Cache Creek, British Columbia, is a historic transportation junction and incorporated village located 354 kilometres northeast of Vancouver, Canada. This community is situated on the Trans-Canada Highway at a junction with Highway 97, making it a significant point of interest in the province.
The town of Cache Creek grew around a critical intersection on the Cariboo Wagon Road. This intersection was where a branch road, initially just a trail, led east to Savona's Ferry on Kamloops Lake. Cache Creek is also the point where a small stream, once known as Riviere de la Cache, joins the Bonaparte River.
The name "Cache Creek" is believed to have originated from a cache or buried and hidden supply and trade goods depot used by the fur traders of either the Hudson's Bay Company or its rival, the North West Company. The community was first incorporated as a Local District municipality with the name Cache Creek in 1959, but the name has been associated with this community long before its incorporation. The Cache Creek post office was established in 1868.
Cache Creek was extremely busy for a few decades before the Trans-Canada Highway was superseded by the newer and shorter Coquihalla Highway. This new highway bypasses the Fraser and Thompson Canyons between Hope and Kamloops via Merritt, about 97 kilometres southeast. Despite this, Cache Creek remains very active with traffic.
The nearby McAbee fossil beds are noted for the wide diversity of Eocene plants and animals preserved in the shale, including the extinct plants Dillhoffia and Trochodendron drachukii. The town lends its name to significant geological features dating back to the Carboniferous, whose rocks are exposed in the area, namely the Cache Creek Terrane and Cache Creek Ocean.
The village of Cache Creek is served by a community television station (run by the Ash-Creek Television Society), CH4472 in the neighbouring town of Ashcroft on VHF channel 4. It also has a repeater in Cache Creek, British Columbia. The town is also served by CFMA-FM 105.9, a community radio station run by the Ash-Creek Television Society.
According to the 2021 Census of Population conducted by Statistics Canada, Cache Creek had a population of 969 living in 471 of its 522 total private dwellings. This was a slight increase of 0.6% from its 2016 population of 963. With a land area of 10.4 km2, it had a population density of 93.2/km2 in 2021.
