Port Douglas, sometimes referred to simply as Douglas, is a remote community in

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, ...

Canada Canada is a country in North America. Its ten provinces and three territories extend from the Atlantic Ocean to the Pacific Ocean and northward into the Arctic Ocean, covering over , making it the world's second-largest country by tot ...

at east of the mouth 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 at the head of

Harrison Lake Harrison Lake is the largest lake in the southern Coast Mountains of Canada, being about 250 square kilometres (95 mi²) in area. It is about 60 km (37 mi) in length and at its widest almost 9 km (5.6 mi) across. Its so ...

, which is the head of river navigation from the Strait of Georgia. Port Douglas was the second major settlement of any size on the British Columbia mainland (after

Yale Yale University is a private research university in New Haven, Connecticut. Established in 1701 as the Collegiate School, it is the third-oldest institution of higher education in the United States and among the most prestigious in the wor ...

) 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 c ...

. It came into being in 1858 when Governor Douglas ordered that it be laid out. From Port Douglas to

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 ...

a mixed land and water route were built named 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 ...

, the Lillooet Trail, Harrison Trail or Lakes Route. During its rowdy heyday, Port Douglas' population numbered in the thousands, and many of the BC mainland's first companies had their start here, including the famous B.X. Express and other freighting companies that relocated to the

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 ...

with the completion of the

Cariboo Wagon Road The Cariboo Road (also called the Cariboo Wagon Road, the Great North Road or the Queen's Highway) was a project initiated in 1860 by the Governor of the Colony of British Columbia, James Douglas. It involved a feat of engineering stretching fr ...

in the mid-1860s. Port Douglas dwindled in size rapidly with the abandonment of the

. Today, there is nothing left - other than the place-name and the adopted name of the local First Nation, the Douglas Band of the

In-SHUCK-ch Nation The In-SHUCK-ch Nation, also known as Lower Lillooet people, are a small First Nations Tribal Council on the lower Lillooet River south of Pemberton- Mount Currie in the Canadian province of British Columbia. The communities of the In-SHUCK-ch a ...

. A land alienation pattern on the lakeshore to the southwest of Douglas, across the mouth of the

and down the lake a bit, remains on the map as Tipella City (also known as Tipella, or Tipella Hot Springs). It was a port and land-promotion scheme from 1898 that never went far, although a number of investors and buyers were taken in by it. The port was a wharf for the Moneyspinner silver mine at Fire Lake which operated for a few years. Regular

steamboat A steamboat is a boat that is marine propulsion, propelled primarily by marine steam engine, steam power, typically driving propellers or Paddle steamer, paddlewheels. Steamboats sometimes use the ship prefix, prefix designation SS, S.S. or S/S ...

traffic to Port Douglas from

Georgia Strait The Strait of Georgia (french: Détroit de Géorgie) or the Georgia Strait is an arm of the Salish Sea between Vancouver Island and the extreme southwestern mainland coast of British Columbia, Canada and the extreme northwestern mainland coast ...

and

New Westminster New Westminster (colloquially known as New West) is a city in the Lower Mainland region of British Columbia, Canada, and a member municipality of the Metro Vancouver Regional District. It was founded by Major-General Richard Moody as the capi ...

via the Fraser River ended in the 1890s, although the town was already in decline, only a handful of non-native residents remained. In the 1970s, a large logging operation bulldozed the last remains of the town, which were only vestiges of a few foundations. Both Port Douglas and the

, as well as the

Douglas Ranges The Douglas Ranges are a subrange of the Pacific Ranges of the Coast Mountains of the Canadian province of British Columbia, about east of downtown Vancouver, north of the Fraser River and between the valleys of Stave and Harrison Lakes. They ...

to the west of

, were named in honour of the first governor of the

Colony of British Columbia The Colony of British Columbia refers to one of two colonies of British North America, located on the Pacific coast of modern-day Canada: *Colony of British Columbia (1858–1866) *Colony of British Columbia (1866–1871) See also *History of Br ...

Sir James Douglas James Douglas may refer to: Scottish noblemen Lords of Angus * James Douglas, 3rd Earl of Angus (1426–1446), Scottish nobleman * James Douglas, Earl of Angus (1671–1692), son of the 2nd Marquess of Douglas Lords of Douglas * James Douglas, ...

. The

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." Ind ...

community of Xa'xtsa, home to the

Douglas First Nation The Douglas First Nation, aka the Douglas Indian Band, Douglas Band, or Xa'xtsa First Nation, are a band government of the In-SHUCK-ch Nation, a subgroup of the larger St'at'imc people, also referred to as Lower Stl'atl'imx. The Douglas, Skatin a ...

, who are part of the St'at'imc cultural group but have many ties to the Sto:lo of the Lower Mainland, is located on Douglas Indian Reserve No. 8BC Names/GeoBC Names entry "Douglas 8 (Indian reserve)"
/ref> which is across Little Harrison Lake, as the bay which became the site of the steamer port is known, from the location of what had been Port Douglas proper. The name Port Douglas today generally refers to that community and its location, as nothing remains of the frontier-era town.

References

{{reflist Unincorporated settlements in British Columbia Lillooet Country