WILLIAMS LAKE

ESTLING amid pine-clad slopes in a broad, sunny valley, situated near
N the shore of a six-mile long lake, and traversed by the winding beauties

of Williams Lake Creek, some 147 miles north of Ashcroft by the
Cariboo Road, the little town of Williams Lake, centre of six main highways
of the Interior, might aptly be termed the “Mecca of the Cariboo.’’

A new town, brought into being by the advent of the Pacific Great East-
ern Railway, Williams Lake is indeed “a new gem in an antique setting.”
Here stood, in the swirling days of the 60’s, the old Borland Ranch, a mile-
stone on the Old Gold Trail. Here passed the pack-trains to and from the
goldfields of the Far North—the old trail may still be seen like a scar
ascending the precipitous slopes towards Soda Creek—here passed the
Sourdough and the Chechako, the mining engineer and the dance hall girl,
the deep-chested miner and the foot-blistered clerk, the strong and the weak,
all drawn irresistibly northward by the lure of “the muck called gold.” And
here, too, passed the broken battalions returning—the new-made millionaire,
the satisfied “‘mucker,” the furtive “‘tin-horn,’”’ the broken wrecks—all the
flotsam and jetsam of the gold-fields. Still standing nearby the town are
the rotting timbers of the Comer Gaol—here, in the remote isolation of the
far-flung North, the old circuit judges administered fearless, splendid justice.
Fragments of the gallows on which two malefactors suffered the supreme

penalty may still be seen.

Nowadays, the busy little town serves the needs of the vast territory sur-
rounding it, and history bids fair to repeat itself by virtue of the extremely
rich strike at Cedar Creek. Old-time prospectors speak of this as the richest
ground they have ever seen. The great Plateau of the Chileoten, given over
to cattle-ranging, is reached from Williams Lake, by a splendid auto high-
way. Another well-travelled road runs southward to Dog Creek, and to the
famous Gang Ranch, one of the largest cattle ranches in British Columbia,
passing through the Springhouse farming district.

Westward, two good auto roads, rich in northern scenery and abounding
in interest, lead, one to Horsefly, the other to Quesnel Forks and Cedar
Creek. Beautiful camping sites by purling brooks may be found along both
of these roads. Big game abounds in the regions of Horsefly and Quesnel
Forks, and at Quesnel Dam the fishing is superb. All through the territory
may be found streams where “‘the trout is jumping-crazy for the fly.” Moose,
Elk, Caribou, Deer, Grizzly and Black Bear, Mountain Goat and Sheep await
the big-game hunter.

Good accommodation for man and car is provided by hotels and garages,
while a warm welcome always awaits the tourist at Williams Lake.

FOURTEEN