Welcome to Williams Lake, British Columbia, Canada
Your Williams Lake (Horsefly, Alexis Creek, Big Lake, Lac La Hache)
area contact is Willy Berger (RE/MAX Williams Lake Realty.) Please refer to the "Relocating to Williams Lake" section to the right for
the phone number, address, website, and email address to contact Willy Berger directly.
Ask about the REMAX MLS homes for sale including residential houses, apartments, condos, duplexes, acreages and farms.
Williams Lake summary
Williams Lake also known as BC's Stampede Capital and the Forest Capital of BC is a city in British Columbia, Canada. Located in the Cariboo District, it
is the largest urban centre between Kamloops and Prince George. The population is 10,744.
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houses, apartments, condos, duplexes, acreages and farms.
Williams Lake is named in honor of Chief William, whose counsel prevented the First Nations tribes of Shuswap and Dene from joining the Chilcotin in their
uprising against the settlers.
The story of Williams Lake began in 1860 during the Cariboo Gold Rush when Gold Commissioner Philip Nind and Constable William Pinchbeck arrived from Victoria
to organize a local government and maintain law and order.
At the time, two pack trails led to the goldfields, one from the Douglas Road and another trail through the Fraser Canyon. Both met at William's Lake, which
made it a good choice for settlers and merchants. By 1861, Commissioner Nind had built a government house and had requested the funds to build a jail. With
the center of local government being at Williams Lake, the miners and businessmen all had to travel there to conduct their business and soon the town had a
post office, a courthouse, a roadhouse and the jail that Nind had requested. Meanwhile, William Pinchbeck had not been idle and had built his own roadhouse,
saloon and store. Eventually he would own most of the valley.
In 1863, the town was excited by the news of the construction of Cariboo Road, believing it would pass through their already established and important trading
center. However, the roadbuilder Gustavus Blin Wright rerouted the original trail so that it bypassed Williams Lake and went through 150 Mile House instead.
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houses, apartments, condos, duplexes, acreages and farms.
The Williams Lake by-pass was the coming of doom for Williams Lake and accusations flew that Gustavus Blin Wright had changed the route for his own personal
benefit as he owned a roadhouse at Deep Creek along the new route. Regardless of Wright's motives, Williams Lake was forgotten and wouldn't be reborn until
nearly half a century later with the construction of the Pacific Great Eastern Railway, later BC Rail and now CN Rail.
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houses, apartments, condos, duplexes, acreages and farms.
Text & photo credits
The text contained in 'Williams Lake Summary' above is courtesy of Wikipedia.com.
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residential houses, apartments, condos, duplexes, acreages and
farms.
The article ('Williams Lake Summary') is licensed under the GNU Free Documentation License
(See Wikipedia Copyrights for details.)
It uses material from the Wikipedia article "Williams Lake, British Columbia".
The Williams Lake header image on this page is courtesy of Wikimedia Commons. Reference:
Header.
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