History

In the early 1980s on a snowy November day, a mysterious man dressed completely in white robes arrived at Vidette Lake in Deadman Valley 30 kilometres east and 50 kilometers north of Kamloops. He claimed to have found the Centre of the Universe and introduced himself to the then owner of the Vidette Lake Gold Mine Resort in Kamloops, British Columbia. Not knowing what was happening, the owner replied “Welcome my friend,” and invited him into his cabin, a former 1860’s Fur Trading Post.

The mysterious man turned out to be an apprentice monk who had been sent from San Francisco to verify the existence of the Centre of the Universe. Tibetan monks believe that the Centre of the Universe is located on the earth and using a series of tests, it can be verified. The Rinpoche, or Master Teacher, in San Francisco had simply pointed to a location on a map that he had never seen and claimed that it was the spot. He then sent the apprentice to the Kamloops area and on to Vidette Lake to conduct a series of tests. This was the white-robed man who showed up in 1980.

Once the apprentice monk had conducted a few tests and determined that this could very well be the Centre of the Universe, he returned to report back to his Master Teacher. The next visit that occurred was in 1984 and this time the Master Teacher and an entourage of followers attended. At the end of the tests including the calming of spirits by burning aromatic fuel in a fire, it was verified that this spot, on top of a grassy knoll with a commanding view of the valley and lake, was the Centre of the Universe.

Tests that passed when verifying the authenticity of the Centre of the Universe included geographic characteristics, shaped like the prow of a ship, pointed south, and sloping from north downwards to the south. Other tests include the spontaneous starting of a fire without an ignition source and the sounds of choral singing.

In 1988, a small, high-ranking group of monks arrived to try to convince the owner of the Vidette Lake Gold Mine Lodge to donate the land and even made initial arrangements to have the Dalai Lama, who happened to be in Seattle at the time, visit by helicopter. When a deal could not be reached to acquire the land and resort, the monks called off the visit.
Since 1980, monks and others seeking to become enlightened, pay their respects, and/or satisfy their curiosity, continue to visit the site.

The site is said to emit power from at least three spots within a seven meter diameter and many feel it could be a much larger area. Ironically, unbeknownst to the monks, this site had been a special place for the local First Nations people to visit.

Geography

One hundred kilometers north of Kamloops, located at the tip of Vidette Lake, a fishing lodge called “Vidette Gold Mine Resort” is nestled between the trees. Located on this resort’s property, high above the lodge is a small knoll with a most unusual claim. This spot at the confluence of three valleys is considered the Center of the Universe.

What seems to be, at first glance, an outrageous claim, soon warrants re-consideration when one is confronted with the incredible facts and interesting anecdotes. Just west of Savona, the Deadman-Vidette road follows the south-flowing Deadman River, up through the Skeetchestn Nation. The Valley is remarkable in its serene beauty and incredible colouration of red lava and white Mazama volcanic ash in the cliff formations bordering the valley.

Geology

Something else is unique and spectacular about this Valley. Vidette Lake is located exactly at the western edge of the Bonaparte Plateau also known as the North American Plate. Here the Bonaparte Plateau meets the eastern limit of the Pacific Plate. These 230 million year old geological formations have been crushing against each other with forces unimaginable to the human mind.

These forces were so enormous that a “crack” was forced upwards opening up the earth and allowing millions of tons of lava to spew over the surrounding landscape.

Today the surface layer southwest of Vidette is considered to be Miocene/Pliocene, believed to be five million years “old”. Northeast of Vidette Lake the land is Holocene/Pleistocene or 1.6 million years “young”. Yet the crack known today as Deadman Valley, with its lake-strung river is Jurassic/Triassic or more than 200 million years old!