Cariboo 1097244 224743875 2008-07-10T06:14:05Z Sunray 32392 added link to "intermontane" {{two other uses||the former federal electoral district|Cariboo (electoral district)|the former provincial electoral district|Cariboo (provincial electoral district)}} [[Image:708px-South BC-NW USA-relief CaribooplusChilcotin.png|thumb|300px|right|Location of "the Cariboo" as a cultural/historical region, including the [[Chilcotin District|Chilcotin]] and Lillooet-Thompson areas]] [[Image:708px-South BC-NW USA-relief CaribooPlateau2.png|thumb|300px|right|Location of the Cariboo Plateau proper]] The '''Cariboo''' is an [[intermontane]] region of [[British Columbia]] along a plateau stretching from the [[Fraser Canyon]] to the [[Cariboo Mountains]]. The name is a reference to the woodland [[caribou]] that were once abundant in the region.<!--and sill are found in the ....Coast or Cariboo Mountains?--> The Cariboo was the first region of the Interior north of the lower Fraser and its canyon to be settled by non-indigenous people, and played an important part in the early history of the colony and province. The boundaries of the Cariboo proper in its historical sense are debatable, but its original meaning was the region north of the forks of the [[Quesnel River]] and the low mountainous basins between the mouth of that river on the Fraser at the city of Quesnel and the northward end of the Cariboo Mountains - an area that is mostly in the [[Quesnel Highland]] and focussed on several now-famous gold-bearing creeks near the head of the [[Willow River]], the richest of them all, [[Williams Creek]], the location of [[Barkerville]], which was the capital of the [[Cariboo Gold Rush]] and also of government officialdom for decades afterwards (it is now a museum town). This area, the Cariboo goldfields, is underpopulated today but was once the most settled and most powerful of the regions of the province's Interior.<!--more history on next edit--> As settlement spread southwards of this area, flanking the route of the [[Cariboo Road]] and spreading out through the rolling plateaus and benchlands of the [[Cariboo Plateau]] and lands adjoining it along the Fraser and Thompson, the meaning changed to include a wider area than the goldfields. == Major towns== *[[Quesnel, British Columbia|Quesnel]] *[[Williams Lake, British Columbia|Wiliams Lake]] *[[100 Mile House, British Columbia|100 Mile House]] *[[Likely, British Columbia|Likely]] *[[Horsefly, British Columbia|Horsefly]] *[[Barkerville, British Columbia|Barkerville]] *[[Wells, British Columbia|Wells]] *[[Bridge Lake, British Columbia|Bridge Lake]] *[[Clinton, British Columbia|Clinton]] *[[Cache Creek, British Columbia|Cache Creek]] *[[Ashcroft, British Columbia|Ashcroft]] *[[Lillooet, British Columbia|Lillooet]] *[[Lytton, British Columbia|Lytton]] *[[Spences Bridge, British Columbia|Spences Bridge]] *[[Savona, British Columbia|Savona]] *[[Kamloops, British Columbia|Kamloops]] ==See also== *[[Cariboo Plateau]] ==External links== * [http://www.jnweb.com/british-columbia/south-cariboo-information.html Information on the South Cariboo] {{Subdivisions of British Columbia|regions=yes}} {{Historical geographic regions of British Columbia}} <!--Stubs--> <!--Categories--> [[Category:Cariboo Country]] [[Category:History of British Columbia]] [[Category:Interior of British Columbia]] <!--Other languages-->