there via the valley of the …
Why is it called the Cariboo?
The Cariboo is an intermontane region of British Columbia, Canada, centered on a plateau stretching from Fraser Canyon to the Cariboo Mountains. The name is a reference to the caribou that were once abundant in the region.
What gold rush led to the construction of the Cariboo Road?
Why was the BC gold rush important?
By 1865 the surface placer gold was almost gone. In response to the Cariboo Gold Rush, governor James Douglas built, at great expense, a 650-km road from Yale into the rugged interior of the Cariboo Mountains. This provided an important transportation route for further development of the mainland colony.
How did the Cariboo Gold Rush Impact BC?
The most important impact of the Cariboo Gold Rush on British Columbia was that the gold rush helped cause the development of the province. All sorts of infrastructure was created to facilitate the exploitation of the gold deposits that were being mined during this rush.
What is the meaning of Cariboo?
: a large gregarious deer (Rangifer tarandus) of Holarctic taiga and tundra that usually has palmate antlers in both sexes —used especially for one of the New World. — called also reindeer.
What is considered the Cariboo?
The Cariboo region is located in the central interior of British Columbia. It is situated between the Cariboo Mountains to the east and reaches west across the Fraser River plateau to the Coast Mountains. Major rivers that bisect the region include the Fraser, Chilcotin, Chilko, Quesnel, Cariboo and Horsefly.
Where was the Cariboo Wagon Road in BC?
Cariboo Wagon Road: A road constructed from 1860 to 1885 to connect the Lower Mainland of British Columbia with the Cariboo goldfields. The original 1860-63 road ran from Port Douglas at the north end of Harrison Lake via Lillooet to Clinton and then north across the Cariboo Plateau to Alexandria.
Why did Douglas want to build the Cariboo Road?
In order to lower supply-costs to the settlers in the Cariboo region, Douglas ordered the construction of a more viable and safe form of transportation to the gold-mining settlements.
How did the Cariboo Trail get its name?
The style of truss-bridge shown is typical of Royal Engineer design. The name Cariboo Road or Cariboo Trail is also informally applied to a toll road built by contractor Gustavus Blin-Wright in 1861–1862 from Lillooet to Williams Lake, Van Winkle and on to Williams Creek (Richfield, Barkerville).
What was the most difficult part of the Cariboo Road?
The work was begun by the army engineers, who completed the 2 most difficult stretches – 10 km from Yale to Boston Bar and 15 km from Cook’s Ferry along the Thompson River. Much of the road had to be blasted from solid rock.