Big Bend Gold Rush

Last updated

The Big Bend Gold Rush was a gold rush in the Big Bend Country of the Colony of British Columbia (now a Canadian province) in the mid-1860s.

Contents

History

Discovery & early miners

In 1861, the gold commissioner at Rock Creek reported a First Nations account of coarse gold some miles above the Boat Encampment. However, the actual first "strike" by Europeans is unclear. [1] That year, a party of miners led by Hamilton McKenzie paddled up the Columbia River and wintered near Death Rapids. [2] During 1861–1862, small teams worked the Columbia bars and its tributaries. [3] Four Frenchmen, who had settled on French Creek in spring 1865, were very successful. [4] To avoid the gold export tax, half the gold leaving for the U.S. was estimated to be unreported. [5]

Context

Gold rushes expanded the colony beyond Vancouver Island onto the mainland. [6] These emanated from the Fraser Canyon Gold Rush, the first to dominate the colony's history. A huge influx of miners, drawn from California to the Fraser, dispersed throughout the colony in search of gold. Other rushes during the period were in Rock Creek, Wild Horse Creek, the Cariboo, [7] Omineca, Perry Creek, [8] and Stikine, as well as the Colville and Colorado Gold Rushes.

Access

The upper Columbia was extremely remote. Many prospectors came overland up the Rocky Mountain Trench from what is now Montana, or up the Columbia River from Washington Territory. A regular steamboat service on the Columbia from Marcus, Washington Terr. to La Porte, the head of navigation, began in 1866, but was first attempted in 1865. [9] From Vancouver Island, the route via Portland up the Columbia was also promoted. [10]

However, most left the Cariboo goldfields to head eastward along the wagon road to present day Savona, to board a steamer. Maintaining an easterly direction, they crossed Kamloops Lake, passed Fort Kamloops, along the South Thompson River, crossed Little Shuswap Lake, and along the Little River, and across Shuswap Lake (formerly called Big Shuswap Lake). The SS Marten operated the 111-mile (179 km) Savona–Seymour run to the mouth of the Seymour River. [11] Trails over the Monashee Mountains, familiar to First Nations, led to the Columbia. [12] Seymour to the Columbia was 35 miles (56 km), [13] with snow 20 feet (6 m) deep in places. [14] Parties from Kamloops also travelled overland in pack trains, completing the journey down Smith Creek [8] (a.k.a. Gaffney or Kirbyville creek) [15] to the Columbia.

1865–1866 rush

In 1865, William Downie, an experienced prospector, and his party of ex-Cariboo miners ascended the Columbia from Marcus. They discovered gold in paying quantities at Carnes Creek. Others continued up the Columbia to the Goldstream, and its tributaries, French and McCullough creeks, and were also well rewarded. [16] News spread, and the rush truly began in 1866. Between 8,000–10,000 flocked to the creeks and valleys. That year, the SS Forty-Nine commenced ferrying miners to La Porte, at the foot of Death Rapids. [17] Conflicting accounts put this at either four [18] or 37 [8] trips from Marcus during the season. The Marten made twice weekly trips to Seymour. Many smaller boats also operated on the Shuswap. During the previous winter, a number of miners had hauled their equipment across the frozen lake. [10]

The main ore finds were on the southwestward leg of the river beyond the bend, south from today's Mica Creek. At French Creek City in 1866, Arthur W. Vowell was appointed constable (one of the four colonial constables prior to Confederation), serving for six years. [19] [20] Peter O'Reilly was appointed as gold commissioner, [8] and Walter Moberly laid out the proposed town site. Kirbyville arose on the Goldstream. Prospecting spread from above to below the rapids, venturing along Downie Creek. The mining settlements around French Creek, McCullough Creek, Kirbyville, and Wilson's Landing became sizeable towns with cabins, hotels, stores, saloons, blacksmith shops, laundries, billiard halls, and barber shops. [17] In one incident, 18 miners drowned when a boat capsized in the rapids. [21]

Outcome

By year end, the rush was over. In 1869, 37 miners remained at French Creek, and none on the others creeks. [19] [22] The rush itself had been modest in terms of earnings compared to the Fraser and Cariboo. [23] Big Bend mining activity sporadically occurred later. Most of the goldfields, and what remained of their boomtowns and old mining camps and workings, are now submerged by the reservoirs of Mica Dam or Revelstoke Canyon Dam.

See also

Footnotes

  1. ↑ Bilsland1955, p. 22.
  2. ↑ Bilsland1955, p. 23.
  3. ↑ Bilsland1955, p. 24.
  4. ↑ History of British Columbia , p. 531, at Google Books
  5. ↑ History of British Columbia , p. 532, at Google Books
  6. ↑ Bilsland1955, p. 21.
  7. ↑ Bilsland1955, pp. 21, 24.
  8. 1 2 3 4 "Mines Annual Report 1905". www.open.library.ubc.ca. p. J149.
  9. ↑ Volovsek, Walter. "Steamships on the Columbia". www.trailsintime.org. Trails In Time.
  10. 1 2 History of British Columbia , p. 533, at Google Books
  11. ↑ Bilsland1955, pp. 27, 41–42.
  12. ↑ Bilsland1955, pp. 22–23.
  13. ↑ Bilsland1955, p. 53.
  14. ↑ Bilsland1955, p. 39.
  15. ↑ Bilsland1955, p. 28.
  16. ↑ Bilsland1955, pp. 25–26.
  17. 1 2 Bilsland1955, p. 27.
  18. ↑ Bilsland1955, p. 40.
  19. 1 2 Bilsland1955, p. 29.
  20. ↑ Bradley, Patrick (2013). "Average mail…Lots of routine: Arthur Wellsley Vowell and the Administration of Indian Affairs in British Columbia 1889–1910" (PDF). www.library.uvic.ca. pp. 23–24.
  21. ↑ History of British Columbia , p. 534, at Google Books
  22. ↑ History of British Columbia , p. 535, at Google Books
  23. ↑ Bilsland1955, p. 30.

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Andrew Onderdonk</span> American construction contractor

Andrew Onderdonk was an American construction contractor who worked on several major projects in the West, including the San Francisco seawall in California and the Canadian Pacific Railway in British Columbia. He was born in New York City to an established ethnic Dutch family. He received his education at the Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Thompson River</span> River in British Columbia, Canada

The Thompson River is the largest tributary of the Fraser River, flowing through the south-central portion of British Columbia, Canada. The Thompson River has two main branches, the South Thompson River and the North Thompson River. The river is home to several varieties of Pacific salmon and trout. The area's geological history was heavily influenced by glaciation, and the several large glacial lakes have filled the river valley over the last 12,000 years. Archaeological evidence shows human habitation in the watershed dating back at least 8,300 years. The Thompson was named by Fraser River explorer, Simon Fraser, in honour of his friend, Columbia Basin explorer David Thompson. Recreational use of the river includes whitewater rafting and angling.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Index of British Columbia–related articles</span>

The following is an alphabetical list of articles related to the Canadian province of British Columbia.

British Columbia gold rushes were important episodes in the history and settlement of European, Canadian and Chinese peoples in western Canada.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Cariboo Gold Rush</span> 19th-century gold rush in British Columbia, Canada

The Cariboo Gold Rush was a gold rush in the Colony of British Columbia, which later became the Canadian province of British Columbia. The first gold discovery was made at Hills Bar in 1858, followed by more strikes in 1859 on the Horsefly River, and on Keithley Creek and Antler Creek in 1860. The actual rush did not begin until 1861, when these discoveries were widely publicized. By 1865, following the strikes along Williams Creek, the rush was in full swing.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Columbia Mountains</span> Mountain range in Canada and the United States

The Columbia Mountains are a group of mountain ranges along the Upper Columbia River in British Columbia, Montana, Idaho and Washington. The mountain range covers 135,952 km². The range is bounded by the Rocky Mountain Trench on the east, and the Kootenai River on the south; their western boundary is the edge of the Interior Plateau. Seventy-five percent of the range is located in Canada and the remaining twenty-five percent in the United States; American geographic classifications place the Columbia Mountains as part of the Rocky Mountains complex, but this designation does not apply in Canada. Mount Sir Sandford is the highest mountain in the range, reaching 3,519 metres (11,545 ft).

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Fraser Canyon Gold Rush</span> First main gold rush in British Columbia

The Fraser Canyon Gold Rush, began in 1858 after gold was discovered on the Thompson River in British Columbia at its confluence with the Nicoamen River a few miles upstream from the Thompson's confluence with the Fraser River at present-day Lytton. The rush overtook the region around the discovery and was centered on the Fraser Canyon from around Hope and Yale to Pavilion and Fountain, just north of Lillooet.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Frederick Seymour</span> Canadian politician

Frederick Seymour was a colonial administrator. After receiving little education and no inheritance from his father, Seymour was offered a junior appointment in the colonial service by Prince Albert. Seymour held positions in various British colonies from 1842 to 1863, when he returned to England.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Secwépemc</span> First Nations people in Canada

The Secwépemc, known in English as the Shuswap people, are a First Nations people residing in the interior of the Canadian province of British Columbia. They speak one of the Salishan languages, known as Secwepemc or Shuswap.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">British Columbia Interior</span> Interior region of British Columbia, Canada

The British Columbia Interior, popularly referred to as the BC Interior or simply the Interior, is a geographic region of the Canadian province of British Columbia. While the exact boundaries are variously defined, the British Columbia Interior is generally defined to include the 14 regional districts that do not have coastline along the Pacific Ocean or Salish Sea, and are not part of the Lower Mainland. Other boundaries may exclude parts of or even entire regional districts, or expand the definition to include the regional districts of Fraser Valley, Squamish–Lillooet, and Kitimat–Stikine.

The Hudson's Bay Brigade Trail, sometimes referred to simply as the Brigade Trail, refers to one of two routes used by Hudson's Bay Company fur traders to transport furs, goods and supplies between coastal and Columbia District headquarters at Fort Vancouver and those in New Caledonia and also in Rupert's Land. Importantly the route was that used by the annual "Hudson's Bay Express", a shipment of the company books and profits to company headquarters.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Deadman River</span> River in British Columbia, Canada

The Deadman River, also known as the Deadman's River, Deadman Creek or Deadman's Creek, is a tributary of the Thompson River in the British Columbia Interior of British Columbia, Canada. It is about 70 kilometres (43 mi) in length.

Dalles des Morts, also known as Death Rapids in English, was a famously violent stretch of the Columbia River upstream from Revelstoke, British Columbia, Canada, now submerged beneath the waters of Lake Revelstoke.

<i>Forty-Nine</i> (steamboat)

The Forty-Nine was a steamboat that operated from the mid-1860s to the early 1870s in today's West Kootenay region of southeastern British Columbia.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Thompson Country</span>

Thompson Country, also referred to as The Thompson and sometimes as the Thompson Valley and historically known as the Couteau Country or Couteau District, is a historic geographic region of the Southern Interior of British Columbia, more or less defined by the basin of the Thompson River. This is a tributary of the Fraser; the major city in the area is Kamloops.

In the Canadian province of British Columbia, Big Bend Country is the region around the northernmost section of the Columbia River, which changes from a northwestward course along the Rocky Mountain Trench to curve around the northern end of the Selkirk Mountains to head southwest between that range and the Monashee Mountains, which lie to the west. The area is part of the larger Columbia Country, which includes the Columbia Valley and upper Arrow Lakes of eastern British Columbia. The 2,300 square miles (6,000 km2) north of the railway line, and enclosed by the river, roughly defines the Big Bend. However, in earlier eras, the descriptive was more narrowly understood.

An electoral redistribution in British Columbia was undertaken by the BC Electoral Boundaries Commission beginning in 2014 and was formalized by the passage of Bill 42, the 2015 Electoral Districts Act, during the 40th British Columbia Parliament. The act came into effect on November 17, 2015. The redistribution added two seats to the previous total, increasing the number of MLAs in the province from 85 to 87. The electoral boundaries came into effect for the 2017 election. The next redistribution is required to occur following the 2020 British Columbia general election.

An electoral redistribution in British Columbia is underway by the BC Electoral Boundaries Commission. On October 21, 2021, the Government of British Columbia appointed Justice Nitya Iyer, Linda Tynan and Chief Electoral Officer Anton Boegman to serve as the 2021 commissioners. Justice Iyer was appointed the chair.

Downie Creek is in the West Kootenay region of southeastern British Columbia, Canada. Surrounded by the Selkirk Mountains, the creek is a tributary of Lake Revelstoke, part of the Columbia River. On BC Highway 23, the highway bridge is by road about 69 kilometres (43 mi) north of Revelstoke.

References

This page is based on this Wikipedia article
Text is available under the CC BY-SA 4.0 license; additional terms may apply.
Images, videos and audio are available under their respective licenses.