History of the 83 Mile Stage Coach Stopping House
When Ray and Vi Young are asked what they like best about owning a museum their
answer is:
"The pleasure we get in talking to people, showing them what we've
collected over the years,
and explaining how and when these artifacts were once
used."
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The start of the Cariboo Wagon Road
Stories say that gold was found in the Cariboo as early as 1852. Others say
1856 and 1857. Either way by 1858 the Hudson's Bay Company had acquired 800
ounces of gold in its raw state. Because it still had to be minted, and the
closest mint was in San Francisco, the gold was loaded on a steam ship and
sent south. California, where a gold rush had just taken place, was full of
gold hungry miners. When they saw the steamship unload they were on their
way - to GOLD - in the Cariboo region of British Columbia, Canada.
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This photo of the BX stage Coach courteousy the Dougherty family Clinton, BC
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Its estimated that 23,000 passengers left California by sea and another 8,000
made the trek across land. Those that came by sea landed in Victoria, only to
find out that they were still 200 miles from the gold fields. They then had
to purchase tickets on ships that took them up the Fraser River - where the
gold rush started. Miners looking further up river, to where they thought
the gold might have originated, struck it rich. By 1861 the official yield
was over $2.5 million! Most of this had come from the Williams Creek area.
Unofficial sources, because of what was not declared, were said to be closer
to $5 million. It was a sailor named Billy Barker, that had left the sea for
the gold fields, that hit it big ... at 52 feet one pan was yielding $5 and one
square foot of ground was yielding $1000.
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The existing trails, and the rivers, were extremely treacherous however, and
because of the number of miners heading north it was decided that a wagon road
should be built. In 1861 GB Wright began work on a 47 mile stretch of road from
Lillooet to Clinton, then known as 47 Mile House, with Lillooet being Mile One.
In 1862 Wright was awarded a contract for 130 miles of road to be built from
Clinton to Soda Creek. Wages for road building in this era were something
like this: White men received fifty-four dollars a month, Chinese men were
getting forty-six dollars a month, and contractors were being paid about
$450.00 per mile.
The building of the wagon road inspired the use of stage coaches, and so that
they had a place to switch to fresh horses, stopping houses were built every
10 to 15 miles, with some areas seeing stops every 3 to 4 miles. 59 Mile, 70
Mile, 74 Mile, 83 Mile, 93 Mile, and 100 Mile are some examples of where
stopping houses were located.
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83 Mile House
Richard Walters, like many others, had left home and headed for the gold rush in
British Columbia. While working his way north on Wright's road crew he decide
to pre-empt a quarter section of land with his buddies, John Saul and Robert
Beard. His brothers, Thomas and John, later joined him and took over Saul
and Beard's pre-emption and started building a roadhouse. Over time the Walters
brothers enlarged their acreage at the 83 Milepost and established other roadhouse
farms at the 93, 105, and the 122 Mile.
It is said that in 1865 the first White male baby to be born in the Cariboo was
born at 83 Mile, to parents Thomas and Mary Walters. That same year saw the
Telegraph come to 83 Mile with Albert Chrysler in charge. Chrysler then bought
the 83 Mile from the Walters brothers in 1866.
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This photo from the archives was taken
of 83 Mile House in the 1860s
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The latter part of the 1860s saw 83 Mile as a very popular stopping point for
pack-trains and wagons. There was good meadowland and plenty of hay and oats
could be put up for the winter. From late Spring through to Fall one could
often see a dozen or more wagons at the 83 Mile every week but in winter months
it dropped to pretty much just the Barnard's Express Company stagecoaches
(later known as the BC Express company, or just BX).
Chrysler sold the 83 Mile to Murdock Ross in 1868 and in 1889 Steven Tingley,
owner of the BC Express Co, leased the property. Tingley ended up purchasing
the property in 1897 and it was at this point in time that the 83 Mile House
was completely renovated and enlarged, becoming one of the main stations on the
BX stage line. A meal or a bed for the night could be had for 50 cents and out
back was a large horse barn that could stall 50 horses. Its this barn that was
built in the 1860s that is still there today!
In 1905, with the retirement of Steven Tingley, David Stoddard of Clinton
purchased the 83 Mile. Following World War 1, Stoddard sold to a
government-sponsored Soldier Settlement Board who placed two veterans,
Tony Orford and Jack Templeton, in charge and it was in 1922 that the 83
Mile House burned to the ground. During the 1930s, the 83 Mile House was
rebuilt by a Williams Lake druggist, and the restaurant served meals, to IT
Stage passengers, and then rubber tired vehicle passengers until the highway
was relocated in 1948.
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Horse drawn wagons sitting right where they would
have changed horses in the 1860s.
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Today
Today the original 83 Mile House is once again open to the public! Ray and Vi
Young, who have lived in the Cariboo since 1956, have spent the last few decades
collecting horse drawn equipment and other antiques. When asked what they like
best about owning a museum their answer is: "The pleasure we get in talking to
people and showing them what we've collected, and how and when these artifacts
were once used."
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