D'Arcy is an unincorporated community in the

Canadian province Within the geographical areas of Canada, the ten provinces and three territories are sub-national administrative divisions under the jurisdiction of the Constitution of Canada, Canadian Constitution. In the 1867 Canadian Confederation, three pr ...

of British Columbia, approximately 150 kilometres northeast of the city of Vancouver. Located at the head of Anderson Lake, D'Arcy, also known as Nequatque or N'Quatqua in the St'at'imcets (Lillooet) language, is partly a recreational and resource community and also the territory and residential area of the N'Quatqua First Nation.

History

The Lakes Route

D'Arcy was founded as a non-native community named Port Anderson during the

Fraser Canyon Gold Rush The Fraser Canyon Gold Rush, (also Fraser Gold Rush and Fraser River Gold Rush) began in 1858 after gold was discovered on the Thompson River in British Columbia at its confluence with the Nicoamen River a few miles upstream from the Thompson's ...

of 1858-1859, when it became one of the major ports of the

Douglas Road The Douglas Road, a.k.a. the Lillooet Trail, Harrison Trail or Lakes Route, was a goldrush-era transportation route from the British Columbia Coast to the Interior (NB another route known as the Lillooet Trail was the Lillooet Cattle Trail, which ...

, a.k.a. the "Lakes Route", which connected to the upper Fraser Canyon from the lower Fraser via a series of portages and lake transport. Steamers and other watercraft ran Anderson Lake from D'Arcy to the foot of the lake at

Seton Portage Seton Portage () is a community located on a narrow strip of land between Anderson Lake and Seton Lake in Squamish-Lillooet Regional District, British Columbia. The community is home to two Seton Lake First Nation communities at either end of ...

(then known as Short Portage) a short 3 kilometre portage to

Seton Lake Seton Lake is a freshwater fjord draining east via the Seton River into the Fraser River at the town of Lillooet, about long, in area and lies at an elevation of . Its depth is . The lake is natural in origin but was raised slightly as part o ...

, and from the foot of that lake another 5 kilometres to the trail's destination, the boomtown of Cayoosh Flat, which is today's town of

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 abo ...

. The name D'Arcy was conferred on the settlement, which after the gold rush reverted to near-entirely First Nations population only, at the time of the construction of the

Pacific Great Eastern Railway 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 ...

, when non-native settlers once again took up land in the area, including a general store and a set of cabins by the lakeshore. The name D'Arcy comes from D'Arcy Tate, vice president of the Pacific Great Eastern Railway, 1912-1918. The longtime proprietress of the store at D'Arcy, Irene Edwards, wrote a history of the entire region surrounding D'Arcy, as well as the town and its native people, in her self-published ''Short Portage to Lillooet''.

Japanese relocatees and Devine

Nearby

McGillivray Falls McGillivray may refer to: People * McGillivray (surname) Places * McGillivray Creek (British Columbia), a creek in the Lillooet Country of British Columbia ** McGillivray, British Columbia (formerly McGillivray Falls) in the Lillooet Country of ...

, a small resort a few miles down Anderson Lake via the railway, became one of the handful of relocation centres for Japanese expelled from the coast during the Second World War. D'Arcy at that time was just inside the "quarantine" zone from the Coast beyond which all Japanese had to be evacuated, but because the D'Arcy-Birken valley (known as the

Gates Valley The Gates Valley is a valley and group of communities in the Lillooet Country of the Southern Interior of British Columbia, Canada, located between the summit of Pemberton Pass and the head of Anderson Lake at the community of D'Arcy. Though the ...

or Birken Valley) and the Pemberton Valley in those times had no road access to the Coast, its physical isolation made regulations placed on the Japanese somewhat lax in comparison to the internment camps in the Kootenays. Because of this situation, D'Arcy local Frank Devine was able to hire the relocated Japanese men, and brought them to work at a logging camp and mill two miles (3 km) up the Gates River from D'Arcy, which has ever since been known as Devine.

Facilities

There is a public beach with a boat ramp. The N'Quatqua First Nation government offices also feature a gas station, store and post office boxes, community hall, school and other community services. The community is irregularly served by the

Kaoham Shuttle The Kaoham Shuttle is a Lillooet– Seton Portage passenger rail service along the northern shore of Seton Lake in the Squamish-Lillooet region of southwestern British Columbia. By BC Highway 99, the eastern terminus is about northeast of Van ...

service from

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:D'Arcy, British Columbia Designated places in British Columbia Unincorporated settlements in British Columbia Canadian gold rushes British Columbia gold rushes Lillooet Country Populated places in the Squamish-Lillooet Regional District

History

The Lakes Route

Japanese relocatees and Devine

Facilities

See also

References