The Similkameen Gold Rush, also known as the Blackfoot Gold Rush, was a minor

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 ...

in the

Similkameen Country The Similkameen Country, also referred to as the Similkameen Valley or Similkameen District, but generally referred to simply as The Similkameen or more archaically, Similkameen, is a region roughly coinciding with the basin of the river of the sam ...

of the Southern Interior 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, ...

Canada Canada is a country in North America. Its ten provinces and three territories extend from the Atlantic Ocean to the Pacific Ocean and northward into the Arctic Ocean, covering over , making it the world's second-largest country by tot ...

, in 1860. The Similkameen Rush was one of a flurry of small rushes peripheral to the

Fraser Canyon Gold Rush The Fraser Canyon Gold Rush, (also Fraser Gold Rush and Fraser River Gold Rush) began in 1858 after gold was discovered on the Thompson River in British Columbia at its confluence with the Nicoamen River a few miles upstream from the Thompson's c ...

, which had drawn tens of thousands of prospectors to the new colony in 1858-1859, among the others being Rock Creek Gold Rush and Big Bend. Discovery of gold on the upper Similkameen River in 1860 led to the establishment of the town of Blackfoot, also known as Blackfoot Flat and adjoined by a neighbouring settlement, Blackwood Flat, seven miles southwest of what is now

Princeton Princeton University is a private research university in Princeton, New Jersey. Founded in 1746 in Elizabeth as the College of New Jersey, Princeton is the fourth-oldest institution of higher education in the United States and one of the ni ...

near the site of the later mining town-cum-ghost town Allenby. The population of the town in the fall of 1860 was approximately 100, a mix of white and Chinese miners. By the summer of 1861 its population was reported as only about 50. High water made mining operations on the river difficult, but bench claims, above the water-mark, proved successful and one shaft was sunk in an effort to find hard-rock deposits. Blackfoot and Blackwood Flat contained 40 houses, including a store and other services. Blackfoot disappeared nearly as quickly as it had appeared as the ever-fickle miners moved on in search of richer and easier diggings. Six years after being one of the original participants on the Similkameen Rush, "Jackass John" returned from prospecting in Montana and the

Kootenays The Kootenays or Kootenay ( ) is a region of southeastern British Columbia. It takes its name from the Kootenay River, which in turn was named for the Kutenai First Nations people. Boundaries The Kootenays are more or less defined by the Kootenay ...

. He mined on the same spot where he had made $40 in two days during the original rush and in fourteen days had taken $900. He enlisted three friends and worked the mine; historian H.H. Bancroft notes that the four partners sluiced $240 in three days. ::"An article in the '' Similkameen Star'' in 1935 that the site of Blackfoot was "relocated and identified with Kruger's bar. According to H. Jamieson iron spikes in a river boulder indicated until recently where a bridge had crossed to the store and hotel on (the) south side of the river. Theodore Kruger, who gave his name to the (bar), was born in Hanover in 1929, and came to British Columbia in 1858. Like Mr. Allison, who arrived the same year, he had tried mining on the Fraser before coming to Similkameen". In the 1880s, discovery of further placer diggings on the South Fork of the Similkameen River led to the Tulameen Gold Rush and the founding of Granite Creek and Tulameen.

References

*''Encyclopedia of Ghost Towns and Mining Camps of British Columbia: Volume 2, The Similkameen, Boundary and Okanagan'', T.W. Paterson, Sunfire Publications, Langley B.C. (1981) {{Financial bubbles Pre-Confederation British Columbia Canadian gold rushes British Columbia gold rushes Similkameen Country 1860 in Canada

See also

References