British Columbia is a massively expansive region, it spans many different mountain ranges, lakes, rivers and canyons.
These natural obstacles present an immense beauty but at the same time create conditions less than favorable to mining. Prospectors and miners have traveled all over the province in search of shiny metals that promise fortune to all that find it.
Gold, copper, silver and iron, these are just some of the valuable metals that can be found in the mountain ranges that dot the land. Placer mining the valley rivers for gold and platinum as well as climbing the mountain in search of gold veins.
There have been many gold rushes throughout British Columbia since the 1800s. They have occurred in various locations all over the province. From the far north west to the south east there are goldfields and ore deposits lurking within the mountains.
In this article we discuss one of the bigger gold rushes:
Cariboo Gold Rush
The Cariboo is an exciting region of BC, nestled up in the interior of the province it provides a unique landscape from the rest of the province. It is characterized by highlands, plateaus and rivers, there was a series of gold mining communities in the Cariboo region.
Spelled “Cariboo” instead of “Caribou” it was misspelled by the old miners and prospectors that first coined the region. They weren’t the best at spelling, they just ended up sticking with the spelling and so the Cariboo region was coined.
There are a few places in the Cariboo that had gold mining take place these places are:
-Horsefly, British Columbia
-Quesnel, British Columbia
-Likely, British Columbia
-Barkerville, British Columbia
These 4 places were the sites of various gold mining activities. Each had its unique challenges involved with them.
There are many famous creeks and rivers in the region such as: Williams Creek, Lightning Creek, Slew Creek, Quesnel River, Horsefly River and many more.
It was a placer mining rush, prospectors searched for gold in the creeks, rivers, its bars and along the banks as well as the mining of the ancient creeks and rivers buried underground by the glacial movement across the landscape. As the glacier moves across the landscape it pushes soil, rocks and ore bodies all over the place. A big indication of glacial activity in the Cariboo is the amount of overburden covering the ancient rivers. This tells a story of the movement of glaciers moving materials across the region
Wingdaming was a method that was employed in the Cariboo region. This practice involves constructing an embankment dam and blocking off a section of a creek or river so that miners can dig into the creek or river bed without interference from water. Once the river has been diverted the miners can go and dig deep down into the river bed which would not be possible without Wingdaming. The practice is effective and was used in rivers to dig deep down and extract gold from the bottom of the river. This was easier said than done!
Quesnel is a town in the Cariboo which became a center for mining and commerce and will have its own article. It is at confluence of the Quesnel and Fraser rivers.
Hydraulic mining uses a sophisticated system of canals, locks and dams to supply water to water monitors that were used to blast away overburden. The water monitors used the head pressure of water created by the dam and canals system. The material is washed through a sluice at the bottom and hopefully gold will be recovered. The water monitors required a balance box to operate due to the size and immense pressures involved. Operators would have to take great care not to get in front of the nozzle. This could be a fatal mistake!
The region is infamous for the heavy overburden that covers a lot of the gold bearing gravel deposits. It required different means for mining in certain areas. Mining towns such as Likely and Barkerville had lots of miners sinking shafts 100+ft deep to get away from the overburden. They would mine the gravel beds of ancient rivers that had gone extinct as well as chasing veins that branch off in many directions from ancient creeks and streams.
Working in these underground mines was incredibly hazardous. The unstable and soggy ground conditions made for lots of collapse and cave in issues. Miners would sink shafts and then tunnel into the ore deposit; the gravel would need to be extracted from the ancient river bed manually as the miner crouched in the tiny dark tunnel. The material would then be transported to the surface so it could be washed through a sluice or panned out to see the results of the mine ore. This usually happened on the surface.
Water and flooding were a constant issue, dewatering was a very important consideration and took form in a couple ways. A windlass at the top of the shaft would have two lines attached to it with two buckets. These buckets would work opposing to each other so that the miner always had a bucket to put material into. The buckets would have either gravel or water in them, they would be raised to the surface using the windlass. This method provided some dewatering but was not enough in some regions so other methods had to be used.
A Cornish wheel is a water wheel that can harness mechanical motion and is used for a bunch of different applications. They were employed as pumps in the mines of Barkerville on Williams creek. The shafts would flood with water and overwhelm the miners so it required a more sophisticated method than a bucket. The Cornish wheels required a water source, so massive flumes where constructed to transport water to the Cornish wheels. The flumes where made of wood and could run for long lengths. They brought water which was used to power the wheels as well as run the sluice. Once the buckets of gravel where on surface they needed to be run through the sluice to be processed. The water from the Cornish wheel would also be used to run the sluice so that no resources where wasted. The old timers where very smart and resourceful with their craft.
The shafts and tunnels these miners where sinking had to be braced due to the lack of stability in the soil. Wood timbers where used to construction shoring systems for the mines to prevent cave ins. Even with these timber shoring systems in place, miners found themselves victims of collapse and cave ins. The water-logged soil was so heavy that it would cause the timbers to snap and buckle under the force and weight. Building the timber shoring systems was a necessity but was time consuming and required many resources. It just adds to the intensity and extremes that the miners of the Cariboo faced.
Keep in mind… there are no guarantees. If you sink a shaft 100ft down, there is a chance that you will hit nothing and miss the lead. This happened all the time, sometimes it was a few inches and other times a few feet. It was the chance these prospectors took when they had an inclination for gold. There was a sense of excitement for the more adventurous in this because if you did get onto a lead then you would become rich.
There where miners that became millionaires overnight but it did not last. The money would be spent at gambling halls, saloons, brothels or the next prospecting venture. This was the cycle for many miners and prospectors. Billy Barker the man considered to have discovered the big gold deposit in Barkerville died a pauper with nothing because he blew all his money. He wasn’t the only one, there where many who fell victim to the same fate. You had a whole group of towns people that would “mine the miners” as they would say.
The practice of mining the miners was a common thread throughout the mining towns of North America. Where there was gold there was money to be made!
Shop keepers of all varieties would spring up in the towns in an attempt to get a piece of gold and fortune. In a lot of mining towns on the frontier they paid for goods and services in gold. Gold nuggets and gold dust where taken as forms of payment, paper money was frowned upon.
Prospectors and miners would choose to not use a bank instead choosing to keep there gold in the ground on the claim. This ensured the security of there money and they would go to the claim to take gold as needed to cover the respective costs. Many prospectors would keep there gold on the claim and there occasionally where issues with claim jumpers which were taken very seriously. Some people where killed for claim jumping.
The gold rush towns of the Cariboo are a lot of fun to explore and are all connected by the Cariboo wagon road. The road was the trail that prospectors and pioneers would use to travel up to the goldfields. As you travel along the road there are many historic stops with details about the gold rush and life on the trail.
So next time you find yourself up in the interior of British Columbia, consider taking some time to stop and check some of these towns and experience life in the gold rush times of the Cariboo.
I enjoy my time there every time I go, there is always more to see and do in such an exciting region.