Deep Creek

Lac Traverse, on the Thompson Plateau, was one of the lakes on the early brigade trail between Fort Alexandria and the Thompson’s River post at Kamloops. No, this isn’t Deep Creek, but the country is similar, especially when you look at the heavy tree cover on the opposite side of the lake.

This story is about the stream near Williams Lake, BC, that used to bear the name of Deep Creek. Take a look at the map on page 18 of my book, The HBC Brigades: Culture, Conflict, and Perilous Journeys of the Fur Trade. You will see a map, with a trail that follows the north side of a creek called Deep Creek, to a pair of lakes with streams that the HBC men crossed — And, Yes, I see now that the mapmaker drew the trail on the wrong side of the second (southernmost) lake. I am afraid that I missed this error. 

When I went up to Williams Lake a month or so ago, I wanted to see if it was possible that any route up the stream that the HBC men called Deep Creek was possible. This route and possible brigade trail is clearly marked on A.C. Anderson’s 1867 map of the Colony of British Columbia. Nevertheless, that does not mean that the Deep Creek trail was an actual brigade trail, although most of the trails he drew on this map were trails that the HBC men used as brigade trails. 

The questions I had about Deep Creek were: Was the land level enough for a trail for horses? Was it heavily wooded, or were there any barriers that might have caused problems for the HBC men and their horses? And why would they open another trail, when the trails that led through the Williams Lake region were so easy to travel at the best of times? Was it a shorter, easier route than the old trail? Or was it just a trail that was known to the HBC men, but never used as a brigade trail?

From the brief research I had done in early days when planning this trip, I thought there was a road that followed Deep Creek towards its headwater lakes: I could drive that road and decide whether or not the country along the route was horse country. But just before I left on our excursion, I discovered that Deep Creek was Indian Reserve land, and I abandoned that exploration: partly because we were already short of time for our other explorations, but also because I had no time to get permission to explore on Indian Reserve land. And that is where I left it — until I got a glimpse of Deep Creek and its gully as we drove past it on our way up to see the old location of Fort Alexandria.

Gentle Hint: You can order my book, The HBC Brigades, through Amazon if you wish. If you don’t want to order from Amazon, then order from me via my contact sheet on my home page. You can also purchase The York Factory Express, and both books will be signed by me and mailed to you. 

My jaws dropped when I was first shown Deep Creek: Not that I could see the creek itself. The stream is not large, I think, but it runs through a deep, muddy gully, and as we drove past it I could not even guess at how deep the gully was! Obviously, the HBC men did not travel up the  gully, but on the highlands above. Although you may not realize it, there is quite a wide ridge of land between Williams Lake and Fort Alexandria, and Deep Creek runs down through this highlands. And, not only that, when it flows into the Fraser River, it is at the same level as the river itself. Deep Creek is a very good name for this creek!

I wonder, though, if many of the locals have figured out which creek is Deep Creek? Except for the Indian Reserve, It no longer carries that name. Today it is Hawks Creek (apparently named for Mr. J. F. Hawks, of Soda Creek). And as I said above, Hawks Creek runs through an almost unbelievably deep gully to the banks of the Fraser River. The creek was called Deep Creek, not because it was deep, but because it has over the years carved its way down, through soft, clayey ground, until it flows through a deep, muddy canyon into the Fraser River.   

So, if Deep Creek was ever used as a brigade trail, the HBC Brigades followed the northern edge of the gully, and not the stream, toward the east. At its upper end, when the gully had levelled out and was no longer a barrier, they crossed over both creeks at Deep Creek’s upper end, before they reached the lakes that the streams flowed out of.

So, since my visit to Deep Creek, I’ve spent some time on Google Earth, figuring out where Hawks Creek flowed, and following it through heavily treed country that was anything but grasslands! At certain points I lost the stream entirely in the trees. However, I figured this much out.

There is a flat of land next to the Fraser River, so Deep Creek (today’s Hawks Creek) is the reason why the HBC Brigades stuck close to the banks of the Fraser River on their journeys out from Fort Alexandria. No one, but no one, was going to even attempt to cross that gully on horseback. The only way to get past Deep Creek and its gully was by travelling close to the banks of the Fraser River itself. And thinking about that, I took a look at the various brigade journals that I have, to see if I could identify Deep Creek, and its crossing, in any of them.

I found mention of Deep Creek in only one journal, and they didn’t give it a name. Nor did they describe it. That’s normal: I have learned that HBC men rarely if ever describe any of the places they pass in their journals. But in William Connolly’s 1826 journal of the outgoing brigade, he tells the story of a horse that fell into the Fraser River and was washed downstream through the four mile long rapids he called the Grand Rapid, and which we call today the Soda Creek Rapids. The Brigades…

reached the head of the Grand Rapid at nine, when one of the Young Horses in passing on the side of a high & almost perpendicular Bank took fright, & rolled down the precipice into the river. Any attempts… to save him were impossible, and I thought it equally so that he should save himself, which however to our surprise he effected after being carried by the Current to the foot of the Rapids, a distance of at least four miles, where he succeeded in landing on the opposite side…

They brought him and his loads across the river, and he was so tired they camped that night early, drying the packs. Then, on the…

12th, Friday. We were ready to start at an early hour, but much time was lost in climbing up a steep Hill forming the bank of the gully in which we had Encamped. Some rain that fell during the last night had softened the mud and rendered the Hill so extremely slippery, that several Horses reached the summit only after repeated efforts, in each of which, after ascending some distance, they rolled back again to the imminent risk of their Necks.

So this story would be true only if Deep Creek was close to the end of the four mile long set of rapids, historically called the Atnah Rapids, on the Fraser River. According to my map, the mouth of Hawks Creek is just south of the Soda Creek Rapids. Also, I learned, while looking at the creek on Google Earth, the gully that Hawks Creek runs through seems to be clay or soil rather than rock, and so, yes, a little rain might make its banks very slippery indeed! And so, I believe that the gully Connolly describes is the gully that Hawks Creek runs through.

Today there is a little flat at the bottom of the creek, where it flows into the Fraser River. Nevertheless, we don’t know what was there one hundred and fifty years ago. I suspect it wasn’t always there: and I have a story of difficulties experienced at Deep Creek which I will tell you later.

I spent a little time on Google Earth, trying to figure out where Deep Creek ran. Then, by looking at my ancient (1992) Land and Forests Map, I found Hawks Creek and followed it to its source in Bunting Lake, and its unnamed tributary stream to another anonymous lake a little to the south and west of Bunting Lake. On my newer map I found that the little stream that leads to the southern lake is called Johnny Creek, but the lake remained unnamed. It seems to be either Cariboo Bill Lake, or Goldpan Lake (Cariboo Bill Lake seems to be a better choice than Goldpan, I think). Maybe some local with a better map than I have will give me a lead here?

So if Hawks Creek was used as a brigade trail, the trail would have followed the north bank of the Deep Creek gully to the east, before turning southward on reaching level land. The HBC men would then have forded Hawks Creek before they reached Bunting Lake, and then Johnny Creek before they reached its source lake (Cariboo Bill Lake?). Then they would follow the land southward until they found the San Jose River some distance from the east end of Williams Lake. 

But this is all heavily forested land, or at least it is heavily forested land today. Would a brigade trail have run through this evergreen forest? I don’t know. Nevertheless, even if it was not used as a brigade trail, it was a known and familiar route for the HBC men, as A.C. Anderson shows it on his 1867 map of the Colony of British Columbia. I think it would take boots on the ground to determine if this was a brigade trail. However, as it happens, much of this land appears to be Indian Reserve land — the Deep Creek Reserve. Yes, they kept the old name. The name of the creek was their name for the creek. They kept their history. 

So I told you I had a story or two about Deep Creek, did I not? I am going through another history book for answers on Fort Alexandria and the town that came later, and I found a few mentions of Deep Creek. The book is Mark Sweeten Wade’s The Cariboo Road, published by the Haunted Bookshop in 1979. Why do I have this book? Mark Sweeten Wade was my mother’s great-uncle (?) from the British side of the family, and Hugh Wade, who published the book, was Mark’s grandson and my mother’s cousin. The Haunted Bookshop originally belonged to my aunt, Rosamond Tozer (from the Métis side of the family), and she founded it in the very-late 1840s and ran it for twenty or years. Her cousin, Hugh Wade, took it over for a few years before selling it. The new owner moved it to Sidney, BC, and it’s still there (although once again under new ownership); its still a good used bookstore; and it likely still has aunt Rosamund’s original 1950s advertisements on display in the window.

But the Cariboo road, and Deep Creek. Mark Wade died in 1929, so these stories are from the early 1900s, or maybe the late 1800s. Many years after his uncle’s death, Hugh Wade was given his grandfather’s manuscript, and he edited it and had it published in 1979. It contains many stories of interest to gold rush historians, as well as to the HBC fur trade. But the Cariboo Road is obviously its main story, and here we have one of the stories of the gold-miners who reached the southern banks of the Deep Creek gully.

At Williams Lake “we were truly glad to rest awhile at an inn here. Immediately on our arrival we ordered a ‘square meal’ and an ample supply of fresh beef, beans, cabbage, pies, tea and coffee, was set before us, to which we did justice in a manner” that would have made their friends ashamed to acknowledge them! The meal cost $1.50 each.

Here they met some parties of miners returning from Cariboo with a story of failure and of the bad road ahead. “And we soon had reason to believe them.” The narrative continues, “our horses were often plunged up to the belly in swamps and mud… At other times we dragged our burdens heavily up steep and forested mountains. Then again, we met frequently with rapid and deep streams, where in the absence of bridges we had to wade, or other wise attempt (nolens, volens) all manner of Blondin-like performances, and often at the risk of life and limb.

Nolens, volens, means “like it or not,” or willing/unwilling. Charles Blondin was a French acrobat who crossed Niagara Falls on a tight rope numerous times. 

At Deep Creek, ten miles from Williams Lake, seven of our comrades relinquished all further attempts to reach their proposed destination, being utterly discouraged by the excessive difficulties of the way and the unvarying tale of disappointment told by the parties of returning and unsuccessful miners. Truly, the numbers of the poor broken down fellows, with their pale pinched faces and tattered rags, eloquent of hunger and poverty, were enough to dishearten all of us together, for hundreds of such passed us during our journey, in parties of from two to a score. Sorely tempted as we were to yield to despair, yet some of us were resolved to brave out to the end, feeling that having come thus far and being almost in sight of the land of our hopes, we would rather leave our bones there then abandon our object when so near its goal.”

So I presume the sight of Deep Creek and its gully was so overwhelming that many wanted to go no further. 

So that is the story of Deep Creek, as far as I can tell it for now. If I learn anything more that is interesting, I will add it here, or lead you off to another blogpost, which will be found here, if I write it: https://nancymargueriteanderson.com/i-havent-written-it-yet/ 

Copyright, Nancy Marguerite Anderson, 2024. All rights reserved.

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