Jackass Mountain
On the east side of the Fraser River below Lytton, Jackass Mountain is along the old Cariboo road. Initially without any protective barriers, the drop from the road to the Fraser River below was 457 metres.1 The name comes from an incident in which a jackass laden with miner's goods went over the edge.2 An old story recounts a frightened passenger screaming at Steve Tingley, the driver of the coach: What happens if we go over the edge? To which he replied: Lady, that all depends on what sort of life you've been leading.3 Eventually, the road was widened and travel was made safer, of which Douglas refers to in this despatch
  • 1. Jackass Mountain, BC Geographical Names Information System.
  • 2. Ibid.
  • 3. Ibid.
Mentions of this place in the documents
People in this document

Douglas, Sir James

Places in this document

Cariboo Region

Fraser River

Lytton

The Colonial Despatches Team. Jackass Mountain. The Colonial Despatches of Vancouver Island and British Columbia 1846-1871, Edition 2.0, ed. The Colonial Despatches Team. Victoria, B.C.: University of Victoria. https://bcgenesis.uvic.ca/jackass_mountain.html.

Last modified: 2020-03-30 13:22:16 -0700 (Mon, 30 Mar 2020) (SVN revision: 4193)