In the summer of 2010 I was hired to work with a team to find hard rock gold in the Klondike. We explored a group of claims on the Indian River.
My crew stayed at a camp operated by a character called Big Al. That name might sound familiar because he has been featured on the popular TV show Yukon Gold on the History Channel. Of course at that time we had no idea he was going to be a celebrity. During the trip we heard a rumour that Hoffmans working a few claims over were filming for a TV show, it turned out to be the hit series Gold Rush on Discovery. We were surrounded by gold mining TV stars but didn’t know it yet.
Klondike Tailings Piles
The Klondike is a place that has a very storied history and was the site of the greatest gold rush of them all. California, Oregon, and British Columbia had their gold rushes and stories but the Klondike was like no other. Between 1896 and 1899 over 100,000 adventurers made the journey from all over the world to the largely uninhabited Yukon territory in search of gold. What made this rush different is the long journeys and overall inexperience of the Argonauts. At the time of discovery El Dorado and Bonanza creek were the richest creeks in the world. Some claims on El Dorado were getting $27 to the pan once they hit the pay streak. That is equivalent to about $750 per pan in today’s money.
My team met up in Whitehorse the capitol city of the Yukon Territory in early August 2010. We then rounded up some remaining gear and drove in a rented truck up to Dawson City. As you arive in Dawson City you can see the remains of over 100 years of placer gold mining. Before you reach the town you can see large tailings piles lining the sides of the highway. When looked at from above they look like something that was produced by a giant insect. The tailings piles were put there by humongous dredges that scoured the Klondike drainages until 1966. It is estimated that each of the dredges were producing as much as 800 ounces of gold per day!
Aerial View of Klondike Tailings
Dawson City is a cool town. The residents have maintained the look and feel of Dawson’s heyday during the Klondike gold rush. The streets are dirt with wood plank sidewalks. Most of the buildings are original in the downtown area and many commercial buildings have the false front that was the norm during the gold rush era. There is even a law that all signs have to be hand painted.
There are no corporate stores or businesses in Dawson. Everything is locally owned and operated. Some of the original establishments from the 1890s are still in operation today. Diamond Tooth Gerties is one such establishment which offers games of chance and nightly can can dancers 7 days a week. Anouther is Bombay Peggy’s which operated as a brothel during the gold rush. It has turned into a classy bed and breakfast now.
My Crew posing with the Can-Can girls
Dawson has several historic bars as well. One such bar is the Downtown Hotel. We stopped in there one night after visiting several other bars and took part in a local tradition. It is called the Sourtoe Cocktail. Only one of my crew was willing to take the shot with me. The Sourtoe Cocktail is a shot of Yukon Jack whiskey taken with an amputated human toe in the glass. They keep the toe in a jar of salt above the bar. Apparently the tradition started with a bootlegger losing his toe due to frostbite. I was informed that this was their 6th toe which makes you wonder where they new ones came from.
The Bonanza Creek Road is the main access to Indian Creek. Along this historic route there are plenty of relics of past mining adventures. Most notably the historic Dredge No. 4 which mined Bonanza Creek until 1959. There are other dredges as well and plenty of old heavy equipment that was abandoned by miners of the past. There are abandoned bulldozers, excavators, trucks and other random big machines. There is such a surplus of iron that many bridges use large dozer shovels as retaining walls.
Dredge No. 4
We were tasked with finding the source of the placer gold in the Indian River. We stayed at Big Al’s camp and were exploring mineral claims that overlapped his placer claims. His knowledge of gold bearing benches as well as historical research was very important in our search. Likewise our findings were beneficial to Al in exploring new placer areas. Most of our time was spent exploring old miner’s trails on quads and by foot. I’d be lying if I said it wasn’t a great time.
We came across several old mine shafts and evidence of placer mining was everywhere. My crew participated in some of Big Al’s cleanups too. It was exciting to see the amount of gold that he was pulling out. We participated in all the steps of his cleanup process from cleaning the sluice to the concentrator jig and so on. At each stage a fair amount of rum was consumed it seemed fitting when surrounded by hundreds of ounces of gold.
Yup, that’s exactly what it looks like.
In our hard rock exploration we employed several techniques utilizing traditional prospecting as well as soil sampling and statistical pebble counts. The soil sampling was conducted with helicopter support which made it a lot easier. We were bagging close to a hundred samples per day each which was more than we could carry in the bush. At the end of the day we’d chop out a helicopter landing area and radio the chopper. Then we’d pick up the samples that we cached during the day. Hard work but a lot of fun too.
We spent a total of six weeks prospecting the area. We took a lot of samples to be sent in for assay from all over the claims. Prospecting in the Yukon is similar to BC, there is not a lot of exposed rock around. Unlike the barren lands of the North West Territory and Nunavut there is plenty of forest and vegetation covering the rock. We spent a lot of time in the helicopter scoping out rock outcrops.
There seemed to be a correlation between the garnets that were showing up in the placer operation and high grade gold. When the placer miners hit the paystreak they got a lot of garnets with it. We started prospecting up a creek called “Ruby Creek” assuming it was named for the abundance of garnets. The hunch turned out be be right. We chased the garnets up to some large outcrops near the top of the mountain. The samples contained a lot of garnet but not a lot of gold.
From an old mineshaft that we found near a cabin we discovered that the miners hit a layer of pure quartz conglomerate. And it was loaded with gold. We then knew what to look for. The search for the source of the Klondike gold continued for several weeks. We encountered giant moose, grizzly bears, Northern Lights and some great people. On several occasions we thought we found the fabled mother lode but the samples returned disappointing assay results. Some of the more random samples showed the highest grades. They say gold is where you find it. We did not find the source of the klondike but we did manage to have a great time and got paid for it.
In part one of the top ten gold rushes of BC we covered the early gold rushes primarily in the Southern regions. As time went on gold hungry adventurers pushed further in the wild North of the Canadian West coast. Their adventurous spirit was rewarded greatly and eventually led them into the Yukon and Alaska.
1865 Big Bend Gold Rush
1897 Map of the Big Bend Area
The Big Bend refers to the shape of the Columbia River as it makes a huge detour at the continental divide. This region encompasses several different mountain ranges including the Selkirks, the Cariboo Mountains, the Monashees and the Rocky Mountains. In 1865 gold was discovered on French Creek which is straight North of Revelstoke. As in other gold rushes a town was quickly erected named French Creek City. Within the first year the town reached a population of over 4000 people. Nothing is left today but during the rush French Creek had a general store, saloons with cabaret shows, barber shops and of course brothels. Other important towns of the rush were La Porte and Downie Creek. The inhabitants came mostly from the Wild Horse area and other areas in BC.
Steamboats were a major factor during the big bend gold rush. Many of the prospectors reached the area on steamboats via the Arrow Lakes which make up part of the Columbia River. The lake network allowed boat passengers to travel from areas as far South as the US border.
Columbia River Steamboat, the “Rossland”
Other notable creeks in the area are Carnes Creek, Downie Creek, McCullough Creek, and the Goldstream River. A 14 ounce nugget was reported to be found on French Creek and numerous smaller nuggets were also found. In 1865 miners were bringing out multiple ounces per day to the man on some claims. On McCullough Creek pay streaks averaged 1/8 of an ounce per yard for many years. Just like other places in the late 1800s hydraulic and drift mining driven by mining companies and syndicates quickly replaced hand mining techniques. The big bend gold rush only lasted two years but mining in the area continues to this day. Several large projects and proposed mines are located in the big bend.
1869 Omineca Gold Rush
The Omineca is a huge region in Nortn-Central BC. The southern boundary is marked today by the Yellowhead highway the North boundary is the Liard Mountains. Gold was first discovered in the Omineca in 1861 but the rush didn’t take place until eight years later. The original discoveries were made on the Finlay River. In the early days there were very few people in the area due to a complete lack of trails, roads or maps and unforgiving terrain and weather. Much of the area is still wild today.
Northern BC circa 1898, red symbols are known gold discoveries
One of the first claims on the Finlay called Toy’s Bar produced 4 ounces to the man each day. Several expeditions were launched though the area searching for gold. One such party, the Peace River Prospecting Party, found a great discovery on Vital Creek in 1869. The creek was named after one of the party members, Vital Laforce who was also instrumental in exploring the Cariboo region. Vital Creek produced nearly 5000 ounces in the years following the rush.
Manson Creek and the Germansen River held the best gold deposits in the Omineca. Gold discoveries were also made on Blackjack Creek, Kildare Creek, Mosquito Creek, Slate Creek and Nugget Gulch. In the early days of the gold rush anything less than an ounce a day was considered unworthy. Many creeks were paying 100 ounces per week. If the gold rush happened today that would be well over $100,000 every week. I’d be finding my way up there any any means possible. Travelling to the Omineca in the 1800s was a feat in itself.
The discovery of gold in the Cassiar in 1873 spelled the end of the Omineca gold rush. As with all gold rushes those who held good ground stayed and kept mining while everyone else headed on to the next boom town. The Omineca is one of the least explored regions in BC today and there are still gold strikes waiting to be found.
1873 Cassiar Gold Rush
Gold was discovered on the Stikine River in 1861 and a minor rush developed. A few hundred prospectors ascended the river in search of gold. There was an existing fur trading fort at the mouth of the river called Fort Stikine which later became Wrangell, Alaska. Not enough gold was found to entice more adventurers to the region but the excitement was enough to prompt Britain into claiming the region as a colony in 1862.
Cassiar region circa 1893
The Cassiar gold rush really took off once the high grade gold deposits in the extreme North of BC were discovered. This part of the country is extremely rugged with huge mountains, glaciers and a very cold winter. The discovery was made in the summer of 1872 by Henry Thibert and Angus McCulloch on a creek that drains into Dease Lake. The creek was named after Thibert who froze to death the following winter. Thibert Creek was very rich, in the first year miners were getting up to three ounces to the pan.
The 52 oz “Turnagain Nugget” from Alice Shea Creek in the Cassiar
In 1874 an even bigger discovery was made further North on Mcdame Creek. The largest gold nugget ever found in BC was taken from Mcdame Creek tipping the scale at 73 ounces! Another giant nugget was found on Alice Shea Creek that weighed 52 ounces.
Several towns sprung up near the gold discoveries such as Laketon, Porter Landing and Centerville. They are all ghost towns now but in the height of the rush thousands of people were passing through the shops and saloons of the Cassiar. Like the Omineca much of this region is just as wild today as it was 150 years ago.
The Cassiar’s rich gold reserves have not been forgotten. There are many large mining projects under way in the region. Due to the high grade mineral deposits the area is known as BC’s “Golden Triange”.
1885 Granite Creek Gold Rush
Granite Creek is a tributary to the Tulameen River. In the gold rush era of the late 1800s the Tulameen was still a remote and wild area. Like many of the best discoveries the Granite Creek gold was found by chance. In this case it was actually found by a cowboy named Johnny Chance. In the summer of 1885 Chance was delivering some horses to New Westminster and took a route through the Tulameen. True to his lazy nature he took a nap at a spot on Granite Creek on a hot day. When he woke up he happened to notice the reflection of some gold nuggets in the water.
Granite City in 1888
Within a year of the discovery the once vacant valley at the mouth of Granite Creek had over 2000 people living there. At the time Granite City was the third largest town in BC. There were over two hundred buildings, 13 of which were saloons. The town never had a school or a mayor though. The bars in Granite ran flat out and never closed down. It was known as one of the wildest towns in the West.
In the early days gold nuggets weighing 5-10 ounces were commonly found. Platinum was also prevalent on the creek. Miners were producing equal weights of platinum and gold. Interestingly for the first few years the Granite Creek miners had no idea what platinum was and most of them threw it back into the creek. At today’s prices gold is going for $1077/oz and platinum is at $870/oz.
Granite City in 2015
The Granite Creek rush brought attention to the surrounding area as well. Other notable creeks in the Tulameen are Slate Creek, Lawless Creek, Lockie Creek and the Tulameen River. Gold and platinum are still being produced today. I heard from a Princeton local that the biggest nuggets to come out of the Tulameen this year were over an ounce. I have some claims on Granite Creek and the Tulameen River myself. Check this post from earlier this year Tulameen Prospecting Trip.
By the end of the 1890s the population of Granite City began to decline. The easy gold was all claimed and in the process of being mined. Those that didn’t already hold good ground headed North to try their luck in the Atlin and Klondike gold rushes that followed.
1898 Atlin Gold Rush
Atlin area map 1898
The Atlin gold rush was the last one to take place in BC. It was a direct offshoot of the Klondike gold rush that took the world by storm. The Klondike was the mother of all gold rushes, over 100,000 adventurers poured into Dawson City, YK from all over the world. Some of the adventurous prospectors took a different route and ended up in Atlin.
The first big discovery was on Pine Creek. A town was set up on Pine Creek aptly named Discovery. At it’s peak there were over 10,000 people living in Discovery which was rivalled only by the infamous Dawson City. Discovery had all the excitement of Dawson. There were saloons, brothels, and gambling available at all hours of the day. Discovery is a ghost town today, it was replaced by the town of Atlin.
Discovery Townsite in 1909
The gold that was found in the Atlin area was truly legendary. It is estimated that over 1.5 million ounces of placer gold have been produced from the creeks. Some giant nuggets were found too. Several creeks are known to have produced nuggets in excess of 50 ounces! The best placer gold creeks were Pine Creek, Spruce Creek, Ruby Creek, McKee Creek, Birch Creek, Boulder Creek, Otter (Surprise) Creek, and the McDonnel River.
Atlin is a beautiful town, I had the pleasure of working up there a few years ago. In the early 1900s it was nicknamed the “Switzerland of the North” due to the picturesque mountain setting. In many ways Atlin is like Dawson City’s little brother. The music festival is smaller, the gold rush was smaller, less gold was produced but the Klondike is nowhere near as scenic.
Atlin Today
Gold mining in Atlin has never stopped. Every time the gold price spikes the area receives another mini gold rush. There are a lot of large hard rock mining prospects in the area as well. The region is not far from the golden triangle and benefits from similar underlying geology. Due to its remote location the area is very under explored and has outstanding potential for exploration.
The BC gold rush period lasted just 50 years. Many of the participants experienced more than one rush in their lifetime. It would have been an amazing time to be a prospector. Here’s a recap of the top ten BC gold rushes:
1851 Haida Gwaii Gold Rush
1858 Fraser River Gold Rush
1858 Rock Creek Gold Rush
1859 Cariboo Gold Rush
1863 Wild Horse River Gold Rush
1864 Leech River Gold Rush
1865 Big Bend Gold Rush
1873 Cassiar Gold Rush
1885 Granite Creek Gold Rush
1898 Atlin Gold Rush
The history of British Columbia is the history of gold and the men who hunt for it. It was the Fraser River gold rush that led to BC becoming a colony and later a province. Our towns, overland trails and roads, and much of the early infrastructure was built to support gold mining activity. Without our lust for precious metal men would not have risked their lives to explore the rugged and unforgiving wilderness of this beautiful province.
Prior to the gold rushes in BC this part of the country remained almost entirely unexplored. The Clovis people and their descendants the North American Indians were the first settlers of North America. The Clovis crossed the Beringia Land Bridge from Siberia to present day Alaska approximately 13,500 years ago. When Europeans began exploring the area, first by sea in the late 1700s and later by canoe, they encountered aboriginal groups covering much of the province. Many Indians had seen gold in creeks but had little use for it. They did not have the knowledge or motivation to mine gold until they came into contact with Europeans. After learning the value of gold to the British they began to mine it and trade for goods.
Map of British Columbia Goldfields circa 1858, click for larger image
The Spanish explorers on the other hand were completely obsessed with the yellow metal. Spanish explorers were motivated primarily by legends of “El Dorado” in their search of the Americas. Each Spanish explorer had the ultimate goal of returning to Spain with a ship full of gold. Most of their attention was focussed in South America where their superior weaponry, armour and small pox allowed them to quickly decimate tribal empires and steal their gold. There is evidence of Spanish gold exploration in BC as well. Most of the Spanish exploration took place on Vancouver Island and other coastal areas such as Haida Gwaii. One Spanish expedition travelled inland as far as the Okanagan and Similkameen regions.
Fur trading is what led to the first European settlement of British Colombia but the impact remained relatively small. The first settlements were established by early explorers such as Simon Fraser, Alexander Mackenzie, and David Thompson. Early forts were established along the river routes that these explorers used as well as along the coast. The area became a recognized fur trading district called New Caledonia and it held that name until it became a British Colony in 1858.
Fort St. James was founded in 1806 and was the first major inland fur trading post in BC and still bears that name. Other notable early forts are Ft. George (now Prince George), Ft. Kamloops, Ft. Langley and Ft. Victoria (1844). During the fur trade the European population slowly grew to a few hundred people but little effort was put into exploring new ground outside of the established trade routes.
1851 Haida Gwaii Gold Rush
The Haida Gwaii gold rush was the first recorded gold rush in BC but was very short lived due to hostilities with the local natives. The rush began in 1851 when a Haida man traded a 27 ounce nugget for 1500 blankets in Fort Victoria. A Hudson’s Bay Company ship was sent up there soon after and discovered a very high grade lode deposit.
The HBC crew began mining the lode deposit but the Haida Indians soon turned against them and prevented further mining. In 1852 a ship with 35 adventurers from San Francisco set out for the islands. They arrived at “Gold Harbour” in the Tasu Sound but did not have much luck finding gold. They did however manage to trade with the Haida Indians for gold.
1857 Gold Found At the Nicoamen River
Placer gold was discovered in Nicoamen River which is a tributary to the Thompson River. The Nicoamen enters the Thompson about 12 kilometers up stream from the confluence with the Fraser River at Lytton. A local Indian discovered gold there by chance and soon the majority of the tribe was mining the area. This discovery is credited with igniting the Fraser River gold rush.
1858 Fraser River Gold Rush
The Fraser River gold rush involved one of the largest populations of migrant prospectors in history. It is estimated that around 30,000 people rushed to the lower Fraser River in 1858. The rush began after an 800 ounce gold sample was sent from Fort Victoria to San Francisco for assay.
Yale in 1868
Soon after a shipload of 800 American prospectors from California arrived in Victoria to hunt for gold on the Fraser River. The influx of American prospectors overwhelmed the small government that managed the territory. HBC Governor James Douglas requested immediate help from Britain to control this massive foreign population . The British Government responded by formally claiming BC as sovereign British Colony in 1858. The new government quickly enacted mining laws to prevent the mayhem that took place in the California goldfields. Along with the declaration came British military support and the Royal Engineers who went on to build several major road systems including the Cariboo Wagon road and Dewdney Trail.
The early work centred around the community of Hope where steamboats allowed for easy access. The majority of the gold rushers were participants in the California gold rush that fizzled out a few years earlier. As a result the population of Yale was largely american and the town was modelled after San Francisco.
Lower Fraser River Circa 1862
A story in the San Francisco Bulletin is credited with igniting the rush. According to the newspaper:
“In one month the Hudson’s Bay Company fort in Victoria had received 110 pounds of gold dust from the Indians … (prospected) without aid of anything more than … pans and willow baskets.”
Numerous bars were prospected and mined between Hope and Lytton. Some communities along the Fraser are still named after the bars that were mined such as “Boston Bar”. Like most gold rushes the men who arrived first snapped up the good claims and the the majority of the adventurers ended up working for them.
Cariboo Wagon Road in Fraser Canyon 1867
The British Royal engineers developed a route from Port Douglas at the head of Harrison Lake to Lillooet to accommodate the influx of miners. Many new communities popped up and some are still settled today.
The Fraser rush brought people from all over the world but the bulk of the miners came from California. At the peak of the rush there were over 10,000 miners operating on the section of river form Hope to Lillooet. The bars depleted rapidly and by 1860 most of the miners continued on the other gold rushes in BC.
1858 Rock Creek Gold Rush
Gold was discovered in Rock Creek in 1858 soon after miners rushed in from the United States and the rest of the world. The Rock Creek rush was also instrumental in the development of British Columbia. The discovery was made by two American soldiers who were chased North of the boarder by a band of Indians. Just 5km from the border where an unnammed creek entered the Kettle River they found gold.
This photo is actually from Rock Creek in Alaska, not BC. Still a good photo though.
At the time of the discovery the colony of British Columbia was only a year old. American miners tried to claim the area as part of the United States due to the high grades and the fact that it was discovered by Americans. The Rock Creek claim issues prompted the construction of the Dewdney Trail as a means to separate the new colony from the United States. The Dewdney Trail snaked its way from New Westminster all the way to Wild Horse in the Kootenay region staying just North of the Canada-US border.
Soon after the discovery an estimated 5,000 prospectors migrated to the newly established town of Rock Creek. In the beginning there were two saloons, a butcher’s shop, a hotel and five stores. Within the first year a revolt broke out due to tensions between Chinese and American miners and refusal to pay for mining licences. The incident became known as the Rock Creek War. The governor of British Columbia Sir James Douglas travelled there from Victoria to straighten out the miners. He threatened to send in 500 British soldiers if they couldn’t behave themselves. Sir Douglas was successful and soon the miners paid their claim fees and mined the creeks in peace.
There were some amazing claims on Rock Creek. Adam Beame’s claim on Soldier’s Bar in 1859 allegedly netted $1,000 in six weeks. That gold would be worth $70,500 today! Other bars such as Denver Bar and White’s Bar produced similar results.
1859 Cariboo Gold Rush
Gold was discovered on the Horsefly River in 1859 by prospectors who participated in the Fraser River rush. They were guided by a local Indian and shown a spot on the Horsefly River with abundant gold and nuggets the size of wheat kernels. The rush was on as more miners from the Fraser River rush migrated North to the Cariboo. Soon a town was erected near the strike that exists today.
Cariboo Map Circa 1862
In 1860 gold was discovered on Keithly and Antler creeks to the North of Horsefly. Other notable creeks of the region are Lightning, Lowhee, and Williams Creeks, the Quesnel River and Parsnip River. Towns popped up all over the place with the most exciting being Barkerville. That town was named after a British prospector named Billy Barker and had a popluaton of 10,000 at its peak. His claim on Willams Creek was one of the greatest gold producers in history yielding an estimated 37,500 ounces of gold. Barkerville was restored in 1997 as a tourist historic town that is a popular attraction in the area.
Barkerville circa 1868
The Cariboo gold rush saw 100,000 people flood into the area during 1862-70 from all over the world. By 1864 the Cariboo Wagon Road was completed from New Westminster all the way to Barkerville. This allowed for easy travel of people and supplies, wich substantially brought down the costs. It also allowed for stage coaches to securely move gold from the mines. The stagecoaches operated on this road from 1863 to 1917 carrying people, mail, express packages and of course gold. The stagecoaches saw surprisingly few hold ups, even though they carried literally tons of gold. There are only five hold ups on record, two of which were successful.
By 1870 the gold rush had largely fizzled out. The good claims were now owned by mining companies who could gather the money needed to undertake underground drift mining. Those who didn’t stick around to work in underground mines spread around other parts of BC’s North and some sparked gold rushes in new areas. Others settled in and started up cattle ranches or logging companies. Gold mining in the Cariboo is still active today, as a matter of fact I have a couple claims near Keithly Creek.
Cariboo Drift Mine
1863 Wild Horse River Gold Rush
Gold was discovered on the Wild Horse River in the Kootenay region in 1863 once again by American prospectors. The Wild Horse held great gold reserves and still does today. Early in the rush huge nuggets were found with the biggest tipping the scale at 36 ounces. The first town that was built was called Fisherville. Apparently after one resident found a nugget under his house the size of his fist the whole town burned their houses down to dig underneath.
A town was erected named Galbraith’s Ferry, named after John Galbraith who operated a ferry across Kootenay lake. Later the town was re-named Fort Steele after the legendary Sam Steele. A second gold rush broke out in the same area in 1885. Later hard rock silver rushes spread around the region.
The Wild Horse River is estimated to have produced over $7,000,000 in the initial gold rush which would be worth about $490,000,000 today. There is a very well preserved historic town at Fort Steel that is a popular tourist spot with many actors playing the roles of old time blacksmiths, prospectors, sheriffs and so on. It is located North of Cranbrook at the intersection between Highway 93 and 95.
The initial gold rush ended after about 6 years but soon the great silver rush would flood the region. Places like Nelson, Kaslo, Slocan grew out of the silver rushes that blanketed the Kootenay region.
1864 Leech River Gold Rush
The Leech River gold rush started with a letter from Robert Brown who was Commander of the Vancouver Island Exploring Expedition. Yes that was the correct name of the VIEE expedition. The expedition was launched by the British government in Victoria.
1880 map depicting the locaton of Leechtown
A letter from Brown published in the British Colonist newspaper on July 29, 1864 ignited the rush. Here are some exerpts from the letter:
..the intelligence I have to communicate is of too important a nature to bear delay in forwarding to you, even for one hour…
The discovery which I have to communicate is the finding of gold on the banks of one of the Forks of the Sooke River, about 12 miles from the sea in a straight line, and in a locality never hitherto reached by white men, in all probability never even by natives. I forward anquarter eighth of an ounce (or thereabouts) of the coarse scale gold, washed out of twelve pans of dirt, in many places 20 feet above the river, and with no tools but a shovel and a gold pan. The lowest prospect obtained was 3 cents to the pan, the highest $1 to the pan, and work like that with a rocker would yield what pay you can better calculate than I can, and the development of which, with what results to the Colony you may imagine.
Leechtown – Berks Hotel
A town called Leechtown was built near the discovery. By November that year there were an estimated 6 general stores, 3 hotels and over 1,200 miners at work in the area. By 1866 an estimated 200,000 ounces of gold had been produced in the area and the gold rush had passed its peak. It was over in a flash as the Leech and Sooke river placer deposits, although high grade, were limited in size.
In the span of one decade gold rushes turned the vast unexplored fur trading district of New Caledonia into a sovereign British Colony. By the end of the 1860’s the new region had gone from a population of under one thousand people to a colony with several major wagon roads and towns covering much of the Southern half of BC. The gold rushes continued and led to more development in British Columbia. Stay tuned for part 2.
Last weekend I went out to check out some claims on Granite Creek. This creek experienced a significant gold rush in 1885. The ghost town of Granite city is at the mouth of the creek, what’s left of it anyway. Our GPS track is below.
We took Highway 3 from Hope to Princeton then took the backroads through the Tulameen. The first stop was the Granite City ghost town, then up Granite Creek to my claims. Later we drove up through the town of Tulameen up the Forestry roads to see Tulameen falls. We camped nearby and exited the dirt roads at Britton Creek on the Coquihalla highway. We checked out the Othello tunnels on the way home. The whole trip was approximately 470km. My 8 year old son accompanied me on this trip because he had a geography report for school and decided to do it on the history of this area.
We passed through the hamlet of Coalmont on the way to Granite Creek. There’s not much there except for a couple of streets with some old buildings and these funny signs.
I had been waiting a long time to check out the Granite City ghost town. It was quite a large city at the height of the gold rush. There were over two hundred buildings, 13 of which were saloons. The bars in Granite ran flat out 24/7. This was a real frontier town with all the ingredients for a great western movie, gunslingers, gamblers and prospectors. With a population of over two thousand in 1885 Granite City was the third largest city in BC, even larger than Vancouver at the time.
There are many stories about Granite City, such as the lost platinum cache. It is interesting that the tributaries of the Tulameen, including Granite Creek, are one of two places in the world where both platinum and gold are found in the creeks. The other is the Amur river in Russia. At the beginning of the gold rush in this area the miners were collecting platinum in their gold pans and rockers but they didn’t know what it was. Platinum is very dense and will sit in the bottom a gold pan the same way gold does. I have found platinum in my pan before and it took me a couple seconds to realize what it was. Most miners kept their platinum but many threw it away with their black sands.
The lost cache legend states that a prospector named Johannson collected platinum from the miners and build up several tin cans full. He apparently buried his cache within sight of the front door of his cabin with the intention of returning to collect it. He was never heard from again. At any rate there is not much left of this gold rush town today. There are a handful of cabins in various states of decay, a monument and a graveyard.
My claims are about 17 kilometers up the road from the old townsite. We took the Arastra creek forest road up to the confluence of Arastra and Granite creeks. I met a local prospector while we were up there and he told me Arastra creek got its name because the chinese miners built a large water wheel crusher called and Arastra. The claims that I have are not directly on the water so we had to bring our samples to the creek to pan. It was very labor intensive.
One claim was right off the road so we were able to use my truck to drive the buckets of gravel to the creek. The second claim required that we hike along Granite creek on a very old trail. While hiking along the 2km section to my claim one can’t help but imagine what it would have been like out here in the 1880s. There was evidence of old camps and such all along the way. We even found an old miner’s cabin that had long since been deserted.
We managed to get a few samples of 20L each. I concentrated the samples on site with my pyramid pan so I only had to hike out with 1L bags. We did a few test pans around the area and saw some color. No platinum though. After finishing the work on my claims we packed up our camp and headed up the Tulameen to check out an awesome waterfall called Tulameen falls.
The waterfall is located approximately 30km up the river from the townsite of Tulameen. The Similkameen tourist pamphlet that we picked up in Princeton said the waterfall is accessed by a 1km moderate hiking trail with two river crossings. That doesn’t sound too bad. When we got to the trail head it looked like nothing was there it seems that a forestry operation has moved the road an piled banks of large rocks over the old recreation site. We found the trail marked by spray paint on a tree. The first part was not too bad, then we crossed the river in our bare feet to keep our boots dry. There were signs to only cross in low water but it seemed low enough. The water was up to my mid thigh but a lot higher on my son. After that the trail was pretty bad with some sections of no trail at all. It looked like it was a well maintained trail once but must have been hit with a flood or something. The waterfall is amazing, it has over 1400 feet of drop and a lot of water pouring over it.
We found a really nice free camp site a few kilometers up the road from the trailhead. It is called Sutter Creek Recreation Site. After staying the night we headed back to civilization with one more stop on the way. We checked out the Othello tunnels just North of Hope. These tunnels were part of the old Kettle Valley railroad. The KVR was a steam railroad the serviced the region from Hope to present day Kelowna. There are five tunnels close together and several bridges to make it possible to access this section of the Coquihalla canyon. Apparently the lead engineer was a Shakepeare nut and named several of the stations after characters from Shakepeare plays. There were Othello, Romeo, Juliet, Lear, Jessica, Shylock and Portia.
Overall it was a great trip. We did some initial sampling on two claims and saw some cool parts of Southern BC. I have other claims in the area and will be back soon. There’s something about the Tulameen that gives an eerie feeling when you are out there. It could be the remoteness or the history of the area. Maybe its the platinum, whatever it is I like it and can’t wait to explore the region in the future.
My crew stayed at a camp operated by a character called Big Al. That name might sound familiar because he has been featured on the popular TV show Yukon Gold on the History Channel. Of course at that time we had no idea he was going to be a celebrity. During the trip we heard a rumour that Hoffmans working a few claims over were filming for a TV show, it turned out to be the hit series Gold Rush on Discovery. We were surrounded by gold mining TV stars but didn’t know it yet.
