DestinationsHat Creek

History

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Known formerly as ‘Carquile’, Hat Creek has a rich First Nations, ranching and mineral history. The earth of Upper Hat Creek holds broken arrowheads and other remnants of historic First Nations communities. Hat Creek House was built in 1861, and served as an integral stopping point along the Cariboo Trail. Although the building has been bought, sold, moved and enlarged over the years, the original walls form the core of the current Hat Creek House. The Hat Creek Coal project dates back to the discovery of coal in 1877. First worked in 1893 by rancher George Finney, who supplied coal to local residents from Hat Creek to Ashcroft, the rights to the Hat Creek coal deposit were acquired by B.C. Hydro in the 1970s. The coal seams remain rich with amber and petrified wood fragments.