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