The Dewdney Trail is a trail in British Columbia, Canada that served as a major thoroughfare in mid-19th century British Columbia. The trail was a critical factor in the development and strengthening of the newly established British colony of British Columbia, tying together mining camps and small towns that were springing up during the gold rush era prior to the colony's joining Canada in 1871. Establishing this route became important and urgent for the colony when many new gold finds occurred at locations near the US border that at the time were much more easily accessed from Washington Territory than from the then barely settled parts of the Lower Mainland and Cariboo. Approximately 80 percent of the trail's route has been incorporated into the Crowsnest Highway.
Characteristics
The trail was built in southern British Columbia and linked what was then Fort Hope (now just Hope) in the southwest to what became Fort Steele in the southeast. Covering a distance of , its purpose was to secure British control of the parts of the colony nearest to the US border, which included the gold finds at Wild Horse Creek and at other points such as Rock Creek. Approximately 80 percent of what is now Highway 3 was originally part of the Dewdney Trail, largely because the terrain allows for no other low-altitude transit of the regions involved.
The route very roughly parallels the Canada-US border along the 49th parallel, and at times reaches elevations of more than 1,200 metres (4,000 ft). It passes through varied scenery, including four major mountain ranges (Cascades, Monashees, Selkirks and Purcells), some major river valleys (Skagit, Similkameen, Okanagan, Kettle, Columbia, Goat, Moyie and Kootenay) and historic townsites such as Hope, Princeton, Grand Forks, Trail, Creston, Yahk, Moyie and Cranbrook.
Construction and history
When gold was discovered in the Similkameen River and Rock Creek area, the governor of the newly established British colony of British Columbia, James Douglas, anxious to protect British interests, decided that a trail should be built to the Interior, and in 1860 the Royal Engineers surveyed a route from Fort Hope to Vermilion Forks (now Princeton). Edgar Dewdney, a Devonshire-born engineer, oversaw the trail's construction, since he and Walter Moberly had won the contract to build it. That first section of was completed in 1861.
The specifications for the trail were that it be wide, clear of trees and boulders, and any wet sections made passable. The middle section was to be smooth and hard, and in areas where there were bluffs, slides or dangerous areas, there had to be enough space for animals and people to get through. Bridges over the many creeks and rivers were to be wide. For this, the builders were paid $496 per mile.
In 1863, gold was discovered in Wild Horse Creek, in the East Kootenays. The then-new governor of British Columbia, Frederick Seymour, believed that the trail should be extended to Wild Horse Creek in order to keep the gold from being transported south via a shorter route into the US, rather than into British coffers. In 1865, Dewdney, then 28 years old, was awarded the contract to build the much longer second section (), in seven months, for $75,000. The second part of the trail passed through wilderness and required the builders to penetrate three mountain ranges.
The route for the second section was surveyed by a crew of the Royal Engineers, with local First Nations people hired to pack supplies over the mountains between Hope and Princeton, covering about a day. However, at Allison's Ranch, near Princeton, the First Nations porters refused to travel down the Similkameen River; they were paid off, and Dewdney bought a dozen horses from the ranch.