Engineer's Mule Road to Similkameen — Hope, BC
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Dunbar Loop
N 49° 22.315 W 121° 22.842
10U E 617552 N 5470061
In the 1850s gold fever struck along the Fraser River and in the Boundary country near Rock Creek. The problem was how to keep the gold on British soil not go through American held lands. The answer: build a mule road across the mountains.
Waymark Code: WMQA8W
Location: British Columbia, Canada
Date Posted: 01/21/2016
Views: 8
In 1846 the Oregon Treaty simply extended the border between British North America and the United States westward from the Rocky Mountains along the 49th parallel. A simple solution that lead to a complicated and expensive trail building for the British held colonies.
Why? The mountain ranges and valleys in between run north-south with no clear crossing point until you reach the Columbia River Gorge between today's Washington and Oregon states. Instead to reach Rock Creek you have to cross three high summits and passes through the mountain ranges.
But colonial Governor James Douglas commissioned a mule road be built from Fort Hope through to the gold fields of the Kettle Valley around Rock Creek. In 1860 the Royal Engineers surveyed the area and Edgar Dewdney was then hired to construct the wagon road - to be 4 feet wide and no steeper grade than one in twelve. This road had to be built to a standard that allowed mules loaded with gold ore to reach Fort Hope.
Just in the eastern parts of the District of Hope you can experience original sections of the trail. Often it is only two or three feet wide at best. It climbs rocky outcrops and crosses over the mountains. This relatively short section of the trail can be hiked within an hour-and-a-half, but it gives a good impression of what the full length of the trail would have been like to travel on.
Type of Marker: Cultural
Type of Sign: Other
Describe the parking that is available nearby: You can find parking at 49.378229, -121.369435. This followed by a 45 minute hike which involves a step hill climb.
What Agency placed the marker?: unknown
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