Quesnelle Forks

Quesnelle Forks is a hauntingly striking ghost town accessible to the public by a dirt road from Likely, just 9km/5.5mi away. Visitors can wander through original log cabins and a heritage graveyard, the only evidence of the past residents who lived here in the late 1800s. There are no entrance fees or employees, no souvenir shops or cafes, just compelling glimpses and fragments of the past.

In the early 1860s, gold fever was rampant at the confluence of the Quesnel and Cariboo Rivers. ‘The Forks’ quickly became a rowdy camp with 5,000-plus residents. After the gold seekers moved farther north, the community’s key location made it a major entryway to the goldfields and it remained a busy hub. When the Cariboo Wagon Road was completed in 1865 the community was bypassed, and fell into decline. By the mid-1870s, most of the residents had left, though a thriving community of Chinese prospectors and merchants temporarily remained to support a widely dispersed mining community.