Pitt Lake may be the next of the great gold fields

Victoria’s Colonist, made available in digital form by UVIC, provides a digest of news from the mainland. Under the above heading, the Colonist of 8 November 1903 reports that Mr. George Moody of New Westminster, described as “…a very trustworthy man, of Indian extraction, but possessed of no wealth in money or chattels,” came back to from Pitt Lake with a “vegetable can full of gold dust” worth $1,200. Secretive about the location of his find he was trying to organize an expedition to return to the find. It is probable, says the dispatch, “…that the next stampede will be to the Pitt Lake district.”

Nothing of that kind happened but the sequel is the archetype of the "Jackson" story in the Colonist of 19 December 1905 telling that “three years ago” an Indian came into New Westminster no less than three times and exchanged gold from Pitt Lake placers for money. This man died from the exposure to the rough elements, but before he died he drew a map for a relative, who, joined by a white man, couldn’t find the placers, whereupon the secret, “no longer of the same value," was "...told to several but without avail.” Two search parties for the "lost placers" were arranged for 1906.

Is it not interesing to find George Moody, the witness in the Slumach trial, at bottom of this story? Nothing about this found in the New Westminster Columbian.