Williams Creek is an important historical

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, ...

creek in the Cariboo goldfields of the Central Interior of British Columbia, entering the Willow River between

Barkerville Barkerville was the main town of the Cariboo Gold Rush in British Columbia, Canada, and is preserved as a historic town. It is located on the north slope of the Cariboo Plateau near the Cariboo Mountains east of Quesnel. BC Highway 26, which ...

and the town of Wells, which is at the headwaters of the Willow River. Williams Creek is named for Wilhelm Dietz, a

Prussia Prussia, , Old Prussian: ''Prūsa'' or ''Prūsija'' was a German state on the southeast coast of the Baltic Sea. It formed the German Empire under Prussian rule when it united the German states in 1871. It was ''de facto'' dissolved by an ...

n sailor who was one of a party that set out from Lightning Creek and was the first to discover gold on this creek, which was quickly staked by his companions and soon after by others. Williams Creek because the most important and richest digging in the Cariboo goldfields, giving birth to the towns of Richfield,

and Cameronton, which collectively were also known as Williams Creek. Barkerville and Camerontown were named for two of Dietz's companions, Billy Barker and John Cameron, Barker being the most famous and at times the richest of the Cariboo gold miners. Dietz's claim was not a money-maker and he died in poverty.

Brief history of Williams Creek diggings

The Cariboo gold camp has a storied history as a goldfield dating back to the late 1850s. It is estimated that placer gold in excess of 2 million ounces was captured in the area during the 19th Century. Total value of gold to date reported by 1877 for all claims on Williams Creek was $19,320,000.''Mining Report'', John Bowron, BC Government, 1877 (Gold Commissioner for Cariboo)], fro
''British Columbia from the earliest times to the present. Vol. 2'', F.A. Howay and E.O.S. Scholefield, Vancouver, 1916, pp. 275-276
/ref>

Hard rock explorations

In the early 1860s when placer gold production peaked, the search began for lode gold deposits. The Black Jack (Lot 1.B), Home Stake (Lot 4.B), Cornish (Lot 1.F) and the Wintrip (Lot 32.F) were among the first claims to be staked in the area. During the period 1877-1892, prospecting and testing was done on the major veins: Bonanza (B.C.) Vein, Steadman Vein, Pinkerton Vein, Black Jack Vein (Westport), Proserpine Vein, Perkins Vein and Mount Burns Vein. In 1877-1892, Black Jack and Burns Co. sank a shaft (180 feet) on the Black Jack claim from which three levels were established with a few hundred feet of drifts and crosscuts. Assays greater than $70 per ton were reported. The larger Cariboo area was home to a number of producing gold mines during the 20th Century.

References

{{coord, 53, 05, 00, N, 121, 34, 00, W, display=title Rivers of the Cariboo British Columbia gold rushes Mines in British Columbia History of British Columbia