We're going to assume the "then" photo to have been taken sometime in the 1930s for a couple of reasons:
1-The street is not yet paved, or even graveled.
2-There is already staining of the upper fascia board.
For many years this building continued in use as courthouse, government offices, police offices and jail. We assume the jail to have been located in the concrete basement. Now Clinton's
Village Office, it stands on the east side of Highway 97, now known as the
Cariboo Highway, between Le Bourdais and Dewdney Avenues. Clinton itself is approximately 98 km (61 mi) northwest of Cache Creek and the junction of Highway 97 and Highway 1, the
Trans Canada Highway. This long, low Arts & Crafts style building has, since its construction in 1927, been expanded with additions to both the north and south. Over the main entrance is a three dimensional rendition of the British Columbia coat of arms.
In front of the village office is a rustic three part kiosk displaying a Clinton town map, with legends, a short treatise on the village itself, and a Clinton area map.
GOVERNMENT OFFICES
AND JAIL
In 1873, the Government Agent’s house and courthouse was actually located in the lot directly across Cariboo Highway. On March 23, 1919, the courthouse was destroyed by fire, and similarly the Government Agent’s residence also met the same fate in 1970.
The first Government Agent appointed in the Village was Charles Edward Pope in 1872. Several others followed in quick succession until 1877 when Frederick W. Souesbecame the Agent - a position he held until his retirement in 1911.
In 1926, the courthouse and jail were rebuilt in the location you see now, but the building burnt to the ground before being occupied. Within a year, the building was reconstructed in the same footprint. This new building housed the Government Agent and the police offices on the main floor and the living quarters of the Police on the second floor. Two wings were later added to the building to include the courthouse and the forestry office. Today, the building is owned by the Village of Clinton and houses the municipal offices, council chambers, and various other offices.
From the Clinton Walking Tour
Established as a stopping and supply centre for prospectors headed to the
Cariboo Gold Rush, Clinton grew quickly following the completion of the
Cariboo Road in 1863, which led to
Barkerville and the surrounding gold fields. Originally
47 Mile or
47 Mile House, a common naming practice along the
Cariboo Road, on June 11, 1863 the name Clinton was officially adopted by Queen Victoria to inaugurate the retirement of
Henry Fiennes Pelham Clinton, the Colonial Secretary of the day and the 5th Duke of Newcastle.
The original wagon road on which Clinton arose is now Highway 97, the major north-south thoroughfare through the centre of the British Columbia interior. Following much of the original
Cariboo Wagon Road, it runs for 2,081 km (1,293 mi), from the Canada–United States border in the south to the British Columbia/Yukon boundary in the north.