HISTORICAL NEWS SEARCH - Government of British Columbia

Early March, a logjam and a series of slides in Baker Creek threatened Quesnel with possible flooding. *1)
No problems were anticipated if snowmelt would start around April 15. But in case of a cool spring with snow not
starting to melt until April 25 th , flood problems might be anticipated. *2)
In the meantime, city council mandated that no building permits be issued within 100 m of Baker Creek
unless a geotechnical study had been conducted.
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*1) Baker Creek usually crests sometime around June 21-22 (Quesnel Cariboo Observer, March 16, 1997).
*2) Quesnel almost lost a bridge a “couple of years” previous when a lot of debris came down Baker Creek (Quesnel
Cariboo Observer, March 16, 1997).
March 29-April 16, 1997
Event type: Debris slides.
Precipitation: Not applicable.
Source: Quesnel Cariboo Observer, April 2, 6, 9, 13 and 16, 1997; The Daily Courier, April 16, 1997; Ministry of
Environment, Lands and Parks files; Memos April 8, 1997. Herb Langin to Jon O’Riordan and April 9, 1997. Neil
Hamilton to Peter Woods. Re: Slides in Cariboo Region.
During late March-early April, several landslides were reported in the Fraser and Quesnel Rivers, causing
considerable mass wasting in the area. On the morning of March 29, on West Fraser Road a mobile home was
evacuated. Influenced by weather and runoff, the ground around the home started to shift pushing the trailer to the edge
of an embankment overlooking the Fraser River. The trailer was tied up for the night. On March 31, the trailer was
moved closer towards West Fraser Road on the same property. A second trailer at the same location had a fault line
running under its foundation and though threatened, was not yet affected by the ground shift. *1)
In early April, Quesnel city council passed a variance permit to allow the endangered McKone residence on
Twan Street to be moved away to safety from a crumbling Baker Creek cliff. The home was later moved further onto
their lot.
Around April 5-6, about 100 ft. (30 m) of the south side of Durrell Road about 1 mi. (1.6 km) up from
Highway 97 gave way. Spring conditions caused the road to slide down the embankment, reducing the road to one
lane. Residents were forced to make a 5-mi (8 km) detour via Dale Lake Road.
Les Townsend of Argo Road Maintenance called the site a historic area of instability. At the time, Argo was
monitoring 10 active slide locations. “Quesnel is probably the landslide capital of North America,” Townsend
observed. *2) “A wet summer last year and a quick spring runoff this year, it’s the worst I’ve seen it in five years.” At
the slide site, the roadway material was constantly moving and the pavement continued to crack in either direction.
According to Geotech engineer Nick Polysou, the slope the trailer was located on had been moving over a
period of many years. He added that the slope, left by the Fraser River when it cut down through the ground, would
continue to move back. Polysou also found evidence of an older slide area above the road. This was either an older
slide or a small slump of slope below the trailer, which happened shortly after the road was cut.
Around April 7-8, a helicopter pilot and Ministry of Forests staff flying the area noted four slides occurred
on the Fraser River. A large slide at Moose Heights, just upstream of Quesnel 7-km north-northwest from the Quesnel
airport, did block the Fraser River for a short time. At 2:30 p.m. on April 8?, the slide was still very active. According
to the pilot’s report, it was blocking about a third of the channel then. Water ponded 1-2 m before breaching. The water
was below the high water mark at all times.
The Quesnel River slide, just above Big Canyon about 10 km upstream from Cariboo Pulp and Paper in
Quesnel, completely blocked the river for some time, possibly more than once. The river ponded for a couple of metres
of elevation before breaching. The slide was breached at 2:00 p.m. on April 8 when last seen by the pilot. The breech
was small and lots of slide activity was still occurring. At its maximum, the blockage ponded water 2-3 m. Even on
April 9 after breaching, this ponding was still 1-2 m deep.
On April 9 at the time of inspection, both sites were still active. Small slides and falling trees were observed.
The slides posed no hazard to the nearest public infrastructures, like bridges at Quesnel. The slide on the Quesnel River
had a major impact on the river water and would continue to do so for some time. There was neither downstream threat
nor immediate concern of water quality. The City of Quesnel gets its domestic water from deep wells and it was too
early in the year for private irrigation systems to be operating. The pulp mills in Quesnel handle theirs with filter
systems.
Around April 11, 11 more landslides were noted in the Quesnel area during the previous 48 hours. Though
they were most active and continued to move, none impacted watercourses in the area. The other slides did not block
the Fraser River but were dumping “plenty of soil,” causing the river to run very dirty downstream. As not too many
trees were involved no logjams were formed. The slides disrupted or closed roads and affected some homes. On April
11, all roads except a small side road south of Quesnel were open.
On April 16 at 4:45 p.m., shifting soil snapped a gas line and caused an explosion in West Quesnel that killed
five people and injured 20 others. Shock waves were felt throughout the city. The explosion leveled and destroyed two
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