This geocache is part of the ongoing Gold Country GeoTourism Program. All the fun of geocaching with an added tourism twist; discover tales of our pioneers, unearth geological wonders or reveal magnificent sites of beauty. If you enjoyed this adventure look for more in this series.
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Lytton History
Lytton is located on Hwy. 1 at the north end of the Fraser Canyon, where the Fraser and Thompson Rivers meet. It is one of the oldest continuously-inhabited areas in North America, with a First Nations history stretching back thousands of years. Bruce Hutchison wrote that it is “an ancient town, more ancient than any built by white men in America. Here … [was] found a thriving Indian community, centuries old. The confluence of two great rivers and the natural trails of men’s travel made this one of the crossways of the continent.”
The site at the confluence of the mighty Thompson and Fraser Rivers has long been considered the heart of the Nlaka’pamux territory. In 1858, celebrated Indigenous leader and peace-maker Chief Cexpe’nthlEm said “At Lytton is my centre-post. It is the middle of my house and I sit there.”
The Nlaka’pamux name for the site has been transcribed phonetically into English in a number of ways, and variously spelled Camchin, Shilkumcheen, Thlikumcheen, Tl’cumjane, Clicumchin, and Kumsheen. The word has been translated in different ways: it could mean “cross mouth” or “shelf that crosses over”, although today it is often translated as “where the rivers meet”.
The first white people to visit the site were Simon Fraser and a small band of explorers, on June 19, 1808. In his journal, Fraser spoke of the hospitality he and his party received:
“The principal chief invited us over the river. We crossed, and he received us on the water side, where, assisted by several others he took me by the arms and conducted me in a moment up the hill to the camp where his people were sitting in rows, to the number of twelve hundred… We had every reason to be thankful for our reception at this place; the Indians shewed us every possible attention and supplied our wants as much as they could.”
Various people who followed called the site the Great Forks, the Grand Forks, or simply The Forks, referencing the meeting of the two rivers. In 1857 a Hudson’s Bay Company depot was established about three miles downstream from where the rivers met, and the site was called Fort Dallas.
During the Gold Rush that began in 1858, the site became an important spot along the road north. When the Crown Colony of British Columbia was established in August 1858 Fort Dallas was abandoned, and the buildings were moved upstream to the present site of the town. James Douglas, the Crown Colony’s governor, decided that the settlement would be named Lytton, as a “merited compliment and mark of respect” for Sir Edward Bulwer-Lytton, who was Secretary of State for the Colonies.
Bulwer-Lytton’s legacy as a British government official is not a memorable one; he is best known today as a best-selling novelist whose works included The Last Days of Pompeii. He is credited with inventing the phrases “the pen is mightier than the sword” and “the pursuit of the almighty dollar”, but his most lasting fame (or infamy) as a writer is having penned the much-parodied opening line “It was a dark and stormy night”, in his 1830 novel Paul Clifford.
There had been a significant Chinese presence in Lytton for many years, starting with the building of the Canadian Pacific Railway through British Columbia in the early 1880s. The CP ran through the town, and was joined by what is now the Canadian National Railway in 1914. The Chinese community built a joss house — a place within a communal house where deities are set up on an altar for Chinese people to go and give thanks to, or pray to for good health and peace — at the south end of town in 1881. Although the building was torn down in 1928, in 2016 the site was recognized as a historic place with provincial significance, and included in the B.C. Register of Historic Places.
On June 29, 2021 Lytton recorded the highest temperature ever seen in Canada: 49.6° C (121° F). The following day, on June 30, some 90 per cent of the village — along with structures and properties in surrounding First Nations and the regional district — was destroyed by wildfire.
Basket making
In 2018 the Historic Sites and Monuments Board of Canada — part of Parks Canada — recognized the traditional basket-making skills of the Nlaka’pamux women with a plaque noting the long history of the Nlaka’pamux woven baskets and their intricate designs. The plaque was located near the parish hall overlooking the confluence of the Thompson and Fraser Rivers, and both the plaque and the hall survived the June 30, 2021 fire.
Chief Cexpe’nthlEm Memorial
Near the parish hall is the Chief Cexpe’nthlEm Memorial Precinct, which honours Chief Cexpe’nthlEm (known to non-Indigenous people as David Spintlum), a celebrated Indigenous leader and peace-maker who played a key role in ending the potentially catastrophic Canyon War in 1858. The memorial was erected in 1887, when Cexpe’nthlEm died, and although no one knows if he is buried at the site, an archaeological survey conducted there in 2020 using ground-penetrating radar confirmed the presence of human remains. The memorial also survived the June 30 fire.
Researched and written by Barbara Roden