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Stanley, British Columbia. | |
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Coordinates: 53°2′22.42″N121°43′35.26″W / 53.0395611°N 121.7264611°W | |
Country | Canada |
Province | British Columbia |
Founded | 1861 |
Elevation | 1,200 m (3,900 ft) |
Population (2014) | |
• Total | 0 |
Time zone | PST |
Highways | Highway 26 |
Standing buildings | 1 (as of March 2014) |
Stanley was a gold rush town in the Cariboo region of British Columbia that began during the Cariboo Gold Rush.
Gold was found in nearby Lightning Creek in 1861 resulting in the towns of Stanley and Van Winkle springing up as part of the Cariboo Gold Rush. Stanley is located in the Cariboo region of British Columbia’s central interior. Stanley can be found by following Highway 26 east from the city of Quesnel. A 45-minute drive along Highway 26 passes by the appropriately named Stanley Road on which the town of Stanley was located.
Stanley once had a sprawling population that surpassed the town of Barkerville at one time due to the gold in the area. Passing by the vicinity one would not even know that there was ever a bristling town full of gold-hungry prospectors and their families. A lone building that is now being renovated is the little visible evidence from the gravel road that there was anything ever there. But just a few steps into the now thick underbrush reveals plenty of evidence of the town of Stanley. An abundance of scrap wood, metal and remnants of buildings can be seen buried in the brush and earth. By the end of the 19th century (1800s), Stanley had a population that surpassed the nearby town of Barkerville; Over half the population of Stanley consisted of Chinese.
Because of its longevity, much has been written about the Lightning Hotel from its arrival at its current site in 1873. It was originally brought down from the town of Richfield during a great fire that destroyed most of the town. The building was saved by a bucket brigade. Then moved on skids from Richfield to its present location. The first proprietor, William Houseman, locally nicknamed The Duke of York, renamed his Yorkville Saloon to The Lightning Hotel.
The hotel had many owners from William Ellis, John Lowe, William Morgan and Len Ford. Also super chef and confectioner Hannah Williams owned it until 1947 at the time of her death.
There is some speculation that the hotel burned down in 1924 and was rebuilt on its original site from buildings purchased by Jimmy Williams at the defunct La Fontaine Mine. During the early 1900s an additional wing (which was the mirror image of the original structure) was built doubling the size of the building. This addition had all the hallmarks of a building built in the 1920s lending to the further confusion of the date of the original building. The 1920s addition disappeared sometime between 1970 and 1990, leaving the current structure all that remains of the Lightning Hotel. The current construction bears all the 'trait's' of a building of the late 19th century. Hotels of the 1800s were no larger than the building currently standing. In addition, a building such as the one that stands today would never have been found in a mining camp.
It was purchased by prominent Vancouver mining executive Jack LaFleur and his wife Nita who opened it in 1967 for the centennial year. After that, the building was closed and slowly fell into disrepair with the second half of the building (built in the early 1900s) disappearing completely.
In 1996, Jack and Nita LaFleur's son, Mark LaFleur and his business partner Lawrence Adams took on the job of restoring the property by giving it a new foundation and securing it structurally. The work was done by Mr. Howard Berlin. The restoration process continues today.
Overlooking the town of Stanley is the old Stanley Cemetery located atop a hill. The graveyard holds some pioneers of the gold rush area along with some later expired residents. At first glimpse, it seems as though grave robbers may have dug up some of the plots and took the bones but the graves belonged to Chinese gold miners whose remains were shipped back to their birthplace.
The old cemetery is gradually becoming a part of the land, as is the town of Stanley. The Stanley cemetery is maintained only by donations which shows in the deterioration.
Daisy Gardner, Mearl Gardner and Mary Gardner’s first baby daughter.
The Cariboo region of British Columbia was ravaged by the Mountain Pine Beetle in which Stanley lies. In 2005, the beetle kill trees were harvested around the Stanley cemetery and area for the safety of the visitors and to reduce the threat of forest fire. In the process of logging the beetle kill trees, the fencing surrounding the Stanley cemetery and some of the individual burial plots where damaged by the fallen trees. The damaged fencing was not repaired afterwards. In 2007, some minor restoration work was done to the area fencing.
Barkerville was the main town of the Cariboo Gold Rush in British Columbia, Canada, and is preserved as a historic town. It is located on the north slope of the Cariboo Plateau near the Cariboo Mountains 80 kilometres (50 mi) east of Quesnel. BC Highway 26, which follows the route of the Cariboo Wagon Road, the original access to Barkerville, goes through it.
Lillooet, formerly Cayoosh Flat, is a community on the Fraser River in British Columbia, Canada, about 240 km (150 mi) up the British Columbia Railway line from Vancouver. Situated at an intersection of deep gorges in the lee of the Coast Mountains, it has a dry climate with an average of 329.5 mm (12.97 in) of precipitation being recorded annually. Lillooet has a long growing season, and once had prolific market gardens and orchard produce. It often vies with Lytton and Osoyoos for the title of "Canada's Hot Spot" on a daily basis in summer.
Highway 26, also known as the Barkerville Highway, is a minor east-west highway in the North Cariboo region of the Central Interior of British Columbia, Canada. First opened in 1967, it provides access to the community of Wells and the famous gold rush town of Barkerville at the foot of the Cariboo Mountains, respectively 75 and 81 km east of the highway's junction with Highway 97 at Quesnel. Also accessed by the route is Bowron Lakes Provincial Park, a popular canoeing expedition circuit, the cutoff for which is between Barkerville and Wells. Since Highway 26 is very lightly travelled, it has not needed any major improvements since its opening. Its route is approximately the same as that of the Cariboo Wagon Road.
The Cariboo is an intermontane region of British Columbia, Canada, centered on a plateau stretching from Fraser Canyon to the Cariboo Mountains. The name is a reference to the caribou that were once abundant in the region.
Yale is an unincorporated town in the Canadian province of British Columbia.
The Cariboo Road was a project initiated in 1860 by the Governor of the Colony of British Columbia, James Douglas. It involved a feat of engineering stretching from Fort Yale to Barkerville, B.C. through extremely hazardous canyon territory in the Interior of British Columbia.
William Barker (1817–1894), also known as Billy Barker, was an English prospector who was famous for being one of the first to find a large amount of gold in the Cariboo of British Columbia. He was also the founder and namesake of Barkerville, the most significant town during the region's gold rush, which is preserved today as a historic town.
The Cariboo Gold Rush was a gold rush in the Colony of British Columbia, which later joined the Canadian province of British Columbia. The first gold discovery was made at Hills Bar in 1858, followed by more strikes in 1859 on the Horsefly River, and on Keithley Creek and Antler Creek in 1860. The actual rush did not begin until 1861, when these discoveries were widely publicized. By 1865, following the strikes along Williams Creek, the rush was in full swing.
The Cariboo Plateau is a volcanic plateau in south-central British Columbia, Canada. It is part of the Fraser Plateau that itself is a northward extension of the North American Plateau. The southern limit of the plateau is the Bonaparte River although some definitions include the Bonaparte Plateau between that river and the Thompson, but it properly is a subdivision of the Thompson Plateau. The portion of the Fraser Plateau west of the Fraser River is properly known as the Chilcotin Plateau but is often mistakenly considered to be part of the Cariboo Plateau, which is east of the Fraser.
Herbert Sylvester Sincock was a left-handed pitcher in Major League Baseball. In 1908, he played both college baseball at the University of Michigan and professional baseball for the Cincinnati Reds.
Alexandria or Fort Alexandria is a National Historic Site of Canada on the Fraser River in British Columbia, and was the end of the Old Cariboo Road and the Cariboo Wagon Road. It is located on Highway 97, 103 miles (166 km) north of 100 Mile House and 28 miles (45 km) south of Quesnel.
Quesnel Forks, historically Quesnelle 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 60 km southeast of Quesnel and only 11 km northwest of Likely.
Lac La Hache is a recreational and retirement community in the Cariboo region of British Columbia, Canada. Located on the shore of Lac La Hache alongside British Columbia Highway 97 near the regional centre of 100 Mile House, the community's origins date to the days of the Cariboo Gold Rush and the Cariboo Wagon Road, for which it provided an important roadhouse. Lac La Hache, or "The Lake of the Axe" as it translates to, was named, during the fur trade era, after the unfortunate incident of a French-Canadian voyageur who lost his axe head while chopping a hole in the ice. It is a town rich in history, as it sits along the Gold Rush Trail.
Williams Creek is an important historical gold mining creek in the Cariboo goldfields of the Central Interior of British Columbia, entering the Willow River between Barkerville and the town of Wells, which is at the headwaters of the Willow River.
Cottonwood River is a tributary of the Fraser River in the Central Interior of British Columbia, Canada. Rising at the confluence of the Swift River and Lightning Creek at Coldspring House in the Cariboo goldfields of the northern Cariboo Plateau, it flows northwest and then turns southwest to join the Fraser just north of the city of Quesnel, which is at the confluence of the Quesnel River with the Fraser.
Cottonwood, including the Cottonwood Ranch and Cottonwood House, is an unincorporated settlement in the North Cariboo region of the Central Interior of British Columbia, Canada. Originally a ranch, it is located in the northern Cariboo Plateau, just 8 km northwest of Coldspring House, which is at the confluence of the Swift River and Lightning Creek, which is the beginning of the Cottonwood River. Lightning Creek was one of the more famous of the gold-bearing creeks of the Cariboo Gold Rush.
Coldspring House is an unincorporated locality and former roadhouse on the Cariboo Wagon Road in the Cariboo Country of the Central Interior of British Columbia, Canada. Located just east of the confluence of Lightning Creek and the Swift River between Quesnel and Barkerville along that route. Only 8 km east along that road from Cottonwood House, another roadhouse still operating as a store and campground today, as well as a provincial heritage property with a small museum. Just farther along the route, which is today's BC Highway 26, is Beaver Pass House. All date from the era of the Cariboo Gold Rush and were busy stopping places for travellers going to and from the goldfields.
Fanny Bendixen was a hotelier and saloon–keeper during the gold–rush period in British Columbia.
St. Saviour's Anglican Church is an historic one-storey rustic Carpenter Gothic Anglican church building located in the National Historic Site of Barkerville, British Columbia. Designed by the Rev. James Reynard, it was built by John Bruce and J. G. Mann. Construction began in 1868 but was not finished until after the church's first service was held on September 18, 1870. Its Carpenter Gothic architectural features include lancet windows and board and batten walls on the exterior as well as interior. A porch on the right side which appeared in early photographs is no longer in existence. Today it is part of Barkerville Historic Town and admission to the church is included in the price of admission to the town. Lay services are conducted in the church most days during the summer season.
William Allen Jones was a Canadian dentist and miner. He was the first practicing dentist in British Columbia under the British Columbia Dental Act.
Coordinates: 53°02′00″N121°43′00″W / 53.03333°N 121.71667°W
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