This Cache is the nineth in the BC Spirit Quest - a series of caches dedicated to the Pioneers of BC. Each cache is hidden NEAR BUT NEVER IN a cemetery of historical significance. Much can be learned from visiting and showing respect to our predecessors. Feel free to post information found or photos (but not spoilers) of interesting stones or other features in the cemetery.
THE CEMETERIES:
Lovers of historic cemeteries get a two for one deal here. It looks to us that there is segregation by race (native/non-native), but we can not confirm that. If anyone knows or can find out, please post the information and we will update this page.
THE CACHE:
This is a small cache, log only. It is well concealed - please rehide it just as well. Please solve the simple puzzle before trying to hunt the cache.
THE PUZZLE:
The cache is located within 0.5 km of the cemeteries at: N 50 24.ABC W 121 21.DEF
A= Teit died in XAXX
B= How many thousand people live in Spences Bridge? Add 1 for B
C= The landslide occured in 1XXX - add the digits represented by XXX together and divide by 2.
D= Churches plus Hotels in 1892
E= How many cemeteries here divided by 2?
F= How many Churches in 1892?
PERSONS OF NOTE:
Can you find tombstones for any of the people mentioned in the history here?
THE TOWN:
Spences Bridge is 23 miles Northeast of Lytton and 32 miles south of Ashcroft. In 1892 the population included 32 people of European ancestry and 130 First Nations people. There were 5 general stores, 3 hotels, one Church of England and one school. Principal industries are fruit growing and farming. Today the permanent population of Spences Bridge is about 138, with Natives predominating.
Farming here is difficult because it is very dry, with an average annual rainfall of 40-50 cm. Today the area is mostly a wasteland of sagebrush, with some cultivated fields where irrigation allows.
Early settlers established orchards fed by elaborate irrigation systems. Apples were shipped from here to England in the late 1890’s to early 1900’s, even becoming popular at Windsor Castle. WWI saw the patriotic young English settlers head home to defend the motherland, resulting in loss of the early irrigation work to lack of workers. The settlement never recovered.
Mortimer Cook, an American, and his partner Charles Kimball, had been freighters for the Hudson's Bay Company prior to the Goldrush. With the sudden influx of prospectors on their way to the goldfields Cook and Kimball built a rope ferry across the Thompson River, and the area became known as Cook's Ferry. By 1864 the ferry had been replaced with a bridge, built by road contractor Thomas Spence during the construction of the Cariboo Road from Yale to Barkerville. At first it was a toll bridge, but the toll was lifted after a few years.
One dark night the locals were very surprised to hear a wagon pull up outside the hotel. When they asked the driver where he came from, they were shocked to hear him say “From across the bridge of course”. They lead the driver out with a lantern to show him that the whole bridge deck had been removed for maintenance! The sure footed oxen had crossed the bridge using only the underlying stringers. The driver swore he would not have even tried to walk across that bridge in the daylight.
In 1905 a terrible tragedy occurred just below Spence's Bridge, when a large slide came down, buried a First Nations village, dammed the river for four hours, and washed the original bridge out.
JAMES TEIT:
James Teit (1864-1922) was born on Scotland's Shetland Islands and emigrated to Canada as a young man where he eventually settled in Spences Bridge. Teit married Lucy Artko, a local Nlaka'pamux. By the time Lucy died in 1914, Teit had become immersed in Nlaka'pamux life and traditions. He also got very involved in politics and acted as a translater and go between the government and the Indians.
Teit was hired by anthropologist Franz Boas, in the late nineteenth century, to undertake collecting and research for the American Museum of Natural History's Jesup Expedition (1897-1902). The goal of the Jesup Expedition was to investigate the cultural, linguistic and biological links between the indigenous peoples of the northern Pacific regions of America and Asia. The American Museum of Natural History (AMNH) published much of Teit's research and he amassed the bulk of their Interior Salish artifact collection. In 1911, Edward Sapir of the Geological Survey of Canada, now the Canadian Museum of Civilization, also enlisted Teit's assistance in developing its artifact, sound and photograph collections. Cuts in government spending, at the end of the First World War, brought an end to Teit's sporadic employment with the Survey.
Teit collected thousands of objects for various museums; most of the material he bought or gathered resides in four institutions - the American Museum of Natural History, the Canadian Museum of Civilization, the Peabody Harvard Museum, and the Royal British Columbia Museum. The photographic work of James Teit is documented in the Mercury Publication, The Interior Salish Tribes of British Columbia: A Photographic Collection (1987), edited by Leslie Tepper. Tait background from the Canadian Museum of Civilization site. Google "James Teit Spences Bridge" to see some of the historical photos and artifacts he collected around Spences Bridge.
After a lengthy illness caused by a bladder infection, James Teit died on October 30, 1922, at age 58, in Merritt. A National Historic Site plaque at the Five Nations Campground in Spences Bridge commemorates his remarkable life. For more info click on the Users Webpage Link at the top of this page.
THE RULES:
1. NO NIGHT CACHING – Consider all Cemeteries as Closed at Dusk.
2. RESPECT the locations and other visitors. Do not cache if there are other visitors around or if a funeral is in progress.
3. Leave the cemetery better than you found it. CITO and tidy up fallen flowers.
4. Don’t post written or photo spoilers
5. Help create a good reputation for Geocaching so that we can continue to use these interesting locations.
THE SERIES:
Never hide a cache inside a cemetery without specific permission. To avoid confusion, please do not use the BC Spirit Quest name without our consent. Credit for the idea to SixDogTeam, Half-Canadian and the other Spirit series hiders. Thank-you and enjoy the history.