Quesnel

Quesnel is located at the convergence of the Fraser and Quesnel Rivers in the BC interior.1

Once called Quesnelle Mouth, after North West Company clerk Jules Maurice Quesnel, it should not be confused with Quesnel Forks, an early Cariboo gold camp located further up-river.2 It was named by Fraser after Jules Maurice Quesnel, one of the two North West Company clerks who had travelled with Fraser.3

According to this despatch the region was a popular destination for miners possessing extravagant visions of wealth and fortune.

1. Quesnel, BC Geographical Names Information System.
2. G. P. V. Akrigg and H. B. Akrigg, British Columbia Place Names (Vancouver: UBC Press, 1997), 221.
3. Quesnel, BC Geographical Names Information System.

Mentions of this place in the documents

Cariboo Road
Chilcotin Plateau
Teloot
Levi, Solomon David
Klatsassin
Rich Bar
Boas, Judah
Bering Strait
Holmes, Captain G. W.
Cariboo Region
McDonald, Ranald
McMicking Thomas
British Bar
Quesnel River
Beaver Lake [settlement]
Ball, Henry Maynard
Conway, Edmund
Soda Creek
Barkerville
Cox, William George
Douglas, Chief Factor Governor Vice-Admiral Sir James to Pelham-Clinton, 5th Duke of Newcastle Henry Pelham Fiennes 9 October 1860, CO 60:8, no. 11678, 196.
Douglas, Chief Factor Governor Vice-Admiral Sir James to Pelham-Clinton, 5th Duke of Newcastle Henry Pelham Fiennes 25 October 1860, CO 60:8, no. 85, 232.
Douglas, Chief Factor Governor Vice-Admiral Sir James to Pelham-Clinton, 5th Duke of Newcastle Henry Pelham Fiennes 4 June 1861, CO 60:10, no. 6744, 264.
Douglas, Chief Factor Governor Vice-Admiral Sir James to Pelham-Clinton, 5th Duke of Newcastle Henry Pelham Fiennes 16 July 1861, CO 60:10, no. 8719, 301.
Douglas, Chief Factor Governor Vice-Admiral Sir James to Pelham-Clinton, 5th Duke of Newcastle Henry Pelham Fiennes 24 October 1861, CO 60:11, no. 10961, 94.
Douglas, Chief Factor Governor Vice-Admiral Sir James to Pelham-Clinton, 5th Duke of Newcastle Henry Pelham Fiennes 15 December 1862, CO 60:13, no. 1623, 581.
Hamilton, George Alexander to Rogers, Baron Blachford Frederic 22 July 1863, CO 60:17, no. 7264, 301.
Douglas, Chief Factor Governor Vice-Admiral Sir James to Pelham-Clinton, 5th Duke of Newcastle Henry Pelham Fiennes 14 September 1863, CO 60:16, no. 10454, 152.
Douglas, Chief Factor Governor Vice-Admiral Sir James to Pelham-Clinton, 5th Duke of Newcastle Henry Pelham Fiennes 13 November 1863, CO 60:16, no. 12536, 281.
Douglas, Chief Factor Governor Vice-Admiral Sir James to Pelham-Clinton, 5th Duke of Newcastle Henry Pelham Fiennes 30 January 1864, CO 60:18, no. 2779, 19.
Douglas, Chief Factor Governor Vice-Admiral Sir James to Pelham-Clinton, 5th Duke of Newcastle Henry Pelham Fiennes 11 April 1864, CO 60:18, no. 5068, 157.
Seymour, Governor Frederick to Pelham-Clinton, 5th Duke of Newcastle Henry Pelham Fiennes 1 June 1864, CO 60:18, no. 7592, 311.
Birch, Arthur Nonus to Cardwell, Edward 12 August 1864, CO 60:19, no. 9448, 37.
Seymour, Governor Frederick to Cardwell, Edward 5 September 1864, CO 60:19, no. 10597, 129.
Seymour, Governor Frederick to Cardwell, Edward 9 September 1864, CO 60:19, no. 10602, 190.
Seymour, Governor Frederick to Cardwell, Edward 23 November 1864, CO 60:19, no. 1374, 386.
Seymour, Governor Frederick to Cardwell, Edward 26 November 1864, CO 60:19, no. 1377, 422.
Seymour, Governor Frederick to Cardwell, Edward 2 December 1864, CO 60:19, no. 1382, 467.
Seymour, Governor Frederick to Cardwell, Edward 17 May 1865, CO 60:21, no. 6413, 496.
Seymour, Governor Frederick to Cardwell, Edward 7 July 1865, CO 60:22, no. 8623, 192.
Birch, Arthur Nonus to Cardwell, Edward 18 November 1865, CO 60:22, no. 1193, 449.
Birch, Arthur Nonus to Cardwell, Edward 16 January 1866, CO 60:24, no. 3017, 14.
Birch, Arthur Nonus to Cardwell, Edward 25 January 1866, CO 60:24, no. 3020, 26.
Johnstone, J. B. to Cardwell, Edward 24 March 1866, CO 60:26, no. 2945, 309.
Cardwell, Edward to Birch, Arthur Nonus 12 April 1866, NAC RG7:G8C/13, 108.
Seymour, Governor Frederick to Elliot, Thomas Frederick 29 May 1866, CO 60:26, no. 5184, 404.
Birch, Arthur Nonus to Carnarvon, Earl 27 September 1866, CO 60:25, no. 10626, 71.
Birch, Arthur Nonus to Carnarvon, Earl 26 October 1866, CO 60:25, no. 12136, 190.
Birch, Arthur Nonus to Carnarvon, Earl 31 October 1866, CO 60:25, no. 417, 216.
Seymour, Governor Frederick to Carnarvon, Earl 11 January 1867, CO 60:27, no. 1947, 65.
Carnarvon, Earl to Seymour, Governor Frederick 24 January 1867, NAC RG7:G8C/14, 50.
Seymour, Governor Frederick to Carnarvon, Earl 18 March 1867, CO 60:27, no. 5072, 384.
Seymour, Governor Frederick to Carnarvon, Earl 2 April 1867, CO 60:28, no. 5073, 2.
Seymour, Governor Frederick to Grenville, Richard 22 November 1867, CO 60:29, no. 1204, 366.
Seymour, Governor Frederick to Leveson-Gower, Granville George 30 January 1869, CO 60:35, no. 3404, 40.
Musgrave, Sir Anthony to Leveson-Gower, Granville George 15 October 1869, CO 60:36, no. 12813, 364.
Leveson-Gower, Granville George to Musgrave, Sir Anthony 4 December 1869, NAC RG7:G8C/16, 440.

People in this document

Fraser, Simon

Places in this document

Cariboo Region

Fraser River

Quesnel River

Colonial Despatches

The colonial despatches of Vancouver Island and British Columbia 1846-1871

Quesnel