For over a century now the Fraser River has been the meal ticket for thousands of prospectors. From Hope, B.C., on the south, to Prince George and Tete Juane Cache, on the north, its hundreds of miles of bars and gravel benches have been churned over and over and each foot has been made to yield its quota of precious gold. In the early days immediately preceding and following the Barkerville gold rush the harvest was a rich one, for the ground was virgin. Any ground which yielded less than an ounce of gold per day, at the old price of $17.00 per ounce, was considered too poor to work—for prices were high and an ounce a day barely bought the necessities one needed.
Thousands of miners dotted the bars in those days, but many more thousands by-passed the sure-fire moderate returns of the Fraser and sought their fortunes in the extremely rich diggings around Williams, Lightning, Cunningham and Antler Creeks, where as much as a thousand dollars a “pan” (two shovels full) was being reported. A few made their fortunes, but for everyone who did hundreds returned to the Fraser.
As the years rolled by and the Barkerville rush became history, the good old Fraser continued to yield its harvest, although as time went on ounce-a-day ground was very seldom found. Through lean years and fat the river proved to be the never-failing meal ticket of hundreds of hard-up miners and prospectors.
During the depression of the thirties thousands of people dotted its banks and bars, some with no more than a shovel and gold pan. During the entire history of Fraser River mining one thing has stood out above all others. It is a fact which stood out in the old days as well as today, that the “best” ground was always just beyond reach. No matter how low the water in the spring or fall, the best paying gravels always seemed to be just beyond, under the swift-flowing waters of the river.
Stories of fabulously rich bars abound. One such story told by an old time Cariboo resident, Angus Chisholm, who tells of a bar some 50 or more miles below Quesnel the gravels of which averages from 50 to 75 cents a pan. Barges with huge dredges have come and gone, all ending in failure.
Since the turn of the century thousands have combed the Fraser in hopes of finding just such ground as the bar at the mouth of the Cottonwood Canyon, but seldom if ever found anything to equal it. Greenhorns have sought blindly, sourdoughs have applied their hard-earned practical experience, graduate engineers have studied the currents and contours and applied their knowledge and training, but no one group seems to have succeeded to a greater degree than another, Fraser River Gold is still exactly where you happen to find it!
