FELTON COVERED BRIDGE BUILT IN 1892-93 AND BELIEVED TO BE THE TALLEST COV-ERED BRIDGE IN THE COUNTRY, IT STOOD AS THE ONLY ENTRY TO FELTON FOR 45 YEARS. IN 1937 IT WAS RETIRED FROM ACTIVE SERVICE...
PROLIFIC AUTHOR HAROLD BELL WRIGHT PURCHASED 160 ACRES HERE IN 1907. WHILE LIVING IN A TENT HE BUILT RANCHO EL TECOLOTE, CONSTRUCTING A WOVEN ARROW WEED STUDIO IN 1908 AND A RANCH HOUSE IN 1909....
You have entered the crater of an ancient volcano rich in minerals. The waste dumps are the remains of famous Rossland mines staked in 1890 by prospectors passing on the nearby Dewdney Trail. From...
Of Ontario Loyalist stock, Carrall settled at Williams Creek in 1867, practising medicine and encouraging the depressed mining industry. He became the cariboo representative on the...
A colorful steamboat era preceded the railways. During mining boom days of 1893-98 a fleet of sternwheelers ran north from the railway at Jennings, Mont., to Fort Steele and vicinity. Carrying...
Here the great barrier of the Rocky Mountains is breached by the lowest highway pass. Once the remote route of the trapper, it now links the commerce of the north and markets of the south. The...
In spring, 1872, classes began in Metchosin Schoolhouse with Mrs. Elizabeth Fisher teaching 7 girls and 3 boys. On land donated by John Witty and with its $300 cost shared equally by...
For a quarter of a century, the wood-burning steam 'locies' of the 'Cordwood Limited' hauled trains throughout the Saanich Peninsula. From 1894 to 1919, the Victoria and Sidney Railway was vital...
In 1841, Sinclair guided 200 Red River settlers from Fort Garry through the Rockies to Oregon in an attempt to hold the territory for Great Britain. By 1854 he had recrossed the mountains several...
It was May, 1808, when David Thomson, the 'greatest land geographer', sought a fur-trade route along the opposite shore. Thompson's route became the busy Walla Walla Trail when gold was discovered...
Simon Fraser's men cut the first spruce logs near the junction of the Nechako and Fraser Rivers in 1807 to construct Fort George. Starting near the original fort a century later, Prince...
Name after 'Tete Jaune', blond fur trader at Jasper House, this low pass was favoured by Sanford Fleming in his railway surveys of the 1870's. Rejected by the C.P.R., the route was later used by...
Nanaimo was founded as a coal-mining settlement in 1852. Its most productive mine, No. 1, opened in 1881. From the bottom of the main shaft, one-half mile south of here, a labyrinth of...
This historic residence, built in 1861, was the home of the Honourable Peter O'Reilly. As Gold Commissioner, County Court Judge and member of the first Legislative Council of British Columbia,...
It was one of the most difficult construction jobs in the British Empire, but the colony needed this road to the Cariboo goldfields. From 1861 to 1863 the small body of Royal Engineers sent...
From 1930-35, these mines were the British Empire's largest producers of copper. Originally prospected by Dr. A.A. Forbes in 1888, the ores of the Britannia Range were first staked in 1897...
In 1869 Robert Dunsmuir discovered coal in this area. The settlement of Wellington developed after 1871 when coal was transported first by wagon and later by rail to the wharves at Departure...
The valley's potential was seen by Forbes and Charles Vernon in 1863, when travelling to silver claim staking 40 miles to the east. In 1864, the brothers pre-empted across the lake 1000...
The first paper mill in BC was built on the Somass River in 1894. The small water-powered plant was able to produce 50 tons of paper a day using rags, rope and ferns as raw material....
From a muddy trail fronting Fort Victoria's palisades, this street changed with the maturing city. In the 1850's, Hudson's Bay Co. ships loaded firs while moored to the shore. In the 1860's, gold...