Emory Creek Provincial Park
Encyclopedia
Emory Creek Provincial Park is a provincial park
in British Columbia
, Canada
, located on the west side of the Fraser River
just south of the town of Yale
. It commemorates the location of a large boomtown, variously known as Emory, Emory Bar or Emory City, that first rose during the Fraser Canyon Gold Rush
but became a major construction town during the building of the Canadian Pacific Railway
in the 1880s.
Provincial park
A provincial park is a park under the management of a provincial or territorial government in Canada.While provincial parks are not the same as national parks, their workings are very similar...
in British Columbia
British Columbia
British Columbia is the westernmost of Canada's provinces and is known for its natural beauty, as reflected in its Latin motto, Splendor sine occasu . Its name was chosen by Queen Victoria in 1858...
, Canada
Canada
Canada is a North American country consisting of ten provinces and three territories. Located in the northern part of the continent, it extends from the Atlantic Ocean in the east to the Pacific Ocean in the west, and northward into the Arctic Ocean...
, located on the west side of the Fraser River
Fraser River
The Fraser River is the longest river within British Columbia, Canada, rising at Fraser Pass near Mount Robson in the Rocky Mountains and flowing for , into the Strait of Georgia at the city of Vancouver. It is the tenth longest river in Canada...
just south of the town of Yale
Yale, British Columbia
Yale is an unincorporated town in the Canadian province of British Columbia. It was founded in 1848 by the Hudson's Bay Company as Fort Yale by Ovid Allard, the appointed manager of the new post, who named it after his superior, James Murray Yale, then Chief Factor of the Columbia District...
. It commemorates the location of a large boomtown, variously known as Emory, Emory Bar or Emory City, that first rose during the Fraser Canyon Gold Rush
Fraser Canyon Gold Rush
The Fraser Canyon Gold Rush, began in 1858 after gold was discovered on the Thompson River in British Columbia at its confluence with the Nicoamen River. This was a few miles upstream from the Thompson's confluence with the Fraser River at present-day Lytton...
but became a major construction town during the building of the Canadian Pacific Railway
Canadian Pacific Railway
The Canadian Pacific Railway , formerly also known as CP Rail between 1968 and 1996, is a historic Canadian Class I railway founded in 1881 and now operated by Canadian Pacific Railway Limited, which began operations as legal owner in a corporate restructuring in 2001...
in the 1880s.
Emory Creek in 1858 was a tent and shack camp, established by miners in search of gold. When it became evident that the gold was not available in the amounts estimated, the miners started moving north on the Fraser River. A few Chinese remained in the area. The area came into the hands of a man named Walker, who felt Emory Creek would become the head of riverboat navigation on the Fraser. Eventually, he sold the land to the Oppenheimer Brothers in early 1879. In the fall of 1879, Emory was chosen by the C.P.R. as the western terminus. In a short time it became Emory Creek. The town consisted of thirteen streets with its own newspaper, various shops, a brewery, nine saloons and a sawmill. When Yale was made the terminus, Emory was all but abandoned by 1885, with the completion of the railway. Today, it is an easily accessible treed campground with paved roads and flush outhouses.