British Colombia 1850’s What was it like?

What did it look like? In 1849, Vancouver Island became a colony New Caledonia was basically made up of mostly fur trading forts, and governed from Fort Victoria In 1851 James Douglas became the governor of the colony

The Fur trade in BC Most people were first nations in the BC area Small groups of British, Russian, and American fur traders lived in isolated forts The Hudson’s bay company was a big fur trading company, and had rights to a lot of the land

Gold rush! First nations peoples had been trading gold with the people the forts for years The HBC bought 20 kg of gold in 1858, and sent to san Francisco for processing (this was too much gold to handle in bc) Word spread in san Francisco and California about gold in bc Since the California gold rush seemed to be over, many Americans began poring into bc to try and get rich

Gold rush impact Fort Victoria house about 800 people. In one day 450 miners arrived in the fort (april 25, 1858) Gold was not found on Vancouver island, but much was discovered in new Caledonia

Impact continued What do you think was the impact of 30,000 Americans rushing the bc interior for: First nations? James Douglas signed treaties with 14 small tribes to resettle them from their traditional lands, for a small some of money British controlling interests? The British became worried about US annexation of Vancouver Island and New Caledonia In 1858, James Douglas convinced the British to make New Caledonia, a new Colony, giving him new powers to enforce British law

Gold rush continues! The gold rush continued into the 1860’s in the Cariboo region of BC How do you think miners made their way into this harsh area? Travelled along the Frasier River Many canoes and rafts were not up to the challenge of the rapids – many drowned A difficult journey by foot through mountainous terrain, swamps, and creeks ensued Getting supplies through was costly and dangerous James Douglas commissioned the cariboo road in 1865 – blasting a 6m wide road through mountains, etc. It was 8 km long, and made travel to the area much easy and less expensive