Highway and road transportation are just as important today in
British Columbia as anywhere else in North America, but most of the
province's modern network of roads has been constructed since the
Second World War.
The first roads in British Columbia were not built until the gold rush period of the 1860s, and before that all land travel was by foot or horseback over mountain trails used by First Nations, fur traders, and gold seekers alike.
The first good wagon roads in B.C. were the Douglas Road and the Dewdney Trail leading from the south coast into the interior of the colony.
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View of the Cariboo Road in the Fraser Canyon, 1867 Detail of A-03868 |
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Alexandria suspension bridge over the Fraser River, 1870s A-03928 |
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Horse drawn freight wagons on the Cariboo Road along the Thompson River, 1867 A-00350 |
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Stage coach leaving Yale for the Cariboo, 1868 A-01559 |
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B.C. Express stage, leaving Ashcroft in 1890 C-08229 |
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Ox team and freight wagons at the Clinton Hotel, 1871 A-00346 |
After completion of the Canadian Pacific Railway in 1885, the town
of Ashcroft on the Thompson River was where people and freight were
unloaded from the trains to continue overland along the Cariboo
Wagon Road to Quesnel.
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New bridge over the Thompson River at Ashcroft, in the early 1900s C-01220 |
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Automobile and freight wagons near Ashcroft in the 1910s Detail of A-03914 |
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The first automobile in the interior of B.C., purchased by a resident of Spences Bridge in 1903. It is seen here in Clinton in 1907. D-09306 |
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Granville Street in Vancouver in the 1910s. Note the automobiles and street cars B-07574 |
By the 1910s automobiles were a common sight on B.C. roads and
streets. This growth in automobile popularity resulted in an
increased demand by the general public for more and better roads
within the province. In this way B.C.'s road system slowly expanded
and improved.
Continued...
