Quesnel Forks also simply known as "The Forks" or grandly known as "Quesnel City" is a ghost town in the Cariboo region of British Columbia, Canada. It is located the junction of the Quesnel and Cariboo rivers and is 160 km southeast of Quesnel and only 11 km northwest of Likely.
Contents |
History
Quesnel Forks was founded in 1860 and was a major supply center for the Cariboo Gold Rush. In its heyday, it had a population of 5,000 miners and was the largest "city" on the mainland of British Columbia.[1].[2] However when the Cariboo Wagon Road was completed in 1865, Quesnel Forks was bypassed and Barkerville became the center of the mining activity. By the mid 1870's most of the population had left, although a small community of Chinese miners and merchants remained in the village until the 1920s when most of the mines began to close. In the mid 1950's, the town was abandoned
Modern day
Today, visitors to Quesnel Forks can explore the restored pioneer buildings and historic cemetery.
Notes
- ^ Ramsey, Bruce (1963). Ghost Towns of British Columbia. Mitchell Press, 45. ISBN Unknown.
- ^ Stangoe, Irene (1994). Cariboo Chilcotin Pioneer People and Places. Heritage House, 46. ISBN 1-895811-12-0.
See also
Further reading
- Ghost Towns of British Columbia Bruce Ramsey Mitchell Press, Vancouver, 1963, OCLC: 39371 ISBN Unknown
- Cariboo-Chilcotin Pioneer People and Places Irene Stangoe ISBN 1-895811-12-0
