Local: Fraser Valley History - Gold Rush Years
In 1849 the settlement around Victoria officially became a British Colony, the same year as the California Gold Rush. In 1858, gold was discovered in the lower Fraser River, bringing more than 25,000 prospectors (including many who gave up after the California Gold Rush of '49) who managed to find over $500,000 in gold. Those diggings were then in
1859 and then worked by Chinese immigrants. Gold in the Caribou attracted many to that area, but was too deep and expensive to recover. In 1865 more gold was found on the Columbia River's Big Bend, near Revelstoke, but this gold rush fizzled out in a year.
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