![Bralorne museum](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/7/76/Bralorne_museum.jpg)
Bralorne ( ) is a historic Canadian
gold mining
Gold mining is the extraction of gold resources by mining. Historically, mining gold from alluvial deposits used manual separation processes, such as gold panning. However, with the expansion of gold mining to ores that are not on the surface ...
community in the
Bridge River District of
British Columbia
British Columbia (commonly abbreviated as BC) is the westernmost province of Canada, situated between the Pacific Ocean and the Rocky Mountains. It has a diverse geography, with rugged landscapes that include rocky coastlines, sandy beaches, ...
, some 130 km on dirt roads west of the town of
Lillooet
Lillooet () is a district municipality in the Squamish-Lillooet region of southwestern British Columbia. The town is on the west shore of the Fraser River immediately north of the Seton River mouth. On BC Highway 99, the locality is by road abou ...
.
Background
Gold has been the central element in the area's history going back to the 1858-1860
Fraser River Gold Rush. Miners rushed to the
Cayoosh and
Bridge River
The Bridge River is an approximately long river in southern British Columbia. It flows south-east from the Coast Mountains. Until 1961, it was a major tributary of the Fraser River, entering that stream about six miles upstream from the town of ...
areas looking for placer deposits, One named Cadwallader looked for the outcroppings on
the creek that is now named for him and turned out later to be the site of the richest hard-rock veins in the region. Early exploratory parties of Chinese and Italians in the upper Bridge River basin were driven out by
Chief Hunter Jack Hunter Jack of Shalalth inhabited the Bridge River Country region of southwestern British Columbia. He was a larger-than-life indigenous personality who died in 1905.
Character
His formal name was Jack Tashpola or Tash Poli. He was born at 22-Mile ...
, who himself had a secret placer mine somewhere in the region, believed to be in upper
Tyaughton Creek Tyaughton Creek, formerly gazetted as the Tyaughton River, also historically known as Tyoax Creek, is a 50 kilometre tributary of British Columbia's Bridge River, flowing generally southeast to enter the main flow of that river about mid-way along t ...
. and whose big-game hunting territory this also was. During the 1870s Hunter Jack began to invite chosen prospectors into the valley, and ran a ferry across the Bridge River that virtually all entering the region had to cross. Among these were those who would eventually discover the hard rock lodes on Cadwallader Creek. Though styled the Bridge River Gold Rush, in this early period there were so few who had made it into the district that there were only forty residents during the 1890 Census, prompting the naming of one of the claims "Forty Thieves".
Bralorne today
![Bradian townsite](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/a/aa/Bradian_townsite.JPG)
Since 2002 rising gold prices have led to new exploration in the area and plans for re-opening the Bralorne Mine, and nearby Pioneer Mine. In 2014, a realtor put the Bralorne's "third townsite", Bradian, on sale for $1 million. Recently, the entire town was sold for just over one million dollars. It is a ghost town consisting of some 20 dwellings last occupied in the 1970s.
See also
*
Black Dome Mountain
Black Dome Mountain is the northernmost summit of the Camelsfoot Range, which lies along the west side of the Fraser River, north of Lillooet, British Columbia, Canada. It is an ancient butte-like volcano located in the formation known as the Chi ...
*
Ogden, British Columbia
Ogden is an unincorporated locality on the outskirts of the gold-mining ghost town of Bralorne, British Columbia, Canada
Canada is a country in North America. Its ten provinces and three territories extend from the Atlantic Ocean to t ...
*
Railroad Pass (British Columbia) Railroad Pass, 1385 m (4544 ft), usually known locally as Railway Pass, is a mountain pass in the Pacific Ranges of the Coast Mountains in southwestern British Columbia, Canada. Traversed by a seasonal dirt road known as the Hurley Main ...
References
External links
Their Past Lives Here'' Virtualmuseum.ca photo exhibit
Bralorne Gold Mines Ltd.
{{Coord, 50.783, N, 122.817, W, display=title, type:city_region:CA_source:GNS-enwiki
Bridge River Country
Designated places in British Columbia
Mining communities in British Columbia
Gold mines in British Columbia
Populated places in the Squamish-Lillooet Regional District
Unincorporated settlements in British Columbia
Ghost towns in British Columbia
Company towns in Canada