074-090 120820 11/1/04 2:38 PM Page 74 Chapter 6 The Nation Expands Gold Rush May 18, 1862 Williams Creek Dear Joe, I am well and so are all the rest of the boys. I am writing you a few lines to let you know that I am well, and doing well – making two to three thousand dollars a day! Times good! Grub high. Whisky bad. Money plenty! Yours truly, William Cunningham In the 1850s and 1860s, the people in Canada In no time, the word spreads: “There is and the Atlantic colonies are occupied with gold on the Fraser River!” Miners who had dreaming and talking about union. But on the been digging in the gold mines of California Pacific coast, people are buzzing about some- pack up and head north. Business people sell thing else—gold! out and join the crowd going to British In 1857, Aboriginal people on the Columbia to get rich. The gold rush in the Thompson River in British Columbia present valley of the Fraser River is in full swing. gold nuggets in exchange for goods in the Hudson’s Bay store in Kamloops. The Hudson’s Bay Company official does not know the value of the Predicting mineral. He sends the gold nuggets 1. What effect do you think the discovery of gold will to Victoria to James Douglas. have on the colony of British Columbia? Explain. Douglas sends word back to get all 2. How do you think people in the British colonies to the this metal that he can: it is gold! east will react to the news? 74 074-090 120820 11/1/04 2:38 PM Page 75 Chapter 6:The Nation Expands 75 Gold on the Fraser Catherine Schubert was Since 1849, Vancouver Island had been a British the only woman crown colony. The Hudson’s Bay Company was among a group of responsible for settling the island. But the goldseekers called Company was more interested in the fur trade the Overlanders of and did little to encourage settlement. In 1858, ’62.These hardy when the gold rush started, the settlement of travellers set off Fort Victoria on Vancouver Island was a little from Fort Garry village of only a few hundred people. westward across Suddenly that summer, more than 20 000 the prairies in carts miners swarmed into town. Strangers piled into and wagons.There the trading post to buy food and equipment. were no roads, only They wanted salt pork, pick-axes, flour, and fry- trails to follow.The greatest obstacle was ing pans. The little town of Victoria was the Rocky Mountains. changed into a bustling city of tents, shacks, The only way over the and over 200 stores. mountains was to find a pass, Miners left from Victoria for the Fraser such as the Athabasca Pass, and make the River on anything that would float. Fistfights climb on foot or snowshoe.The last part of broke out for places on the steamers. Those the trip was by boat down the Columbia who were too impatient to wait for the River with its dangerous rapids to Fort steamships set out in canoes, rowboats, or Vancouver. Catherine Schubert gave birth to even rafts. a daughter the day she arrived in Kamloops. NORTH AMERICA BRITISH COLUMBIA Ft. England Victoria Garry Québec EUROPE St. Paul Pacific Ocean San Francisco New York Atlantic Ocean AFRICA Colon ROUTES TO Darien Isthmus of BRITISH COLUMBIA, Panama 1862 SOUTH SOUTHAMPTON/COLON/ AMERICA SAN FRANCISCO/VICTORIA LIVERPOOL/SAN FRANCISCO/ VICTORIA LIVERPOOL/NEW YORK SAN FRANCISCO/VICTORIA LIVERPOOL/NEW YORK/ or QUÉBEC/FT. GARRY/VICTORIA People in England were also lured to British Columbia by the news of gold.There were three main routes to British Columbia from England. Describe these routes shown on this map.Which do you think is the shortest? Which would be the most challenging? Why? 074-090 120820 11/1/04 2:38 PM Page 76 76 Unit 1: Confederation Gold Seekers Detail Barkerville . R Fra Quesnel oo se b r R. ri a Quesnel Present provincial boundary Quesnel R. C C Lake ar ibo o M ou C nta h ins ilc Stikine R. ot in R F . r a Cariboo Road s e BRITISH r R i COLUMBIA v e r Lillooet . a R en ke S R Kamloops o c k y Queen M Charlotte o u Islands Fort George n t a i n N s Quesnel New 0 50 100 km Ca ri bo Westminster r o e M v i o u R n CANADA r ta Fort Langley e i s n a s Vancouver r Island F UNITED STATES Kamloops Fort Victoria N UNITED STATES THE CARIBOO GOLD RUSH 0 200 400 km One method of finding gold was by panning. Miners used a metal pan with sloping sides.They loosened the gravel in the stream bed with their pick-axes and shovelled it into their pans.Then they filled the pan with water and tilted it away from themselves slightly. Since gold is so heavy, it sinks to the bottom of the pan.The miners kept tilting the pan until all the light gravel had washed out. All that was left was fine black sand, and if the miner was lucky, flakes of gold. 074-090 120820 11/1/04 2:38 PM Page 77 Chapter 6:The Nation Expands 77 British Columbia Is rush, passed an act creating the colony of Created British Columbia on the mainland. At that time, James Douglas was governor of Vancouver the mainland was still known as New Island. He had no power on the Fraser River. Caledonia. James Douglas was appointed gov- Nevertheless he believed that as the Queen’s ernor of British Columbia as well as Vancouver representative, he had to do all he could to Island. At the same time, the British appointed keep law and order. The mainland had no gov- Matthew Baillie Begbie, nicknamed “The ernment though it was recognized as British Hanging Judge,” as judge in British Columbia. territory. During the summer of 1858, Douglas Together, James Douglas and Judge Begbie made several trips up the Fraser when he heard kept the gold rush in British Columbia from there was stealing and quarrelling over claims. being as violent as the gold rush in California. He was accompanied by a group of Royal By the end of the summer of 1858, about Engineers armed with a cannon. He told the $500 000 worth of gold had been taken out of miners that they were in British territory. They the Fraser River area. Many of the people who must obey British law or be punished. came looking for gold went home then, think- The British Parliament, hearing of the gold ing it had all been found. In 1862, a British sailor named Billy Barker made a great new gold find in the Cariboo Mountains of British Columbia.Within a few weeks, a collection of shanties sprang up around Billy Barker’s claim. It was named Barkerville and grew into a town of 10 000.There were hotels, music halls, dance halls, saloons, gambling houses, and stores. Prices were sky high! A barrel of flour cost $300 and potatoes cost $20 per kg. A bottle of champagne sold for about 62 g of gold. A quick dance with a dance hall girl cost $10. For ten years, the Cariboo region boomed. 074-090 120820 11/1/04 2:38 PM Page 78 78 Unit 1: Confederation Gold in the Cariboo Barkerville. When the road was finished, it A few years later, a great new gold find was opened the entire Cariboo for settlement. made farther up the Fraser River in the Cariboo Miners began to bring in their families and set- Mountains. Once again, American miners began tle there. Ranchers drove herds of cattle north pouring into British Columbia. and began an important industry that exists In 1862, Billy Barker made his famous find. today. He and his friends started digging in a mine But the gold rushes and the Cariboo Road shaft. They were digging down through the had a negative impact on Aboriginal peoples in earth to reach the bedrock, where they hoped the area. Miners ignored Aboriginal claims to the gold rested. At 16 m they hit pay dirt. Billy land in their rush to stake out new gold finds. kept on digging. Another 8 m farther down he As they panned for gold in the rivers, they found a rich vein of gold in the rock. In the first interfered with Aboriginal fishing weirs, raided 48 hours, he took out $1000 worth of gold. The their villages, and damaged their sacred burial boom was on! sites. Road building pushed animals out of tra- ditional hunting areas. The government did The Cariboo Road nothing to stop the miners and settlers from Governor Douglas decided that a good wagon disrupting Aboriginal lands and ways of life. road was needed along the Fraser River to There was another problem. The Cariboo Road had cost almost $1 million. It was more than the new colony could afford. As the gold began to run out, hundreds of people left the area. Both colonies, Vancouver Island and British Columbia, suf- fered from financial problems. They saw that it would be cheaper if they had one Assembly and functioned as one colony. In 1866, they were united and kept the name of British Columbia. The Royal Engineers who built the Cariboo Road had an almost impossible task. In places they had to blast through solid rock.