Clinton, BC - 150 Years Old

"Staying true to its rawhide roots today, Clinton’s Main Street still exudes a Wild West flavour, with many of the buildings boasting their original storefronts, restored to retain the western atmosphere and character." [from Visit British Columbia]

Maybe that's what lured us, after getting gas, to just park on the main street - Cariboo Highway - and walk around.  And then pull out my camera.

After the discovery of gold in the Cariboo, Royal Engineers were commissioned to build a road through the Fraser Canyon to the Cariboo to join the already existing wagon road from Lillooet to 47 Mile. The junction was 47 miles from Lillooet and thus 47 Mile was the name used until 1863, when 47 Mile officially became Clinton. The community also boasts of hosting one of British Columbia's oldest continuously running events, the "Clinton Annual Ball," held in May of each year.  [BCAdventure.com]

"Once a busy junction on the wagon road leading to the Cariboo and Barkerville gold fields, Clinton was originally known as The Junction, and Cut Off Valley, before being renamed in 1863, honouring the Colonial Secretary, Henry Pelham Clinton, the 5th Duke of Newcastle." [Visit British Columbia]

The sign in front of this old Church says
"High Bar First Nations."

I looked hard to find more than business info on the High Bar and eventually went back to the Wikipedia entry:

"The High Bar First Nation is a First Nations government of the Secwepemc (Shuswap) Nation, located in the Fraser Canyon-Cariboo region of the Central Interior of the Canadian province of British Columbia. It was created when the government of the then-Colony of British Columbia established an Indian Reserve system in the 1860s. It is one of three Secwepemc bands that is not a member of either the Shuswap Nation Tribal Council or the Northern Shuswap Tribal Council. The High Bar people are also partly Tsilhqot'in and have links with some Chilcotin First Nations.
In the Chilcotin language, the High Bar people are the Llenlleney'ten. The Secwepemc in the Fraser Canyon and on the Chilcotin Plateau are also known as the Canyon Shuswap and have traditionally had close ties with the Tsilhqot'in people."

The High Bar First Nations Facebook page offers a little more information.

This painting on the builiding looks a lot like Southeast Alaska art work.  I don't know the relationship between the High Bar and Tlingit/Haida peoples.  

Our modern world changes how we know and what we can know easily.  Just googling the address I found the listing for this house.  They want $215,000 (that's Canadian, but pretty close to US.)

We also learned about Clinton the old fashioned way.  We talked to Bruce who owns this second hand store.  Even after figuring out we weren't planning on buying anything, he was friendly and talkative.  He was less sanguine about Clinton suggesting it was more like a town in a Stephen King novel and that the Many Good Things sign was an allusion to King. (I couldn't find the book it comes from, but I did learn that a lot of people use the phrase "I've heard many good things" when they post about Stephen King.)  He's also a former figure skating coach and an artist. 

I didn't check online for the price of this motorcycle, but if someone is really interested, email me.  The phone number is legible on the original.

Google came up blank on Mr. and Mrs. Joe Dealz.  I think it's a great title for a book. 

The museum.

I do appreciate people who make the extra effort to do things like design their fence around a rock. 

An historical cairn in Clinton marks the junction of two routes to the Cariboo gold mines; The original 1859 Cariboo Trail from Lillooet, and the Cariboo Road through the Fraser Canyon, built in 1863 by the Royal Engineers.
Situated halfway to these gold fields, Clinton was an ideal place for weary travellers suffering from gold fever to stop for a rest, food, entertainment, and even encouragement. Clinton grew with the demand for these services. [from Visit British Columbia]

I guess this is the 150th Anniversary of this town becoming Clinton.  Travel British Columbia says 793 people live in Clinton.  City Data says 636 in 2011.  They also had a map.   Clinton's the blue spot in the upper right.  Click to make it clearer and bigger.