Description of Historic Place

Ceal Tingley Memorial Park Heritage Corner is located on Front Street where the Quesnel and Fraser Rivers meet in Downtown Quesnel, BC. The historic place includes the artefacts and property they occupy.

Heritage Value

The Park is valued for its social and cultural significance.

The objects within the park speak to the value of industry within the community. There is a steam shovel used by the Cariboo Hydraulic Mining Company for their Bullion Mine in the early 1900s, a replica of a Cornish water wheel that symbolizes the history or mining and the people who came to do it, a telegraph cairn to serve as a reminder of the importance of Quesnel in early northern BC communications, and the boiler of “The Enterprise” which transported miners and supplies signifying the importance of the community as a transportation hub based in industry.

The Park also holds historical value as the location of Alexander Mackenzie’s landing in 1793, Simon Fraser’s landing 1808, and a settlement for First Nations. This site was also the terminus for the horse-drawn transportation route known as the ‘Cariboo Wagon Road’ and the docking point for the sternwheelers carrying passengers and freight.

The park is named for Ceal Tingley, who was a prominent member of the community and the mayor of Quesnel from 1970 to 1976.

The Park is a physical reminder of the people and industries that shaped the development of Quesnel.

Character-Defining Elements

The character-defining elements of Ceal Tingley Memorial Park-Heritage Corner include the:

- prominent location in Downtown Quesnel
- steam shovel
- replica Cornish water wheel
- telegraph cairn
- boiler of ‘The Enterprise’