When the Cariboo Highway opened in 1926 — providing a long-awaited road link between the Lower Mainland and B.C.'s Interior — entrepreneurs were quick to capitalize on the popularity of the highway with motorists. New businesses catering to the influx of traffic opened all along the route, and one of them was the Siska Lodge, located six miles south of Lytton overlooking the Cisco bridges, where the CP and CN mainlines both cross over the Fraser River.
Siska Lodge was established in 1926 by Allen Gaugh, who also owned and operated the Trail's End (later Trail View) Lodge in Quesnel. In the fall of 1933 the original lodge was destroyed by fire, and the March 31, 1934 edition of the Ashcroft Journal reported that a new Siska Lodge would soon be opening.
"One of the newest attractions in this part of the country is the new lodge at Siska," the paper noted. "It is being rebuilt on the same spot as the former one which burned to the ground last fall. The new lodge has every electric convenience and in addition has several cabins fully equipped for those desiring cabins. It is well worth while to drive down the highway to Cisco to see this spot, as its beauty is fast becoming famous."
Gaugh and his wife continued to operate Siska Lodge until 1945, when it passed into other hands. It burned down for a second time in the 1950s and was rebuilt yet again, continuing to serve traffic along what was now the Trans-Canada Highway, and through the 1960s was owned and managed by Fred and Florence Lindsay. Fred had been a newspaper editor and alderman in Quesnel, and was also the author of several books about the Cariboo gold rush days.
Today all that remains of the Siska Lodge is a few ruins, and a grove of acacia trees beside the highway which stands in stark contrast to the natural vegetation of the area.
