idea was proposed to turn the area within the Bowron lake quadrangle into a game reserve, citing the success of Yellowstone in the United States. The proposed reserve would be a hunting-free sanctuary where animals could breed without human interference, allowing the population to stabilize. This was widely supported by naturalists such as Thomas and Elinor McCabe, who had arrived in 1922 and built a home on Indian Point Lake, and Allan Brooks, as well as wilderness guides like the aforementioned Frank Kibbee and Joe Wendle. Despite some initial resistance from residents of Barkerville, the case was made that the establishment of the reserve would have lasting economic benefits, through the management of the game to sustain the hunting industry. The Bowron Lakes Game Reserve was established by the provincial government in 1925 and Frank Kibbee was named the reserve's first game warden shortly afterward. The reserve was originally in size, although many additions have been made to the reserve (and later, park) in the years since. In the 1950s and 1960s, the cultural focus of British Columbia's protected areas shifted from game management to conservation. As a result, in 1961 the Bowron Lakes Game Reserve was changed to Bowron Lake Provincial Park, and the park received its largest land increases with the addition of the Betty Wendle and Wolverine drainage systems and parts of the upper Cariboo River. The enthusiasm for the Bowron Region to be purely a wilderness area was so strong that most signs of human habitation were destroyed shortly after the provincial park was declared, including rail portages, trappers' cabins, and many other signs of human development. Even the home of Thomas and Elinor McCabe, at Indian Point Lake, was burned down, in what was described by author and guide Richard Thomas Wright as "a moment of pyromaniac enthusiasm to return the land to the wilderness". Geography and geology Bowron Lake Provincial park is located in the Cariboo Mountains, in central British Columbia. It is roughly 120 km (75 mi) east of the city of Quesnel, and just under 30 km (18 mi) east of the town of Wells. The park is composed of of protected wilderness, featuring many lakes and rivers nestled in mountains. This protected area is further expanded to the south, as the park shares a border with Cariboo Mountains Provincial Park, which itself shares a border with Wells Gray Provincial Park. Together,