Slumach’s Grave Found

Amanda Charnley, daughter of Peter Pierre, Slumach's spiritual helper in prison, told Don Waite in 1971 that Slumach was buried in an unmarked grave in Sapperton.

To Archie Miller and Dale Miller (A Sense of History Research Services) goes the honour of having rediscovered Slumach’s grave. They found undisputable evidence that Slumach was buried at St. Peter’s Catholic Church Cemetery in Sapperton and where he was buried there.

An old church book shows: Peter Slumach, St Peter's Cemetery, Date: January 16, 1891, Died at NW Goal.

St. Peter’s plot book shows his grave’s location: Block 9, Lot 13A, the name Peter Slumach and the year: 1891.

The Millers became aware of this information as they were collecting background information for two New Westminster cemetery books they are working on.

Archie and Dale Miller are also preparing new cemetery tours on the theme “murder, mayhem, etc,” including a visit to Slumach’s unmarked grave and a “long list of folks with connections with Slumach.”

Click here to read the "Lost and found in cemeteries" column in the 29 November issue of the New Westminster Record where the Millers published their finding of information about Slumach's grave.

The Past Recovered !!

In September 2001, Donald E. Waite made a trip to the top end of Pitt Lake to enjoy a "golden moment" in the hot springs at Second Canyon with his two sons, Kevin and Nathan and his old friend Victor Loffler. He took with him a bound volume with documents he had compiled over the years about Slumach's Lost Mine of Pitt Lake. Back home, when he needed the book he could not find it anymore. He was convinced that it was lost on that Pitt Lake trip, the latest victim of Slumach's curse!
Imagine Don's surprise when at a recent signing session of his book Maple Ridge & Pitt Meadows: A History in Photographs someone came up to him with in his hands the volume he thought lost forever.
Greg Henderson found the book as part of the content of an abandonded storage locker he had purchased. He could have offered it for sale on e-Bay, but recognizing its value to the collector of the documents, he generously decided to return the book to Don instead, not wanting more for himself than a photocopy of this 200-plus page book.
The photo shows Greg (left) and Don Waite (with the book in his hands). The book contains some wonderful surprises that will be made available on the Web site in the coming weeks.
How did the book end up in the locker? Ask Don next time you see him!

Father Morgan

A few minutes before 7 o’clock Father Morgan baptized Slumach, who professed his belief in Christianity, and the hope of salvation. (Columbian, 16 January 1891)

NAME: MORGAN, William
PLACE OF BIRTH: Diocese of Newport [Cardiff], Wales
DATE OF BIRTH: October 1, 1859

William entered the novitiate at Belmont House, Ireland, on January 21, 1886, and made profession on March 19, 1887. He left for British Columbia, took his perpetual vows in New Westminster on April 25, 1888, and was ordained priest there on May 5, 1889, by Mgr. Louis D'herbomez, Vicar Apostolic of British Columbia.

Fr. Morgan worked first at Collège Saint-Louis in New Westminster (1888-1892), then in the parish in the same town (1892-1901) and in Holy Rosary Parish in Vancouver.

Returning to Ireland, he was assigned to Glencree (1904-1905), to Holyhead (1905), to Philipstown, Ireland (1905-1906) and to Sicklinghall, England (1906-1909).
Fr. Morgan left the congregation in 1909, and entered the ranks of the secular clergy in the Diocese of Newport.

Information courtesy Fr. André Dubois omi, Archives Deschâtelets, Oblats de Marie Immaculée. Ottawa,ON

Mike Boileau

Mike Boileau was lured into the mysteries of the Lost Creek Valley in 1979. He looked without succes for the famed tent-shaped-rock in the Spindle Cayon but found material with significant traces of gold and the wreck of a Mitchell B-25 sitting right on top of a mountain. The photo(© Mike Boileau) shows Mike's lawyer-friend Thomas Sprague standing next to the remnants of the B-25. Click on photo for enlargement. In later years the wreck inspired stories about its mission and cargo, one involving "Nazi Gold."
Mike's suspenseful story, this time told by himself, will soon be published on slumach.ca.

Bridal Veil Falls at Pitt Lake

This postcard picture (taken around 1906) showing the "Bridal Veil Falls," was taken by New Westminster photographer W.T. Cooksley.
NOTE: 24 November. Based on recent photographs of the falls taken by Doug King it is quite possible that these falls are now known as the Defrauder Falls. Doug will return to the falls in April or May next year to get "another picture from as close an angle to your original as I can." To be continued! Thanks Doug.

R.W. Nicholson's Lost Creek Mine book now in print

R.W. (Bob) Nicholson's book Lost Creek Mine, Historical Analysis of the Legendary Gold Deposit of Pitt Lake to date only available as an e-book, is now available in print through XLibris. Click here for information and to order.
Lost Creek Mine contains some but not all of the letters written by G.S. "Stu" Brown to BC Government officials claiming that he had found the legendary Pitt Lake gold deposit. Nicholson has made the complete Stu Brown letter collection available (downloads only) through Lulu. Click here.

Defrauder Creek

Defrauder Creek -- BCGN Official name: "Adopted 3 July 1963 on 92G; an established local name according to Geological Survey of Canada field staff."

It would be nice to know how the creek earned the name "defrauder" that is "a person who swindles you by means of deception or fraud" per definition. I wonder if it has anything to do with the workings of "Slumach Lost Creek Mine Ltd." in that area in 1952/1953, finding nothing and leaving their investors with not more than a piece of paper and a lost dream.