THE CARIBOO GOLD

RUSH

1857

TERMS TO KNOW

1.Title: establish or recognized right to something

2.Bedrock: solid rock underneath looser marerials

such as soil

3.Transient: not lasting very long

4.Responsible Government: responsible to the

representatives of the people

GOLD DISCOVERED

1848 in California = wave of immigration to

California

“get rich quick”

Of course . . . Most didn’t

FANTASY VERSUS REALITY

Fantasy• Gold lined the banks of the river or creek• Nuggets were the size of one’s fist• Wealth overnight

Reality• Stake a claim to the area of creek you wished to search• Dig down to the bedrock (messy and hard work)• By 1849 most of the river had been claimed• Working for someone else• No gold = No money $$$

1857 GOLD DISCOVERED

Oregon Territory (along Thompson and Fraser

Rivers)

Governor Douglas feared this would bring greedy

minersIT DID . . .

-Hundreds of miners from the US arrived in search of gold

-By the summer of 1858 10,000 miners had arrived

FEARS BREWING

Governor Douglas (of

course) feared an American

expansion . . . Why?

High numbers of Americans

had entered British North

America (not yet Canada)

SWIFT ACTION

Step 1: Douglas reported

concern to London

Step 2: London made Douglas

the Governor of the Crown

Colony of BC (He was already

Governor of the Vancouver

Island Colony)

Step 3: Military presence in

the form of “Royal Engineers”

(survey land, build roads/towns)

THE CARIBOO ROAD

Profitable mining was occuring along the river

No income was going back into the colony –

gold found was TAXABLE

Douglas’s idea – build a ROAD!• Gold could not “mistakenly” make its way

to the US• Promote settlement and economic

development

THE CARIBOO ROUTE

1862 construction began

650 km

From Yale to Barkerville

4 years and $750,000 later the road was

complete

Bad News . . . The gold rush was declining

MAP OF ROUTE

T H E C O L O N Y O F B C - A N D C O N F E D E R AT I O N

Changes in the Colony• End of the Gold Rush happened quickly• Few became rich• Rapid loss of the population meant economic

disaster• New Governors

• Frederick Seymour (BC)• Arthur Kennedy (Vancouver Island)

CONTINUED CHANGE

New Governors decided to join colonies . . .

Why?

By 1866 there was MAJOR debt in both

colonies ($1.3 million)

The natural resources on the mainland would

eventually generate $

August 6, 1866 the colony of British Columbia

was formed and led by Governor Seymour

THE CONFEDERATION DEBATE

BC’s problems were not solved . . .

BC needed a better solution . . .

CONFEDERATION

3 VIEWS OF CONFEDERATION

1. Supported joining

2. Opposed joining (stay a colony)

3. Wanted annexation by the US (Join/take over)

Note: Mostly business people from the Island)

WHY SUPPORT CONFEDERATION

Canada would become responsible for BC’s debt

Railway would link country together (can easily

ship BC’s natural resources to Eastern Canada’s

factories)

WHY OPPOSE CONFEDERATION?

They believed that BC was too far away from the

rest of Canada (Manitoba to East Coast)

WHY ANNEXATION

Believed that BC had to be connected to a “larger

body”

US would be a better market for the colony’s

forest, mineral, and other resources

Immigration to BC would increase (from US)

This wasn’t very popular

CHANGING MINDS

Governor Seymour died and was replaced by

Anthony Musgrave

His job: make the people of BC vote for

Confederation

His idea: get together with the anti-Confederation

supporters to develop agreeable terms for union

He was successful

JULY 20, 1871

British Columbia enters Confederation

Promise of a railway

Promise of responsible government