SOUTHWESTERN BRITISH COLUMBIA - British Columbia: Including the Alaska Highway - page 344

the Historic Yale Site (31187 Douglas St., 604/863-2324, 10am-5pm Thurs.-Mon in sum-
mer., adult $6.50), which comprises a small museum and the 1863 St. John's Church.
If you're looking for a place to spend the night, choose between the downtown, 12-room
Fort Yale Motel (31265 Trans-Canada Hwy., 604/863-2216, $69-89 s or d) or head back
down the highway 12 kilometers (7.5 miles) to the campground at Emory Creek Provin-
cial Park ($21). Along the Trans-Canada Highway through town is a small information
booth (604/863-2324, 9am-6pm daily in summer).
Alexandra Bridge
The treacherous Fraser Canyon posed a major transportation obstacle during the 1850s
Gold Rush. In 1863, Alexandra Bridge, 22 kilometers (14 miles) north of Yale, was com-
pleted. However, with the successful completion of the Canadian Pacific Railway line
through the canyon, the bridge and the Cariboo Wagon Road fell into disrepair. The pop-
ularity of the automobile forced engineers to construct a new suspension bridge in 1926.
The new bridge used the original abutments and lasted right up to 1962, when it was re-
placed by today's bridge on Highway 1. Alexandra Bridge Provincial Park now protects
a section of the old Cariboo Wagon Road, including the old bridge. The trail down to the
bridge makes a good place to get out and stretch your legs.
MM Hell's Gate
At well-known Hell's Gate, the Fraser River powers its way through a narrow, glacially
carved, 34-meter-high (112-foot-high) gorge. When Simon Fraser saw this section of the
gorge in 1808, he wrote, “we had to travel where no human being should venture—for
surely we have encountered the gates of hell,” and the name stuck. In 1914, a massive rock-
slide rocketed down into the gorge, blocking it even further and resulting in the almost total
obliteration of the sockeye salmon population that spawned farther upstream. In 1944, gi-
ant concrete fishways were built to slow the waters and allow the spawning salmon to jump
upstream, and the river soon swarmed with salmon once again. Today you can cross the
canyon aboard the 25-passenger Hell's Gate Airtram (604/867-9277, 10am-4pm daily late
Apr.-mid-Oct., 10am-5pm July and Aug., adult $21, senior $19, child $15). Once across the
river you can browse through landscaped gardens, learn more about the fishway and sal-
mon, or even try your hand at gold panning.
North Toward Cache Creek
Another small town with a Gold-Rush history, Boston Bar is today a popular white-water
rafting destination for those brave enough to float the Fraser River's roaring rapids. A