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°W / 50.72556; -121.28056Coordinates: 50°43′32″N 121°16′50″W / 50.72556°N 121.28056°W / 50.72556; -121.28056
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 km2 (19.86 sq mi)
Elevation 335.2 m (1,099.7 ft)
Population (2011)
 • Total 1,628
 • Density 32.3/km2 (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 http://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]

Climate

Ashcroft has a semi-arid (Köppen climate classification BSk) climate. The Ashcroft area is the driest place in Canada outside of the high arctic. It has one of the hottest summers in Canada, with a July average daily maximum temperature near 30°C (86°F). Daytime temperatures over 38°C (100°F) are common in mid-summer. Ashcroft receives 269 mm of precipitation annually. Although weather records exist for Ashcroft pre-1987, the closest climate data available for recent times is from the Spences Bridge station, approximately 45 km to the south.

Sagebrush vegetation predominates on the lower-elevation terrain in this area, with dry pine on the heights above. The area is known for its cattle ranching, with the historic Ashcroft and Basque Ranches southwest of town, and the Parke Ranch—among the very oldest in British Columbia—skirting the town limits of Cache Creek.

Because of its arid climate, Ashcroft and the surrounding area have occasionally been used as a stand-in for the Middle East and the American West in film productions.

Climate data for Ashcroft, British Columbia (Spences Bridge weather station)
Month Jan Feb Mar Apr May Jun Jul Aug Sep Oct Nov Dec Year
Record high °C (°F) 17
(63)		 17.5
(63.5)		 24.5
(76.1)		 32
(90)		 38.5
(101.3)		 39.5
(103.1)		 42.5
(108.5)		 40.5
(104.9)		 37.5
(99.5)		 31
(88)		 21.5
(70.7)		 17.5
(63.5)		 42.5
(108.5)
Average high °C (°F) 0.6
(33.1)		 5
(41)		 12.4
(54.3)		 17.9
(64.2)		 22.4
(72.3)		 25.9
(78.6)		 29.6
(85.3)		 29.5
(85.1)		 24
(75)		 14.8
(58.6)		 5.7
(42.3)		 0.1
(32.2)		 15.7
(60.3)
Average low °C (°F) −5.7
(21.7)		 −3.3
(26.1)		 0.4
(32.7)		 4.3
(39.7)		 8.6
(47.5)		 12.3
(54.1)		 14.6
(58.3)		 14.3
(57.7)		 10
(50)		 4.4
(39.9)		 −1
(30)		 −5.7
(21.7)		 4.4
(39.9)
Record low °C (°F) −25.5
(−13.9)		 −23
(−9)		 −13
(9)		 −4
(25)		 0
(32)		 4
(39)		 6
(43)		 6
(43)		 0
(32)		 −19.4
(−2.9)		 −29
(−20)		 −28.5
(−19.3)		 −29
(−20)
Average precipitation mm (inches) 18.8
(0.74)		 12.5
(0.492)		 12.5
(0.492)		 13.6
(0.535)		 27
(1.06)		 31.9
(1.256)		 29.1
(1.146)		 24.9
(0.98)		 23.5
(0.925)		 22.4
(0.882)		 26.6
(1.047)		 26.2
(1.031)		 269.1
(10.594)
Source: "Canadian Climate Normals 1971–2000: Spences Bridge Nicola". Environment Canada. Retrieved 26 January 2012. 

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.

Festivals

Ashcroft had its first annual Wellness Festival in July of 2013.

Sister city

The town's Japanese sister city is Bifuka, Hokkaido.[5]

Television and film

Projects that have been filmed in the area include[6]

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. 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. ↑ "Our Sister City". Village of Ashcroft. Village of Ashcroft. Retrieved 27 January 2012.
  6. ↑ "Most Popular Titles with Location Matching 'Ashcroft, British Columbia, Canada'", IMDB.com.

External links

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