1. The Cariboo Gold Rush
California, Fraser River, Fraser Canyon War, Colony of BC, End of the Gold, Barkerville, Population Change

2. Get Rich Quick Schemes!!!!!
Lottery Ticket Sales most popular way to get rick quick
Ticket sales always higher when jackpot higher
Yet 1 in 14 million chance

3. Gold Rush Was A Fantasy
The gold rush had the same influence as lottery
The gold rush gave people a fantasy that they could get rich fast, yet discovering gold was a difficult and rare occurrence
Most major deposits were never found because the gold washed downstream from the mother lode

4. Difficult and Disappointing Work
The Process
Dig up gravel along creek
Swirl in wide shallow pan to expose gold
Stake a claim on creek bank and dig a mine shaft down to bedrock below
Gold bearing clay brought to surface and washed to revel gold

5. Getting to the Gold Difficult task- no easy routes Most miners
carried supplies
Used pack horses
Old HBC trails

6. Bridge of 23 camels

7. California Gold Rush 1848 Gold discovered along the Sacramento River
1000s of people immigrated to Canada and the US
Majority never struck it rich, many never returned home

8. By 1849
Best claims had been staked (shot gunned)
Most ended up working as labourers to make a living
By 1850
Sacramento River Mined out
California filled with former miners who had no way to get home

9. Fraser Gold RushvSets off Fears
1857 HBC trader found gold along Thompson River and brought it to Vancouver Island
Governor Douglas was not happy about the news as he feared this would lead to:
a massive influx of American miners in the island colony
Mainland will be further threatened by American annexation

10. Douglas’ Fear Came True!
By the end of summer 1858
450 miners arrived at Fort Victoria before traveling to mainland
Over men working claims along Fraser
Mostly American

11. The Cariboo Wagon Road 1862 Douglas Ordered the construction
Began at Yale to Lytton
Then Quesnel to Barkerville
650 km

12. The Cariboo Wagon Road Essential to the gold rush and BC because
Need to transport goods
Connected Gold Rush towns
Provided a safe route
Help end conflict with First Nations
Route for Military if necessary

13. Was it Worth it? The Cariboo Wagon Road took 3 years and $750 000
A Waste of Time and Money?
Finished in 1865 when the gold rush already over
Tax revenues to offset costs lower than expected
BC in major Debt!

14. Barkerville Main Town of the Cariboo Gold Rush
Named after Billy Barker when he struck Gold!!!
Why Important?
End point of Cariboo Wagon Road
Barker’s claim became legend
Experienced a massive influx of miners

15. Called the "THE DREGS OF SOCIETY“
People of Barkerville
Called the "THE DREGS OF SOCIETY“
Wild West Images
drunken, gambling, violent
Uncivilized
Think Vegas yet really dirty

16. Hurdy Gurdy Girls Dancers direct from Germany by saloon owners Job to dance with miners Got a % of every drink sold

17. 1920s Barkerville Became A Ghost Town
Barkerville was an example of a resource town boom and bust cycle
During the boom the economy grows, jobs are plentiful
In the subsequent bust the economy shrinks, people lose their jobs and investors lose money.
By 1870s almost all gold gone and town deserted

18. The Gold Rush Spreads Smallpox
1862 San Francisco miner brought smallpox to Victoria
Colonists vaccinated while First Nations quarantined and sent home taking smallpox with them
First Nations
Estimated that over HALF of Coastal First Nations died from smallpox

19. Tsilhqot’in Uprising
The Tsilhqot’in Uprising was a conflict between peoples of the Tsilhqot’in Nation in the interior plateau of the colony of BC and a crew of construction workers building a road from Bute Inlet to the goldfields in the Cariboo.
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