Seton Portage Historic Provincial Park

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Coordinates: 50°42′23″N 122°17′36″W / 50.70633°N 122.29329°W / 50.70633; -122.29329
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Seton Portage Historic Provincial Park
Lillooet
Coordinates50°42′23″N 122°17′36″W / 50.70633°N 122.29329°W / 50.70633; -122.29329
Area0.7 ha (1.7 acres)
EstablishedMarch 29, 1972
Governing bodyBC Parks
WebsiteBC Parks Seton

Seton Portage Historic Provincial Park is a

community of Seton Portage, British Columbia, Canada. It was established on March 29, 1972 to commemorate the location of the first railway in the province of British Columbia.[2]

Geography

The park is located at the western end of Seton Portage between Seton Portage Road to the southeast, and a pair of railway tracks owned by CN Rail to the northwest. The Seton River lies just beyond the railway tracks, which flows northwest from Anderson Lake into Seton Lake. The park is forested with pine and the light underbrush typical of the area's climate.

Covering only 0.7 hectares (1.7 acres), Seton Portage is the smallest

provincial park in British Columbia.[2] It is also the third smallest protected area managed by BC Parks after Canoe Islets Ecological Reserve[3] and Ballingall Islets Ecological Reserve.[4]

History

The 3 kilometres (1.9 mi) long railway was built in 1861 for transport of miners' goods on the route to the Fraser goldfields in which the Portage was an important link (then known as Short Portage). The railway was horse-drawn in the uphill direction – a difference of only 15m between the two lakes, and used gravity for its descent. Known as Dozier's Way after its proprietor, Carl Dozier, the roadbed of the route remains today as the route of most of Portage Road from

Slosh
are two First Nations villages which are where the one-time gold rush ports of Wapping and Flushing were located). Though the route was used for heavy transit again, the early railway operated only a few years, though some transport and passenger traveled through the route, despite its becoming a backwater relative to other areas of the province and the Douglas Road became forgotten.

Seton Portage received its current name in 1858, the centennial of the gold rush and the

Pacific Great Eastern
connected the Seton communities to Lillooet in 1915.

In 1972,

information centre for the community under a park use permit. As of November 2012, the information centre was not in use.[5]

Facilities

The park features no camping or day-use facilities.[5]

Passenger service to this location is no longer available, other than a local run from Lillooet, on the Canadian National Railway line. Access is otherwise via the arduous Mission Mountain Road or the even more difficult Anderson Lake Highline Road, which are Seton Portage's and Shalalth's only road access to the outside world.

See also

References

  1. ^ "Protected Planet | Seton Portage Historic Park". Protected Planet. Retrieved 2020-10-10.
  2. ^ a b Environment, Ministry of. "Seton Portage Historic Provincial Park - BC Parks". bcparks.ca. Retrieved 2020-10-16.
  3. ^ Environment, Ministry of. "Canoe Islets Ecological Reserve - BC Parks". bcparks.ca. Retrieved 2020-10-16.
  4. ^ Environment, Ministry of. "Ballingall Islets Ecological Reserve - BC Parks". bcparks.ca. Retrieved 2020-10-16.
  5. ^ a b "Seton Portage Historic Park Management Plan" (PDF). bcparks.ca. 2012-11-01. Retrieved 2020-10-15.
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