The Lillooet Country, also referred to as the Lillooet District, is a region spanning from the central

Fraser Canyon The Fraser Canyon is a major landform of the Fraser River where it descends rapidly through narrow rock gorges in the Coast Mountains en route from the Interior Plateau of British Columbia to the Fraser Valley. Colloquially, the term "Fraser Ca ...

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 abou ...

west to the valley of the

Lillooet River The Lillooet River is a major river of the southern Coast Mountains of British Columbia. It begins at Silt Lake, on the southern edge of the Lillooet Crown Icecap about 80 kilometres northwest of Pemberton and about 85 kilometres northwest of W ...

, and including the valleys in between, in the

Southern Interior of British Columbia Southern may refer to: Businesses * China Southern Airlines, airline based in Guangzhou, China * Southern Airways, defunct US airline * Southern Air, air cargo transportation company based in Norwalk, Connecticut, US * Southern Airways Express, M ...

. Like other historical BC regions, it is sometimes referred to simply as The Lillooet or even Lillooet, (i.e. without meaning the town of the same name). The meaning of the name has changed since over time. During the gold rush and into the later 19th Century, the term Lillooet District was synonymous with the Lillooet Mining District and also the

Lillooet Land District The Lillooet Land District is one of the 59 cadastral subdivisions of British Columbia, which were created by the Lands Act of the Colony of British Columbia in 1859, defined as "a territorial division with legally defined boundaries for administra ...

, which spanned east of the Fraser all the way to the

North Thompson River The North Thompson River is the northern branch of the Thompson River, the largest tributary of the Fraser River, in the Canadian province of British Columbia. It originates at the toe of the Thompson Glacier in the Premier Range of the Cariboo Mou ...

. As development of that region proceeded the sense of "Lillooet District" for that area was abandoned, except in terms of reference to the Land District or the similarly shaped electoral district. The original Lillooet Country, or "Old Lillooet", lies in the valley of the Lillooet River, the name of which is derived from the St'at'imcets-speaking First Nations people who live there, the Lil'wat-ul. This isolated region, long dependent on Lillooet and on the old

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 ...

and

Pemberton Trail The Lillooet Cattle Trail, also known as the Lillooet-Burrard Cattle Trail and also as the Lillooet Trail, was an unusual and daring public works undertaking by the Province of British Columbia in the 1877, and was the largest 19th century public ...

routes to the outside world, continued being considered part of the Lillooet Country until after the opening of Hwy 99 from Pemberton via Squamish to North Vancouver, since which time it has slowly become more identified with the modern-era Sea to Sky Corridor. Though largely not considered as "part of the Lillooet Country" nowadays, the Lillooet River valley is the namesake and origin of the concept of the Lillooet Country. Its point-of-access in gold rush times was Port Lillooet, British Columbia, at the south end of

Lillooet Lake Lillooet Lake is a lake in British Columbia, Canada about 25 km in length and about 33.5 square kilometres (22 mi²) in area. It is about 95 km downstream from the source of the Lillooet River, which resumes its course after leaving ...

. Also part of the Lillooet Country are the valleys between those of the Fraser and the Lillooet Rivers, namely the valleys of the Bridge River, Birkenhead River, Cayoosh Creek and Seton Lake-Anderson Lake-Gates River valley, which is the route of the

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

(formerly PGE/BCR) through the district. The basin of the Bridge River, plus the communities of D'Arcy, McGillivray Falls, Seton Portage and Shalalth are collectively known as the

Bridge River Country The Bridge River Country is a historic geographic region and mining district in the Interior of British Columbia, Canada, lying between the Fraser Canyon and the valley of the Lillooet River, south of the Chilcotin Plateau and north of the Lillooet ...

, which is a subarea of the Lillooet Country. After the 1930s the term "Bridge River-Lillooet" came into currency as a result of the chosen masthead of the fledgling '' Bridge River-Lillooet News'', which served the town and environs of Lillooet as well as the mining towns of the upper Bridge River. The Lillooet Country's boundaries are loosely defined but recognizable to residents of the area. On the northeast, the edge of the Lillooet Country is marked by the summit of the Pavilion Mountain Road and the nearby eastern outlet of

Marble Canyon Marble Canyon is the section of the Colorado River canyon in northern Arizona from Lee's Ferry to the confluence with the Little Colorado River, which marks the beginning of the Grand Canyon. Lee's Ferry is a common launching point for rive ...

. Down the Fraser Canyon, a spot known as the Big Slide on Highway 12, or the southern outlet of Fountain Valley, form the southwest boundary. On the northwest generally everything north to

Churn Creek Churn Creek is a tributary of the Fraser River in the Canadian province of British Columbia. Course Churn Creek flows generally north before turning northeast on its final leg through grasslands, joining the Fraser River just south of the headquar ...

and

Big Bar Ferry Big Bar Ferry is a cable ferry across the Fraser River in British Columbia, Canada. It is located about north of the town of Lillooet and west of Clinton. 6 km upstream from the ferry is French Bar Canyon (sometimes known as Big Bar Canyon) ...

is considered to be Lillooet Country. On the west, generally the summit of

Cayoosh Pass Cayoosh Pass (1,275 m / 4,183 ft) is a mountain pass in the Lillooet Ranges of the Pacific Ranges of the southern Coast Mountains in British Columbia, Canada. It lies just west of Duffey Lake on BC Highway 99 between the towns of Lillooet an ...

on Highway 99 near

Duffey Lake Duffey Lake Provincial Park is a provincial park in British Columbia, Canada, located at the lake of the same name, which lies along BC Highway 99 just east of the summit of Cayoosh Pass. The lake's inflow and outflow are Cayoosh Creek. The park ...

is recognizable as a "border" of the "modern" meaning of the Lillooet Country. Similarly,

Pemberton Pass Pemberton Pass, , also formerly known as Mosquito Pass, is the lowest point on the divide between the Lillooet and Fraser River drainages, located at Birken, British Columbia, Canada, in the principal valley connecting and between Pemberton and Lil ...

Birken Lake Gates Lake, also known as Birken Lake, Tenass Lake, Halfway Lake, and Summit Lake, is a small lake located at the summit of the Pemberton Portage area of the one-time Lakes Route through the Coast Mountains, located at the summit of a low pass con ...

is considered to be the outer boundary of the "modern" Lillooet Country, though as noted the Lillooet River valley to its west was the historic core and namesake of the district. Similarly, the entrance to the

via Railroad Pass (aka Railway Pass) between the upper

Hurley River The Hurley River is a major tributary of the Bridge River of west-central British Columbia that was earlier known as the South Fork of that larger river. It was for a while known as "Hamilton's River" after Danny Hamilton, an American who was amon ...

and the upper valley of the Lillooet River is a recognizable regional demarcator for locals. A vague distinction is made between the Bridge River Country and "metropolitan Lillooet" such that the lower few miles of the Bridge River, being effectively part of Greater Lillooet, are considered "Lillooet", whereas above that is "in the Bridge River".

People connected with the Lillooet Country

Caspar Phair Caspar Phair (died 1933) was one of the early settlers of Lillooet, British Columbia, Canada, arriving about 1877 to take up the role of the village's school teacher. He emigrated from Ireland. Caspar Phair became Lillooet's Government Agent, a ...

George Matheson Murray George Matheson Murray (July 27, 1889 – August 19, 1961), known publicly as George Murray, was a publisher and politician in British Columbia in the first half of the 20th century. He played a role in the founding of the Boy Scouts of Cana ...

* Margaret Lally "Ma" Murray *

Masajiro Miyazaki Masajiro Miyazaki, Order of Canada, CM (November 24, 1899 – July 23, 1984) was a Canadian osteopathic physician who practised in Vancouver prior to World War II. During World War II, he was appointed as a coroner by the British Columbia Provinci ...

Chief Hunter Jack Hunter Jack of Shalalth inhabited the Bridge River Country region of southwestern British Columbia. He was a larger-than-life indigenous personality who died in 1905. Character His formal name was Jack Tashpola or Tash Poli. He was born at 22-Mile ...

Andrew Charles Elliott Andrew Charles Elliott (June 22, 1829 – April 9, 1889) was a British Columbian politician and jurist. Career Elliott's varied career in British Columbia included gold commissioner, stipendiary magistrate, and, following the union of the Is ...

People connected with the Lillooet Country

See also