Trails, Rails & the River Highway - Kamloops, BC - Signs of History on Waymarking.com

Trails, Rails & the River Highway

Trails
Explorers and fur traders followed the aboriginal traits on their way to the West Coast, to the north where furs were plentiful, and south through the interior into the USA. Roads and bridges soon replaced the narrow walking trails, providing horse and oxen trains, heavy freight wagons and stagecoaches with more efficient and dependable transportation Links between the Interior and the West Coast. Once the gold rush began, stagecoaches became a common sight on the Cariboo Road to Barkerville.

Long before the arrival of the first European explorer, travel was limited to the rivers and rugged game trails winding along valley bottoms and through the mountains. For thousands of years, the North and South Thompson rivers were vital to the life and culture of the Secwepemc people. They travelled, often great distances, in bark or dugout canoes. Salmon, a staple in their diet, was supplemented by plant foods that grew along the riverbank. The Secwepemc used the trails to reach plant foods and wild game beyond the river and in the mountains.

The River Highway
Before roads or railways existed, the North and South Thompson rivers provided the easiest route for travellers. With the arrival of European explorers and fur traders (or Séme7), the Secwepemc operated canoe ferries until the first bridge was built in 1887. Paddle wheelers carried freight and passengers on the North and South Thompson rivers and Kamloops and Shuswap lakes until the 1930s. Once the railway arrived, paddle wheelers were used more for pleasure and to reach areas not yet linked by road or rail.

Rails
1885 saw a rapid increase in population and a growth in economy as the Canadian Pacific Railway (CPR) linked Kamloops with the rest of the country and the world.

The Canadian Northern Pacific Railway, now the Canadian National Railway (CNR), began running in 1915 across the river through North Kamloops.

Once both railway lines leave Vancouver, they converge again in Kamloops, then split and do not meet again until. Portage la Prairie, near Winnipeg, Manitoba.

Roads
The landscape was changed dramatically in the early part of the 1900s, when it was crisscrossed by longer and wider roads that connected growing communities throughout the province. Kamloops welcomed its first motor car in 1905, and by 1955 the Trans Canada Highway linked this region with the whole country.

At Kamloops, the Yellowhead, a major highway of the Trans Canada system, crosses the northern boundaries of Secwepemc territory and passes through Tete Jaune Cache on its way west to Prince Rupert or north and east through Edmonton to Winnipeg. "Yellowhead" (tete jaune) was named for an Iroquois Metis guide in reference to his blonde hair.

In 1986 the Coquihalla toll highway was completed, significantly reducing travel time to the Coast.

Sky
In 1919, the first plane landed in an open field near Kamloops. The City was designated a Port of Entry in 1939, with the first official landing at Kamloops Municipal Airport, now Fulton Field.
From the NRHP Plaque