Lytton is a village of about 250 residents in southern
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, for ...
, Canada, on the east side of the
Fraser River
The Fraser River is the longest river within British Columbia, Canada, rising at Fraser Pass near Blackrock Mountain in the Rocky Mountains and flowing for , into the Strait of Georgia just south of the City of Vancouver. The river's annual ...
and primarily the south side of the
Thompson River, where it flows southwesterly into the Fraser. The community includes the Village of Lytton and the surrounding community of the
Lytton First Nation, whose name for the place is
Camchin, also spelled ''Kumsheen'' ("river meeting").
During heat waves, Lytton is often the hottest spot in Canada despite its location north of
50°N in latitude. In three consecutive days of June 2021, it broke the all-time record for
Canada's highest temperature, ending at on June 29. This is the highest temperature ever recorded north of
45°N and higher than the all-time records for
Europe
Europe is a large peninsula conventionally considered a continent in its own right because of its great physical size and the weight of its history and traditions. Europe is also considered a Continent#Subcontinents, subcontinent of Eurasia ...
and
South America
South America is a continent entirely in the Western Hemisphere and mostly in the Southern Hemisphere, with a relatively small portion in the Northern Hemisphere at the northern tip of the continent. It can also be described as the sou ...
. The next day (June 30),
a wildfire swept through the valley, destroying the majority of the town.
The Lytton area has been inhabited by the
First Nations people for over 10,000 years. It was one of the earliest locations occupied by non-Indigenous settlers in the
Southern Interior of British Columbia. The town was founded 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 1858–59, when it was known as "The Forks."
History
Lytton was on the route of 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 ...
in 1858. The same year, it was named after
Edward Bulwer-Lytton
Edward George Earle Lytton Bulwer-Lytton, 1st Baron Lytton, PC (25 May 180318 January 1873) was an English writer and politician. He served as a Whig member of Parliament from 1831 to 1841 and a Conservative from 1851 to 1866. He was Secre ...
, the British Colonial Secretary and a novelist.
[Akrigg, Helen B. and Akrigg, G.P.V; 1001 British Columbia Place Names; Discovery Press, Vancouver 1969, 1970, 1973, p. 106] For many years, Lytton was a stop on major transportation routes, namely, the
River Trail beginning in 1858,
Cariboo Wagon Road in 1862, the
Canadian Pacific Railway
The Canadian Pacific Railway (french: Chemin de fer Canadien Pacifique) , also known simply as CPR or Canadian Pacific and formerly as CP Rail (1968–1996), is a Canadian Class I railway incorporated in 1881. The railway is owned by Canad ...
in the 1880s, the
Cariboo Highway
Highway 97 is a major highway in the Canadian province of British Columbia. It is the longest continuously numbered route in the province, running and is the only route that runs the entire north–south length of the British Columbia, connec ...
in the 1920s, and the
Trans Canada Highway
The Trans-Canada Highway ( French: ; abbreviated as the TCH or T-Can) is a transcontinental federal–provincial highway system that travels through all ten provinces of Canada, from the Pacific Ocean on the west coast to the Atlantic Ocean ...
in the 1950s. The town is much less important since the construction of the
Coquihalla Highway Coquihalla may refer to:
*British Columbia Highway 5
Highway 5 is a north–south route in southern British Columbia, Canada. Highway 5 connects the southern Trans-Canada route ( Highway 1) with the northern Trans-Canada/Yellowhead route ( Hig ...
in 1987, which uses a more direct route to the
BC Interior
, settlement_type = Region of British Columbia
, image_skyline =
, nickname = "The Interior"
, subdivision_type = Country
, subdivision_name =
, subdivision_type1 = Province
, subd ...
.
In 2015, Lytton was featured on the CBC television show ''
Still Standing'' with host
Jonny Harris.
2021 wildfire and destruction
On June 30, 2021, the day after Lytton set a Canadian all-time high temperature record of , a wildfire swept through the community, destroying most structures. All villagers were ordered to evacuate. Local MP
Brad Vis
Brad Vis (born in 1984) is a Canadian politician who was elected to represent the riding of Mission—Matsqui—Fraser Canyon in the House of Commons of Canada in the 2019 Canadian federal election, and re-elected in 2021. He is the member of ...
said 90% of the village burned down. Two people died.
In the year since the fire, only a quarter of the properties were cleared of ash and debris. There was incessant wrangling between local residents who wanted to restore buildings and power immediately, and the local council who wanted fire-prevention standards in place. Coupled with inadequate insurance payouts and local record-breaking floods, residents were running out of time to restore the village. They were further hampered when another wildfire took out six residences across the river in July 2022.
Name origin
Novelist
Edward Bulwer-Lytton
Edward George Earle Lytton Bulwer-Lytton, 1st Baron Lytton, PC (25 May 180318 January 1873) was an English writer and politician. He served as a Whig member of Parliament from 1831 to 1841 and a Conservative from 1851 to 1866. He was Secre ...
was a friend and contemporary of
Charles Dickens
Charles John Huffam Dickens (; 7 February 1812 – 9 June 1870) was an English writer and social critic. He created some of the world's best-known fictional characters and is regarded by many as the greatest novelist of the Victorian er ...
and was one of the pioneers of the historical novel, exemplified by his most popular work, ''
The Last Days of Pompeii''. He is best remembered today for the opening line to the novel ''Paul Clifford'', which begins "
It was a dark and stormy night..." and is considered by some to be the worst opening sentence in the English language. Bulwer-Lytton is also responsible for sayings such as "
The pen is mightier than the sword
"The pen is mightier than the sword" is a metonymic adage, created by English author Edward Bulwer-Lytton in 1839, indicating that the written word is more effective than violence as a means of social or political change.
Under some interpretat ...
" from his play ''
Richelieu''. Though he was a popular author in the 19th century, fewer people today are aware of his prodigious body of literature, which spans many genres. In the 21st century, he is best known as the namesake for the
Bulwer-Lytton Fiction Contest (BLFC), sponsored annually by the English Department at
San Jose State University
San José State University (San Jose State or SJSU) is a public university in San Jose, California. Established in 1857, SJSU is the oldest public university on the West Coast and the founding campus of the California State University (CSU) ...
, which challenges entrants "to compose the opening sentence to the worst of all possible novels."
In 1858,
Governor James Douglas named the town after Bulwer-Lytton "as a merited compliment and mark of respect." Bulwer-Lytton served as
Colonial Secretary. As governor of the then-colony, Douglas would have reported to him.
Lord Lytton literary debate
On August 30, 2008, the Village of Lytton invited
Henry Lytton-Cobbold, the great-great-great grandson of Edward Bulwer-Lytton, to defend the great man's honour by debating Professor Scott Rice, the sponsor of the BLFC, on the literary and political legacies of his great ancestor. The debate received wide media coverage including ''
The Globe and Mail
''The Globe and Mail'' is a Canadian newspaper printed in five cities in western and central Canada. With a weekly readership of approximately 2 million in 2015, it is Canada's most widely read newspaper on weekdays and Saturdays, although it ...
'', ''
The New York Times
''The New York Times'' (''the Times'', ''NYT'', or the Gray Lady) is a daily newspaper based in New York City with a worldwide readership reported in 2020 to comprise a declining 840,000 paid print subscribers, and a growing 6 million paid ...
'', ''
The Guardian
''The Guardian'' is a British daily newspaper. It was founded in 1821 as ''The Manchester Guardian'', and changed its name in 1959. Along with its sister papers '' The Observer'' and '' The Guardian Weekly'', ''The Guardian'' is part of the ...
'', CBC's ''
As It Happens'', and many local and regional media outlets. The debate was moderated by Mike McArdell of
Global TV. Lytton-Cobbold provided a spirited and crowd-inspiring defence of his ancestor, and despite a factual and well-researched presentation by Rice, Lytton-Cobbold emerged as the crowd favourite by a wide margin. In the end, Rice begrudgingly admitted to an admiration of Bulwer-Lytton. This event was held as part of the Village of Lytton's
BC150 celebrations, which marked the 150th anniversary of the date that the community received its name, in addition to the province-wide celebration of the establishment of the original
Colony of British Columbia on August 2, 1858.
Demographics
In the
2021 Census of Population 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 cultu ...
, Lytton had a population of 210 living in 104 of its 118 total private dwellings, a change of from its 2016 population of 249. With a land area of , it had a population density of in 2021.
Another 1,700 people in the immediate area live in rural areas and on
reserves of the neighbouring six
Nlaka'pamux communities.
802 members out of 1,970 registered members of the
Lytton First Nation live on reserves immediately adjacent to the municipality.
Climate
Lytton experiences an inland
warm-summer mediterranean climate (''Csb)'', using the -3°C isotherm, or a
dry-summer continental climate (''Dsb''), using the 0°C isotherm. During summer heat waves, Lytton is often the hottest spot in Canada, despite its location north of
50°N in latitude. Because of the dry summer air and a relatively low elevation of , summer afternoon shade temperatures frequently reach and occasionally top . Lytton holds the record for the
highest temperature ever recorded in Canada with a record high of on June 29 of the
2021 Western North America heat wave
The 2021 Western North America heat wave was an extreme heat wave that affected much of Western North America from late June through mid-July 2021. Rapid attribution analysis found this was a 1000-year weather event, made 150 times more likely ...
.
This occurred after having already broken records multiple times during the previous days of that heat wave. This is the world's highest temperature ever recorded north of the
50th parallel, the highest temperature ever in the United States or Canada recorded outside of the
Southwestern United States
The Southwestern United States, also known as the American Southwest or simply the Southwest, is a geographic and cultural region of the United States that generally includes Arizona, New Mexico, and adjacent portions of California, Colorado, N ...
, and higher than the record-high temperatures ever recorded for Europe or South America.
Before the 2021 heat wave occurred, Lytton, along with the nearby community of
Lillooet, shared the
second-highest temperature ever recorded in Canada. On July 16 and 17, 1941, the temperature reached a then-record on both days in both communities.
The coldest temperature ever recorded in Lytton was on January 18, 1950.
While reporting on the new records in 2021,
Global News
Global News is the news and current affairs division of the Canadian Global Television Network. The network is owned by Corus Entertainment, which oversees all of the network's national news programming as well as local news on its 21 owned-an ...
noted that the official Environment Canada weather station is located in the shade and is about cooler than the rest of the village. Hot summer temperatures are made more tolerable by low humidity. The heat can be intense under usually clear skies and sunlight, or by the valley's radiant slopes. Forest fires are not uncommon during the summer.
Lytton's climate is also characterised by relatively short and mild winters (although average monthly temperatures in December and January are just below freezing), with Pacific maritime influence during the winter ensuring thick cloud cover much of the time. Cold snaps originating from arctic outflow occur from time to time, but tend to be short-lived, and mountains to the north block extreme cold from penetrating the Fraser Canyon.
Lytton receives
of annual precipitation on average, making it much drier than communities to the south but certainly wetter than some of the driest spots in the BC interior, such as
Ashcroft,
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 ...
,
Spences Bridge
Spences Bridge is a community in the Provinces and territories of Canada, Canadian province of British Columbia, situated north east of Lytton, British Columbia, Lytton and south of Ashcroft, British Columbia, Ashcroft. At Spences Bridge the T ...
, and
Osoyoos. It has the driest summers in the interior of British Columbia and one of the driest summers of all places in Canada. Maximum precipitation occurs in the cooler months, with late autumn and early winter constituting the wettest time of the year.
Vegetation
Open coniferous forests of
Douglas fir
The Douglas fir (''Pseudotsuga menziesii'') is an evergreen conifer species in the pine family, Pinaceae. It is native to western North America and is also known as Douglas-fir, Douglas spruce, Oregon pine, and Columbian pine. There are three v ...
and
ponderosa pine dominate the slopes around Lytton. Some
black cottonwood is scattered among the conifers.
Bunchgrass
Tussock grasses or bunch grasses are a group of grass species in the family Poaceae. They usually grow as singular plants in clumps, tufts, hummocks, or bunches, rather than forming a sod or lawn, in meadows, grasslands, and prairies. As perennial ...
dominates the forest floor. Non-native trees cultivated in Lytton include
black locust and
Manitoba Maple.
Transportation
Lytton lies on the
Trans-Canada Highway
The Trans-Canada Highway (Canadian French, French: ; abbreviated as the TCH or T-Can) is a transcontinental federal–provincial highway system that travels through all ten provinces of Canada, from the Pacific Ocean on the west coast to the A ...
as well as both the
Canadian Pacific
The Canadian Pacific Railway (french: Chemin de fer Canadien Pacifique) , also known simply as CPR or Canadian Pacific and formerly as CP Rail (1968–1996), is a Canadian Class I railway incorporated in 1881. The railway is owned by Canadi ...
and
Canadian National
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 ...
Railways. The Canadian National Railway crosses both the Fraser and Thompson Rivers on two large steel bridges at Lytton. Via the Trans-Canada, Lytton is approximately from the city of Vancouver, north of
Hope
Hope is an optimistic state of mind that is based on an expectation of positive outcomes with respect to events and circumstances in one's life or the world at large.
As a verb, its definitions include: "expect with confidence" and "to cherish ...
, and south of
Cache Creek and Ashcroft.
Highway 12 runs north from Lytton to
Lillooet, connecting there to
Highway 99, which leads southwest to
Pemberton and
Whistler and beyond to Vancouver, and northeast to its terminus at
Lower Hat Creek (Carquile) at a junction with
Highway 97
Route 97, or Highway 97, may refer to:
Australia
- Olympic Dam Highway, South Australia
Canada
* British Columbia Highway 97
** British Columbia Highway 97A
** British Columbia Highway 97B
** British Columbia Highway 97C
** British Columbia ...
just north of Cache Creek.
The
Lytton Ferry, a free
reaction ferry
A reaction ferry is a cable ferry that uses the reaction of the current of a river against a fixed tether to propel the vessel across the water. Such ferries operate faster and more effectively in rivers with strong currents.
Some reaction ferri ...
, crosses the Fraser River at Lytton. On the river's west side are
Indian reserve
In Canada, an Indian reserve (french: réserve indienne) is specified by the '' Indian Act'' as a "tract of land, the legal title to which is vested in Her Majesty,
that has been set apart by Her Majesty for the use and benefit of a band."
In ...
communities of the
Lytton First Nation and the
Stein Valley Nlaka'pamux Heritage Park via trails from the confluence of the
Stein River with the Fraser. From the ferry, a route known as the West Side Road leads through the
Nesikep and
Texas Creek areas to
Lillooet and
BC Highway 99; the route south from the ferry is much more difficult but leads to
North Bend-
Boston Bar. When the ferry is out of service because of ice or low water levels on the Fraser River, pedestrian access is available via a walkway on the Canadian National Railway bridge crossing the river.
Via Rail
Via Rail Canada Inc. (), operating as Via Rail or Via, is a Canadian Crown corporation that is mandated to operate intercity passenger rail service in Canada. It receives an annual subsidy from Transport Canada to offset the cost of operating ...
's
Canadian
Canadians (french: Canadiens) are people identified with the country of Canada. This connection may be residential, legal, historical or cultural. For most Canadians, many (or all) of these connections exist and are collectively the source of ...
and the
Rocky Mountaineer pass through Lytton but do not make any stops. Via Rail's closest stops are
Ashcroft, to the north, and
North Bend/
Boston Bar, to the south.
Municipal
The mayor of Lytton is Denise O'Connor, who was first elected in the 2022 municipal election.
Lytton is a
corporate entity
A corporation is an organization—usually a group of people or a company—authorized by the state to act as a single entity (a legal entity recognized by private and public law "born out of statute"; a legal person in legal context) and ...
created under the
Community Charter. Elections for Village Council are held every four years. The current Council comprises the following members:
*Mayor Denise O'Connor
*Councillor Nonie McCann
*Councillor Jessoa Lightfoot
*Councillor Melissa Michell
*Councillor Jen Thoss
Provincial
Originally part of the
Lillooet provincial riding, then part of Yale-Lillooet, Lytton is now in the provincial riding of
Fraser-Nicola
Fraser-Nicola is a provincial electoral district in British Columbia, Canada, established by the '' Electoral Districts Act, 2008''. It was first contested in the 2009 general election.
Geography
As of the 2020 provincial election, Fraser-Nico ...
, represented by
Jackie Tegart
Jackie L. Tegart (born 1956) is a Canadian politician, who was elected to the Legislative Assembly of British Columbia in the 2013 provincial election. She represents the electoral district of Fraser-Nicola as a member of the British Columbia ...
of the
BC Liberals, who first won in the 2013 election.
Federal
Federally, the town is in the riding of
Mission—Matsqui—Fraser Canyon and is currently represented by
Brad Vis
Brad Vis (born in 1984) is a Canadian politician who was elected to represent the riding of Mission—Matsqui—Fraser Canyon in the House of Commons of Canada in the 2019 Canadian federal election, and re-elected in 2021. He is the member of ...
of the
Conservative Party of Canada
The Conservative Party of Canada (french: Parti conservateur du Canada), colloquially known as the Tories, is a federal political party in Canada. It was formed in 2003 by the merger of the two main right-leaning parties, the Progressive Co ...
, who was first elected in the 2019 elections.
Economy
The single main employer in the village produced forestry products and was forced to close because of market uncertainties in 2007.
Lytton is the self-proclaimed "
River Rafting Capital of Canada" with Kumsheen Rafting Resort now the largest employer in the area. A provincial campsite,
Skihist Provincial Park, adjacent to the Trans-Canada Highway six kilometres north of the village, has space for tenting as well as RVs and enjoys one of the few views available of
Skihist Mountain, the highest summit of the
Lillooet Ranges
The Lillooet Ranges are the southeasternmost subdivision of the Pacific Ranges of the Coast Mountains of British Columbia. They are located between the drainage of the Lillooet River and Harrison Lake on the west and the canyon of the Fraser Rive ...
, across the Fraser to the west of Lytton. The privately run Jade Springs Restaurant, also east of the village on the Trans-Canada, burned down in the fire of June 2021 but offered a full service campground which hopefully will open again once clean up of the Village and area is completed and services are restored.
Education
School District 74 operated Lytton Elementary School which was lost in 2021 Lytton Creek Wildfire. and
Kumsheen Secondary School (Kumsheen ShchEma-meet School).
Stein Valley Nlakapamux School is a registered member with the B.C. First Nations Schools Association. The School is mandated to provide instruction and courses approved by the B.C. Ministry of Education and BC Independent Schools.
References
External links
lytton.ca*
{{authority control
Villages in British Columbia
Populated places in the Thompson-Nicola Regional District
Populated places on the Fraser River
Thompson Country
Fraser Canyon
Populated places established in 1858
1858 establishments in the British Empire