Joanne, Lawrence, and List: I would not be surprised at anyone getting a start in the gold fields, but then settling on the southern coast, or on Vancouver Island. I mentioned earlier the RATH brothers who mined in Cassiar. William Rath took land north of Nanaimo, on Vancouver Island, and settled there to farm. A large part of that farm is now known as Rathtrevor Beach Provincial Park. Ideal climate is available on Vancouver Island and vicinity...why live anywhere else?? (well, there is the rain to consider, but think about the snow in the north and interior of the province!) Another such case was the man who in 1895 built the house in Victoria, where fifty years later I was to live and grow up. Charles Printer was a placer miner for some months of the year, according to the 1901 census, and farmed his property during the other months. When I worked in the Nanaimo Museum, I was told by old timers, that a certain large and luxurious home there was built by a man who made his fortune in gold mining, far from Nanaimo. Gold Commissioner records are at BC Archives...that's where you'll find the records of miners being licenced, and claims, if it's gold mining. I searched at http://search.bcarchives.gov.bc.ca/sn-5A31F8D/advsearch/TextualRec ords on the exact phrase gold commissioner and came up with 36 results...mostly government records, from different areas of the province. Some of the titles don't give much clue as to where or when the records were created, but if you click on each one, you come up with more description, and sometimes detailed finding aids. Here's one government record group, titled BRITISH COLUMBIA. GOLD COMMISSIONER, CARIBOO GR-1783 BRITISH COLUMBIA. GOLD COMMISSIONER, CARIBOO. Originals, 1862-1869, 1877, 13 cm Incoming correspondence from Colonial Secretary, Treasury, and other government departments. For additional correspondence, see Colonial Correspondence, GR-1372 and Department of Mines records listings. and one from Barkerville: GR-2907 BRITISH COLUMBIA. GOLD COMMISSIONER. BARKERVILLE. Originals, 1873-1909, 2 cm Records of the Government Agent and Gold Commissioner at Barkerville relating to mineral claims, elections and other work of the office. Subject Headings Barkerville (B.C.) British Columbia. Government Agent. Richfield. Cariboo district (B.C.) Mines and mineral resources - British Columbia - Cariboo district Richfield (B.C.) Secondary Entries Bowron, John, 1837-1906 Claudia Cole Archival Research Agent 5640 Jordans Lane Duncan, BC V9L 6J1 250 748-0836 claudialc@telus.net Visit my website at www3.telus.net/bcresearch -----Original Message----- From: can-british-columbia-bounces@rootsweb.com [mailto:can-british-columbia-bounces@rootsweb.com] On Behalf Of Joanne Peterson Sent: Sunday, December 31, 2006 4:26 PM To: can-british-columbia@rootsweb.com Subject: Re: [CAN-BC] OLLIER in Cassiar (Claudia Cole) -- Early gold MININGin BC Claudia, as usual you provided some great information! Usually your comments provide food for thought. I have always assumed I was 'out of luck' for information on my great-great-grandfather, one of the many who arrived in BC at the big 1858 influx. It is written in a few books that he went to the Cariboo, made no money, and so settled on Mayne Island. Mostly I think this is based on family stories. But is there any obvious leads I should be following? (Marie Elliott was sure she found his name on some petition once about a Gold Commissioner, but I have never found that. It was to prove he made it up as far as the Barkerville area.) He died in 1870 on Mayne, so there is little hard information on him. Joanne Date: Sun, 31 Dec 2006 10:09:36 -0800 From: "Claudia Cole" <claudialc@telus.net> Subject: Re: [CAN-BC] New to list, help needed-Lawrence RE: OLLIER in Cassiar ------------------------------- To unsubscribe from the list, please send an email to CAN-BRITISH-COLUMBIA-request@rootsweb.com with the word 'unsubscribe' without the quotes in the subject and the body of the message