D'Arcy is an unincorporated community in the

Canadian province Canada has ten provinces and three territories that are sub-national administrative divisions under the jurisdiction of the Constitution of Canada, Canadian Constitution. In the 1867 Canadian Confederation, three provinces of British North Amer ...

British Columbia British Columbia is the westernmost Provinces and territories of Canada, province of Canada. Situated in the Pacific Northwest between the Pacific Ocean and the Rocky Mountains, the province has a diverse geography, with rugged landscapes that ...

, approximately 150 kilometres northeast of the city of

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 cit ...

. Located at the head of Anderson Lake, D'Arcy, also known as Nequatque or N'Quatqua in the

St'at'imcets Lillooet (; Lillooet: / , ) is a Salishan language of the Interior Salish languages, Interior branch spoken by the Stʼatʼimc in southern British Columbia, Canada, around the middle Fraser River, Fraser and Lillooet River, Lillooet Rivers. Th ...

(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 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 Plateau, Interior (NB another route known as the Lillooet Trail was the Lillooet Cat ...

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

Seton Lake Seton Lake is a lake in the Squamish-Lillooet region of southwestern British Columbia. On the northeast side is Mission Ridge. On the southwest is the Cayoosh Range. By road, the eastern end is about southwest of Lillooet. Name origin In 1827, ...

, 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, 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, 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 World War II or the Second World War (1 September 1939 – 2 September 1945) was a World war, global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies of World War II, Allies and the Axis powers. World War II by country, Nearly all of the wo ...

. 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 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 service from Seton Portage.

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