The Fraser Mines Vindicated

The Fraser Mines Vindicated
Author: Alfred Waddington
Publisher:
Total Pages: 62
Release: 1858
Genre: British Columbia
ISBN: 9780877707318

One of the earliest and rarest accounts of of a part of British Columbia history. Waddington was an early advocate of a trans-Canadian railroad, but died before this project was completed.

Riches for All

Riches for All
Author: Kenneth N. Owens
Publisher: U of Nebraska Press
Total Pages: 388
Release: 2002-01-01
Genre: History
ISBN: 9780803286177

An event of international significance, the California gold rush created a more diverse, metropolitan society than the world had ever known. In Riches for All, leading scholars reexamine the gold rush, evaluating its trajectory and legacy within a global context of religion and race, economics, technology, law, and culture. The opportunity for instant wealth directly influenced a dynamic range of peoples, including Mormon military veterans, California Indian workers, both slave and free African Americans, Chinese village farmers, skilled Mexican miners, and Chilean merchants. Riches for All gives attention to the varying motivations and experiences of these groups and to their struggles with both racial and religious bigotry. Emphasizing gold rush social history, some contributors examine the roles and influence of women, workers, law-breakers, and law-enforcers. Others consider the long-term impact of this episode on California and the American West and on subsequent gold rushes in Pacific Rim countries and the Klondike. With lively and incisive strokes, these historians sketch the most broadly contextualized and nuanced portrait of the California gold rush to date.

The Chilcotin War

The Chilcotin War
Author: Rich Mole
Publisher: Heritage House Publishing Co
Total Pages: 148
Release: 2011-02-01
Genre: History
ISBN: 1926936302

This colourful account of the Chilcotin War is an insightful and absorbing examination of an event that helped to shape the course of British Columbia history. In the spring of 1864, 14 men building a road along the Homathko River in British Columbia were killed by a Tsilhqot’in (Chilcotin) war party. Other violent deaths followed in the conflict that became known as the Chilcotin War. In this true tale of clashing cultures, greed, revenge and betrayal, Rich Mole explores the causes and deadly consequences of a troubling episode in British Columbia history that is still subject to debate almost 150 years later. Using contemporary sources, Mole brings to life the principal players in this tragic drama: Alfred Waddington, the Victoria businessman who decided to build the ill-fated toll road across the territory of the independent Tsilhqot’in, attempting to connect Bute Inlet to the Cariboo goldfields of the interior, and Klatsassin, the fierce Tsilhqot’in war chief whose people had already endured the devastation of smallpox.

On the Street where You Live: Victoria's early roads and railways

On the Street where You Live: Victoria's early roads and railways
Author: Danda Humphreys
Publisher: Heritage House Publishing Co
Total Pages: 196
Release: 2000
Genre: Biography & Autobiography
ISBN: 9781894384094

In the mid-1800s, Victoria grew from a fur-trading post into a provincial capital--the jewel in British Columbia's golden crown. Meanwhile, many of the early residents, happy to leave the Hudson's Bay Company behind, followed simple trails from the fort or discovered new routes of their own. In her first book, Danda Humphreys introduced readers to some of the people who forged those pioneer pathways. Now she takes us another step back in time to the roads and railways that connected the original city's core to today's suburbs. From Saanich to Sooke, street names tell stories of intrigue and adventure: Rowland Avenue, named for the farm labourer with a sinister sideline: hangman for the HBC. Joan Crescent, where coal baron Robert Dunsmuir's widow once resided in solitary splendour in a castle called Craigdarroch. Sidney Avenue, close to where the Brethour brothers donated land for the northern terminus of the "Cordwood Express," first train to link the city with the Saanich Peninsula and the islands in the Strait of Georgia. In this second book in her On the Street Where You Live trilogy, Danda once again combines her passion for the past with a penchant for lively prose to bring you stories about Victoria's pioneers. You know the streets; now meet the people--their lives, their loves and the legends they left behind.

Once Upon a Time in British Columbia

Once Upon a Time in British Columbia
Author: Nicholas Mills
Publisher: Lulu.com
Total Pages: 270
Release: 2018-11-14
Genre: History
ISBN: 1312741023

Over 150 years history of Canada's westernmost Province - snapshots of the people, places and events.