top by the Hope Visitor Centre and take a walk through the adjoining Hope Museum; it's a rich exploration of the region's history from the Sto:lo First Nations people, their first encounter with explorer Simon Fraser, and the building of the Hudson Bay Company's Fort Hope. Nearby Yale offers further historic exploration.
Pick up a self-guided walking tour map and follow it along the historic riverfront, around Memorial Park and past the small Japanese Friendship Gardens, dedicated to all of the 2,300 Japanese-Canadians who were sent to internment camps nearby during the Second World War. The walk points out Hope's masterful chainsaw wood carvings and, with Rambo fans in mind, several of the First Blood film sites.
This white clapboard, Gothic Revival-styled Anglican Church first ministered to gold rush prospectors. Built on this site in 1861, the church still holds services making it the longest serving parish on the British Columbia mainland.
In summer, costumed interpreters bring its history alive - James Douglas, BC's first governor. Many of the original lead-paned windows were brought by steamship from England.
Hope Slide
A pullout off the Hope-Princeton Hwy #3 towards Manning Park (about a 15-minute drive from Hope), overlooks the largest earth and rock landslide in BC's recorded history.
When Johnson Peak collapsed in 1965, it took only seconds for 46 million cubic m/60 million cubic yds of mud, rock, soil and snow to fill the bottom of the Nicoum Creek Valley to a depth up about 61m/200ft. The crashing wave engulfed three vehicles and their four occupants; two victims were never found.
Emory Creek
Once the site of a bustling city, Emory Creek is a part of Canyon lore. Located 18km/11mi north of Hope, this frontier town grew with the gold rush and by the time Canadian Pacific Railway slated it to become its western terminus, the community comprised 25,000 men, a thriving newspaper and sawmill operation, two hotels, nine saloons and other enterprises including "less reputable" businesses.
When the railway then bypassed Emory City for Yale just 5km/3m upstream, all was abandoned and within a decade not a trace of the city remained. Today, Emory Creek is a small treed-campground.
Yale Historic Site
With its walk-in open air displays and costumed interpreters, Historic Yale harkens back to old Fort Yale during the early months of the 1858 Gold Rush. Visit the general store, stocked with everything from flour to fur, the gambling saloon or the Chinese bunk-house.
Self-Guided Walking Tour in Yale
Located south of the railway line, nearby historic Yale is best explored on foot with a self-guided map from the Museum Gift Shop. Highlights include the railway station, stone wall remnants of the Gold Vaults and the original Oppenheimer store, the first importer of mandarins and the oldest continuously operating business in BC.
Sternwheeler Operations in Yale
It's hard to believe 14 saloons once lined Yale's sleepy Front Street or; little wonder that the Jail-cum-Court House (now the fire hall) was "nearly always full." If the water's low, look for the large rock with a ring bolt. Yale was once the largest sternwheeler operation on the West Coast and vessels arrived to tie up here with such regularity "even the Captains were quarreling about the berthing rights."
St. John the Divine Anglican Church
Located in Yale, the 1863 St. John the Divine Anglican Church is a delight with original pews some original windows. It safe-keeps almost 400 ecclesiastical and textile artifacts from the late 1800s, most hand-woven by students of the Indian Mission School which later became All Hallows – the precursor to Vancouver's Crofton House School for Girls.
First Nations Cedar Basketry
Historic Yale has plenty of parking, a beautiful Victorian garden and a Gift Shop in Creighton House, an original Yale 'grand home'. The Museum has a large collection of First Nations baskets on display (more baskets from their collection can be seen at the Langely Centennial Museum).
Lady Franklin Rock
Sitting mid river, this huge rock remembers Lady Jane Franklin, whose husband, Sir John Franklin, was lost in the Arctic trying to find the Northwest Passage. On visiting Yale, her story so endeared the community that the rock now bears her name for eternity.
Million Dollar Train Wreck
Yale is also remembered for the 1927 'million dollar train wreck' when Canadian Pacific derailed and sent cars loaded with Oriental silks into the river. Below the rock a section of the 1860s Cariboo Wagon Road can still be seen. A pull-over viewpoint lies off Hwy 1, just south of the Yale Tunnel.
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