Interested in prospecting the Harrison?

No one has given us a better summary about the history of mining in the Harrison area than Daphne Sleigh in her book The People of the Harrison. A year or so ago I was gathering newspaper articles for research and publication when Adam P. showed me the chapter "Harrison Mines" that had escaped me.

The 1897 mining hysteria that hit the Harrison had its echo in the area between the Stave and and Kanaka Creek where dozens of "prospects" were registered as claims. John Williamson's 1897 Diary that I transcribed, annotated and published as one of my first Whonnock Notes, tells about these activities. 

The included registration stubs of the claims (only for the Stave and Whonnock area) show an approximate location for the claims and in most cases it will be a impossible to find where the prospectors--mostly inexperienced and with no capital for development--staked their claims. 

Some of those 1897 claims, however, continued to be worked and are mentioned in Charles Miller's The Golden Mountains. They are still a source of fascination for todays explorers and prospectors.