Cariboo Mountains [key], range, c.200 mi (320 km) long, E British Columbia, Canada, rising to 11,750 ft (3,582 m) at Mt. Sir Wilfrid Laurier. It runs roughly parallel with the main Rocky Mt. range to the northeast, from which it is separated by the Rocky Mt. Trench, there occupied by the Fraser River. In the foothills to the west is the Cariboo dist., scene of the famous Cariboo gold rush of 1860. Many camps sprang up in the region, and much gold was taken out, but after 1866 the diggings declined. Many gold-seekers stayed on in the region, and today there are several thousand who make their living by a combination of mining, hunting, and farming. The Cariboo wagon road, built (1862–65) by the government, facilitated the settlement of the interior of the province. It started from Yale, at the head of navigation on the Fraser River, and ended in the Cariboo dist. nearly 400 mi (640 km) to the north. Bowron Lake and Wells Gray provincial parks are in the Cariboo Mts.
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