BC Archives # C-01246 |
BC Archives # A-09064 |
BC Archives # H-01006 |
BC Archives # B-02464 |
BC Archives # E-00174 |
BC Archives # F-05815 |
BC Archives # B-06762 |
BC Archives # B-05481 |
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BC Archives # F-04090 |
"Hiyu" means "many" or "plenty" in the Chinook Jargon, a trade language used in Lillooet and the Fraser Canyon ranches and towns in frontier times and once spoken throughout the Pacific Northwest. In this case it refers to a coming-together of many people for a party - a "hiyu", a term which apparently resonated with the mining and ranching populations who coopted the term to describe Lillooet's annual street party. Also called "the July" because it spanned all four days of July 1st to 4th, celebrating Dominion Day in combination with Independence Day, a recognition of the fact of life that many of the canyon town's residents and itinerants were in fact Americans. Horse races were held down Main Street, with betting at fever pitch and tempers high. These pictures were taken during the Big Hiyu of 1898, during the Golden Cache boom time; many of the storefronts and buildings shown date from the 1860s, however. The Golden Mile had the look and feel of a genuine Wild West town's Main Street, which indeed it was, even though this far-flung bit of the Wild West was in Canada, instead of Colorado or Arizona - although it definitely owed much of its "American" flavour to the numerous Americans who thronged northwards in search of gold. In fact, because of the predominance of Americans as a group in gold rush Lillooet, "Boston" in the local variant of Chinook Jargon could simply mean "white", as opposed to specifically "American", as it did in other areas. "American" was also somewhat of an "ethnic" origin in Interior BC in the old days, with many Cariboo, Canyon, and Okanagan families still having "American" roots as well as British, German or other European ancestry. Lillooet's most famous expat American, of course, was Margaret Lally "Ma" Murray. |
BC Archives # E-06892 |
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BC Archives # B-03195 |
Although this picture is included here because of its depiction (in the distance) of the crowd and racecourse of the celebrations of "The July", it provides one of the best demonstrations of the breadth of the Golden Mile, famed for being "wide enough to turn a draw of oxen" and by dint of reputation supposedly pointing due north, having been surveyed on the Pole Star. The flagpoles at left are no doubt flying the Union Jack (if the Red Ensign was not yet in use by '98; I'm not sure) rather than the Stars and Stripes, of course, despite the large population of American miners typical of gold rush periods in the region. |
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The
Log Cabin Theatre |
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 Photo: Artie Phair Postcard |
This is a 1950s-vintage photo of Lillooet's tiny old movie theatre, now nondescript in beige stucco but at one time famous and still notable as the actual camel barn of pioneer Frank Laumeister's experiment in using camels in BC's dry interior. The building is one of the oldest standing in Lillooet, despite its drab modern finish. Some say you can still smell the camels, but I always thought that was due to decades of decaying popcorn. The building is very small inside, and if I recall right it was barely eight seats wide and ten rows deep, if that. It's been a dry-cleaners and a thrift store since its decommissioning as a cinema, and is currently up for sale. Anyone got some camels and need a good barn? | |
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The Bridge River-Lillooet News Offices |
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Miyazaki House
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BC Archives # A-03541 |
BC Archives # E-05221 |
| The Hotel Victoria was built in 1859 and for years was the premier establishment for lodgings and dining in Lillooet. Located at the heart of the Golden Mile it became known in later years as the Lillooet Hotel and stood until 1978, when an arsonist torched it on the eve of its re-opening after a year of refurbishment, a project which included scores of irreplaceable antiques gathered back from townsfolk who had acquired them through the year's of the hotel's long decay. The new Hotel Victoria built on the same location is very modern but emulates the lines of the gracious structure depicted here. The picture of the road rally at the left is best appreciated when you consider the road conditions between Lillooet and the outside world at the time that they would have driven in on. Hope was a 12 hour drive away over the torturous miles of the Fraser Canyon (via Fountain Valley); Kamloops not much less via Fountain and Pavilion.. Making it to Lillooet was a major accomplishment - which is among the reasons a photographer was hired for a formal portrait of the group. | |
