Even though Clearwater dates back to around the mid-1800s when the valley was first inhabited by the Okehl First Nation band who hunted, fished in the area’s nearby waterways until they were defeated by the Chilcotin First Nations in 1870. Battle Mountain, Fight Lake and Fight Creek, located nearby are all named from this point of time.
White settlement began in 1860 when settlers, prospectors, and pioneers traveled to this valley via saddle train in search for gold in the Cariboo. Prior to the beginning of the 20th century, Clearwater was first known as Raft River and in 1916, tracks for the Canadian Pacific Railway were laid out in order to provide easier access to transport supplies to communities near and far and to replace the steamboats that once plied the waters of the Thompson River and to which traveled as far north as Vavenby.
The community is the home base and main gateway to Wells Gray Provincial Park and this is the main reason why tourism plays a major roll in Clearwater’s economy. The park has about 5,000 square kilometers of lakes, rivers, and waterfalls including the world-famous and Canada’s fourth largest waterfall; the Helmcken Falls. A huge tourist appeal, the falls are famous when during the winter months, they form a beautiful and spectacular 50 meter tall-long (sometimes higher when the winters are cold and bitter) ice cone. One of the reasons why Wells Park Provincial Park was created in 1939 was because of the protection of Helmcken Falls.
The falls were created from deposits of volcanic rock in the Wells Gray-Clearwater volcanic field that were placed down in the wide valley of the Murtle River. Shortly afterward, layers of fresh lava created flats areas, then which were shaped into its current upright cliff configurations from massive glacial flooding during the last ice age that happened around 10,000 years ago.
Clearwater is unique in a way in the fact that it doesn’t really have much of a downtown or town centre, however there are three main parts of the community the tourist or traveler will see including the old village beside Thompson River, the new townsite on the far side of the Clearwater Bridge, and the highway part of town which is where most of Clearwater’s gas stations, restaurants, tourist information centre, and hotels are all located on.
Clearwater is named for the nearby river of the same name.
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