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The most recent plaques:

The First Highway

In 1793 Alexander Mackenzie and North West Company adventurers discovered this route through the Rocky Mountains. During 1805-08 Simon Fraser built forts and trading posts west of the mountains....

In 1793 Alexander Mackenzie and North West Company adventurers discovered this route through the Rocky Mountains. During 1805-08 Simon Fraser built forts and trading posts west of the...

  • british columbia
  • canada

Yukon Trail

In 1898 a North West Mounted Police party laboured northward past here blazing an overland route from Edmonton to Dawson City and the goldfields of the Klondike. Its plan was to prove the...

In 1898 a North West Mounted Police party laboured northward past here blazing an overland route from Edmonton to Dawson City and the goldfields of the Klondike. Its plan was to prove the...

  • british columbia
  • canada

Bridge River Gold (Sign missing)

The famed Bralorne and Pioneer mines constitute British Columbia's leading gold camp. In the 1860's prospectors from the Fraser River and Cariboo region found gold in the gravel of Bridge River....

The famed Bralorne and Pioneer mines constitute British Columbia's leading gold camp. In the 1860's prospectors from the Fraser River and Cariboo region found gold in the gravel of Bridge River....

  • british columbia
  • canada

Alexander Mackenzie

Seeking a route to the Pacific Ocean, this resolute fur trader and explorer, with his party of 9 men and a frail bark canoe, portaged nearby in May 1793 to avoid the awesome Peace River Canyon. On...

Seeking a route to the Pacific Ocean, this resolute fur trader and explorer, with his party of 9 men and a frail bark canoe, portaged nearby in May 1793 to avoid the awesome Peace River Canyon. On...

  • british columbia
  • canada

Powell River (Sign missing)

Israel W. Powell, M.D., 1836-1915, whose name is honoured here, was a consistent supporter of the movement which led B.C. into Confederation with Canada in 1871. The plant, Western Canada's...

Israel W. Powell, M.D., 1836-1915, whose name is honoured here, was a consistent supporter of the movement which led B.C. into Confederation with Canada in 1871. The plant, Western...

  • british columbia
  • canada

Empire of Grass

Back in the 1870's the bunchgrass hereabours came up to a horse's belly. Some of the transient miners saw wealth in these broad rolling grasslands and swapped gold pan for saddle. In time several...

Back in the 1870's the bunchgrass hereabours came up to a horse's belly. Some of the transient miners saw wealth in these broad rolling grasslands and swapped gold pan for saddle. In time several...

  • british columbia
  • canada
  • rewritebc

Trail of '98 (Sign missing)

The Yukon Trail, which crossed British Columbia, was the shortest route to the Klondike. Thousands of gold-crazed stampeders in '97 and'98 fought their way over the Chilkoot Pass to Lake Bennett....

The Yukon Trail, which crossed British Columbia, was the shortest route to the Klondike. Thousands of gold-crazed stampeders in '97 and'98 fought their way over the Chilkoot Pass to Lake...

  • british columbia
  • canada

III

Canada's largest cattle 'empire', the Douglas Lake Cattle Co., uses this simple 'Three Bar' brand. Homesteaded by John Douglas in 1872, the 'spread' grew while supplying meat in the 1880's to...

Canada's largest cattle 'empire', the Douglas Lake Cattle Co., uses this simple 'Three Bar' brand. Homesteaded by John Douglas in 1872, the 'spread' grew while supplying meat in the 1880's to...

  • british columbia
  • canada

Lillooet (Sign missing)

Here was the gateway to gold! Yellow gold lined bars of the Fraser and beyond was the lure of the Cariboo. Like a magnet it drew thousands of miners on the long Harrison trail through the Coast...

Here was the gateway to gold! Yellow gold lined bars of the Fraser and beyond was the lure of the Cariboo. Like a magnet it drew thousands of miners on the long Harrison trail through the...

  • british columbia
  • canada

The Chasm

At the close of the Ice Age about 10,000 years ago, a stream fed by melting ice cascaded over a falls forming this chasm by cutting into some of the laval flows that helped to build the Fraser...

At the close of the Ice Age about 10,000 years ago, a stream fed by melting ice cascaded over a falls forming this chasm by cutting into some of the laval flows that helped to build the...

  • british columbia
  • canada

Great Train Robbery

Bill Miner, notorious American stagecoach and train robber, stole $7,000 in British Columbia's first train holdup, near Mission in 1904. For two years, unsuspected, he lived quietly near...

Bill Miner, notorious American stagecoach and train robber, stole $7,000 in British Columbia's first train holdup, near Mission in 1904. For two years, unsuspected, he lived quietly...

  • british columbia
  • canada

Overlanders of 1862

It has been an epic struggle against the wilderness for the gold-seekers from Eastern Canada. They had crossed the Rockies, trekked through pathless forests and won the swift rapids of the North...

It has been an epic struggle against the wilderness for the gold-seekers from Eastern Canada. They had crossed the Rockies, trekked through pathless forests and won the swift rapids of the North...

  • british columbia
  • canada
  • rewritebc

Fur, Gold, and Cattle

Founded in 1812, Fort Kamloops stood at a natural crossroads. For 50 years it remained the focus of an inland fur empire the roaring mining boom of the 1880's. Ranchers with cattle and horses...

Founded in 1812, Fort Kamloops stood at a natural crossroads. For 50 years it remained the focus of an inland fur empire the roaring mining boom of the 1880's. Ranchers with cattle and...

  • british columbia
  • canada
  • rewritebc

Jackass Mountain (Sign missing)

Jackass Mountain - a memorial to a mule. Wearied by its struggle over the steep, twisting Cariboo Road, one loaded mule reared, bucked, and fell to its death in the canyon. The long stream of...

Jackass Mountain - a memorial to a mule. Wearied by its struggle over the steep, twisting Cariboo Road, one loaded mule reared, bucked, and fell to its death in the canyon. The long stream...

  • british columbia
  • canada

Ghost of Walhachin (Sign missing)

Here bloomed a 'Garden of Eden'. The sagebrush desert changed to orchards through the imagination and industry of English settlers during 1907-14. Then the men left to fight - and die - for King...

Here bloomed a 'Garden of Eden'. The sagebrush desert changed to orchards through the imagination and industry of English settlers during 1907-14. Then the men left to fight - and die - for...

  • british columbia
  • canada

The Birdcages

The Legislative Buildings for the Colony of Vancouver Island were built on these grounds in 1859. Nicknamed 'The Birdcages' because of their quaint style, they were replaced in 1898 by the present...

The Legislative Buildings for the Colony of Vancouver Island were built on these grounds in 1859. Nicknamed 'The Birdcages' because of their quaint style, they were replaced in 1898 by the present...

  • british columbia
  • canada

Ladysmith

An 'instant' town of the past. In 1898 James Dunsmuir, the coal baron, moved buildings by rail from Wellington to establish this coal shipping port. Nearby copper mines added a smelter in 1902,...

An 'instant' town of the past. In 1898 James Dunsmuir, the coal baron, moved buildings by rail from Wellington to establish this coal shipping port. Nearby copper mines added a smelter in...

  • british columbia
  • canada

Beacon Hill

Death, life and happiness are in the story of Beacon Hill. On these headlands, where an ancient race once buried their dead, early settlers erected beacons to guide mariners past dangerous...

Death, life and happiness are in the story of Beacon Hill. On these headlands, where an ancient race once buried their dead, early settlers erected beacons to guide mariners past...

  • british columbia
  • canada

Skeena River Boats

From 1889, sternwheelers and smaller craft fought their way through the coast Mountains, churning past such awesome places as 'The Devil's Elbow' and 'The Hornet's Nest'. Men and supplies were...

From 1889, sternwheelers and smaller craft fought their way through the coast Mountains, churning past such awesome places as 'The Devil's Elbow' and 'The Hornet's Nest'. Men and supplies...

  • british columbia
  • canada

A Versatile Pioneer

Sproat Lake is named for Gilbert Malcolm Sproat, scholar, author, anthropologist, businessman, and avid British Columbian from his arrival in 1860. He co-founded Port Alberni's first sawmill in...

Sproat Lake is named for Gilbert Malcolm Sproat, scholar, author, anthropologist, businessman, and avid British Columbian from his arrival in 1860. He co-founded Port Alberni's first sawmill...

  • british columbia
  • canada