By Lori Nick
Fraser Valley Regional Library
My great-great grandfather William Henry “Johnny” Ward took part in the Fraser River Gold Rush in the 1800s. He didn’t hit paydirt, but he did discover there was money to be made by serving those who pursued the precious metal. Johnny owned and operated a hotel in Yale, and drove a wagon train for Barnard’s Express. I often wondered what life was like for Johnny, so my interest in reading about gold rushes began.
Beyond Hope, An Illustrated History of the Fraser and Cariboo Gold Rush by Beverley Boissery and Bronwyn Short provides excellent anecdotes, photographs and sketches of British Columbia in the mid to late 1800s. The book describes living conditions on the way to and in the towns that served the prospectors. The authors write about “weird, wild, and wacky” transportation methods to the Cariboo, including trundle-wheelbarrow, stern-wheeled steamers, road steamers, and camels who would “…eat anything from a pair of pants to a bar of soap.”
My great-great grandfather traveled from Nova Scotia to British Columbia by ship around Cape Horn. Others traveled overland. Deadly Innocent by BC author Bill Gallaher, tells the tale of three brothers who depart from London (Ontario) in May of 1862 with the hopes of finding gold in the Cariboo. They travel by train, steamer, stagecoach, and on foot. However, they soon discover that they have left too late on a journey that they thought would take a few weeks, and the consequences are tragic.
Bill Gallaher has also written A Man Called Moses: The curious Life of Wellington Delaney Moses. This book tells the story of Moses, who was born into slavery on Grand Cayman Island. After slavery is abolished on the island, Moses leaves to find gold in California, and he arrives in San Francisco in 1843. He learns there is more money to be made starting a business than in the gold fields. Moses is trained by an acquaintance who is a barber, and he opens his own shaving saloon. Moses finds white people are becoming increasingly volatile to blacks, so he soon decides to leave for Vancouver Island. He and his friends have heard that blacks are better received there because Governor Douglas’s mother is black. Moses opens a shaving saloon and bathhouse in Victoria, and after many years decides to travel to Barkerville to become the barber there. This entertaining story brings 19th Century Victoria and Barkerville to life, and chronicles the struggles of British Columbia’s pioneers.
I Married the Klondike by Laura Beatrice Berton (Pierre’s mother), provides a female perspective of living in a gold rush town. In 1907, Laura leaves Toronto to teach Kindergarten in Dawson City and although the gold rush is all but over, some miners, remnants, and the atmosphere of the gold rush still exist. Berton lived in Dawson City for 25 years. She writes about her interesting life, and the colourful characters she meets, from sourdoughs to poet Robert Service, in what was once called the “Paris of the North.”
There are also some good novels written for children and teens that describe life in the times of the Gold Rush. Jo’s Journey by Niki Tate is a first chapter book that tells the story of an orphaned girl named Joselyn. She travels disguised as a boy, from Carson City, Nevada to San Francisco where she hears about the Cariboo Gold Rush. Jo and a friend set off on a difficult and dangerous journey to the gold fields where they hope to find their fortune.
Moses, Me and Murder by Ann Walsh is another junior mystery novel with a gold rush theme that is set in 1886 in Barkerville. Moses the Barber often appears in the story.
Gold Rush Orphan by Sandy Frances Duncan follows Jeremy, a teenage orphan, as he attempts to cross the White Pass on his way to the Klondike. The story is based on information from Duncan’s grandfather’s journal entries in 1898.
The Brideship by Joan Weir is a young adult novel about teenage girls who are taken from an orphanage in England and sent to the Cariboo gold fields as mail-order brides. The story follows 3 teens and their struggles on the long voyage to Canada, and their quest to start a life of their own choosing. For further information on the subject, Author Peter Johnson has written Voyages of Hope. The book is about the girls and women who traveled on the four bride-ships that were sent from England to British Columbia.
Searching for treasure has never been an easy task, and the quest for gold was filled with harsh conditions and exhausting work. It was an adventurous, but unstable life filled with insecurity, loneliness and danger. It’s not a life I would choose for myself, but I admire my great-great grandfather for having the courage and determination to take a risk and try to strike it rich!
