Historic & Heritage Sites

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. Many of the authentic items are free to touch whether in the general store that stocks 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, 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 still 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-come-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, St. John the Divine Anglican Church is a delight. Built in 1863, features such as the pews and some windows are original. It safe-keeps almost 400 ecclesiastical and textile artifacts from the late 1800s, most were 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 Highway 1, just south of the Yale Tunnel.

Aerial Ferry - North Bend

Originally installed in 1939 to replace a rowboat crossing, the Aerial Ferry suspended 366m/1,200ft above the Fraser River between Boston Bar and the North Bend Canadian Pacific Railway Depot. The small one-vehicle/40-person gondola operated until 1986 when the Cog Harrington Bridge opened. The ferry has since been restored and placed in Boston Bar's Frances Harrington Park alongside photographic history boards.

Tuckkwiowhum Interpretive Park – Andersen Creek

First Nations are very much a part of the Fraser Canyon story and with its clear intent to share, rather than commercialize its culture, the landscaped Tuckkwiowhum Interpretive Park is an evolving work in progress.

Located between Boston Bar and Hell's Gate, it includes a recreated historical village complete with a pit house, a summer lodge, a smoke house and other traditional buildings where demonstrations in basket weaving, wood carving and salmon processing are often held. It also has an excellent restaurant which features authentic First Nations recipes.

For more information on historic and heritage sites, head to the Lytton Visitor Centre.

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