In the mid 1800's, the
Original
Gold Rush Trail
was built to access the Goldfield's of BC's interior by foot, wagon, or mule
train... an upgrade to the original trail was commenced in 1862; the new road
being known as the "Cariboo
Road"... the upgrade would allow even more prospectors to access the BC's
Goldfields, and it essentially opened up the area for European settlement at the
same time.
In it's early days, parts of the Gold Rush Trail were amazing feats of bare-bones engineering, as the
builders
regularly bridged
what seemed like nearly impossible paths along the steep and treacherous walls
of the Fraser
Canyon.
In the very early days of the Gold Rush, there were actually a couple
slightly variant routes used to transit from the Greater Vancouver area to the
Goldfields... some early prospectors came into BC by land, while others came
into BC by water, and once in the lower-mainland, some traveled north via the
Fraser River through the lower portions of the Fraser Canyon, while others
avoided the lower Fraser Canyon by traveling the
Harrison
Lake/Port Douglas route to
Lillooet (before proceeding north along the Fraser River).
Today, little remains of the original trail, however, many of the old towns that
did develop along with the Gold Rush are still located along its route... several of these town have museums, historical displays,
and even public gold panning claims for those seeking to
re-trace an amazing history.
