70 MILE HOUSE

70 MILE HOUSE

Is a small community situated along Highway #97 in the South Cariboo region of British Columbia and at the southern edge of the Cariboo Plateau, about 38 kilometers south of 100 Mile House.

Like most other communities in the Cariboo region (i.e. 100 Mile House and 150 Mile House) it is named after its distance from the Old Cariboo Wagon Road from Lillooet, which was Mile 0. 70 Mile House was much busier than it is today, when a roadhouse was built in 1862 during the Cariboo Gold Rush, but burned down to the ground in the 1950s.

Today’s version of 70 Mile House is very quiet, but travelers will see a store, a pub, a couple of restaurants, and several provincial parks nearby including Green Lake and Chasm. 70 Mile House is an unincorporated community but the general store in town also sells gasoline for travelers.

The Old Cariboo Road was built in 1859 from the head of Harrison Lake at the once-bustling town of Port Douglas to Alexandria, a former steamship landing, just south of Quesnellemouth (now known today as Quesnel) via Lillooet and Pavilion Mountain towards Clinton. The road should not be confused with the Cariboo Wagon Road which was built in 1862 from Yale to Barkerville via the Fraser Canyon and Cache Creek.

70 Mile House’s population: 477