YALE

NAME: Yale
COUNTY: Na
ROADS: 2WD
GRID: 6
CLIMATE: Snow in winter-sometimes in summer. Temperate to cool in summer.
BEST TIME TO VISIT: Easy in the summer also accessible in the winter
COMMENTS: Semi-ghost.
REMAINS: Many original buildings.

California had its Barbary Coast. British Columbia had its Yale, the most wicked spot on the Pacific Coast. Located along the Fraser River above New Westminster, the town was the jumping off place for the gold fields by whatever means of transportation was available. Initially, prospectors did not have far to go as the early finds were on the Fraser itself. Before long, the placer gold along the Fraser banks was depleted and the exit from the town began with most miners headed for Williams Creek. Yale now saw its future as a shipping point. Prospectors going north found Yale the last place to obtain liquor, women, and gambling. Actually, it was the lawless element from San Francisco's Barbary Coast that came to Yale after the California city became more law abiding. Killings in the brothels and saloons were common with bodies dumped into the fast flowing Fraser River. During the late 1870s when the main Cariboo rush ended, Yale became a virtual ghost town. Then the railroad came in the early 80s and once again violence was rampant. When the railroad was completed and the workers departed, peace came to Yale once again. Today, Yale is a sleepy little town along the Fraser only a short distance from a good highway up the Fraser Canyon.


Johnny Wards 1863 Home (Former Cariboo Wagon Road teamster
Courtesy Blake MacKenzie


Store Vaults from Yale's old China Town
Courtesy Blake MacKenzie


The St. John the Divine Church built in 1863
Courtesy Blake MacKenzie


1868 home built by the Creighton Family general merchants in Yale. Now the home of the Yale Museum.
Courtesy Blake MacKenzie


The St. John the Divine Church built in 1863
Courtesy Blake MacKenzie


Store Vaults from Yale's old China Town
Courtesy Blake MacKenzie

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