Stagecoach and Sternwheel Days in the Cariboo and Central B.C.

Nicholas Pashley was a bookseller and a freelance writer and editor in Toronto.

When gold was discovered in British Columbia’s Cariboo country in 1858, a great need suddenly arose for means of getting men, equipment, and food into the interior and of getting the survivors and their gold out. Stagecoach and Sternwheel Days in the Cariboo and Central B.C. tells of the hair-raising era that began in 1863, when the first stagecoach made its way up the Fraser Canyon, and ended when the sternwheeler Quesnel was wrecked in Fort George Canyon in 1921. This book is a reprint of articles written for the B.C. Historical Quarterly by Willis J. West, general manager of the British Columbia Express Company from 1903 to 1921.

Early in the twentieth century, the B.X., as the B.C. Express Company was commonly known, ran the longest stagecoach line in North America, operating in unbelievable conditions of rugged terrain and unpredictable weather. They also had to contend with hold-up artists like the famous Bill Miner. The author gives a vivid account of stagecoach life in Canada’s West, from the horses used to the accommodation provided.

At about the time the stagecoach and, to some extent, the railways were opening up the B.C. interior, sternwheelers began to ply the 450-mile route up the treacherous Upper Fraser River from Soda Creek to Tete Jaune Cache. The navigational problems involved were enormous and the dangers great. Again author West describes the difficulties in building the steamers, and the hazards, and occasional comforts, of travelling in them.

Numerous period photographs illustrate the lively text and complete the feeling of complete authenticity.