100 Mile House is a

district municipality A district municipality is a designation for a class of municipalities found in several locations, including Canada, Lithuania, and South Africa. Canada British Columbia Under provincial law, municipalities in British Columbia are to be desig ...

located in the South Cariboo region of central

British Columbia British Columbia (commonly abbreviated as BC) is the westernmost province of Canada, situated between the Pacific Ocean and the Rocky Mountains. It has a diverse geography, with rugged landscapes that include rocky coastlines, sandy beaches, ...

, Canada.

History

100 Mile House was originally known as Bridge Creek House, named after the creek running through the area. Its origins as a settlement go back to the time when Thomas Miller owned a collection of ramshackle buildings serving the traffic of the

gold rush A gold rush or gold fever is a discovery of gold—sometimes accompanied by other precious metals and rare-earth minerals—that brings an onrush of miners seeking their fortune. Major gold rushes took place in the 19th century in Australia, New Z ...

as a resting point for travellers moving between

Kamloops Kamloops ( ) is a city in south-central British Columbia, Canada, at the confluence of the South flowing North Thompson River and the West flowing Thompson River, east of Kamloops Lake. It is located in the Thompson-Nicola Regional District, w ...

and

Fort Alexandria Alexandria or Fort Alexandria is a National Historic Site of Canada on the Fraser River in British Columbia, and was the end of the Old Cariboo Road and the Cariboo Wagon Road. It is located on Highway 97, north of 100 Mile House and south of ...

, which was north of 100 Mile House farther along the

Hudson's Bay Brigade Trail The Hudson's Bay Brigade Trail, sometimes referred to simply as the Brigade Trail, refers to one of two routes used by Hudson's Bay Company fur traders to transport furs, goods and supplies between coastal and Columbia District headquarters at Fort ...

. It acquired its current name during the

Cariboo Gold Rush The Cariboo Gold Rush was a gold rush in the Colony of British Columbia, which later joined the Canadian province of British Columbia. The first gold discovery was made at Hills Bar in 1858, followed by more strikes in 1859 on the Horsefly River, ...

where a roadhouse was constructed in 1862 at the mark up the

Old Cariboo Road The Old Cariboo Road is a reference to the original wagon road to the Cariboo gold fields in what is now the Canadian province of British Columbia. It should not be confused with the Cariboo Road, which was built slightly later and used a differen ...

from

Lillooet Lillooet () is a district municipality in the Squamish-Lillooet region of southwestern British Columbia. The town is on the west shore of the Fraser River immediately north of the Seton River mouth. On BC Highway 99, the locality is by road abou ...

. In 1930, Lord Martin Cecil left England to come to 100 Mile House and manage the estate owned by his father, the 5th Marquess of Exeter. The estate's train stop on the

Pacific Great Eastern BC Rail is a railway in the Canadian province of British Columbia. Chartered as a private company in 1912 as the Pacific Great Eastern Railway (PGE), it was acquired by the provincial government in 1918. In 1972 it was renamed to the Britis ...

(now BC Rail leased and operated by

Canadian National The Canadian National Railway Company (french: Compagnie des chemins de fer nationaux du Canada) is a Canadian Class I railroad, Class I freight railway headquartered in Montreal, Quebec, which serves Canada and the Midwestern United States, M ...

) railway is to the west of town and called

Exeter Exeter () is a city in Devon, South West England. It is situated on the River Exe, approximately northeast of Plymouth and southwest of Bristol. In Roman Britain, Exeter was established as the base of Legio II Augusta under the personal comm ...

.BC Geographical Names entry "Exeter (locality)"
/ref> The town, which at the time consisted of the roadhouse, a general store, a post office, telegraph office and a power plant, had a population of 12. The original road house burned down in 1937. 100 Mile House residents often go by the demonyms "Hundred Milers, Huncity" 100 Mile House is on Secwepemc unceded territory. The nearest Secwepemc band is the Tsq'escen, for whom a geographic reference point is the Canim Lake Reserve.

Demographics

In the

2021 Canadian census The 2021 Canadian census was a detailed enumeration of the Canadian population with a reference date of May 11, 2021. It follows the 2016 Canadian census, which recorded a population of 35,151,728. The overall response rate was 98%, which is sl ...

conducted by

Statistics Canada Statistics Canada (StatCan; french: Statistique Canada), formed in 1971, is the agency of the Government of Canada commissioned with producing statistics to help better understand Canada, its population, resources, economy, society, and cultur ...

, 100 Mile House had a population of 1,928 living in 907 of its 974 total private dwellings, a change of from its 2016 population of 1,918. With a land area of , it had a population density of in 2021.

Economy

At present, 100 Mile House is the primary service centre for the South Cariboo and has a population of approximately 2,000. The service area has a population roughly ten times the size of the town. It includes the communities of

Lac la Hache Lac La Hache is a recreational and retirement community in the Cariboo region of British Columbia British Columbia (commonly abbreviated as BC) is the westernmost province of Canada, situated between the Pacific Ocean and the Rocky Mounta ...

, Forest Grove, Lone Butte, Horse Lake, Bridge Lake,

70 Mile House 7 (seven) is the natural number following 6 and preceding 8. It is the only prime number preceding a cube (algebra), cube. As an early prime number in the series of positive integers, the number seven has greatly symbolic associations in religion ...

, Canim Lake, and 108 Mile Ranch, and is the largest residential centre between

and Williams Lake. The primary industries of 100 Mile House are forestry and ranching. Log home building and tourism are also an important part of the community.

Tourism

100 Mile House is a centre for outdoor activities and is becoming increasingly known for its richness of bird life. The surrounding area features hundreds of lakes for boating and fishing including

101 Mile Lake 101 Mile Lake is a small lake located near the town of 100 Mile House, British Columbia. Like the town, the lake is named because of its distance from Lillooet via the Old Cariboo Road. See also *List of lakes of British Columbia This is an i ...

103 Mile Lake 103 Mile Lake is a small lake located near the town of 100 Mile House, in the Cariboo District, in British Columbia, Canada. Name Like the town, the lake is named for its distance from Lillooet along the Old Cariboo Road. See also *List of lakes ...

Lac La Hache Lac La Hache is a recreational and retirement community in the Cariboo region of British Columbia British Columbia (commonly abbreviated as BC) is the westernmost province of Canada, situated between the Pacific Ocean and the Rocky Mounta ...

, Canim Lake, Horse Lake, Green Lake, Bridge Lake and Sheridan Lake. The Cariboo ski marathon attracts a large and international field of cross-country (Nordic) skiers. The surrounding communities have various activities for residents and visiting tourists, including rodeos and an extensive trail system. This area is known for outdoor activities including hiking, snowmobiling, cross country skiing, and ATV riding. There are government campgrounds at Green Lake, Bridge Lake and Lac La Hache. There are also many private campsites around the area that also offer cabin and fishing boat rentals and RV hook-ups.

Transportation

100 Mile House was located historically along the Cariboo Road. Until 2002, it was served by

BC Rail BC Rail is a railway in the Canadian province of British Columbia. Chartered as a private company in 1912 as the Pacific Great Eastern Railway (PGE), it was acquired by the provincial government in 1918. In 1972 it was renamed to the British ...

's daily

dayliner The Budd Rail Diesel Car, RDC, Budd car or Buddliner is a self-propelled diesel multiple unit (DMU) railcar. Between 1949 and 1962, 398 RDCs were built by the Budd Company of Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, United States. The cars were primarily ad ...

service between

Vancouver Vancouver ( ) is a major city in western Canada, located in the Lower Mainland region of British Columbia. As the List of cities in British Columbia, most populous city in the province, the 2021 Canadian census recorded 662,248 people in the ...

and Prince George. Until 2013, 100 Mile House was served by

Greyhound Canada Greyhound Canada Transportation ULC began as a local British Columbia bus line in the early 1920s, expanded across most of Canada, and became a subsidiary of the US Greyhound in 1940. In 2018, Greyhound pulled out of Western Canada, preserving ...

. Today, the town is served by the

100 Mile House Regional Transit System 100 Mile House Regional Transit System provides transit services in the Cariboo of British Columbia to 100 Mile House and communities north of 100 Mile House. The system is served by community shuttle-type buses from Monday to Friday. Routes ...

and by Adventure Charters intercity bus service four times a week in each direction. The area is also served by BC Transit Health Connections. The town is home to the 100 Mile House Airport with no scheduled services and is located near the larger

South Cariboo Regional Airport South Cariboo Regional Airport or 108 Mile Ranch Airport is a registered aerodrome located northwest of 108 Mile Ranch, British Columbia, Canada. The airport is the regional aerodrome for the South Cariboo Regional District, handling over 2,000 ...

Locations

* North of 100 Mile House is

(), 150 Mile House (), Williams Lake (), and

McLeese Lake McLeese Lake, originally Mud Lake, is a lake in the Cariboo region of British Columbia, Canada. It is located on the Cariboo Highway Highway 97 is a major highway in the Canadian province of British Columbia. It is the longest continuously ...

(). * Also located north of 100 Mile House is

Quesnel Quesnel or Quesnell means "little oak" in the Picard dialect of French. It is used as a proper name and may refer to: Places * Le Quesnel, a commune the Somme department in France * Quesnel, British Columbia, a city in British Columbia, Canada ...

() and Prince George (). * Southeast of 100 Mile House is the Interlakes area and Bridge Lake (). * South of the town is

(), Clinton (), Cache Creek (),

Spences Bridge Spences Bridge is a community in the Canadian province of British Columbia, situated north east of Lytton and south of Ashcroft. At Spences Bridge the Trans-Canada Highway crosses the Thompson River. In 1892, Spences Bridge's population inc ...

(), and

().

Climate

100 Mile House has a

humid continental climate A humid continental climate is a climatic region defined by Russo-German climatologist Wladimir Köppen in 1900, typified by four distinct seasons and large seasonal temperature differences, with warm to hot (and often humid) summers and freezing ...

(

Köppen Köppen is a German surname. Notable people with the surname include: * Bernd Köppen (born 1951), German pianist and composer * Carl Köppen (1833-1907), German military advisor in Meiji era Japan * Edlef Köppen (1893–1939), German author and ...

''Dfb'') with mild summers combined with cool nights, along with cold, but not very cold winters for its latitude. In spite of the moderation that comes from its relative proximity to the

Pacific Ocean The Pacific Ocean is the largest and deepest of Earth's five oceanic divisions. It extends from the Arctic Ocean in the north to the Southern Ocean (or, depending on definition, to Antarctica) in the south, and is bounded by the continen ...

, extreme winter temperatures can occasionally occur, with a record low of . 100 Mile House is located in a

rain shadow A rain shadow is an area of significantly reduced rainfall behind a mountainous region, on the side facing away from prevailing winds, known as its leeward side. Evaporated moisture from water bodies (such as oceans and large lakes) is carrie ...

of the coastal mountains, resulting in reduced precipitation, much of it falling as snow.

Sports

100 Mile House is home to the 100 Mile House Wranglers who play

hockey Hockey is a term used to denote a family of various types of both summer and winter team sports which originated on either an outdoor field, sheet of ice, or dry floor such as in a gymnasium. While these sports vary in specific rules, numbers o ...

in the

Kootenay International Junior Hockey League The Kootenay International Junior Hockey League (KIJHL) is a Junior "B" Ice Hockey league in British Columbia, Canada sanctioned by Hockey Canada. The winner of the Teck Cup competes with the champions of the Pacific Junior Hockey League (PJ ...

. They are a junior 'B' team and play their home games at the South Cariboo Rec Centre.

References

External links

* * {{Authority control District municipalities in British Columbia Geography of the Cariboo Populated places in the Cariboo Regional District 1862 establishments in Canada Populated places established in 1862