Two more nuggets

I was aware that Janusz Piekalkiewicz's book Schatzsucher haben noch Chancen (Treasure Hunters still have a chance) contained something about the Lost Creek gold and listed the book for that reason on the lists on the Books & Links page of the Web site. This morning I received a copy and find a 6-page article "Das Geheimnis des alten Indianers" (The secret of the old Indian). A translation will be made available--soon.

Also received this morning is a copy of the Winter 1973 issue of Treasure Trails of the Old West, with a lengthy article "Bluebeard's Lost Gold" by T.W. Paterson. I am working on a transcript right now.

Pretty wicked ...

From Evan H. E-mail: evanwilliam87(at sign)gmail.com
Click here for pictures.
Evan H, who grew up in Williams Lake BC and now lives in Sydney Australia, visited relatives and friends in BC earlier this summer. He writes:

I went out to the Stave area a few times before I had to go back to Sydney where I live. I was trying to get to Glacier Creek most of the time and on all of the outings some sort of factor got in the way. The first day I just kinda went walk-a-bout in the divide between Stave and Alouette Lake. Beautiful area. Found a collapsed cabin and another one that was in really good shape at the top of Alouette Lake. The next time I was out didn't get to far till I was scrambling down cliffs and just a bit of bad luck with the machete I was holding and I had to back track to get to a hospital. I had pretty wicked cut to the my finger but it was only six stitches to get it back together. The next week I took the canoe and was fine till I rounded the head onto the lake proper and then the wind was killer and had to turn back. The closest I did get was only to Moss Rock. So my next trip back to BC will have to be when I get it done.

79 Hill

I did do a lot of hiking around 79 Creek. I found a bit of gold around it too. I followed the creek to the headwaters looking for any evidence of placer work or hard rock but didn't see anything of interest in that respect. There was a very nice looking quartz pyrite ledge at the top at some exposed bedrock round the creek. I found a bit of gold there too that was very rough. The other place that was kind to me was just below the old logging bridge. I reckon there has been a lot of people there though but it still had a few pieces. The other hike to note was following the GPS coordinates on Minfile to find the 79 Hill (Oro) mine. [Charles A. Miller, The Golden Mountains, Chapter 3, “The 79 Hill Lode”]. I got to the area that matched the coordinates I had I guess from Google Earth but there was nothing that I could see. But it was very rugged and it could have been 20 feet from me and I would have passed it. It may also have been under snow. I was hitting snow at 800 meters in places and by 1000 meters it was regular. It is a pretty amazing area the Stave, I must say that I have more respect for those oldtimers

.

"Having lost most of his toes..."

Suggestions that in 1926 Volcanic Brown cut off more than one toe are exagerated.

The British Columbian of 22 October 1926 reported that Brown's left foot was "badly frozen" and that he had "...amputated the small toe of his left foot with a hunting knife." There is no evidence that he lost more than just that one toe and, after healing, the loss of that single toe would not have interfered with his activities.

The Columbian also tells us that "Brown refused to go to the hospital and insisted on registering at the Holbrook Hotel, his 'hang-out' while in the city." The journalist obviously was close enough to Brown to report the facts. His source may have been Constable Elliott who accompanied Brown on his return to New Westminster and "...who showed evidence of having been through a tough struggle. He had not shaved for a week."

Run of the River Project

All you ever wanted to know about the Upper Pitt River Run-of-River power project proposal. Click here.

Claiming the right way!

From a letter by A.C. [Fred] Rogers, 3 June 2008.

After the startling photos [see note below] in the Province [23 April 1952], a mountain-climbing friend [Howie Rode] suggested we should take a trip up there and see what this group did. I recall it was April when we made the trip in Howie's canoe from Gillies Quarry on the Pitt. It was a considerable distance. We were prepared to stay overnight at Defrauder Creek in a cabin abandoned by the loggers. The cabin was in fair condition and we started hiking up the logging road.

After about a mile we came to snow and the trail was well packed by the other men. Black film tabs from Speed Graphic press cameras littered the trail. The snow became a lot deeper but it was now packed and easy going. Their trail ended where a tree was cut for a mining claim post. But this wasn't legal with just one post. Howie had a prospector’s license so we spent the following day cutting trails and marking the required claim posts.

After staking the claim posts we returned to our canoe. The weather had changed and it looked ugly. The lake can be a real beast and it was dangerous. So we hugged the shore in case of a spill. About half way down, a roaring hail storm came up the lake and we covered ourselves. That hail was roaring but ended soon so we safely reached the car and home.

Howie Rode asked me if I wanted to be a partner in the claim but I told him I think this is a publicity stunt to promote newspaper sales. I know a lot of mining history with vivid stories from BC. I also liked exploring abandoned mine sights but would never enter one, knowing it could be fatal.

So Howie filed the claim and then told the newspaper men that their claim wasn't recognized by omission. They were raving mad. But when it settled down they paid $500to Howie. He was lucky and I said I have no regrets about it. We often went climbing mountains with the Canadian Alpine Club which the both of us were active members.

Note: After paying off Howard Rode, the journalists went out again and staked another eight claims in the same area--doubtless in the correct way.

22 July 2008
This and an full account of Howard and Fred's expedition can now be found in the Web site Miscellania section. Click here to read the entire file.

Verfluchtes Gold

Click here to find a 50-page book (unfortunately only in German) titled Verfluchtes Gold (Cursed Gold) by Anton Lennartz. Lennartz did the scouting and was the team leader for Mineworks Film's documentary "Der Fluch des Indianergoldes" directed by Frank Mirbach and presented by ZDF. Rob Nicholson provided expert advice for this documentary.

One of Lennartz's references unknown to me is a book by Janusz Piekalkiewicz called Schatzsucher haben noch Chancen, (Treasure Hunters Still Have Chances) published in 1975.

Quixote

Reading the following sentence, in Don Quixote, I couldn't help but think about the legend of Pitt Lake gold.

… a history known to children, acknowledged by youth, celebrated, and even believed by the old, and despite all this, not truer than the miracles of Mohammed.