range in eastern British Columbia, Canada, forming the northern subdivision of the Columbia Mountains. The Cariboo Mountains lie within an area enclosed by the great bend of the Fraser River and its tributary, the North Thompson. The mountains extend for about 190 miles (305 km) and parallel the Rocky Mountain Trench, which separates them from the Canadian Rockies. From Mount Sir Wilfrid Laurier (11,549 feet 【3,520 m】), the highest peak, the mountains gradually decline northward and westward, merging with the Interior Plateau near Prince George. They are well mineralized, and gold is mined near Barkerville, which was the centre of a gold rush in the 1860s. Wells Gray and Bowron Lake provincial parks occupy the western slopes, where there is some lumbering and ranching in addition to mining.