Backblip
Stage coaches at Hat Creek House would have been very busy in the late 19th and early 20th centuries when land to the north in British Columbia was being opened up for settlements and between 1885 and 1905  they had carried their greatest amount of freight and passengers.  Hat Creek House was established in 1861 by a former Hudson’s Bay Company trader as a stopping place for fur traders and then for gold seekers on the Cariboo Wagon Road. It became an important stopping point where food and accommodation could be found and horses could be changed as they were able to travel only 20 miles a day on the rough dirt road.    All sorts of essential products were made or bought there for mining or building new establishments further north, and until roads improved, the horses with wagons or coaches were used.  The crudely made chairs which were outside the café don’t look very comfortable but could be made relatively quickly.