Cottonwood, including the Cottonwood Ranch and Cottonwood House, is an unincorporated settlement in the North Cariboo

Cariboo

The Cariboo is an intermontane region of British Columbia along a plateau stretching from the Fraser Canyon to the Cariboo Mountains. The name is a reference to the woodland caribou that were once abundant in the region...

 region of the Central Interior of British Columbia

British Columbia Interior

The British Columbia Interior or BC Interior or Interior of British Columbia, usually referred to only as the Interior, is one of the three main regions of the Canadian province of British Columbia, the other two being the Lower Mainland, which comprises the overlapping areas of Greater Vancouver...

, Canada

Canada

Canada is a North American country consisting of ten provinces and three territories. Located in the northern part of the continent, it extends from the Atlantic Ocean in the east to the Pacific Ocean in the west, and northward into the Arctic Ocean...

. Originally a ranch

Ranch

A ranch is an area of landscape, including various structures, given primarily to the practice of ranching, the practice of raising grazing livestock such as cattle or sheep for meat or wool. The word most often applies to livestock-raising operations in the western United States and Canada, though...

, it is located in the northern Cariboo Plateau

Cariboo Plateau

The Cariboo Plateau is a volcanic plateau in south-central British Columbia, Canada. It is part of the Fraser Plateau that itself is a northward extension of the North American Plateau...

, just 8km northwest of Coldspring House

Coldspring House

Coldspring House is an unincorporated locality and former roadhouse on the Cariboo Wagon Road in the Cariboo Country of the Central Interior of British Columbia, Canada. Located just east of the confluence of Lightning Creek and the Swift River between Quesnel and Barkerville along that route...

, which is at the confluence of the Swift River and Lightning Creek

Lightning Creek

Lightning Creek is a waterway in Oklahoma City, Oklahoma. Much of the city's Southside lies within its watershed. It is a tributary of the Oklahoma River....

, which is the beginning of the Cottonwood River. Lightning Creek was one of the more famous of the gold-bearing creeks of the Cariboo Gold Rush

Cariboo Gold Rush

The Cariboo Gold Rush was a gold rush in the Canadian province of British Columbia. Although the first gold discovery was made in 1859 at Horsefly Creek, followed by more strikes at Keithley Creek and Antler Horns lake in 1860, the actual rush did not begin until 1861, when these discoveries were...

.

Cottonwood House Historic Park is a store, museum and heritage property located on the right bank of the Cottonwood River, adjacent to the highway from Quesnel

Quesnel, British Columbia

-Demographics:Quesnel had a population of 9,326 people in 2006, which was a decrease of 7.1% from the 2001 census count. The median household income in 2005 for Quesnel was $54,044, which is slightly above the British Columbia provincial average of $52,709....

 to Wells

Wells, British Columbia

Wells is a small mining and tourist town in the Cariboo District of central British Columbia, located on BC Highway 26, 74 km from Quesnel and 8 km before the highway's terminus at Barkerville...

 and Barkerville, which was the "capital" of the Cariboo Gold Rush; the route of the highway is nearly identical to that of the Cariboo Wagon Road, which ran from Yale

Yale, British Columbia

Yale is an unincorporated town in the Canadian province of British Columbia. It was founded in 1848 by the Hudson's Bay Company as Fort Yale by Ovid Allard, the appointed manager of the new post, who named it after his superior, James Murray Yale, then Chief Factor of the Columbia District...

 at the foot of the Fraser Canyon

Fraser Canyon

The Fraser Canyon is an 84 km landform of the Fraser River where it descends rapidly through narrow rock gorges in the Coast Mountains en route from the Interior Plateau of British Columbia to the Fraser Valley...

 and the head of steamboat navigation on the Fraser

Fraser River

The Fraser River is the longest river within British Columbia, Canada, rising at Fraser Pass near Mount Robson in the Rocky Mountains and flowing for , into the Strait of Georgia at the city of Vancouver. It is the tenth longest river in Canada...

 to Barkerville. Cottonwood House was the last major roadhouse

Roadhouse

Roadhouse may refer to:* Roadhouse * Texas Roadhouse, a western theme restaurant chain* Logan's Roadhouse, western theme steakhouse* Receiving house, a type of theatre venue- Film :* Road House ,...

 on the route before its terminus at Barkerville, although Coldspring House and Beaver Pass House

Beaver Pass House

Beaver Pass House is an unincorporated locality and former roadhouse on the Cariboo Wagon Road in the Cariboo Country of the Central Interior of British Columbia, Canada...

 are just farther along the route. Its provincial park status was cancelled by Order in Council in 1999, but it remains a provincial heritage property.

Cottonwood Scandal

Land dealings by Chief Justice Matthew Baillie Begbie

Matthew Baillie Begbie

Sir Matthew Baillie Begbie was born on the island of Mauritius, thereafter raised and educated in the United Kingdom...

in the area of Cottonwood became the focus of a scandal in the later 19th Century. Begbie denied any impropriety and papers relating to the scandal were all destroyed.