Gold and Early BC

Gold and Early BC • In order to assert their claim on the territory, where did the British establish their rst colony? When? Who employed most of the British settlers living there? The rst colony in modern BC was the colony of Vancouver Island. It was founded in 1849. Most people there were employed by the Hudsons Bay Company • Where was the rst gold discovery in “BC”? In what year? Gold was discovered along the Fraser river by James Douglas in 1858 • What did the discovery of gold do to the population of the region? The white settler population increased by more then 20,000 people once gold was discovered. • Why did HBC try to suppress news of gold? What did James Douglas do? What ultimately ended this gold rush? HBC tried to suppress the news of gold because they didn't want anything to disturb the fur trade. James Douglas sent 800 ounces of gold to the San Fransisco mint, letting the world know there was gold in BC. The gold rush ended because there was a depletion of gold in the area. The Fraser Canyon Gold Rush • When? Where? Who came and how many? 1858-Mid 1860’s. The Fraser River. 20-30,000 people from places as far away as Scotland, Germany, England and China. • What motivated these people to relocate? They were eager to try their luck at nding gold. • How did Douglas and HBC react this time? Why do you think their reaction was di erent? ff fi fi fi fi HBC tried to quell rumours of gold to preserve the balance of the fur trade. Douglas sent gold to the San Francisco mint, alerting people of gold in the area. I think that there reaction was di erent because they wanted di erent things. HBC wanted to continue the fur trade, and Douglas wanted to nd gold. • What option was open to minority (Black, Chinese, Hawaiian, Chilean) prospectors? Why is this detail signi cant to the big picture understanding of Canadian history? Douglas o ered minorities positions in local police because he wanted citizens that would be loyal to Britain, and o ering minorities an escape from lesser living conditions would be sure to do that. This is important because it is one of the main reasons that our culture is the way it is and why BC is so diverse. • Brie y outline the Fraser Canyon War: What was the cause? What happened? What was the outcome? What is the signi cance, in the big picture understanding of Canadian history, of this outcome? The Fraser Canyon war was a con ict that happened between white settlers and the Nlaka’pamux First Nations people. After tensions between the two groups had been rising for a while, the con ict started when a native girl was raped by settlers. This lead to numerous settlers being murdered and beheaded by the First Nations people. The arrival of governor Douglas brought this series of brief battles to an end. This event shows us the past brutalities of life at the time of the con ict, and how the mistreatment of First Nations peoples could lead to adverse reactions. • What is the signi cance of so many American prospectors arriving here? American Prospectors arriving in BC brought their mining expertise from their experience with the California Gold Rush which greatly impacted the style and e ciency of mining. It also brought a lot of American culture and traditions to the area, resulting in similar cultures in both BC and America. • When and how did BC become a province under Confederation? BC became a province in 1858, and joined confederation in 1871. BC joined confederation because they needed help controlling the large amount of people in such a large area with little enforcement available. • When did the Fraser rush end, and what were the economic consequences for BC? Make predictions about why this detail is important. ffi fl ff fi fl ff fi fi fi fl ff fl ff The Fraser rush ended in the mid 1860’s, simply because there was no more gold. Because BC was so reliant on the Gold industry, the economy took a massive hit, with many towns being abandoned. This also resulted in BC being a major player in the login and lumber industry, because that was the other resource that BC had a great supply of.