Ashcroft, British Columbia

Ashcroft
Village
The Corporation of the Village of Ashcroft[1]
Ashcroft Location of Ashcroft in British Columbia
Coordinates: 50°43′32″N 121°16′50″W / 50.72556°N 121.28056°WCoordinates: 50°43′32″N 121°16′50″W / 50.72556°N 121.28056°W
Country	Canada
Province	British Columbia
Region	Thompson Country-South Cariboo
Regional District	Thompson-Nicola Regional District
Founded	1880s
Incorporated as a Village	1952
Government
• Type	Elected village council
• Mayor	Jack Jeyes
• Governing body	Ashcroft Village Council
• MP	Mark Strahl (Conservative)
• MLA	Jackie Tegart (BC Liberals)
Area
• Total	51.45 km^2 (19.86 sq mi)
Elevation	335.2 m (1,099.7 ft)
Population (2011)
• Total	1,628
• Density	32.3/km^2 (84/sq mi)
Time zone	PST (UTC−8)
• Summer (DST)	PDT (UTC−7)
Postal Code	V0K 1A0
Highway	Highway 97C
Waterways	Kamloops Lake Bonaparte River Thompson River
Website	www.ashcroftbc.ca

Ashcroft (2011 population 1,628)^[2] is a village in the Thompson Country of the Interior of British Columbia, Canada. It is 30 kilometres (19 mi) downstream from the west end of Kamloops Lake, at the confluence of the Bonaparte and Thompson Rivers, and is in the Thompson-Nicola Regional District.

Ashcroft's downtown is on the east side of the Thompson River, although the municipal boundaries straddle the river, with housing and the town's hospital and recreation complex on the west bank. It is something of a "twin" to nearby Cache Creek, which unlike Ashcroft is on the major highway.

History

Ashcroft's historic fire hall, rebuilt in 1919 after a massive fire

Ashcroft was founded in the 1860s, during the Cariboo Gold Rush, by two English brothers named Clement Francis Cornwall and Henry Pennant Cornwall, founders of Ashcroft Ranch, who emigrated to Canada from Ashcroft, at Newington Bagpath in Gloucestershire.^[3] The brothers had originally come in search of gold; however, on hearing stories from failed gold searchers they decided to found the town to give future gold searchers a place to saddle their horses. They sold flour to packers and miners, helping to make the community.

In 2001, Ashcroft expanded its boundaries to include the Ashcroft Ranch, which had been bought in 2000 by the Greater Vancouver Regional District (GVRD) with the intent of using it as the site of a landfill to succeed the Cache Creek sanitary landfill. In 2011, however, the British Columbia government denied an environmental assessment certificate for the landfill, and Metro Vancouver expressed a desire to divest itself of the property.^[4]

Geography

The geography in and around Ashcroft resembles that of desert terrain,^[5] which has been marketed as sets for the film industry.^[6]

Transportation and communication

As a flag stop Via Rail's The Canadian calls at the Ashcroft railway station three times per week in each direction.

Ashcroft is served by a community television station (run by the Ash-Creek Television Society), CH4472 on VHF channel 4 (with an effective radiated power of 74 watts at 15 meters above ground level), with a repeater (CH4473 on VHF 8, with an effective radiated power of 49 watts at 45 meters) in the neighbouring town of Cache Creek.

Attractions

Ashcroft was home to the Nl'akapxm Eagle Motorplex, a ¼-mile IHRA-sanctioned dragstrip, which opened in 1987 and closed in April 2016.

Ashcroft had its first annual Wellness Festival in July 2013.

Sister city

The town's Japanese sister city is Bifuka, Hokkaido.^[7]

Television and film

Projects that have been filmed in the area include^[8]

• Sky High (1989 Disney Film)
• Cadence (1990)^[9]
• Bird on a Wire (1990)
• The X-Files (1993 TV Series)^[10]
• Double Cross (1994)^[11]
• Zacharia Farted (1998)^[12]
• Eyes of a Cowboy (1998 TV Mini-series)^[13]
• The Pick-up (1999 Short Film)^[14]
• Lola (2001)^[15]
• Flower & Garnet (2002)
• Traffic (2004 Mini-series)^[16]
• The Sisterhood of the Traveling Pants (2005)
• An Unfinished Life (2005)
• Miss Texas (2005 TV Movie)^[17]
• Partition (2007)^[18]
• Centigrade (2007 Short Film)^[19]
• Shooter (2007)
• Joyride 2: Dead Ahead (2008)
• The Andromeda Strain (2008 Mini-series)^[20]
• 2012 (2009)^[21]
• Alien Trespass (2009)^[22]
• Rain Down (2010)^[23]
• Thirst (2010)^[24]
• The A-Team (2010)
• Flicka 2 (2010)^[25]
• Afghan Luke (2011)^[26]
• The Walk (2013 Short Film)^[27]
• The X-Files (2016 TV Series - Episode: My Struggle)^[28]
• Tomato Red (2016)^[29]
• Fosters Beer Commercial
• Ford Car Commercial
• Gold Trails and Ghost Towns, Season 3, Episode 9

References

1. "British Columbia Regional Districts, Municipalities, Corporate Name, Date of Incorporation and Postal Address" (XLS). British Columbia Ministry of Communities, Sport and Cultural Development. Archived from the original on July 13, 2014. Retrieved November 2, 2014.
2. "Census Profile: Ashcroft, British Columbia". Statistics Canada. 1 February 2012. Retrieved 16 April 2012.
3. "Ashcroft". BC Geographical Names.
4. Sinoski, Kelly (9 September 2011). "Province Rejects Metro's Bid for Environment Assessment for Ashcroft Dump". The Vancouver Sun. Postmedia Network Inc. Retrieved 26 January 2012.
5. "Location Photo Package: Thompson-Nicola Film Commission (Set: Desert Terrain)". Thompson Nicola Film Commission. February 4, 2013. Retrieved November 27, 2016.
6. "Welcome to the Thompson-Nicola Region in BC". Thompson Nicola Film Commission. February 4, 2013. Retrieved November 27, 2016. Desert, canyons, grasslands, mountains and resorts are a few of our BC locations.
7. "Our Sister City". Village of Ashcroft. Village of Ashcroft. Retrieved 27 January 2012.
8. "Most Popular Titles with Location Matching 'Ashcroft, British Columbia, Canada'", IMDB.com.
9. "Cadence". 15 February 1991 – via IMDb.
10. "The X-Files". 10 September 1993 – via IMDb.
11. "Double Cross". 29 June 1994 – via IMDb.
12. "Zacharia Farted". 23 October 1998 – via IMDb.
13. "Eyes of a Cowboy". 1 January 2000 – via IMDb.
14. "The Pick-up". 1 January 2000 – via IMDb.
15. "Lola". 26 April 2002 – via IMDb.
16. "Traffic". 26 January 2004 – via IMDb.
17. "Miss Texas". 9 May 2005 – via IMDb.
18. "Partition". 2 February 2007 – via IMDb.
19. "Centigrade". 26 August 2007 – via IMDb.
20. "The Andromeda Strain". 26 May 2008 – via IMDb.
21. "2012". 13 November 2009 – via IMDb.
22. "Alien Trespass". 1 January 2009 – via IMDb.
23. "Rain Down". 1 January 2000 – via IMDb.
24. "Thirst". 22 June 2010 – via IMDb.
25. "Flicka 2". 4 May 2010 – via IMDb.
26. "Afghan Luke". 11 June 2011 – via IMDb.
27. "The Walk". 8 March 2013 – via IMDb.
28. "#DUPE#". 10 September 1993 – via IMDb.
29. "Tomato Red". 1 January 2000 – via IMDb.

External links

• Mark Sweeten Wade's The Thompson Country, 1907 (local history - on line version)
• Aerial view of Ashcroft by Randall and Kat
• The Rattler