Cariboo Highway

Province: British Columbia

The Cariboo Highway (Highway 97) largely follows the route of the Cariboo Trail and Cariboo Waggon Road, which led from Lillooet to the gold-rush regions in the Cariboo Mountains. However, the present Cariboo Highway 97 begins at the TransCanada Highway near Cache Creek and connects the latter with Yellowhead Highway further to the north near Prince George, a distance of 445 km (276 mi.). From there it is known as the "John Hart Highway" and continues further north to create a link between the TransCanada Highway and Vancouver and Dawson Creek, where the Alaska Highway begins. In a southerly direction the Highway initially follows the TransCanada Highway eastwards, then turns off with three alternative routes into Okanagan Valley and links up with the east-west link road, Crowsnest Highway (Highway 3; see entry), which runs near to the U.S. - Canadian border. The first gold-seekers, on hearing news of great finds of gold in the interior of British Columbia, came north from California, initially following the rocky Cariboo Trail along the Fraser River. In 1862 the governor of the province, Sir James Douglas, had a road 6 m (20 ft) wide and 640 km (400 mi.) long laid into the interior to take wagons and ox-carts; by 1865 it was completed as far as the Barkerville goldfields. Several travelers' rests were built along the way; names such as "100 Mile House" or "150 Mile House" still remind us of these mainly modest stations which have long since disappeared.

Although the new Waggon Road actually started in Yale, skirted Lillooet and did not meet the old Cariboo Trail until it reached Clinton, for some curious reason the miles were counted starting from Lillooet which, following the boom period in the early 1860s, had lost much of its importance. In Lillooet, which today lies 75 km (47 mi.) west of Highway 97, there is a tablet recalling the "0" miles mark of the old Cariboo Waggon Road.