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Soda Creek is a rural subdivision 38 km north of Williams Lake in British Columbia, Canada. Located on the east bank of the
The Old Cariboo Road was built from Lillooet to Alexandria, beginning in 1859 and completed to Soda Creek in 1863. The roadbuilder for that section was Gustavus Blin Wright.
While Wright was overseeing the construction of the road he was also arranging with his associates for the building of a sternwheeler steamer that could take travelers to Quesnellemouthe, (later shortened to Quesnel) where they could then travel east to Barkerville.
The Fraser River was not considered navigable by sternwheeler north of Yale due to many hazardous rapids and canyons. However, from Soda Creek to Quesnel, the Fraser was relatively free of obstructions, therefore Soda Creek was the logical terminus for sternwheelers on the upper Fraser River.
The '' Enterprise'' was launched in the spring of 1863 and most of the travelers on their way to the goldfields, by foot, horseback, or wagon, took the ''Enterprise'' as the wagon road would not be not completed to Quesnel until 1865.
With the launching of the ''Enterprise'' the government placed a land reserve on Soda Creek. Almost at once land lots were sold. 
The ''Enterprise'' didn't return and the ''Victoria'' worked alone for the next 15 years until she was taken off the river in 1886. By then the gold rushes were over and Soda Creek slumbered until the construction of the Grand Trunk Pacific Railway.
Following the initial stampede to the Cariboo Gold Rush in the early 1860s, Soda Creek enjoyed a second boom which started in 1909, when it was announced that the Grand Trunk Pacific Railway's route would go through 
The 
The automobiles were Winton Sixes, purchased in 1910 from a car manufacturer in Seattle.
During the years of rail construction, Soda Creek prospered as a major stopping place on the Cariboo Road as travelers and supplies came up from Ashcroft on stagecoaches or in automobiles and were transferred onto the sternwheelers to go further north.
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 d ...
, Soda Creek was originally the home of the Xat'sull First Nation Xatśūll First Nation formerly known as Soda Creek Indian Band, is a First Nations government of the Secwepemc (Shuswap) Nation, located in the Cariboo region of the Central Interior region of the Canadian province of British Columbia. It was c ...
. Soda Creek Indian Reserve No. 1 is located on the left (E) bank of the Fraser River, one mile south of the Soda Creek BCR (CN) station, 431.10 ha.
Xat'sull means "on the cliff where the bubbling water comes out".
European settlement began in the 1860s with the onset of the Cariboo Gold Rush and the building of the Old Cariboo Road.
History
The Old Cariboo Road was built from Lillooet to Alexandria, beginning in 1859 and completed to Soda Creek in 1863. The roadbuilder for that section was Gustavus Blin Wright.
While Wright was overseeing the construction of the road he was also arranging with his associates for the building of a sternwheeler steamer that could take travelers to Quesnellemouthe, (later shortened to Quesnel) where they could then travel east to Barkerville.
The Fraser River was not considered navigable by sternwheeler north of Yale due to many hazardous rapids and canyons. However, from Soda Creek to Quesnel, the Fraser was relatively free of obstructions, therefore Soda Creek was the logical terminus for sternwheelers on the upper Fraser River.
The '' Enterprise'' was launched in the spring of 1863 and most of the travelers on their way to the goldfields, by foot, horseback, or wagon, took the ''Enterprise'' as the wagon road would not be not completed to Quesnel until 1865.
With the launching of the ''Enterprise'' the government placed a land reserve on Soda Creek. Almost at once land lots were sold. Robert McLeese
Robert McLeese (June 28, 1828 – March 27, 1898) was an Ireland, Irish-born hotel keeper, store owner, owner of a sternwheel river boat and political figure in British Columbia. He represented Cariboo (provincial electoral district), Cariboo ...
, Joseph T.Senay, Robert A. Collins, Peter Dunlevy
Peter may refer to:
People
* List of people named Peter, a list of people and fictional characters with the given name
* Peter (given name)
** Saint Peter (died 60s), apostle of Jesus, leader of the early Christian Church
* Peter (surname), a sur ...
, Henry Yeates, and George Hendricks, were some, who built hotels, stores, blacksmith shops and saloons on the site.
In 1869 Wright added a second sternwheeler to the route, the '' Victoria''. Both sternwheelers worked on the route until 1871, when the ''Enterprise'' was taken up north to Takla Landing to deliver supplies and miners to the Omineca Gold Rush.
The ''Enterprise'' didn't return and the ''Victoria'' worked alone for the next 15 years until she was taken off the river in 1886. By then the gold rushes were over and Soda Creek slumbered until the construction of the Grand Trunk Pacific Railway.
The second boom
Following the initial stampede to the Cariboo Gold Rush in the early 1860s, Soda Creek enjoyed a second boom which started in 1909, when it was announced that the Grand Trunk Pacific Railway's route would go through Fort George
Fort George may refer to:
Forts
Bermuda
* Fort George, Bermuda, built in the late 18th Century and successively developed through the 19th Century, on a site that had been in use as a watch and signal station since 1612 British Virgin Islands
* ...
from eastern Canada.
Again the town's prosperity was due to being the natural sternwheeler terminus on the Fraser River as sternwheelers were necessary to take settlers and supplies safely and comfortably upriver to Fort George.
The Fort George Lumber and Navigation Company of South Fort George
South Fort George is a suburb of Prince George, British Columbia, Canada.
Before the arrival of the Grand Trunk Pacific Railway in 1914, the Prince George area was known as Fort George and was a Lheidli T'enneh village and Hudson's Bay Company sto ...
built two sternwheelers at Soda Creek, both in the winter of 1909/10, the '' Chilcotin'' and the '' Fort Fraser'' which were used along with the ''Chilco'', ''Charlotte'' and ''Quesnel'' to deliver passengers and supplies to the new communities in Fort George.
The BC Express Company
Barnard's Express, later known as the British Columbia Express Company or BX, was a pioneer transportation company that served the Cariboo and Fraser-Fort George regions in British Columbia, Canada from 1861 until 1921.
The company's beginning ...
had been servicing the area since the Cariboo Gold Rush and they held the government mail contract, so the company's owner, Charles Vance Millar, decided to expand the company's route to Fort George by adding sternwheelers and automobiles to their fleet of stagecoaches
A stagecoach is a four-wheeled public transport coach used to carry paying passengers and light packages on journeys long enough to need a change of horses. It is strongly sprung and generally drawn by four horses although some versions are draw ...
.
The BC Express Company built a company office and construction site at Soda Creek and in the winter of 1909/10 they built the '' BX'' and then the '' BC Express'' in the winter of 1911/12.
The automobiles were Winton Sixes, purchased in 1910 from a car manufacturer in Seattle.
During the years of rail construction, Soda Creek prospered as a major stopping place on the Cariboo Road as travelers and supplies came up from Ashcroft on stagecoaches or in automobiles and were transferred onto the sternwheelers to go further north.
See also
*Soda Creek/Deep Creek Band Xatśūll First Nation formerly known as Soda Creek Indian Band, is a First Nations government of the Secwepemc (Shuswap) Nation, located in the Cariboo region of the Central Interior region of the Canadian province of British Columbia. It was cr ...
Further reading
* *Notes
External links
* *{{cite web, last =Gold Rush Trail, title =Waggon Road Construction, url =http://www.goldrushtrail.net/indexgrt.asp?p=271, access-date =2007-07-03, url-status =dead, archive-url =https://web.archive.org/web/20070927094352/http://www.goldrushtrail.net/indexgrt.asp?p=271, archive-date =2007-09-27, df = Geography of the Cariboo Populated places on the Fraser River