In 1862, the Overlanders, numbering about 250, left their homes in Canada for the Cariboo gold fields. They journeyed via Fort Garry and Edmonton, and thence, guided by Indians to the mountains and westward by the Yellowhead Pass to the Fraser River. The majority rafted downstream to the gold-fields, others followed the North Thompson to Kamloops. The hardships they experienced and the perils they encountered, particularly between Jasper and Tète Jaune Cache and in the canyons and rapids of the Fraser and North Thompson, make their journey one of the epics of Canadian travel and adventure.