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‘Recollections of a 49er’
In 1849 Edward McIlhany, aged 20, left West Virginia for the California gold fields. ‘Recollections of a 49er’ is the memoir of the 80 year old Edward. He describes his overland journey to California where he prospected for gold on Feather River and…
A First Nations Family with Sluice boxes and rockers; Looking for gold on the Fraser River
This image shows a group of 7 First Nation people searching for gold in the Fraser River. Both men and women are active in the search for gold on the river beds. The Author is described as the British Columbia Provincial secretary, suggesting that…
Cumberland mine fatality – fifteen Chinamen dead
It is a letter from a L.L Mound to the attorney general of British Columbia. It notes the death of fifteen Chinamen in a Cumberland mining incident. The letter writer understands the Crown government intends to be represented at the inquest into the…
Despatch to London: Douglas to Stanley
This report describes a number of different aspects all related to the Fraser River. Douglas first acknowledges that a large amount of people are coming to the area from San Francisco, in order to mine for gold. Towards the end of the document,…
Engraving of a pack train en route to a mining camp
The source is a reproduction of an engraving (by an unknown engraver) of a design by Charles Nahl, a prolific illustrator of the Californian gold rush. At the start of the gold rush Nahl was an artist working in New York. He travelled to San…
Gold nugget
An unworked nugget of gold, .09g. This is reputed to be the piece of gold that launched the gold rush in California. It was found on 24 January 1848 by James Marshall while supervising the construction of a sawmill for Col. John Sutter on the South…
Gold pan
A rusted gold sifting pan. Equipment used in sifting gold by hand. Tools such as the gold pan allowed gold prospectors to sift for gold on their own, without the need for a team to operate large machinery. It also allowed prospectors to test the…
Hot Springs News, Apr 20, 1892
This newspaper shows the adverts of two different businesses, who’s main product is mining supplies. Both ‘Green Bros’ and H. Giegerich’ both supply products such as clothing, mining materials, food and dry goods. With the large influx of miners from…
Pearl Lochs Map
The map displays the area that would come to be known as Pearl Harbour. It shows that mapmakers may have used local knowledge (in this case place names) to effectively map out the territories which they were interested in exploiting. This is also…
Photograph ‘Miners at the head of Auburn Ravine’
Miners arrived at Auburn Ravine in Spring 1848 en route to the Colombo gold fields. On finding gold in the ravine some stayed on and the area became important for placer mining which involves extracting ores from placer deposits by washing or…