Lytton, British Columbia
 | This article documents a current event. Information may change rapidly as the event progresses, and initial news reports may be unreliable. The latest updates to this article may not reflect the most current information. (July 2021) |
 | This article needs additional citations for verification. (March 2010) |
Lytton
Camchin (Kumsheen) | |
|---|---|
| The Corporation of the Village of Lytton[1] | |
.jpg) | |
  Lytton Location of Lytton in British Columbia  Lytton Lytton (Canada) | |
| Coordinates: 50°13′52″N 121°34′53″W / 50.23111°N 121.58139°W | |
| Country | Canada |
| Province | British Columbia |
| Region | Fraser Canyon |
| Regional district | Thompson-Nicola Regional District |
| Incorporated | 1945 |
| Government | |
| • Governing body | Lytton Village Council |
| • Mayor | Jan Polderman |
| Area | |
• Total | 6.54 km2 (2.53 sq mi) |
| Elevation | 195 m (640 ft) |
| Population (2016) | |
• Total | 249 |
| • Density | 37/km2 (100/sq mi) |
| Time zone | UTC−08:00 (PST) |
| • Summer (DST) | UTC−07:00 (PDT) |
| Highways |  Highway 1 (TCH) Highway 12 |
| Waterways | Thompson River Fraser River |
| Website | Village of Lytton |
Lytton is a village in British Columbia, Canada, and sits at the confluence of the Thompson River and Fraser River on the east side of the Fraser. The location has been inhabited by the Nlaka'pamux people for over 10,000 years.[2] It was one of the earliest locations occupied by non-Indigenous settlers in the Southern Interior of British Columbia. It was founded during the Fraser Canyon Gold Rush of 1858–59, when it was known as "The Forks". The community includes the Village of Lytton and the surrounding community of the Lytton First Nation, whose name for the place is Camchin, also spelled Kumsheen ("river meeting").
During summer heat waves, Lytton is often the hottest spot in Canada, despite being north of the 50th parallel north. In three consecutive days of June 2021, Lytton broke the record for highest temperature ever recorded in Canada, culminating with Canada's all-time record high of 49.6 °C (121 °F) on 29 June 2021. The next day, 30 June 2021, fire swept through the valley in which Lytton is located, destroying much of the village.
History
Lytton was on the route of the Fraser Canyon Gold Rush in 1858. The same year, Lytton was named after Edward Bulwer-Lytton, the British Colonial Secretary and a novelist.[3] For many years Lytton was a stop on major transportation routes, namely, the River Trail from 1858, Cariboo Wagon Road in 1862, the Canadian Pacific Railway in the 1880s, the Cariboo Highway in the 1920s, and the Trans Canada Highway in the 1950s. However, it has become much less important since the construction of the Coquihalla Highway in 1987 which uses a more direct route to the BC Interior.
2021 wildfire and destruction
On 30 June 2021, the day after Lytton set a Canadian all-time-high temperature record of 49.6 °C (121.3 °F), a wildfire swept through the community, destroying many structures.[4] The entire village was given an evacuation order. Following the fire, local MP Brad Vis stated that 90% of the village had burned down.[5]
Name origin
Novelist Bulwer-Lytton was a friend and contemporary of Charles Dickens and was one of the pioneers of the historical novel, exemplified by his most popular work, The Last Days of Pompeii. He is best remembered today for the opening line to the novel Paul Clifford, which begins "It was a dark and stormy night..." and is considered by some to be the worst opening sentence in the English language.[6] However, Bulwer-Lytton is also responsible for well-known sayings such as "The pen is mightier than the sword" from his play Richelieu. Despite being a very popular author with 19th-century readers, few people today are even aware of his prodigious body of literature spanning many genres. In the 21st century he is known best as the namesake for the Bulwer-Lytton Fiction Contest (BLFC), sponsored annually by the English Department at San Jose State University, which challenges entrants "to compose the opening sentence to the worst of all possible novels".
In 1858 Governor James Douglas named the town after Bulwer-Lytton "as a merited compliment and mark of respect". Bulwer-Lytton served as Colonial Secretary. As governor of the then colony, Douglas would have reported to him.[7]: 158
Lord Lytton literary debate
On 30 August 2008, the Village of Lytton invited Henry Lytton-Cobbold, the great-great-great grandson of Edward Bulwer-Lytton, to defend the great man's honour by debating Professor Scott Rice, the sponsor of the BLFC, on the literary and political legacies of his great ancestor.[8] The debate received wide media coverage including The Globe and Mail, The New York Times, The Guardian, CBC's As It Happens and many local and regional newspapers and radio and TV stations. The debate was moderated by Mike McArdell of Global TV. Lytton-Cobbold provided a spirited and crowd-inspiring defence of his ancestor, and despite a factual and well-researched presentation by Rice, Lytton-Cobbold emerged as the crowd favourite by a wide margin. In the end, Rice begrudgingly admitted to an admiration of Bulwer-Lytton. This event was held as part of the Village of Lytton's 150BC celebrations, as it was the 150th anniversary of the community receiving its name.
Population
The population of the village municipality as of the 2016 census was 249,[9] with another 1,700 in the immediate area living in rural areas and on reserves of the neighbouring six Nlaka'pamux communities.[which?]
802 members out of 1,970 registered members of the Lytton First Nation live on reserves immediately adjacent to the municipality.[10]
Climate
Lytton has set Canadian records for highest temperature and experiences either a dry-summer warm-summer humid continental climate (Köppen climate classification: Dsb bordering Dsa), or a warm-summer mediterranean climate (Köppen climate classification: Csb bordering Csa). During summer heat waves, Lytton is often the hottest spot in Canada, despite being north of 50° in latitude. Due to the dry summer air and a relatively low elevation of 230 m (750 ft), summer afternoon shade temperatures frequently reach 35 °C (95 °F) and occasionally top 40 °C (104 °F). Lytton holds the record for the highest temperature ever recorded in Canada with a record high of 49.6 °C (121 °F) on 29 June 2021, which was set during the 2021 Western North America heat wave,[11][12] after having broken records multiple times during the heat wave. Before that heat wave occurred, Lytton, along with the nearby community of Lillooet, shared the second-highest temperature ever recorded in Canada.[13] On July 16 and 17, 1941, the temperature reached a then-record 44.4 °C (112 °F) on both days in both communities.[14] The coldest temperature ever recorded in Lytton was -31.7 °C (-25 °F) on 18 January 1950.[15] While reporting on the new records in 2021, Global News noted that the official Environment Canada weather station is located in the shade and is about a degree cooler than the rest of the village.[16] Hot summer temperatures are made more tolerable by low humidity. However, the heat can be intense with usually clear blue skies and blazing sunlight – heat also radiates from the valley's slopes, and forest fires are not uncommon during the summer.
Lytton's climate is also characterised by relatively short and mild winters (although December and January average monthly temperatures are just below freezing), with Pacific maritime influence during the winter ensuring thick cloud cover much of the time. Cold snaps originating from arctic outflow occur from time-to-time, but tend to be short-lived, and mountains to the north block extreme cold from penetrating the Fraser Canyon.
Lytton receives 430.6 mm (16.95 in)[17] of annual precipitation on average, making Lytton much drier than communities to the south, but certainly wetter than some of the driest spots in the BC interior such as Ashcroft, Kamloops, Spences Bridge, and Osoyoos. However, Lytton has the driest summers in the interior of British Columbia, and indeed, one of the driest summers of all places in Canada. Maximum precipitation occurs in the cooler months, with the late autumn and early winter constituting the wettest time of the year.
| Climate data for Lytton, 1981–2010 normals, extremes 1921–present | |||||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Month | Jan | Feb | Mar | Apr | May | Jun | Jul | Aug | Sep | Oct | Nov | Dec | Year |
| Record high °C (°F) | 16.5 (61.7) |
18.3 (64.9) |
24.7 (76.5) |
33.9 (93.0) |
40.4 (104.7) |
49.6 (121.3) |
44.4 (111.9) |
41.8 (107.2) |
38.7 (101.7) |
29.9 (85.8) |
22.8 (73.0) |
17.8 (64.0) |
49.6 (121.3) |
| Mean daily maximum °C (°F) | 2.3 (36.1) |
5.5 (41.9) |
11.5 (52.7) |
16.2 (61.2) |
20.3 (68.5) |
24.3 (75.7) |
27.8 (82.0) |
28.4 (83.1) |
22.6 (72.7) |
14.6 (58.3) |
5.8 (42.4) |
0.3 (32.5) |
15.0 (59.0) |
| Daily mean °C (°F) | −0.7 (30.7) |
1.7 (35.1) |
6.3 (43.3) |
10.3 (50.5) |
14.4 (57.9) |
18.4 (65.1) |
21.2 (70.2) |
21.6 (70.9) |
16.2 (61.2) |
9.8 (49.6) |
2.9 (37.2) |
−2.5 (27.5) |
10.0 (50.0) |
| Mean daily minimum °C (°F) | −3.7 (25.3) |
−2.1 (28.2) |
1.0 (33.8) |
4.3 (39.7) |
8.5 (47.3) |
12.4 (54.3) |
14.5 (58.1) |
14.7 (58.5) |
9.7 (49.5) |
5.1 (41.2) |
−0.1 (31.8) |
−5.4 (22.3) |
4.9 (40.8) |
| Record low °C (°F) | −31.7 (−25.1) |
−25.0 (−13.0) |
−21.1 (−6.0) |
−7.8 (18.0) |
−3.9 (25.0) |
4.4 (39.9) |
6.1 (43.0) |
6.7 (44.1) |
−2.2 (28.0) |
−18.1 (−0.6) |
−27.7 (−17.9) |
−30.6 (−23.1) |
−31.7 (−25.1) |
| Average precipitation mm (inches) | 58.7 (2.31) |
43.2 (1.70) |
31.2 (1.23) |
20.8 (0.82) |
20.6 (0.81) |
17.8 (0.70) |
18.7 (0.74) |
25.4 (1.00) |
29.0 (1.14) |
41.2 (1.62) |
60.3 (2.37) |
63.9 (2.52) |
430.6 (16.95) |
| Average rainfall mm (inches) | 42.2 (1.66) |
34.7 (1.37) |
24.6 (0.97) |
20.8 (0.82) |
20.6 (0.81) |
17.8 (0.70) |
18.7 (0.74) |
25.4 (1.00) |
29.0 (1.14) |
40.0 (1.57) |
48.0 (1.89) |
41.6 (1.64) |
363.3 (14.30) |
| Average snowfall cm (inches) | 19.4 (7.6) |
11.0 (4.3) |
6.2 (2.4) |
0.0 (0.0) |
0.0 (0.0) |
0.0 (0.0) |
0.0 (0.0) |
0.0 (0.0) |
0.0 (0.0) |
1.4 (0.6) |
12.8 (5.0) |
25.9 (10.2) |
76.6 (30.2) |
| Average precipitation days (≥ 0.2 mm) | 11.5 | 10.5 | 8.8 | 7.2 | 8.6 | 7.2 | 6.4 | 6.4 | 7.6 | 10.5 | 13.0 | 12.1 | 109.6 |
| Average rainy days (≥ 0.2 mm) | 7.8 | 7.9 | 8.2 | 7.2 | 8.6 | 7.2 | 6.4 | 6.4 | 7.6 | 10.3 | 11.0 | 5.8 | 94.2 |
| Average snowy days (≥ 0.2 cm) | 5.5 | 3.6 | 1.6 | 0.0 | 0.0 | 0.0 | 0.0 | 0.0 | 0.0 | 0.4 | 3.5 | 8.1 | 22.7 |
| Average relative humidity (%) | 72.4 | 62.0 | 47.7 | 38.3 | 37.0 | 34.5 | 33.7 | 31.9 | 40.2 | 55.7 | 71.5 | 76.3 | 50.1 |
| Mean monthly sunshine hours | 56.0 | 81.6 | 143.0 | 186.7 | 224.2 | 243.8 | 265.2 | 244.2 | 182.0 | 121.8 | 55.7 | 48.1 | 1,852.2 |
| Percent possible sunshine | 21.1 | 28.8 | 38.9 | 45.2 | 46.9 | 49.8 | 53.7 | 54.4 | 47.9 | 36.4 | 20.5 | 19.1 | 38.6 |
| Source 1: Environment Canada[17][18][19][20][21][22] | |||||||||||||
| Source 2: CBC (June record high only)[12] | |||||||||||||
Vegetation
Open coniferous forests of Douglas fir and ponderosa pine dominate the slopes around Lytton. Some black cottonwood is scattered among the conifers. Bunchgrass dominates the forest floor. Non-native trees cultivated in Lytton include black locust and Manitoba Maple.
Transportation
Lytton lies on the Trans-Canada Highway as well as both the Canadian Pacific and Canadian National Railways. The Canadian National Railway Crosses both the Fraser and Thompson Rivers on two large steel bridges at Lytton. Via the Trans-Canada, Lytton is approximately 265 km from the city of Vancouver, 111 km north of Hope, and 84 km south of Cache Creek and Ashcroft.
Highway 12 runs north from Lytton 62 km to Lillooet, connecting there to Highway 99, which leads southwest to Pemberton and Whistler and beyond to Vancouver, and northeast to its terminus at Lower Hat Creek (Carquile) at a junction with Highway 97 just north of Cache Creek.
The Lytton Ferry, a free reaction ferry, crosses the Fraser River at Lytton. On the river's west side are Indian reserve communities of the Lytton First Nation and the Stein Valley Nlaka'pamux Heritage Park via trails from the confluence of the Stein River with the Fraser. From the ferry, a route known as the West Side Road leads through the Nesikep and Texas Creek areas to Lillooet and BC Highway 99; the route south from the ferry is much more difficult but leads to North Bend-Boston Bar. When the ferry is out of service due to ice or low water levels on the Fraser River, pedestrian access is available via a walkway on the Canadian National Railway bridge crossing the river.
Via Rail's Canadian and the Rocky Mountaineer pass through Lytton, but do not make any stops. Via Rail's closest stops are Ashcroft, 80 km to the north, and North Bend/Boston Bar, 44 km to the south.
Politics
Municipal
The mayor of Lytton is Jan Polderman, who was elected for the first time during the 2018 Municipal Election.
Lytton is a corporate entity created under the Community Charter Act. The elections for the Village Council are held every three years. The current Council includes:
- Mayor Jan Polderman
- Councillor Ian Hay
- Councillor Tiffany Callewaert-Haugen
- Councillor Huntley Smith
Provincial
Originally part of the Lillooet provincial riding, then part of Yale-Lillooet, Lytton is now in the provincial riding of Fraser-Nicola, represented by Jackie Tegart of the BC Liberals, who first won in the 2013 election.
Federal
Federally, the town is in the riding of Mission—Matsqui—Fraser Canyon and is currently represented by Brad Vis of the Conservative Party of Canada.
Economy
The single main employer in the village produced forestry products, and was forced to close due to market uncertainties in 2007.
Lytton is the self-proclaimed "River Rafting Capital of Canada". Kumsheen Rafting Resort is the largest Lytton rafting company, while Hyak follows closely, and Fraser River and Reo Rafting have a more boutique configuration. A provincial campsite, Skihist Provincial Park, adjacent to the Trans-Canada Highway six kilometres north of the village, has space for tenting as well as RVs, and enjoys one of the few views available of Skihist Mountain, the highest summit of the Lillooet Ranges, across the Fraser to the west of Lytton. The privately run Jade Springs Restaurant, also east of the village on the Trans-Canada, also offers a full service campground.
Education
School District 74 operates Lytton Elementary School,[23] and Kumsheen Secondary School (Kumsheen ShchEma-meet School).[24]
References
- ^ "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.
- ^ "About Lytton". Village of Lytton. July 1, 2021. Retrieved July 1, 2021.
- ^ Akrigg, Helen B. and Akrigg, G.P.V; 1001 British Columbia Place Names; Discovery Press, Vancouver 1969, 1970, 1973, p. 106
- ^ Lindsay, Bethany; Dickson, Courtney (June 30, 2021). "Village of Lytton, B.C., evacuated as mayor says 'the whole town is on fire'". CBC News. Retrieved July 1, 2021.
- ^ Kotyk, Alyse (July 1, 2021). "Lytton fire: 90 per cent of B.C. village has burned in devastating blaze, local MP says". CTV News. Retrieved July 1, 2021.
- ^ Petit, Zachary (January 18, 2013). "Famous First Lines Reveal How to Start a Novel". Literary Digest. Retrieved June 9, 2013.
- ^ Akrigg, G.P.V.; Akrigg, Helen B. (1986), British Columbia Place Names (3rd, 1997 ed.), Vancouver: UBC Press, ISBN 0-7748-0636-2
- ^ Alison Flood (August 19, 2008). "'Literary tragedy' of Bulwer-Lytton's dark and stormy night under debate". Guardian. Retrieved June 9, 2013.]
- ^ Census Canada tables for Lytton BC
- ^ "Indian and Northern Affairs Canada, Registered Population Detail". Archived from the original on May 18, 2014. Retrieved July 2, 2021.
- ^ @ECCCWeatherBC (June 29, 2021). "At 4:20pm, Lytton Climate Station reported 49.5°C, once again, breaking the daily and all-time temperature records for the third day running" (Tweet) – via Twitter.
- ^ a b "B.C. town sets another all-time temperature record as 'prolonged, dangerous' heat wave continues". CBC News. June 28, 2021.
- ^ "Hottest Places in Canada". Current Results Nexus. Retrieved June 21, 2013.
- ^ "Daily Data Report for July 1941". Environment Canada. Archived from the original on October 28, 2011. Retrieved March 25, 2010.
- ^ "January 1950". Environment Canada. Retrieved April 12, 2016.
- ^ "What is it like to live in the hottest place in Canada?". Global News. Retrieved July 2, 2021.
- ^ a b "Lytton" (CSV (8222 KB)). Canadian Climate Normals 1981–2010. Environment Canada. Climate ID: 1114741. Retrieved January 15, 2014.
- ^ "Lytton (1921–1944)". Environment Canada. Retrieved April 12, 2016.
- ^ "Lytton (1944–1969)". Environment Canada. Retrieved April 12, 2016.
- ^ "Lytton (1970–1991)". Environment Canada. Retrieved April 12, 2016.
- ^ "Lytton (1994–2013)". Environment Canada. Retrieved April 12, 2016.
- ^ "Lytton RCS". Environment Canada. Retrieved April 12, 2016.
- ^ "Home". Lytton Elementary School. Retrieved June 30, 2021.
270 - Seventh Street, PO Box 219, Lytton, BC, V0K 1Z0
- ^ "Home". Kumsheen Secondary School. Retrieved June 30, 2021.
PO Box 60, Lytton, BC, V0K 1Z0
External links
| International | |
|---|---|
| National | |
