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entrepreneurs of all kinds and others seeking to profit not from the mines, but from the miners. Victoria, until then a "sleepy
English village" of a few hundred people, was transformed into a tent city of some 30,000 within weeks in the spring of 1858, among them 4000 were Chinese. After initial complaints of a "humbug", because high water levels prevented mining, thousands returned to California, only to be replaced by others as water levels dropped and mining began in earnest. The first major find, and among the largest on the river, was at
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595:
89:, on Vancouver Island, which is a community at the end of a fjord that drains the west coast of Vancouver Island, tell a story of Spanish arriving then burning the valley searching for gold. Prospectors searching the valley have found old crude dug adits on the pass of the White River Valley and the Gold River Valley.
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and the north slope of the basin of the
Quesnel. The rush, though initially discovered by American-based parties, became notably Canadian, Maritimer and British in character, with those who became established in the Cariboo among the vanguard of the movement to join Canada as the 1860s progressed.
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and was sworn in as its first
Governor, on August 1, 1858. Proceeding without much incident to Yale, where news of the governor's journey upriver had travelled in advance, the Governor and his troops were greeted by the war parties or "Companies" that had engaged in the war, flying the British flag
153:
on Graham Island. By 1979, a 2 million ounce gold deposit was defined by exploratory drilling by major mining companies, Cominco, Kennco
Explorations (a subsidiary of Kennecott) and Quintana Minerals. A junior exploration company continued drilling the project and a gold rush ensued from 1979-1981.
362:. Exploration of the region intensified as news of the discoveries got out, and because of the distances and times involved in communications and travel in those times, moreover because of the remoteness of the country, the Cariboo Rush did not begin in earnest until 1862 after the discovery of
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hit
California at a time of economic depression, when the gold fields were depopulated and many miners were in San Francisco, where the news hit like wildfire and overloaded steamers full of men equipped with not much more than gold pans and the clothes on their back headed north, along with
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and
Mitchell Inlet became the location of a modern mining operation, also called Tasoo or Tasu, but for iron rather than gold. In 1969, a local logger, Efrem Specogna and his brother-in-law, John Trinco made the initial gold discovery of the Specogna (Babe) Gold deposit west of
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and several thousand miners had arrived in that region via overland routes through Oregon and
Washington Territory, despite an injunction from Douglas that all access to the goldfields would be through Victoria only. Those who came by those routes, the busiest but war-ridden
391:, including other parts of British Columbia, in addition to those who had come and gone during the advent and wane of the Cariboo rush. To preserve British authority and retain control over the traffic of gold out of the region, the Governor commissioned the building of the
277:, most of the mining population fled the Canyon for Spuzzum and Yale, and war parties composed of Americans, Germans, French and others (many who had been mercenaries in Nicaragua, or in service of France in Mexico), forayed up the canyon and made a peace with the
168:
Gold discoveries are not reported in the journals of the early fur traders, and it became policy on the part of the fur companies to not advertise the presence of gold as the protection of the fur trade was the main corporate interest of their enterprise.
177:
expressly forbade news of gold discoveries as a serious crime against the state. Small quantities of gold were reported by traders in the 1830s and at some posts became current in local trading, though not common or in quantity. but
281:, though many were killed on both sides. News of the war had reached Victoria in the meantime and Governor Douglas was forced to take action to enforce British authority and sovereignty on the mainland and set out by steamer with
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and greeting the
Governor with a formal welcome. Admonishing them that the colony had been established and the Queen's Law would prevail, the governor appointed officials who would later lead to a series of events known as
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to prevent the archipelago from being overrun by
Americans and so claimed by the United States. The extent of the ore body proved superficial, and there are various stories of American prospecting parties harassed by the
57:(meaning "mountains"), another legendary land near Anian, was also said to be rich in gold as well. Speculative maps of northwestern North America published before the area was mapped placed the legendary golden cities of
227:
had remained unincorporated and had remained solely the domain of the fur company and its native clientele. American miners had been appearing more frequently on
British soil and Douglas felt he had to take action.
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for smelting. Some historians have suggested he did so deliberately to spread news of the gold find so as to provoke a gold rush so as to force Britain's hand on the status of the British mainland north of the
324:, also spread farther afield in the Interior, leading to gold discoveries further and further afield and a string of small and large gold rushes including what would become the largest and most famous, the
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over the course of the next winter. Also while at Yale, Douglas decreed the creation of subscriptions by which parties of men could pay for the right to construct a new route to the "Upper Fraser" via the
265:, whose village was just north of Fort Yale. The mining population, split into thirds about evenly between Americans, Chinese, and a mix of Britons and Europeans who had been in California, many since the
69:, "the golden one" a reference to the legendary king of a lost golden city, are known to have ever reached British Columbia, although archaeological remains point to a brief Spanish presence in the
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403:, although that government agency never proved viable and private expressmen dominated the shipment of goods and mail into the gold fields, and gold out of it (see
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and its difficult trails and rich gold-bearing bars. Hill's Bar's first claim, known as the "Boatmen of San Francisco", worked the bar alongside
154:
The Specogna gold deposit remains an unmined deposit with over 3 million ounces of gold and is categorized as an epithermal type gold deposit.
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attaining mining fame in their own right. The Cariboo gold fields have remained active to this day, and have also yielded other
311:, as a way around the dangers of the canyon trail and continued fears about the Nlaka'pamux. the "Upper Fraser" was the area of
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328:. Not for nothing that among the most common sobriquet used at the time for the new Mainland Colony was "the Gold Colonies".
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273:, then called "the Forks", and their beheaded bodies were seen floating down the river. In the ensuing unrest, known as the
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were important episodes in the history and settlement of European, Canadian and Chinese peoples in western
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Many Americans returned to the United States at the opening of the Civil War. Others went on to the
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is named, was described as passing through a land (Anian) "rich in gold, silver, pearls and fur".
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ten years earlier, entered into conflict when two French miners violated a Nlaka'pamux girl near
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in 1861 and the relocation of the focus of the rush to the creek valleys in the northern
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of 3,000 in the 1920s just a few kilometres west of Barkerville, which today is a
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is spoken of in many old legends that, in part, led to its discovery. The
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in the far inland northwest. No Spanish exploration parties in search of
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The Finlay and Peace-Finlay Gold Rushes prompted the declaration of the
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411:). Among other events associated with the Cariboo Gold Rush was the
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765:. Calgary, Alberta, Canada: Detselig Enterprises Ltd. p. 20.
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194:. When news of the find and a large poke of gold dust brought to
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792:, B. Griffin, BC Ministry of Energy Mines and Petroleum Resources
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British Columbia: From the Earliest Times to the Present Vol. II
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By 1860, there were gold discoveries in the middle basin of the
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Gold was first formally discovered by non-indigenous people at
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Miners at Work - A History of British Columbia’s Gold Rushes
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of 1864, provoked by an attempt to build a wagon road from
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in 1856 by members of the nearby Tranquille tribe of the
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for the gold fields. En route, the party stopped at
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232:Fraser Rush and the founding of the Gold Colony
797:Pioneering Geology in the Canadian Cordillera
664:Bridge River, Cayoosh Gold Rushes 1870s-1890s
8:
236:News of the finds in what was then known as
158:Tranquille, Thompson, and Fraser Gold Rushes
127:, an arm of Gold Harbour (which is part of
285:and the newly arrived first contingent of
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85:group in the area of the community of
182:policy, or the good judgement of the
137:Colony of the Queen Charlotte Islands
7:
395:, a.k.a. the Queen's Highway, and a
37:The presence of gold in what is now
751:, E.O.S. Scholefield and F.W. Howay
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45:, claimed to have been sailed by
669:Golden Cache Gold Rush 1896-1899
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500:, 1861 (a.k.a. Finlay Gold Rush)
93:Queen Charlottes Gold Rush, 1850
332:The Cariboo Gold Rush 1861-1867
370:forming the headwaters of the
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387:. Some went elsewhere in the
297:, where Douglas declared the
245:about 15 kilometers south of
814:British Columbia gold rushes
212:Governor of Vancouver Island
131:). A brief gold rush - the
28:British Columbia gold rushes
18:British Columbia Gold Rushes
819:History of British Columbia
799:, BCMEMPR Open File 1992-19
475:Minor Gold Rushes 1859-1869
835:
763:Moon Cake in Gold Mountain
724:November 14, 2011, at the
696:Colony of British Columbia
550:Wild Horse Creek Gold Rush
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299:Colony of British Columbia
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133:Queen Charlottes Gold Rush
99:Queen Charlottes Gold Rush
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77:regions of the province's
719:Specogna Minerals website
399:and also established the
358:, just below and west of
293:, then still located at
214:, decided to ship it to
691:Fort Colville Gold Rush
164:Fraser Canyon Gold Rush
761:Dawson, Brain (1991).
674:Yalakom Gold Rush 1941
641:This section is empty.
602:This section is empty.
529:Cherry Creek Gold Rush
517:, west of the Rockies.
377:Fort Colvile Gold Rush
51:Strait of Juan de Fuca
625:Atlin Gold Rush, 1898
586:The Stewart Gold Rush
580:Burnt Basin Gold Rush
498:Peace River Gold Rush
487:Similkameen Gold Rush
405:Francis Jones Barnard
107:on the west coast of
81:. The Muchalaht, the
739:, by Donald J. Hauka
564:Goldstream Gold Rush
525:(Spallumcheen River)
511:Stickeen Territories
493:Rock Creek Gold Rush
267:California Gold Rush
257:and his people, the
180:Hudson's Bay Company
481:Blackfoot Gold Rush
461:Peace River Country
419:to Cariboo via the
397:route from Lillooet
204:Columbia Department
685:Klondike Gold Rush
539:Big Bend Gold Rush
385:Colorado Gold Rush
223:, which since the
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545:Omineca Gold Rush
523:Shuswap Gold Rush
504:Stikine Gold Rush
467:(today's city of
389:Intermontane West
338:Cariboo Gold Rush
326:Cariboo Gold Rush
275:Fraser Canyon War
79:Southern Interior
49:for whom today's
16:(Redirected from
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643:You can help by
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39:British Columbia
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433:Antler Creek
409:B.X. Express
393:Cariboo Road
372:Willow River
360:Quesnel Lake
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342:Cariboo Road
291:Fort Langley
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200:Chief Factor
184:Chief Trader
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146:Gold Harbour
142:Haida people
105:Gold Harbour
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47:Juan de Fuca
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687:(1897–1898)
558:Fort Steele
554:Fisherville
533:Cherryville
465:Fort George
449:museum town
425:Barkerville
401:Gold Escort
309:Lakes Route
279:Nlaka'pamux
263:Nlaka'pamux
119:village of
115:, near the
113:Haida Gwaii
75:Similkameen
808:Categories
707:References
439:, such as
417:Bute Inlet
243:Hill's Bar
129:Tasu Sound
87:Gold River
701:Gold rush
652:July 2010
613:July 2010
576:in 1864-5
574:Leechtown
437:boomtowns
247:Fort Yale
210:and also
192:Secwepemc
67:El Dorado
722:Archived
679:See also
317:Fountain
313:Lillooet
71:Okanagan
794:, from
570:in 1863
566:at the
506:, 1861
457:Omineca
453:Quesnel
429:Bullion
350:around
261:of the
202:of the
59:Quivira
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541:, 1865
489:, 1861
483:, 1859
383:, and
271:Lytton
63:Cibola
32:Canada
441:Wells
295:Derby
117:Haida
55:Bergi
767:ISBN
556:and
459:and
431:and
407:and
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340:and
315:and
121:Tasu
73:and
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