Cariboo History Tour

Leo and I signed up for the Elder College's History Tour of the Cariboo.  There were 3 days of bus tours.

The first day we drove down to Dog Creek with Dot Unrau as our guide.  Dot grew up on  a ranch in Dog Creek, and her family were pioneers in the area.

Typical Dog Creek scenery

What I learnt on this trip is that the (white) community of Dog Creek once had 500 people.  It was a supply point for the Cariboo Gold Rush, they grew wheat and had 2 grist mills operating! In the winter many of the miners would leave the cold and snowy Barkerville and spend the winter in shacks in the warmer locations, including Dog Creek.

Our second trip was south to 100 Mile House, with stops at 108 Mile House,

108 Mile House with longest log barn in BC in the background.

100 Mile House, where the whole town was once owned by the Emissaries of Divine Light, the personal religion of the Marquess of Exeter,

and various other roadhouses in between, with our final stop at 

Tthe restored one-room schoolhouse at 150 Mile House.

Guide Barry Sale holds forth in the schoolroom.

Our final trip was up to Quesnel, stopping at a number of roadhouses and old ranches on the way, including lunch at the Australian Ranch, and finishing off at the Quesnel Museum.

Not a roadhouse, but an original ranch house in Kersley.

On our way back we drove down the west side of the Fraser, crossed at Rudy Johnson Bridge, and back to town along the Soda Creek Road, passing through an area devastated by the recent wildfires. Approx. 7 houses were lost there.