Bouchie Milburn Society nearing completion of their cenotaph project

A project that started 18 years ago is getting closer to becoming a reality.

Heloise Dixon-Warren, member of the Friends of Bouchie-Milburn Society, said they are in the process of completing the Bouchie Lake cenotaph project.

“It started when one of our members who was also a Cariboo Regional Director at the time, Ken Falloon, when he got come funding to upgrade and put in a park what is known as Bouchie Milburn Park. It’s also called Six Mile Corner which is a bit of a historic corner because it was a junction of what was called the Kluskus Trail which is now the Nazko Road so back in the day it was kind of a significant point.”

Dixon-Warren noted for a number of reasons the project got started off back in 2007 then a little bit of work got done to it which included bringing in a Cairn.

“And for about 16 years the Cairn sat there blank with absolutely nothing on it. Then during the pandemic in 2020 a small group of us got together at Six Mile Corner and we held our first Remembrance Day ceremony up here on the hill,” Dixon-Warren said, “Typically most folks from Bouchie Lake go into Quesnel for Remembrance Day but that didn’t happen during the pandemic, that was 5 years ago. Last year in 2024 we actually had 70 people show up November 11.”

Dixon-Warren said just prior to doing that they managed to get a plaque put onto the Cairn remembering the people who served from the community, it’s pretty generic, there are no names on it.

“Our main sponsor at that time was the Quesnel Legion Branch 24 and paid for the plaque. Then we thought lets try to move the Cairn into a prominent location and add some flags. So with some very generous contributions from some small Bouchie Lake businesses and United Concrete, and then there were 2 businesses out here, A-Team Concrete and Iron Stone Concrete, we managed to get the platform put in which is an 8 foot by 8 foot which the Cairn will now be located on to. So as you come up 6 Mile Corner up the Bouchie Lake hill you’ll be able to see this.”

Dixon-Warren said the plan is to get all the landscaping done, the platform has been built, and then the next step is to get the Cairn relocated onto the platform, then we’ll put the flags in, and also do a little bit of landscaping so that will all happen leading up to Remembrance Day.

“Probably when we estimated that was going to cost around $18,000 has actually cost next to nothing so far because folks have donated everything. It just goes to show the strength of community and what people get excited about.”