During the early days of the Cariboo Gold Rush, six American prospectors tread south over what is now known as the Cariboo Wagon Road. They made the trek on six riding mules along with an additional three mules which were used as pack animals. In addition to their equipment, they also carried their fortune in gold nuggets worth about $75,000 which they amassed from the gold-fields of the Barkerville area.
Just below the towering peak of Jackass Mountain, the tired and fatigued men made camp after a hard day of travel. Unaware of the savage war party that followed them through the canyon from Lytton, they were not aware of any impending danger. Unknown by the men, while in Lytton, they inadvertently raided what they thought was a deserted Indian encampment while looking for food.
At daybreak the following morning, the Indians attacked the unsuspecting prospectors. Four of the prospectors were killed almost instantly under a deadly shower of arrows. The other two prospectors, who were not fortunate enough to die in the first attack, met a merciless demise by the blood-thirsty, club wielding savages. After relieving the prospectors of their equipment, they killed and feasted on the carcasses of the mules.
A View Of Lytton
Having no use for the gold, the natives deposited the bags of gold into a crevice in a nearby rock wall. Making certain no white man would come across the yellow metal, they covered the crevice with brush, dirt and rocks. Some thirty years later, an aging Indian from the Lytton area revealed the secret of the massacre and gold to an elderly English store keeper in Lytton. Being in his seventies and in poor health, he was never able to retrieve the fortune in gold.
Today, somewhere beneath the towering peak of Jackass Mountain, in a fault in the rock, lies a small fortune in gold.
