Neal Evans
Encyclopedia
Neal "Curly" Evans was a freight industry entrepreneur in the Bridge River
Bridge River Country
The Bridge River Country is a historic geographic region and mining district in the Interior of British Columbia, Canada, lying between the Fraser Canyon and the valley of the Lillooet River, south of the Chilcotin Plateau and north of the Lillooet Ranges...

-Lillooet Country
Lillooet Country
The Lillooet Country, also referred to as the Lillooet District., is a region spanning from the central Fraser Canyon town of Lillooet west to the valley of the Lillooet River, and including the valleys in between, in the Southern Interior of British Columbia. Like other historical BC regions, it...

 of the 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...

 who acquired legendary status in that region because of his enterprise and daring and personality.

Evans was born in the Dakotas and came to the Cariboo as a boy. His nickname derives from the curly, dark hair of his youth - "a mass of raven locks" - although later in life he was balding. His freighting career spanned the age from jerk-line times on the Cariboo Road to bush piloting, instructed by no less than Ginger Coote, who pioneered flying in the Bridge River and Fort St. James areas of BC. Around 1910, Evans was employed by the BC Express Company (formerly Barnard's Express
Barnard's Express
Barnard's Express, later known as the British Columbia Express Company or BX, was a pioneer transportation company that served the Cariboo and Fraser Fort George regions in British Columbia, Canada from 1861 until 1921....

) out of Ashcroft, British Columbia. He was also, like many others in this region, a cowboy as well as a miner.

As gold extraction began to boom into the Bridge River Goldfields, Evans was one of the many who started freighting operations to supply the mines and prospectors in that area and earned a reputation for reliability in delivering freight despite all obstacles, including floods, mountain slides and blizzards. With the development of a proper road into the Upper Bridge River from Shalalth on Seton Lake
Seton Lake
Seton Lake is a freshwater fjord draining east via the Seton River into the Fraser River at the town of Lillooet, British Columbia, about 22 km long and 243 m in elevation and 26.2 square kilometres in area...

, Evans expanded his personal operation into a fleet of trucks and passenger vehicles, eventually becoming the owner of one of the largest transportation firms in the BC Interior, most of its business derived from Bralorne Mine and other Bridge River mining camps, and also from the construction of the Bridge River Power Project
Bridge River Power Project
The Bridge River Power Project is a hydroelectric power development in the Canadian province of British Columbia, located in the Lillooet Country between Whistler and Lillooet...

. Although never seen to fruition, Evans intended his company to expand into air freight.
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