A Bridge!

Wow, who knew? Least of all, me. Lillooet, British Columbia, has a structure called Bridge of the 23 Camels! Too good to ignore; must be a story here (thank you, Google alert.)

Lillooet, once known as Cayoosh Flat, is on the Fraser River in the interior of the province. Its location where several streams join the Fraser is an ancient native site with still a large St'at'imc (aka Lillooet) First Nations population. Most Canadians with an inkling of history would associate Lillooet with the late 1850s and 1860s gold rush. From Lillooet's main street the Cariboo Trail began, leading north to even more gold fields.

When I was a child, Lillooet to me meant only one thing: "Ma" Murray (1888–1982). Anyone associated with the news industry in this country, as my family was, had heard of her. She ran the Bridge River – Lillooet News for years, famous for her cantankerous editorials and salty expressions. Her masthead said:

“Printed in the Sagebrush Country of the Lillooet every Thursday, God willing. Guaranteed a chuckle every week and a belly laugh once a month or your money back. Circulation 1556 and every bloody one paid for.” Her editorials consistently signed off with, "And that's fer damshur!"

A genuine character, Ma Murray seemed to represent our very own wild west. Many articles have been written about her, also books by Stan Sauerwein and Georgina Keddell.

As suspected, the name of the bridge honours the imported bactrian camels of 1862 to act as pack animals on the Cariboo trail because of their great strength. They acted all right, or rather reacted. The rocky mountain land did not agree with their feet; they spooked horses, especially the numerous stagecoaches; they were unhappy, nervous, and belligerent with people in general. Most were finally abandoned in the wild by their owners. The last known surviving camel, named Lady, died on a BC farm in 1896. Alas, photography was still in its infancy in that period; this iconic photo which is duplicated on so many sites is said to be of Lady:

Here's the eponymous old bridge; it's been fully restored, complete with bat houses within.

Excitement arose in 2012 upon the accidental discovery of a large skull that could belong to one of those by now almost mythic camels. Optimism was short-lived as it turned out to be that of a horse.

Inspired by the historic camels, sculptor Myfanwy MacLeod wanted to bring the story to light in bronze (albeit inexplicably as a dromedary rather than a bactrian). "Lady" now gazes out at a North Vancouver street intersection, chosen as one of the public art projects for BC's cultural history. MacLeod likes to think her Lady is on her way homeward.

For such a small community Lillooet is incredibly vibrant; much of its history has been preserved. Thus besides being a tourist destination for fishing and outdoor sports, it offers other small town delights. The area is one of the richest in the world for jade although commercial mining stopped some time ago. The Jade Trail in Lillooet is a project of thirty monuments installed to commemorate the different facets and mining history of the desirable stone.

The more I read about Lillooet, the more I am fascinated. I want to go there!!

Sources:

1. Lillooet (http://www.lillooetbc.ca/Arts,-Culture-Community/Historical-Sites.aspx).

2. Stephen Hume, 20 March 2017, "Canada 150: Salty, fearlesss 'Ma' Murray edited Lillooet newspaper," Vancouver Sun (https://vancouversun.com/news/local-news/canada-150-salty-fearless-ma-murray-edited-lillooet-newspaper).

3. Anmore Alternative News (http://www.anmorealternative.com/HERITAGE.html).

4. "Margaret Lally 'Ma' Murray," Wikipedia (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Margaret_Lally_%22Ma%22_Murray).

5. Wendy Fraser, "The tale of the camel skull that wasn't," 11 July 2012, Bridge River Lillooet News (http://www.lillooetnews.net/news/community/the-tale-of-the-camel-skull-that-wasn-t-1.1013603).

6. "Historic B.C. camels inspire new North Vancouver statue," 5 October 2017 (www.cbc.ca/news/.../historic-b-c-camels-inspire-new-north-vancouver-statue-1.4328951).

7. Follow the Jade Trail in Downtown Lillooet (https://www.northerndevelopment.bc.ca/explore-our-region/success-stories/jade-capital-of-british-columbia-completes-monuments/).

© 2018 Brenda Dougall Merriman