LYTTON

LYTTON

Is a village that lies at the confluence of the Thompson and Fraser Rivers, 258 kilometers northeast of Vancouver. It is considered to be the northern gateway to the Fraser Canyon and a site of an Nlaka’pamux (Thompson) village called Kumsheen, long before the first settlers arrived and during the gold rush of the early 1860s, the community became a busy transportation stop along the Cariboo Wagon Road for miners heading up north from Yale to Barkerville. Today, the Trans-Canada Highway (Highway #1) and 2 trans-continental railways all pass through the community, however Since 1986, Lytton has become less important in recent years due to the popularity of the Coquihalla Highway that goes from Hope to Kamloops via Merritt. Agriculture, forestry and the railway industry were for many years Lytton’s main economies, but due to financial difficulties, uncertainties in the marketplace and the Mountain Pine Beetle infestation of British Columbia’s Interior forests, Lytton’s main sawmill shut down in 2007 and its main economies are now tourism and retirees living in the community have become important in last few years. Many attractions in Lytton include; White-water rafting in the Thompson and Fraser Rivers, camping and visiting Skihist Provincial Park, and exploring and scouring the Siska Bridges of where the Canadian Pacific and Canadian National Railways switch from one side of the Fraser River to the other due to the unstable, steep and narrow terrain of the Fraser Canyon. On July 16th, of 1941, the mercury reached a record of 44.4 degrees Celsius giving Lytton and nearby Lillooet, the distinction of being Canada’s Hot Spot and is has been said that both Lytton and the nearby community and First Nations reserve of Siska mark the starting point of the transition from the ecotypes of the dry interior to the Coast Rainforest. Lytton was incorporated as village on May 3, 1943 and was named in 1958 after Edward Bulwer-Lytton, a British Colonial Secretary and a popular novelist, who is best, remembered for his opening line “it was a dark and stormy night”. Despite having a population of around 300 people, Lytton is incorporated with its own mayor, police, fire department and ambulance service.

LYTTON’S POPULATION: 322

ANAHIM LAKE

ANAHIM LAKE
Is a small first Nations community, 134 kilometers east of Bella Coola on Highway #20 in British Columbia remote Chilcotin region. It is named after nearby Anahim Peak, Anahim Hotspot and the Anahim Volcanic Belt. Even though, it has been extremely hit hard by the pine beetle infestation that has been sweeping through the forests of the interior of the province. Moreover, because of this, Anahim Lake’s main lumber mill was recently forced to shut down. However, cattle ranching and mushroom farming continue to carry the community on its arms as its main economic benefactors. The only airport in the Chilcotin between Bella Coola and Williams Lake is located in about 2 miles from the village and offers daily flights to Williams Lake and Vancouver. Anahim is the main community that is the gateway to Tweedsmuir Provincial Park, one of British Columbia’s largest Provincial Parks. Anahim Lake is relatively small, but offers services to travelers such as a hotel and 3 general stores.

ANAHIM LAKE’S POPULATION: 729

KENT

KENT
Is a district municipality and basically a region that falls within several communities including that of Agassiz (the largest town), Ruby Creek, Harrison Mills and Harrison Hot Springs. It is located 116 kilometers east of Vancouver along the Lougheed Highway. Its history dates back to the Fraser Canyon Gold Rush in 1858 when it grew as a result and when the first European settlers arrived Kent’s first commercial activity took place between the local First Nations people and the employees of the Hudson’s Bay Company. Boats used to navigate the Fraser Canyon, started to stop in Kent, continued to spurt Kent’s growth. In 1895, 14 years after the Canadian Pacific Railway was constructed, Kent became incorporated and then shortly afterward, the railway was opened and causing more commercial activity in the area. Kent became notable before World War 2 (WWII), as hop farming community. Unfortunately in 1948, the flood of the Fraser River wiped that industry out, however it benefitted and gave Kent of holding the distinction of Canada’s Corn Capital which is the agriculture crop in the region and to this day agriculture remains the main economic activity in the municipality. There are several highways that run the community including the Lougheed Highway (Highways #7) and the Harrison Hot Springs-Bridal Falls Highway (Highway #9). Kent is named after a county in England, which coincidentally the major British Columbia city of Surrey is also located in the England county of Kent. The enjoys a wet but moderately mild winter climate with very few temperature fluctuations with a average of 2.5 degrees Celcius, with usually very dry and warm summers and an summer average temperature of 23 degrees Celcius.

KENT’S POPULATION: 6,077

INVERMERE

INVERMERE
Is a small town located in Eastern British Columbia, 120 kilometers north of Cranbrook along Highway #95. Invermere is a major recreation town with home to several golf courses, downhill skiing at Panorama Ski Resort and on top of that, Invermere is also home to 2 major developed Hot Springs at Fairmont and Radium. Inveremere’s weather is protected from the severity of inclement weather and effects of arctic by scenic Mount Nelson, which towers over the community and is part of the Rocky Mountains making Inveremere’s climate is semi-arid and temperate and has cold winters and warm and comfortable summers. Invermere’s history dates back to the early 1800s when David Thompson traveled up the Columbia River to Windermere Lake and built a trading post near modern day Invermere and naming it Kootenae House. Invermere today has a wide range of services for travelers, unique shops, and is a holiday paradise for people who want to escape the pressures of everyday life. Invermere is the largest incorporated British Columbia community that begins with the letter “I”.

INVERMERE’S POPULATION: 3,002

CENTREVILLE

CENTREVILLE
Is an abandoned mining camp on the banks of McDame Creek, 132 kilometers north of Dease Lake on the Stewart-Cassiar Highway (Highway #37) and in the foothills of the Cassiar Mountains. It begun in 1874 when a prospector named Henry McDame struck gold in McDame Creek as well as starting a Gold Rush and making McDame Creek, the most productive creek in the Cassiar region. In fact in 1877, a 72-ounce gold nugget was discovered here in 1877. However, by the 1880s, most of the gold had been removed and most of the miners had moved away and pretty much abandoned the community of Centreville. Centerville Placer Mines limited mined the area again during the 1990s to no avail.

CHETWYND

CHETWYND
Is a small district municipality on the Hart Highway (Highway #97) in the Pine River Valley in British Columbia’s remote northeast corner, 310 kilometers north of Prince George. Chetwynd is named after former British Columbia minister of railways, Ralph Chetwynd and was formerly known as Little Prairie before that. It was first settled in 1912 and boomed during the 1950s with the arrival of the now-defunct British Columbia rail line (BC Rail). Chetwynd today has several key economies that boost the town including forestry and the oil and gas sector with a major gas plant located right on the nearby Pine River. Chetwynd’s main attractions include its Heritage museum that is housed inside a railway caboose that displays Chetwynd’s history with the railway and even has mining and trapping paraphernalia. Chetwynd calls itself the “Chainsaw Capital of the World and was officially known as a district municipality in 1983, after been a village for 21 years.

CHETWYND’S POPULATION: 2,633

DAWSON CREEK

DAWSON CREEK
Is a small-sized city, located in Northeastern British Columbia, about 405 kilometers northeast of Prince George at the junction of Highways #2, #49, and #97. Dawson Creek was originally a small farming community until it became a regional commercial center in 1932, when the western terminus of the Northern Alberta Railways was extended to here. During 1942 at the height of World War 2 (WWII), contingents from the Army of the United States (US Army), used the townsite as construction point for the Alaska Highway as well as a transshipment point. It is today that Daswon Creek is nicknamed Mile 0 of the Highway, a distance from here to the major Alaskan city of Fairbanks. After World War (WWII), Highway #97 from Prince George (known today as the John Hart Highway, named after the former British Columbia premier; John Hart), was extended to here and five years later the British Columbia Railway Company decided to extend its track from here to Fort St. John. Dawson Creek is the most commercialized of all of the towns `in the entire Peace River/Northeast corner of British Columbia excluding Fort St. John, and has several key industries including coal mining, the oil and gas industry, agriculture and forestry that contribute to the city’s economy. In fact, Dawson Creek is not only the first community in British Columbia to use natural gas but is also considered the wheat capital of British Columbia due to notoriety with several grain elevators in the vicinity of the city. Dawson Creek was first incorporated as a village on May 26, 1936, but unincorporated again as a city on January 6, 1958 and is named after George Mercer Dawson (1849-1901), a surveyor for the Geological Survey of Canada, who explored the area and who served as director of the Geological Survey from 1895 to 1901.

DAWSON CREEK’S POPULATION: 11,811

OKANAGAN FALLS

OKANAGAN FALLS
Is a small town situated 20 kilometers south of Penticton on Highway #97. The community is also situated on the double falls that drain Skaha Lake into the Okanagan River. A townsite was laid out during the 1890s, and was known as Dogtown, which Skaha in turn is a First Nations word meaning “dog”. Okanagan Falls was endorsed as a settler’s paradise, but did love up to those expectations and quickly became a tourism (especially with wineries) and orchard center. Okanagan Falls had a sawmill until early 2008 when it shut down due to the high Canadian dollar at the time as well as the British Columbia’s interior infestation of the Mountain Pine Beetle. The Falls that give the community its name were eliminated by a modern flood control system.

OKANAGAN FALLS’ POPULATION: 1,874

GERMANSEN LANDING

GERMANSEN LANDING
Is a very remote and unincorporated community located 207 kilometers north of Fort St. James on the Omineca River by following an unpaved and graveled road. It is named for James Germansen, a St. Paul, Minnesota-born prospector, who found gold in the Germansen River in 1870 and was extremely helpful in supporting the Omineca Gold Rush. Today, its economy serves s a base for a guide outfitting industry as well as some tourism, due to its location and relation with several remote hiking trails that are found and located nearby. Williston Lake, British Columbia’s largest lake, is also found near here.

GERMANSEN LANDING’S POPULATION: 44

FALKLAND

Is a small community located in the northwest corner of the Okanagan Valley, 44 kilometers northwest of Vernon along Highway #97.

Named from Falkland Warren, a retired British colonel, who opened the area’s first post office and whom, was one of Falkland’s first white settlers, Falkland is located in a heavy ranching area with lots of farms surrounding the community, it celebrates this lifestyle and heritage with a popular international stampede and rodeo that is held here every May long weekend (Victoria Day). Falkland is also well-known for its Canadian patriotism as it is home of a huge metal Canadian Flag on a hillside that overlooks the community to the east. Constructed in 1992 and considered to one of Canada’s largest made-made Canadian flags ever built, the flag is measured 28 feet long (2X6 lumber framework), held intact by 8 14 meter-long telephone poles, 84 metric ton cement bricks, and its metal is attached by an astonishing 3,500 screws. A big draw for tourists, visitors and photographers, the flag can be seen up to about 10 kilometers away at both ends of the community and is even illuminate and lit at night.

First known as Slahaltkan, Falkland’s history dates back to when the members of the Salish Indian Tribes gathered food for the tribes to eat for the winter. “Slahaltkan”, is a First Nations word for “meeting of the winds”, a reference to the ever-changing breeze and frequent direction of the wind this area is often prone to.

Falkland’s population: 620

MERRITT

MERRITT
Is a small-sized city situated on the Coquihalla Highway, about 90 kilometers south of Kamloops at the confluence of the Nicola and Coldwater Rivers. Merritt is considered the main commercial center for the entire Nicola Valley. The townsite of Merritt was laid out in 1893, flowing the discovery of coal deposits and was previously known as Forksdale and Diamond Vale, but was renamed Merritt; referring to William Hamilton Merritt III, a railway promoter of one of the Railways from one of Nicola Valley to Spences Bridge, which opened the region for coal mining. The city boomed quickly and was incorporated on April 1, 1911. The forest industry wasted no time becoming important to Merritt’s economy during the 1920s. Merritt was extremely hit hard by the depression in the 1930s and went to into receivership in 1933and during this time the city’s affairs were run by the Government of British Columbia. Coal mining declined after the Second World War (WWII) and in 1963, the coalmines of Merritt ceased operations together. Sawmilling, opening of 2 copper mines; Craigmont (closed in 1982) and the Highland Valley Copper Mine in Logan Lake, about 65 kilometers north, aw well as tourism, is important to the local economy. In addition to being the most productive and the one of the largest in the world, The Highland Valley Copper Mines has also provided many jobs in the area and being the major contributor to Merritt’s economy. Mountainfest (also known as the “Merritt Mountain Music Festival”), is an annual summer country music festival that has attracted thousands of country music fans here every year since 1992.

MERRITT’S POPULATION: 6,998

SECHELT

SECHELT
Is a beautiful waterfront municipality situated on a piece of land that separates Georgia Strait and Sechelt Inlet on the Sunshine Coast, north of Vancouver. Car ferry service first linked the Sunshine Coast Highway (Highway #101) to the Lower Mainland in 1951, pretty much ending the community of Sechelt’s dependence on coastal steamship service. Sechelt’s name comes from the Indian word meaning “outside on the oceanside” and is the main service center for the Sunshine Coast and relies on logging, and tourism as its main industries. The community was incorporated as a district municipality on June 30, 1986 and in 1983 it first hosted the festival of the written arts, one of British Columbia’s most main and popular literary festivals. The history of Sechelt dates back to thousands of years ago when the Coast Salish Shishalh people first settled in the area and were interested in the area’s natural beauty and its year-round mild, pleasant and balmi climate. Sechelt in recent years, has become popular with retireees thus many subdivisions have been built in the municipality in the last decade or so. In terms of population, Sechelt is the largest community on the Sunshine Coast between Powell River and Gibsons.

SECHELT’S POPULATION: 8,454

PEMBERTON

PEMBERTON

Is a small town located just a short drive from Whistler (about 35 kilometers, south) on Highway #99.

Pemberton came to be in 1827 when its surrounding valley became home to many men of the Hudson’s Bay Company in order to survey a safer route to the fur brigades of Fort Kamloops and Fort Langley as well as a route to bypass the canyons of the lower Fraser River.

Pemberton was established in 1858 at the head of Lillooet Lake, as a stop along the trail to the goldfields between Harrison Lake and the Fraser River and is named after Joseph Despard Pemberton, a government surveyor, who served as Surveyor-General in Vancouver Island from 1859 to 1864.

Pemberton, which was incorporated on July 20, of 1956, has benefited from the rapid growth of Whistler and grown in popularity as a cheaper housing alternative for employees who work in Whistler and with a growth rate of 7.3% since 2003, it has become one of British Columbia’s fastest growing communities.

Pemberton is surrounded by mountains, lakes, and rivers, sits in a fertile valley, and is very well- known for its disease-free seed potatoes. Logging has become the important and influential economic benefactor as has farming and ranching. By the early 1960s when Highway #99 was built from here to Vancouver, Pemberton was only accessible by train making the town more isolated and remote.

The community also has its own airport and runway long enough to serve commuter-sized planes and private jets, but because Pemberton does not have enough room in its rustic valley as well as its remote location, it cannot serve daily flights.

Pemberton’s population: 2,192

Pemberton's welcome sign

HORSESHOE BAY

HORSESHOE BAY
Is a small village, about 25 kilometer east of Vancouver. Originally called Chai-Hai by the original settlers, it was made into a summer resort in 1909 by a land company. A number of summer resorts grew in 1914 when the Pacific Great Eastern Railway arrived in 1914. The Roedde Family, one of Horseshoe Bay’s first settlers, built a home here in the early 1900s and in 1931 Dan Sewell Sr., bought the Roedde residence and operated a marina as well as hotel. Since then, the community has become a major destination for sport fishing. Trolls’ restaurant famous for its fish ‘n’ chips was established in 1946 by co-founders; Joe and Dorothy Troll and as of 2008 is still in business. Black Ball Ferries (later BC Ferries), began car ferry service in 1951 to Gibsons and in 1953 to Nanaimo. In 1961, when BC Ferries took over the ferry service, it opened 2 new ferries to Bowen Island and Langdale on the Sunshine Coast replacing the one in Gibsons. Horseshoe Bay is named for its horseshoe-like shape in Howe Sound and is a part of the district of West Vancouver.

HORSESHOE BAY’S POPULATION: ABOUT 1,000

ENDAKO

ENDAKO
Is a small forestry, mining and railway community located on the Yellowhead Highway (Highway #16), about 170 kilometers west of Prince George. The community used to be a division point for the Grand Trunk Pacific Railway and since then, the railway continues to play a major in the economy. In 1965, Endako opened a huge open-pit molybdenum mine (“moly” for short) and at one time, became the largest producer of Molybdenum in Canada and the second largest in the world. The mine was sold in 1997 to a Denver, Colorado-based mining company.

ENDAKO’S POPULATION: 102

GRANISLE

GRANISLE Is a former mining town located on the west side of Babine Lake , about 55 kilometers east of Smithers on Highway #118. The community was established in 1965 as a site for open-pit copper mine. The town got a boost in the 1970s, when Noranda Mine Company opened the Bell copper mine. In 1981, the company bought the original mine. The town get its name from a combination of “Gran” for Granby, the original owners of the mine and “Isle” for an island of where the mine is located. 1992 was a terrible year for the community as Noranda shut down the mine, delivering the community a severe shock, but since the late 1990s, Granisle has since recovered from near “ghost town” status to a nice retirement and lodging center. During its prime, when the mine was operational, Granisle had a peak population of more than 3,000 people.

GRANISLE'S POPULATION: 446

MACKENZIE

MACKENZIE
Is a small district municipality located on the Northwest side of Highway #39, 193 kilometers north of Prince George as well as the south side of Williston Lake, British Columbia’s largest lake and man-made reservoir. Logging, recreation, and tourism contribute to Mackenzie’s economy. Mackenzie was instantly laid out in 1966, when a development of a forest industry complex which was built on the shores of Williston Lake. Today, the complex serves as a pulp mill, a newsprint mill, and several sawmills. The community is situated several lakes and is a haven for fans of fishing and hiking. Mackenzie hosts dog-sled racing, cross-country skiing and snowmobile races every winter. The town also has a ski resort called Powder King located about 45 minutes east of town. Mackenzie has a swimming pool, indoor skating, curling rinks, and two well-maintained and developed beaches. In addition to being incorporated in 1966, the town is named after the famous fur trade explorer, Alexander Mackenzie.

MACKENZIE'S POPULATION: 4,539

AGASSIZ

AGASSIZ
Is a small community located on the junction of Highways #9 and Highway #7, it is part of the district municipality of Kent and is the major commercial and largest center for the Kent region. Agassiz is also located in the northern confines of the Fraser Valley, just north of Chilliwack, and south of the resort community of Harrison Hot Springs. Agassiz enjoys a climate similar to that of Vancouver’s and the rest of southwestern British Columbia with wet, moderate and mild winter months and a warm, but a mostly dry and warm summer. The average summer temperatures are often 23 degrees Celsius and winter’s average is 2.5 degrees Celsius. In its early days as a community, Agassiz mostly relied on hop farming, but due to the major flood of the Fraser River in 1948, which wiped out the entire crops of the Valley region, north from Hope and southwest to Langley and since then, tourism has taken its turn as Agassiz’s main economy. Agassiz also has several attractions nearby including that of Harrison Hot Springs, Dinotown in Bridal Falls, and Minter Gardens, which is in the nearby community of Rosedale. Since 1948, Agassiz is known as “the Corn Capital of Canada” and it has become the main agriculture crop in Agassiz.

AGASSIZ'S POPULATION: 4,572

KITWANGA

KITWANGA
Is a small community located on the Stewart-Cassiar Highway (Highway #37), 4 kilometers north of the junction of Yellowhead Highway (Highway #16). The Seven Sisters Mountains tower about 3,000 meters above Kitwanga offering great views in the process. Another great attraction in Kitwanga is the fact that Fort Kitwanga, a national historic site which features Battle Hill, a 13 meter man-made hill and home to a Gitksan fortress as well as the home of its famous resident and fearsome warrior Nekt, who defended the boundaries of natives of the Gitksan during the 18th century. Sawmilling is the main activity in Kitwanga, although services for travelers such as gas and food are also located in the settlement. The nearest communities are Terrace 80 kilometers to the south and Hazelton 48 kilometers to the east. Kitwanga is referred to by the Gitksan Indian language as “Gitwangak” and means “people of the place of the rabbits”.

KITWANGA'S (GITWANGAK) POPULATION: 465

FORT FRASER

FORT FRASER

Is a town located at the east end of Fraser Lake on Highway #16 (the Yellowhead Highway) about 140 kilometers west of Prince George in the heart of the Nechako Valley. The townsite was laid out in 1806 after Simon Fraser built a trading post for the Northwest Company. Hudson’s Bay Company bought the fort in 1821. Today pieces of rock foundation and some of British Columbia’s earliest agriculture took place is all of what is left of the fort. In 1914, the last spike of the Grand Trunk Pacific Railway was driven here and the community’s population boomed. Fort Fraser now relies on the forest industry as its main economic activity.

FORT FRASER’S POPULATION: 370

ALBERT CANYON

ALBERT CANYON
Is a ghost town and Canadian Pacific Railway station, located 36 kilometers east of Revelstoke along the Trans-Canada Highway (Highway #1). Albert Canyon became a service center for miners working on the northern side of the Illecillewaet River in the late 1890s. Albert L. Rogers whom the town is named after, helped his uncle A.B. Rogers, a survey engineer find a route on the railway via the Selkirk Mountains. Despite being a ghost town, it does a have a mineral pool, campground, and a trading post. Albert Canyon is not far from Three Valley Gap, which is another ghost town, from the 1890s railway era and is more appealing as a tourist attraction than Albert Canyon.

KEMANO

KEMANO
Is an abandoned community situated on the Kemano River, where it drains into the Gardner Canal. Kemano was originally the home of a massive, hydroelectricity station built specifically to provide power for the Alcan Aluminum Smelter in Kitimat, some 75 kilometers to the north. It began producing power in 1954 and was made attainable by damming the Nechako River and diverting its headwaters westward via a 16 kilometer-long tunnel, the same width of a two-lane highway, inculcated under the mountains. A second stage of the diversion, the Kemano Completion Project, was initially approved by the Government of British Columbia in 1987, but cancelled in 1995 because of environmental concerns. From 1950-2000, the community had a guesthouse, a shop selling everything from socks to hats to candy and also had a golf course and a church. In 2000, the community was shut down and residents were moved out and the community was shut down and eventually burnt down as a training exercise for fire departments from all over British Columbia, In its heyday, Kemano was accessible only by air and never had a road connecting it to the outside world.

108 MILE RANCH

108 MILE RANCH

Is a small community, 12 kilometers north of 100 Mile House on Highway #97.  

Mostly a residential community for residents who work in 100 Mile House, 108 Mile Ranch is named after its location from Lillooet along the Old Cariboo Wagon Road.

Although its history dates back to the 1860s, 108 Mile Ranch’s modern origins came to fruition in 1969 when the Block Brothers, especially Henry Block (the person who founded the tax preparation company H&R Block) bought well over 40 square miles of working ranchland from the Monical Family for the idea of developing a model growing community which included building a golf course, resort, airport, and community hall.

Since the mid-1980s, and in spite of being unincorporated through out its existence, 108 Mile Ranch is one of the Cariboo Region’s fastest-growing communities with a population rate of about 25%.

The older part of the community is home to the 108 Mile Historical Site where there are a number of buildings that date back to the early-1900s including a barn, store, ice house, post office and a log-home church which was actually built in 2007.

108 Mile Ranch’s population: 2,488

16 MILE

16 MILE

Is a very tiny hamlet situated about 14 kilometers north of Cache Creek on Highway #97, near the turnoff to the junction of Highways #97 and #99. It is named after the distance of the old Cariboo Wagon Road from Lillooet, which was 16 miles away. The community’s only economies are agriculture and farming. The climate here is semi-arid and desert-like with temperatures that can range anywhere from +20 degrees to +40 plus degrees in the summertime and because of this, there are plants and mammals that thrive in this type of environment including are cacti, tumbleweed live here in the surrounding hillsides as well, ginseng farming was very important here in the late 1990s. Attractions in 16 Mile include the Historic Hat Creek Ranch, which recalls the historic and early times back in the mid 1800s is found nearby. 16 Mile unincorporated and doesn’t serve any services to travelers, not even a gas station. Just mere minutes northwest, is where a a large hillside of colorful lignite deposits are found here. Known as “the Painted Hills”, and since the days of the Cariboo Gold Rush of when prospectors first discovered the deposits, this area has spurred interest, not only for paleontoligists, but also it is also popular area among photographers as there is a special viewpoint on the side of the highway, where you photos can be taken. It was also home and the basis of the now-abandoned Hat Creek coal thermal prosposal, where a coal-based thermal power plant was to be built here.

16 MILE'S POPULATION: 48

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