Lytton Yesterday

A meeting place for First Nations at the confluence of the Fraser and Thompson Rivers. A prime fishing area for the local natives, long before fir traders and Simon Fraser explored the area in 1808. In 1863 the Royal Engineers completed the Cariboo Wagon Road to Lytton. Originally known as the Forks, it was renamed after Sir Edward Bulwer Lytton, an author who was a contemporary and friend of Charles Dickens and later the British Colonial Secretary during the Fraser Gold Rush of the 1850s and 1860s. In the 1880s the CPR was constructed and later the CNR came to the community. Fire consumed over 31 buildings in the 1930s. Upgrading the Canyon Road to the Trans Canada Highway brought further development to Lytton in the late 1950s and 60s.

Sources: The settlement was named after Sir Edward Bulwer-Lytton, Secretary of State for the colonies, by Governor Douglas. (Akrigg).