About 4 kilometres before reaching Louis Creek one may see a pullout on the west side of the highway in which this
British Columbia Stop of Interest stands.
"OVERLANDERS" OF 1862
It had been an epic struggle against the wilderness for the gold-seekers from Eastern Canada. They had crossed the Rockies, trekked through pathless forests, and won the swift rapids of the North Thompson River. The open country now offered hope and safe passage. Ragged and starved, they reached Kamloops where many became pioneer farmers.
DEPARTMENT OF
RECREATION & CONSERVATION
One will also notice that the area around has been burned fairly recently. Here you're in the middle of what was the infamous
McClure Fire of 2003. That fire,
started by a carelessly discarded cigarette butt, caused the loss of 26,420 hectares, 72 homes and 9 businesses. The 2003 fire season was one of the most catastrophic in British Columbia’s recorded history. Due to an extended drought and excessively hot weather in the southern half of the province, forest firefighters faced conditions never seen before in Canada. Lightning strikes, human carelessness, and arson all contributed to igniting nearly 2,500 fires involving more than 10,000 firefighters and support personnel, burning more than 265,000 hectares at a cost of $375 million. You might remember that the equally infamous
Okanagan Mountain Park (Kelowna) Fire was one of those 2,500 fires.
Overlanders of 1862
The Overlanders of 1862 were a group of some 150 settlers who travelled from Ontario to the BC interior, led by brothers Thomas and Robert McMicking of Stamford Township, Welland County, Ontario.
They went in groups by ship and American railway to Fort Garry (Winnipeg). Leaving there in early June 1862, equipped with Red River carts and a few horses, they reached Fort Edmonton on July 21 and traded their carts for pack horses. With the help of Indigenous guides they crossed the Rockies.
All but six survived the perilous descent of the Fraser River by raft to Fort George (Prince George). Most went on to the Cariboo goldfields, and many, including the McMickings, had successful careers in BC. The only woman Overlander, Catherine O'Hare Schubert, took her three children with her and gave birth to her fourth only hours after arriving at Kamloops in October.
From the Canadian Encyclopedia