George Cowan (June 25, 1831 – September 3, 1910) was a Member of the Legislative Assembly of British Columbia, Canada, for the riding of

Cariboo The Cariboo is an intermontane region of British Columbia, Canada, centered on a plateau stretching from Fraser Canyon to the Cariboo Mountains. The name is a reference to the caribou that were once abundant in the region. The Cariboo was the ...

. He was first elected in a byelection in 1877 at the encouragement of George Walkem, the former and, at the time, future Premier. Cowan defeated the incumbent

A.E.B. Davie Alexander Edmund Batson Davie, QC, referred to as A. E. B. Davie (November 24, 1847 – August 1, 1889), was the eighth premier of British Columbia. He served in office from 1887 until his death in 1889. Called to the bar in 1873, he was the f ...

, also a future Premier, who sought to win a seat in the House via the Cariboo byelection but who unlike Cowan did not have the advantages of Walkem's influence and support in the Cariboo riding (Davie would seek election successfully in the Lillooet riding in the subsequent general election of 1878). Cowan was re-elected consistently until retiring before the 1890 election. He was born June 25, 1831 in Leeds County, Ontario, where his father was a farmer. At the age of 20, he went to the

gold rush A gold rush or gold fever is a discovery of gold—sometimes accompanied by other precious metals and rare-earth minerals—that brings an onrush of miners seeking their fortune. Major gold rushes took place in the 19th century in Australia, New Z ...

in Australia and worked in hardrock and placer mining for seven years, but returned to Ontario in 1859. In 1862, he heard news of the

Cariboo Gold Rush The Cariboo Gold Rush was a gold rush in the Colony of British Columbia, which later joined the Canadian province of British Columbia. The first gold discovery was made at Hills Bar in 1858, followed by more strikes in 1859 on the Horsefly River, ...

and set out for British Columbia, arriving in Victoria in June. He mined successfully on Williams, Grouse and Antler Creeks but continued investment in mining depleted his resources. A Presbyterian, he was also a supporter of the government of John A. Macdonald federally, though there were no party alignments in British Columbia politics in his era. He died on September 3, 1910.Death
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References

* 1831 births 1910 deaths Pre-Confederation British Columbia people Members of the Legislative Assembly of British Columbia Canadian Presbyterians {{BritishColumbia-MLA-stub

See also

References