History of Bowron Lakes

History-Bowron Lakes

The first inhabitants of Bowron Lake, originally called Bear Lake, were Southern Carrier Indians of the Athapaskan or Dene Nation.

The Cariboo Mountains Band, known locally as the Bear lake Band, were a small band whose hunting grounds were in the Cariboo Mountains east of the Fraser River. In the early 1860s this band was wiped out by small pox brought by the white gold seekers.

Wells Barkerville Bowron Lakes

The 1859 - 1862 Cariboo Gold Rush brought a great deal of prospectors and settlers into the general area. Entry to the area was accessed through Antler Creek, and the Swamp (Cariboo) River and was travelled by various trappers, fur traders, prospectors and explorers.

The Goat River Trail was developed between 1869 - 1871 in a bid to have the Canadian Pacific Railway pass through the area.

This route runs east to west on the north side of the chain. The trail was cut through in anticipation, but the C.P.R chose a southern route instead. In 1886 it was reopened in hopes of establishing a route from the east side. This was never realized.

Scores of interesting people settled in the Bowron Lake area between 1868 and 1948. Many of these are well-known from Barkerville: George Isaac, John Bowron, Frank and Anna Kibbee, Joe and Betty Wendel, Thomas McCabe. Sometime after 1906, Bear Lake's name was changed to Bowron Lake named after John Bowron, Barkerville's first gold commissioner.

With the many outsiders who were now visiting the lakes, it was becoming apparent that something would have to be done to preserve the area. One land owner, Louis LeBourdais wrote that in the last, "twenty five years hundreds of moose, scores of caribou and bear, have been killed. Scarcely a dozen marten are left where there were thousands in Swampy's time. Stalking game from the lakes was too easy for hunters, and the lakes make light work for winter trappers. Five years more and it would be too late." (Wright: 1994: 22)

In 1925 the Game Commission approved a 240 square mile game reserve. This was not without dissension, "the people of the Barkerville district were almost unanimously opposed to the refuge." (Cariboo Observer, Wright: 1994: 25). In 1948 the Parks Branch placed more of the area under reserve, and extended again in 1951 when they began drawing up the proposal for a new Provincial Park. In 1961 the BC Government formed the new 294,400 acre park, now officially named Bowron Lake Provincial Park.

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