Bordered on the west by the Fraser River and the south by the Quesnel River, ths park was named in honor of Ceal Tingley, a pioneer of Quesnel and area who went on to become commissioner, alderman and mayor of Quesnel. At the confluence of the Fraser and Quesnel rivers, the site of the park is significant to the Lhtako Dené indigenous people as the site of a major settlement. As such the City of Quesnel, which for many years owned the property, is returning ownership of the park to the Lhtako Dené. The site is also historically significant as the site of first contact with European explorers when Alexander Mackenzie first travelled through the area, and later, with Simon Fraser as he journeyed down the Fraser River. The Lhtako Dené plan to build an Indigenous Cultural Centre in the park once they achieve ownership and receive an
Invest in Canada Infrastructure grant.
At present the 1.5445 hectare park is the site of over 40 trees planted in memory of pioneers of the Quesnel area, including the Tingley family. Also in the park are large historic artefacts and a cairn with a Collins Overland International Telegraph CNHS plaque. The artefacts include a replica of a Cornish water wheel that was originally located at Williams Creek in Barkerville, the boiler of ‘The Enterprise’, the first steamship to arrive in Quesnel in 1863 from Alexandria, a centrifugal pump and boiler used around 1900 in a hydraulic mine, and a steam shovel used by the Cariboo Hydraulic Mining Company for their Bullion Mine in the early 1900s. This shovel was used to dig a trench from Spanish Lake to the Bullion Mine which closed in 1912.
Near the very south end of the park is this steam powered high pressure water pump which was used in a hydraulic mining operation. "Hydraulic Mining" uses high pressure, high volume jets of water, much like a "water cannon" to strip soil, rock and everything else right down to bedrock, the material flowing down to sluices in the valley bottom, where gold and other heavy metals are extracted from it. This particular unit was used at the turn of the century and abandoned in place, later rescued and restored for display in Ceal Tingley Memorial Park.
CENTRIFUGAL
PUMP AND BOILER
CENTRIFUGAL PUMPS AND STEAM BOILER UNITS SUCH AS THIS WERE USED AROUND 1900 IN THE FEW HYDRAULIC MINES WHICH OPERATED ON LOCAL RIVERS. WATER WAS RAISED FROM THE RIVER BY THE STEAM POWERED PUMP AND WAS USED TO "HYDRAULIC" LOW BENCH AREAS WHERE WATER WAS SCARCE.
THIS UNIT WAS ABANDONED BY A MINING COMPANY ON LAND OWNED BY MR. A.S. KING, & RECOVERED FOR RESTORATION IN 1990.
THE CITY OF QUESNEL IS GRATEFUL TO MR. KING FOR THE DONATION OF THIS ARTIFACT, TO JACK IVES, BILL RICHTER, JOHN McKELVIE, AND DICK BEEDLE FOR RECOVERY AND RESTORATION.