Big-Game Hunting & Guide Outfitters

BC Archives # E-06959

This section will in time become a separate page that will include biographies of the great packers and outfitters of the Bridge River-Lillooet Country, some of whom attained world fame and many of whom hosted nobility and aristocrats from around the world.  In some ways the names of the guides have outlasted those of the dignitaries they served - W.G. Manson and his sons, Chief Hunter Jack, and several others are probably better-known to history than the grandees who hired them.  Despite its isolation, Lillooet afforded outfitting guests with direct access to a wide diversity of then densely-populated wildlife range and impressive scenery, and was rated among the best big-game country in the world, especially in the years before the railway and the Bridge River goldfields brought change - and more and more hunters.  So immediate was the game hunting to the town of Lillooet that outfitters could use town as a base of direct operations, as this pack train starting out from in front of Phair's Store at the heart of the Golden Mile suggests, although the potential range for an expedition was vast, depending on how much time and money the client had.

Pre-settlement game populations in the upper Bridge River basin were supposed to be stupendous, with herds of deer a common site on the valley bottom - before the flooding.  Some accounts from world-travelled big game hunters compared the density of game and the quality of hunting to the Serengeti, even as the diarists of the early colony described the scenery in this area as comparable only to the Himalayas.  Moose were also seen in large groups, as if by the herd, and were in general far more common throughout the region back then, and remained so until the construction of the Bridge River Power Project in the 1950s.  The full ecological and zoological history of the valley would be an interesting study; there were once wolves here (some have returned to the region around Bralorne), and in the plateau valleys on the north side of the Bridge River basin there were also woodland caribou, which are now confined to the more northwesterly part of the Chilcotin proper.  With the inundation from hydroelectric development of the meadows and aspen/alder groves of the Bridge River valley-bottom, wildlife populations were obviously seriously impacted.  Another effect of the hydro development was the enabling of a road down the previously river-enchoked Bridge River Canyon, making direct road access from the upper Bridge to Lillooet and the outside world for the first time after years of reliance on Mission Mountain and the rail line.  Before the road development, this gorge had been home to a large herd of mountain sheep, but these were literally picked off the cliffsides of the canyon in great numbers in the years following the opening of the road (it would be interesting to see the number of head tags for that year).  Wildlife populations have been further impacted since the 1970s by very extensive road development for forestry, although mine exploration, range and fire roads built since the '30s already extended an interestingly long ways into remoter parts of the country which intrepid 4x4ers could get into - including up over the top end of the Bridge River Country into the top end of the Yalakom or even High Bar or Gang Ranch or any of the Chilcotin "towns" (if you really wanted to, and had a good winch and enough gas and water).  Game populations are still impressive in comparison to other parts of North America, and a number of excellent guide-outfitting services remain in the area today, offering first-class service and some of the most spectacular scenery and adventure the world still has to offer, though photo safaris are much more common than trophy-hunting parties today.

BC Archives # B-03181

Chief Hunter Jack

The Mansons
Photo: Manson family	Photo: Manson family
	Although Hunter Jack was no doubt the greatest of all the guides in the Bridge River-Lillooet Country, W.G. (Bill) Manson was by far the most famous and most celebrated.  So famous that his image was used to promote sales of his favourite rifle, the Winchester "Savage" in ads in New York and Europe, and his client list reads like a who's who of North American aristocrats and European nobles.  W.G. married Alice Martley, daughter of Capt. Martley of the Grange at Pavilion, and had two sons, Donald and Thomas (Tom), the latter depicted above as a young man.  Donald died in Flanders on November 1, 1918, just before the end of the Great War, and his loss was much mourned locally.  Both Donald and Tom followed in their father's footsteps as big-game guides to the best clients.

Capt. Frank Gott

Charlie Cunningham

Frank Christy

Frank Swannell