Assinment

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Question

Out of

Weight

1

a

1

2

30%

5

a

78

70%

b

78

c

78

78

Q2 Average

78

a

4

b

3

c

3

Subtotal

Q2 + Q3

88

Communication

6 (can be 2x)

Q2 & Q3 Total

100

Table of Contents

Question 1 [Reading]

2
Sample Answer for 1.b 3

2. [Regular]

4

2.a

6

2.b

7

2.c

8
Question 3 [Challenge] 10
Appendix (Optional): The London Times on the Cariboo Gold Rush 13

Question 1 [Reading]

1. Read the section titled “From ‘Leech’ to Miner: The Chinese Adaptation to the Gold Mines”, on pages 84[footnoteRef:0] – 93 of the following thesis: [0: Due to a few un-numbered pages at the start of the file, ‘page 84’ is actually page 92 of the PDF file.]

Herbert, C. D. (2005). Unequal Participants: Race and Space in the Interracial Interactions of the Cariboo Gold Fields, 1860-1871 [Master’s thesis, Simon Fraser University]. Retrieved from https://core.ac.uk/download/pdf/56372982

a. (12 marks) Write a 3-2-1 report in the usual fashion.

b. (5 marks) Many of the sources Herbert cites in their footnotes are also available to you – specifically, the articles from the Daily British Colonist and most of the articles from the Cariboo Sentinel. For this question, I’m going to ask you to check Herbert’s work by looking up one of their sources, and seeing whether you agree with Herbert’s interpretation of the source. To find sources, go to the following:

Daily British Colonist: https://britishcolonist.ca/ (Hint: Try ‘browse by date’)

Cariboo Sentinel: https://open.library.ubc.ca/collections/bcnewspapers/xcariboosen

i. What source are you looking up, and footnote is it found in? (Note: You CANNOT pick “Arrivals from the River” from footnote 274, since that’s the sample answer.) (1 mark)

ii. Cite the source you found, in APA format. (2 marks)

iii. Do you agree with Herbert’s interpretation of the source? Why or why not? Provide evidence from the source to back up your answer. (2 marks)

Sample Answer for 1.b

i. What source are you looking up, and footnote is it found in? (1 mark)

“Arrivals from the River,” mentioned in footnote 274.

ii. Cite the source you found, in APA format. (2 marks)

ARRIVALS FROM THE RIVER. (1861, June 10). The British Colonist, p. 3. Retrieved from
https://archive.org/stream/dailycolonist18610610uvic/18610610#page/n2/mode/1up

iii. Do you agree with Herbert’s interpretation of the source? Why or why not? Provide evidence from the source to back up your answer. (2 marks)

Footnote 274 is attached to a statement by Herbert that “From 1860 to approximately 1864, White miners, with the complicity of the colonial state, excluded the Chinese from the main gold fields in the Cariboo Mountains.” (Herbert, 2005, p. 84). Among the statements in the ‘Cariboo’ section of ‘Arrivals from the river’ is “Chinamen are not allowed to go to Cariboo by the white miners.” This is consistent with Herbert’s statement, and so I agree with the interpretation.

2. [Regular]

How expensive were consumer goods in British Columbia during the Cariboo gold rush? There were frequent complaints in newspapers about how expensive basic items were. For example, in the article[footnoteRef:1] used in the sample answer for Question 1.b, we read: [1: ARRIVALS FROM THE RIVER. (1861, June 10). The British Colonist, p. 3. Retrieved from https://archive.org/stream/dailycolonist18610610uvic/18610610#page/n2/mode/1up]

“The supply of goods does not equal the demand, and a scarcity is feared. Pack animals are in demand. Provisions at Forks City were: $38 per 100 lbs. for flour, 40c. per lb. for beans; bacon, 75c; China sugar, 75c. The only provisions taken into the Cariboo diggings have been on mules’ or Indians’ backs.”

By 2021 standards, these prices don’t seem high at all. A pound of sugar for 75 cents is quite reasonable. The problem is that these are 1861 prices, NOT 2021 prices, and prices in general have gone up in the past 160 years – we need to adjust for inflation.

If this were a price from 1914 or later, adjusting for Canadian inflation would be easy. Canada has a Consumer Price Index (CPI) series that dates back to 1914. Unfortunately, we don’t have a Canadian CPI for 1861, so we can’t easily keep prices ‘real’ in this way[footnoteRef:2]. [2: There ARE ways around it. In addition to what I’m asking you to do, this question was originally also going to ask you to adjust for inflation using the U.S. CPI and exchange rate adjustments. I decided that might make things too confusing, so I deleted that part of the question, to save it for a later assignment.]

There’s another way to ‘keep things real’ that doesn’t rely on price indices – if we know what the relevant wages were, we can see how much of a particular good we could afford with an hour or a day of work.

For example, a 6.5 ounce bottle of Coca Cola cost 5 cents[footnoteRef:3] in 1956. In 1956, the average hourly wage in Canada was[footnoteRef:4] $1.53/hour, so if Coca Cola cost 5 cents per bottle, you could buy 1.53/0.05 = 30.6 servings of Coca Cola with one hour of work. In September, 2020, the average hourly wage in Canada was[footnoteRef:5] $27.08, and the average price for a 500 mL serving of Coca Cola was[footnoteRef:6] $2.49, making the cost of 6.5 ounces (192.228 mL) about $0.96[footnoteRef:7]. That means that one hour of work could buy 28.2 6.5 ounce servings of Coca Cola with one hour of work. [3: There’s an interesting story behind that price. See Kestenbaum, D. (2012, November 15). Why Coke Cost a Nickel for 70 Years [Web Page]. Retrieved from https://www.npr.org/sections/money/2012/11/15/165143816/why-coke-cost-a-nickel-for-70-years ] [4: Average earnings of male and female employees in manufacturing, survey week 1956 to 1965, and percentage increases over previous year [Web Page]. (2009, August 17). Retrieved from https://www65.statcan.gc.ca/acyb02/1967/acyb02_19670756015-eng.htm ] [5: Canada Average Hourly Wages [Web Page]. (n.d.). Retrieved from https://tradingeconomics.com/canada/wages on February 21, 2021.] [6: Canada – Coca-Cola – price, September 2020 [Web Page]. (2020). Retrieved from https://www.globalproductprices.com/Canada/coca_cola_price/ ] [7: $2.49/500 mL x 192.228 mL/bottle = $0.96/bottle.]

In terms of hours of work at the average hourly wage needed to buy a serving of Coca Cola, the price of Coca Cola has gone up since 1956. By how much, though?

In terms of hours of work:

Price of Coca Cola in 2020 = 1/(28.2 servings/hour) = 0.0355 hours/serving (approx.)

Price of Coca Cola in 1956 = 1/(30.6 servings/hour) = 0.0327 hours/serving (approx.)

(Price of Coca Cola in 2020) / (Price of Coca Cola in 1956) = 0.0355/0.0327 = 108.6%[footnoteRef:8] [8: Using exact numbers, closer to 108.51%.]

In terms of hours of work at the average wage, the price of a serving of Coca Cola has gone up by about 8.6% from 1956 to 2020. (Why 8.6% and not 108.6%? Because we start at 100% of the price of Coca Cola in 1956, and then add 8.6% more to get the 300%.)

This is the approach we’ll take to study gold rush prices. In this question, you’re going to determine whether basic goods in British Columbia were more expensive during the Cariboo gold rush than they are now, taking into account that wages were also higher. As our source, we’ll be using an article[footnoteRef:9] on the Cariboo published in the Times of London: [9: Fraser, D. (1862, February 5). THE GOLD REGION OF BRITISH COLUMBIA. The London Times, p. 26. I have reproduced the entire article for you as an Appendix to this assignment. Reading it is entirely optional.]

“[T]he miners’ labours were suspended for some time towards the end of May by the floods from the melting snows of the adjacent mountains, and there was a scarcity of food. The roads, or tracks and trails, at any time only fit for mule travel, were then impassable for animals, and provisions had to be carried on the backs of Indians, who were paid $50 a day for “packing.” Labouring men, who had no mining claims of their own, were hired to work those of the miners at $7 and $8, and found. Provisions were relatively high in price. Flour was at 38c. (1s. 7d.)[footnoteRef:10] per lb.; bacon, 75c.; beans, 40c.; tea, $1 50c.; sugar and coffee, 75c. per lb. Single meals at the restaurants, consisting of beans and bacon and a cup of bad coffee, cost $2 (8s. 4d.).” [10: Numbers in brackets are the price in the British currency of the time: pounds, shillings, pence, or l. s. d. One pound had twenty shillings, and one shilling had twelve pence. In 1861, one pound was worth five dollars.]

We’re going to look at the price of flour, bacon, beans, tea, sugar and coffee, as well as the ‘minimum daily wage’, and see how expensive the Cariboo rush was, compared to Victoria in 2021. Based on the passage, we’ll use $7.00/day as the ‘minimum daily wage’ for a miner in 1861, and $16.60 / hour x 8 hours/day = $116.80 as the ‘minimum daily wage’ for a worker in 2021 British Columbia[footnoteRef:11]. [11: The minimum wage in British Columbia is currently $14.60/hour until June 1, 2021, and 8 hours a day are “standard hours of work”. See Minimum Wage [Web Page]. (n.d.). Retrieved from https://www2.gov.bc.ca/gov/content/employment-business/employment-standards-advice/employment-standards/wages/minimum-wage and Hours of work and overtime [Web Page]. (n.d.). Retrieved from https://www2.gov.bc.ca/gov/content/employment-business/employment-standards-advice/employment-standards/hours ]

I went to the Thrifty Foods and Save on Foods web sites and found the prices of popular brands and serving sizes of the goods in question. Prices from 1861 and 2021 are as follows:

1861 Prices (Fraser, 1861)

Item

Weight

Price

Flour

1 lb

$0.38

Bacon

1 lb

$0.75

Beans

1 lb

$0.40

Tea

1 lb

$1.50

Sugar

1 lb

$0.75

Coffee

1 lb

$0.75

2021 Prices[footnoteRef:12] [12: All prices except tea were taken from Thrifty Foods, Victoria, on February 20, 2021. The price of tea was from Save on Foods, Victoria, on February 20, 2021.]

Item

Weight

Price

Robin Hood All Purpose Flour

5 kg

$11.99

Maple Leaf Bacon

0.375 kg

$7.99

Compliments Red Kidney Beans

0.9 kg

$4.49

Twinings – Earl Grey Tea Tin

0.1 kg

$8.69

Rogers Fine Granulated Sugar

4 kg

$5.99

Kicking Horse Coffee Kick Ass Coffee

0.454 kg

$16.99

2.a

a. The first thing we’re going to do is turn the 2021 prices into price per lb., so we can compare the prices directly to the 1861 prices. To do this, first you convert the price into price per kg., and then turn the price per kg. into price per lb. For this question, assume that there are 2.20462 pounds (lb.) in a kg.

I’ll get you started by performing the calculations for Maple Leaf Bacon.

Maple Leaf Bacon costs $7.99 per 0.375 kg:

Price per kg: ($7.99)/(0.375 kg) = 7.99/0.375 $/kg = $21.31/kg (to the nearest cent).

Price per lb: ($21.31/kg) / (2.20462 lb/kg) = 21.31/2.20462 $/lb = $9.67/lb (to the nearest cent)

Now you do the rest:

2021 Prices

Item

Weight

Price

$/kg

$/lb

Robin Hood All Purpose Flour

5 kg

$11.99

2.40

1.09

Maple Leaf Bacon

0.375 kg

$7.99

21.31

9.67

Compliments Red Kidney Beans

0.9 kg

$4.49

4.99

2.26

Twinings – Earl Grey Tea Tin

0.1 kg

$8.69

86.90

39.42

Rogers Fine Granulated Sugar

4 kg

$5.99

1.50

0.68

Kicking Horse Coffee Kick Ass Coffee

0.454 kg

$16.99

37.42

16.97

Show your work for the Robin Hood All Purpose Flour calculation (this is so we can give you part marks for partially correct work, even if your final answers aren’t right):

[Show your work here]

2.b

b. Now let’s calculate how many pounds (lb.) of each item you could afford with one day of work. Please round these to one decimal place. We’re trying to find out how many pounds of each item you could afford if you spent one day’s wages on them. These wages were $7.00 in 1861, and $116.80 in 2021. To start you off, I’ll again do the calculations for Bacon.

In 1861, daily wages were $7.00 and bacon cost $0.75/pound. That means a miner earning $7.00 could afford 7/0.75 = 9.3 pounds of bacon per day, rounded to one decimal place.

In 2021, daily wages are $116.80 and bacon costs $9.67/pound. That means someone earning $116.80 could afford 116.80/9.67 = 12.1 pounds of bacon per day, rounded to one decimal place.

Now fill out the rest on your own:

Price per lb.

Pounds/day

Item

1861

2021

1861

2021

Flour

$0.38

 1.09

18.4 

 107.2

Bacon

$0.75

$9.67

9.3

12.1

Beans

$0.40

 2.26

17.5 

51.7 

Tea

$1.50

 39.42

 4.7

 3.0

Sugar

$0.75

 0.68

 9.3

 171.8

Coffee

$0.75

 16.97

 9.3

 6.9

Daily Wage

$7.00

$116.80

Show your work for the Flour calculation (this is so we can give you part marks for partially correct work, even if your final answers aren’t right):

[Show your work here]

2.c

c. Finally, let’s see by how much prices (in terms of days of work per pound) have changed between 1861 and 2021. What’s cheaper? What’s more expensive? By how much?

We want the % change in price, in terms of days of work at ‘minimum wage’. To do this, we have to divide the (pounds/day) in 1861 by the (pounds/day) in 2021, and subtract 1 (100%). Why?

We have pounds/day, but the price is actually days/pound, which is 1/(days/pound). So, just like in the Coca Cola example, we have to divide (days/pound in 2021) by (days/pound in 1861), and subtract 100% to see the change in price. But, this is just like dividing (pounds/day in 1861) by (pounds/day in 2021).

To make things clearer, let’s do this for bacon. Pounds/day for bacon are 9.3 in 1861, and 12.1 in 2021. That means the ‘price’ of a pound of bacon in terms of work is 1/9.3 = 0.1075 days/pound in 1861, and 1/12.1 = 0.08264 days/pound in 2021. We COULD just divide these prices by each other: Price in 2021/Price in 1861 = 0.08264/0.1075= 0.77 (approx.), but that’s a lot of decimals and we’re likely to introduce a lot of rounding error. Since we have pounds/day, it’s easier to just divide (Pounds/day in 1861)/(Pounds/day in 2021) = 9.3/12.1 = 0.77 (approx.)

This means that, in terms of work, the price of bacon in 2021 is 77% of the price of bacon in 1861, which means that the price of bacon has gone down by 23% (=77% – 100%), and the % change in price is therefore -23%. If we start at 100% of the price of bacon in 1861, we need to go down by an additional 23% of the price of bacon in 1861 to get the price of bacon in 2021.

Now it’s your turn to fill out the rest: please round your answers to the nearest % (e.g. 0.33333 would be rounded to 0.33 = 33%).

Item

% Change in Price (days of work per lb.)

Flour

-83% 

Bacon

-23%

Beans

 -66%

Tea

57% 

Sugar

 -95%

Coffee

35% 

Show your work for the Flour calculation (this is so we can give you part marks for partially correct work, even if your final answers aren’t right):
[Show your work here]

d. Overall, were prices during the Cariboo gold rush high compared to prices in 2021 Victoria, when you take wages into account? Briefly explain your reasoning.

Question 3 [Challenge]

This question will show you how you may combine information from a variety of sources to create a picture of an individual or organization. We will be looking at Hong Yuen & Co. General Vegetable[footnoteRef:13] Dealers. This company was founded in Victoria by Hong Yuen, and is not mentioned after the 1920s. [13: Hong Yuen & Co. did try to start a piggery in 1909, but the neighbours complained.]

We’ll focus on the years 1891 and 1911, because these are years that are unusually rich in information. Both of them are census years, and UVic has online copies of fire insurance maps for both years.

PLEASE ENTER ALL YOUR ANSWERS IN THE TABLE BELOW.
ANSWERS NOT IN THE TABLE WILL NOT RECEIVE MARKS.

Question

Marks

Answer

a

What year was Hong Yuen born in?

2

Where was Hong Yuen’s daughter born?

# of live-in servants (Domestics)

1

b

Business Partner

1

Suspected of Smuggling (2 items)

2

c

Address of Hong Yuen Co.

1

Across the street from

2

a. Search the 1891 census[footnoteRef:14] for Hong Yuen, who lives in British Columbia in the District of ‘Victoria’. Once you find the relevant census record, click and the image and read it to find the following information: [14: Library and Archives Canada. (2016). Search: 1891 Census of Canada [Web Page]. Retrieved from https://www.bac-lac.gc.ca/eng/census/1891/Pages/1891.aspx]

What year was Hong Yuen born in? (Write answer in table provided)

Where was Hong Yuen’s daughter[footnoteRef:15] born? (Write answer in table provided)
How many live-in servants (Domestics[footnoteRef:16]) did Hong Yuen have in 1891? (Write answer in table provided) [15: The daughter’s family name is listed as ‘Ah’, suggesting Hong Yuen (红袁?) spoke Cantonese. Victoria’s census takers did not know ‘Ah’ (阿) is used in front of one-syllable Cantonese names to make a nickname, and would often write down ‘Ah’ as a first name or family name. “The prefix ‘Ah’ […] is equivalent to the English Mr. or Mrs. An American named John Smith, for instance, if asked his name; would reply, if he answered [in the Chinese style], ‘Ah John.’ If further asked, ‘What Ah John?’ he would say, ‘Smith Ah John;’ so with Chinesse, ‘What Ah Sing?’ ‘Why[,] Ho Ah Sing.’” Gordon, F.L. (1887, November 17). CHINESE TRAITS. The Abilene Journal, p. 2. Also, note that Hong Yuen’s wife has a different family name. The census taker at first assumed it was ‘Yuen’, but had to cross it out and correct it to ‘Mon’ (张?). Traditionally, in much of China, a wife would keep her family name, since she was still considered part of her father’s family.] [16: Listed as ‘Dom’ in the census.]

b. Who was Hong Yuen’s business partner in 1891, and what was he suspected of smuggling? To answer these question, use the British Colonist ‘Advanced Search’[footnoteRef:17] to find instances of ‘Hong Yuen’ in 1891. [17: The British Colonist Advanced Search [Web Page]. (n.d.). Retrieved from http://britishcolonist.ca/advancedSearch.php ]

Business Partner in 1891[footnoteRef:18]: (Write answer in table provided) [18: Prior to 1875, Hong Yuen was in a farming partnership with ‘Ah See’ and ‘Chong Tie’. An ad in the Colonist in September of that year (see the very bottom of page 3) announces the end of that partnership.]

Suspected of smuggling[footnoteRef:19] (he was suspected of smuggling two types of item – make a note of both): (Write answer in table provided) [19: This was not Hong Yuen’s only run-in with the law. In 1885, there was some confusion as to whether he could testify, as this required swearing on the Bible and he was Confucian. From the Colonist for November 27: “Hong Yuen took the stand and had just been sworn on the Bible, when the court asked if the witness was bound by that course more than the usual one of burning a piece of paper. The interpreter said the last operation was not more binding than the other, as the only oath taken in China was when in the case of two or more disputants they each cut off a chicken’s head.” In 1928, the City of Victoria would actually require Chinese witnesses in an attempted murder trial to swear over two sacrificed roosters (see ‘Chicken Oath Administered’).]

c. (2 marks) What was Hong Yuen Co.’s address in 1891, and what major Victoria landmark was it across the street from (NOT next-door to)?

To answer the first part of this question, you will need to look up Hong Yuen & Co. in a BC Directory[footnoteRef:20] for 1891. For that year, there are two choices – Henderson’s or Williams’s. [20: Vancouver Public Libraries. (n.d.). British Columbia City Directories 1860 – 1955 [Web Page]. Retrieved from http://bccd.vpl.ca/index.php ]

To answer the second question, you will need to look up the address in the Fire Insurance Plans for 1891[footnoteRef:21]. The first few pages of the Plans are an index that tells you on which pages you will find maps of particular streets. For example, Bay Street is on pages 19 and 21. [21: Goad, C. E. (1895). Insurance Plan of Victoria, British Columbia [Map]. Retrieved from https://vault.library.uvic.ca/concern/generic_works/2efc7335-9bb0-4b4c-b0a0-d7535104571d Revised to 1895, which is why it gives ‘1895’ as the date. Note that all the image files names start with ‘1891’.]

Address of Hong Yuen Co. in 1891[footnoteRef:22]: (Write answer in table provided)
[22: In 1912, Hong Yuen & Co. would move to the corner of Fisguard & Quadra. ]

Famous Landmark across the street (NOT next door): (Write answer in table provided)

Appendix (Optional): The London Times on the Cariboo Gold Rush[footnoteRef:23] [23: This article was originally published in two parts: Fraser, D. (1862, February 5). THE GOLD REGION OF BRITISH COLUMBIA. The London Times, p. 26. Fraser, D. (1862, February 6). THE GOLD REGION OF BRITISH COLUMBIA. The London Times, p. 26.
]

VICTORIA, VANCOUVER ISLAND, Nov. 29.

I have not written much on the subject of British Columbia of late because the accounts which reached us throughout the summer and autumn were of so glowing a character, and gave so superlative a description of the wealth of the upper gold country, as appeared fabulous. The reports from Cariboo were really so extravagant in their character that I did not feel justified in giving circulation to them on hearsay evidence. Being now, however, in possession of proof of the general accuracy of the very flattering reports which regularly reached Victoria by every succeeding steamer from British Columbia during the whole period of the mining season just over, I feel justified in communicating them.

The portion of British Columbia which has yielded nearly all the gold produced this year, and which is destined to attract the notice of the world to a degree hitherto not accorded to the country in the aggregate, is a newly-discovered district called Cariboo (a corruption of “Cerf-boeuf,” a large species of reindeer which inhabits the country). […] Cariboo was discovered late in the season of last year, but its riches were not developed till this summer. I can only spare room for an epitome of the mining operations of the season.

In May the miners got to work on Antler Creek and some of the new hands – raw at the work “took out gold to the value of 200 dollars a day each, while new claims were daily opened with like prospects of success.” One man, working with a rocker, a very slow and inefficient implement, took out 400 dollars (40l.) in one day; while two men washed up 10 ounces (worth 44l. 5s.) a-piece in one day, also with a rocker. […] “Bench claims,” terraces situated 100 feet above the water of the creek, were yielding from 4 to 8 ounces of gold to each rocker every day. […] In the early part of this month (May), there were five feet of snow on the ground, but this did not prevent several miners from getting to work. […] As the miners constructed “flumes,” which economized manual labour and enabled them to discard the slow and tedious rocker, the results were very much higher, amounting to all sorts of amounts from 100l. to 500l. a-day to a company composed of three to five and six men. […]

Other creeks were now being discovered, and they were worked with varied success, ranging from 1s. to the pan of “pay dirt” to 10l. a-day to the hand.

The truth of these accounts was doubted at the time, but they had the effect of inducing a considerable emigration of miners from all the other diggings in the country to the Cariboo, which increased the mining population to about 1,400 by the end of May, and the number was constantly receiving fresh accessions. On the 9th of June $30,000 in gold arrived from Cariboo, besides the sums carried by 35 men who came down on business, and who, it is supposed, returned to the mines. The same day $40,000 arrived, some of which was also from Cariboo. These receipts awakened confidence, and a description of the gold of the district, which corresponded with the character of that just received, accounted for the enormous earnings. The gold was all coarse gold, granulated, gravelly stuff, mixed with pellets and pebbles of pure metal of considerable size. Of the fine-scale gold of the Fraser river, a man could not physically wash out so much as the reported individual earnings, but of such nuggets as then came down it was easy to take out pounds’ weight in a day. Freshets from the melting snow carried away the flumes, and the miners’ labours were suspended for some time towards the end of May by the floods from the melting snows of the adjacent mountains, and there was a scarcity of food. The roads, or tracks and trails, at any time only fit for mule travel, were then impassable for animals, and provisions had to be carried on the backs of Indians, who were paid $50 a day for “packing.” Labouring men, who had no mining claims of their own, were hired to work those of the miners at $7 and $8, and found. Provisions were relatively high in price. Flour was at 38c. (1s. 7d.) per lb.; bacon, 75c.; beans, 40c.; tea, $1 50c.; sugar and coffee, 75c. per lb. Single meals at the restaurants, consisting of beans and bacon and a cup of bad coffee, cost $2 (8s. 4d.). A correspondent of one of the newspapers in Victoria, writing from Cariboo at this time, quotes the prices of what, in the grandiose style of these parts, he calls “miners’ luxuries,” as follows:- A tin pan (worth 3d.) sold for $8 (1l. 12s. 9d.); picks and shovels, $7 50c. each (1l. 4s. 6d. and 1l. 10s. 6d.). Washing was charged for at $6 a dozen pieces (1l. 4s. 6d.). The latter is the only item of “luxury” I see in the “Price Current,” and I cannot believe that the laundryman was much patronized. It was added that “business of every description was lively.” At such prices a man would need to earn his 5l. to 20l. a day to enable him to keep “business lively.” These wages and prices show the large gains of the miners.

The first news of operations in June exceeded the glowing accounts of May. The melting of the snow kept many miners idle, and the country was covered with mud and slush, which made travelling almost impossible. However, those who could work earned largely, one “rocker” washing out 50 ounces of a forenoon, and three men “washing out” 100 ounces from a flume in a week. Omitting these “big strikes,” which fell to the lot of the favored few, we find that the fickle goddess was more sparing in her gifts to others. $50 to $100, and as low as $20 a day, are quoted as individual earnings. A person on the spot wrote, what seems to have been the truth, judging from what one knows of the temper and habits of the miner, – “Those who have not are making nothing and have nothing. These were the unlucky ones, who would not choose to work on hire, and who were waiting on Providence for ‘something to turn up,’ and for good weather to set out on a ‘prospecting’ tour, from which many of them would return footsore and ‘strapped,’ i.e., ‘dead broke.’”

In June intelligence reached Cariboo that gold had been discovered on the east side of the Rocky Mountains in British territory. This news, and the return to Antler Creek of exploring parties with a report that they had found “favourable indications of gold and plenty of rich quartz veins, 30 miles off,” added intensity to an excitement already at fever heat. Many of the miners wandered about the pathless wilderness “prospecting” for rich and yet richer “claims” which would contain the philosopher’s stone, and lost their time and their strength and health in their restless wanderings, and earned nothing.

Presently the weather improved, provisions became abundant, new discoveries were being made at great distances apart, and success attended the efforts of all who worked steadily and stuck to one spot. On Keithley’s Creek a party of five “divided” $1,200 from one day’s labour, and their daily average was a pound weight of gold a day.

Several “sluices” were set to work on this creek, and the results were $20 to $50 per man per day. There were 200 men on this creek, of whom 75 were at work about the middle of June. The gold found was in small nuggets, of the value of 6d. to 8s. sterling each piece. No quicksilver was used to amalgamate the gold, which made a vast saving in time and expense and which enabled the miner to make such large gains as I have stated above. Another fact, peculiar to the Cariboo Diggings generally, is that the gold is found near the surface – a few inches, a foot or two, and very seldom more than six feet below the surface. There is an efflorescence of gold near the surface in the virgin soil of most gold-bearing countries, but I never knew it so general as it is here.

The diggings on Snow-shoe Creek were opened in June, and yielded $12 to $25 to the hand per day.

Here are a few statistics of this remote country, noted down in June by a traveller:-

“A little town springing up at Keithley’s, consisting of three grocery stores, a bakery, a restaurant, a butcher’s shop (cattle had by this time been driven up from Oregon and the lower Fraser), a blacksmith’s shop, and several taverns, some in tents and some in log-houses. At Antler 10 houses erected, and a sawmill on the Creek. In all Cariboo there are five white women and three physicians. Several vegetable gardens started at various points.”

The native Indians are very quiet, civil, and industrious; very useful as carriers of provisions, &c. The mule trails rendered impassable; but the Government appropriated $2,000 for opening a bridle road to the district, and the miners of Antler and of Keithley’s subscribed $800 to open a trail to the former place. Labourers’ wages at Antler, $8 a day; at Keithley’s, $7 a day – and board in both cases. A considerable number of hands thus employed. When a member of a “company” cannot work himself, he puts a hired man in his place.

We had from the first discovery of this gold district heard most unfavourable reports of the severity of the winter season, which was said to render the country uninhabitable. The matter was set at rest by some Canadians who wintered in Cariboo last year. They found the intensity of the cold so much less than in the Canadas that they represented the climate as mild compared with that of their native country. […] The mining season continues from May to October at present; but when accommodations increase, and the miners begin to tunnel the banks and hills for gold, as they soon will do, the winter will present no obstacles to continuous work, under cover of adits, [sic.] during the whole season.

A mining claim is a (parallelogram) piece of ground 100 feet wide, running from bank to bank of a creek. The depth is indefinite, varying, of course, with the width of the creek. Each miner is entitled to one of these “claims,” and there may be several miners associated together to work a “claim.” In case of such an association amounting to five miners, the “company” would be entitled to 500 feet of ground in width, and running from bank to bank. At first many miners “took up” claims in simulated names, and thus caused a monopoly – an evil which was remedied by the Government Gold Commissioner when he visited the country in the summer.

Under the mining laws of British Columbia, which are well adapted to the country, the miners have the power to regulate their own mining affairs, such as settling the size of claims, which must vary in different localities, &c., with the assent and assistance of the Gold Commissioner in each district, and subject to the approval of the Governor.

The provisions of the mining laws are very seldom, if ever, complied with in all respects; but still the mining operations are conducted with exemplary propriety, and no body of men, upon the whole, could conduct themselves more peaceably than do the miners of British Columbia. All disputes are submitted to the Commissioner, and if his decision is not acquiesced in, an appeal is taken to the judge of the Supreme Court of Civil Justice (the only one in the whole colony), who goes circuit to all the inhabited parts of the country.

While on this subject I should not be doing justice to the country if I failed to remark upon the absence of crime in British Columbia. The fact is remarkable, considering the heterogeneous nature of the population, as it is gratifying. It speaks well for the miners, and for the magistrates also, who are a very efficient and respectable body, all young men in the prime of life; and I am certain, from my knowledge of his character, that the moral effect of the judge’s free intercourse with all classes, of his disinterested counsel when appealed to extra-judicially – as he frequently is, to settle disputes – and of his urbanity, is very beneficial. The exercise of his good-nature prevents litigation, and the fearlessness with which he punishes crime prevents the commission of heinous offences.

July opened with increased exertions and proportionate results, in consequence of the disappearance of the snow. […] Four day’s work yielded a man 104 ounces, and some men from Victoria were making two and three ounces each a-day. The town of Antler growing “like magic.” Instead of 10 houses, as it counted last month, it now boasts of “20 substantial stores, whisky shops, and other edifices, surrounded by any number of tents. Provisions still rather dear in consequence of the scarcity caused by increased consumption; meals, $2; flour, 70s. per lb.; beef, 50c. (2s.); beans, 90c. per lb.; and liquor – ‘Minié rifle and tangle-leg, warranted to kill at any distance,’ was snapped up at 50c. (2s.) a glass.” The prosperity of the town was in part indebted to an evil influence. Professional gamblers track the successful miner as the carrion crow scents the dead on a battlefield. The clink of money and the sound of gamblers’ voices is heard at all hours. Monté and Paro Banks and Poker Games are all the go. Large sums of money change hands constantly.” I heard of one party who lost, between three of them, $27,000.

I met a Spaniard on his return from Cariboo. He is a muleteer, and was engaged in packing. On my asking him about the richness of the mines, he answered that the gambling was as rife and carried on as high as in California in her palmiest days. […] He saw piles of gold bullion and 20-dollar pieces laid out on the gambling tables, and he saw a bank of portentous size, and he saw large stakes played and won and lost; and all these evidences of wealth satisfied him that “the country was saved” without going beyond Antler. He had been informed that Cariboo was a “fizzle;” but at Antler he changed his opinion, and went vigorously into the packing business, made money, and is now building a house to enjoy his otium cum dignitate.

It is hard to suggest a cure for this vice of new mining countries. The miner requires relaxation, and no healthy means of relaxation exist. He will adopt the first and readiest.

I do not see what the Government can do except to discourage it. It cannot put it down with the strong arm, for the rapid growth of population and of wealth outrun Government administration in these cases of sudden developments of the treasures of the earth. The magistrate intimated that he would hold the tavern-keepers who permitted gambling in their houses responsible. Beyond this his means of enforcing the law would not carry him. The vice will wear itself out, as it did in California.

In August and September mining was at its height. […] On the Antler Creek the rocker yielded 50 ounces of gold of a forenoon. […] The town site is threatened to be “washed” away, as the miners are entitled to all mineral ground which lay waste when they staked it off for mining. Water for sluicing sold at 50c. (2s. sterling) an inch (cubic measure, flowing through a square tube), yet after paying this heavy charge, the yield left $40 to $60 a-day to the miner. […] The miners were by this time enabled to extend their means and appliances to save manual labour. “Flumes were built of enormous size and length, with numerous wheel-pumps to supply water for washing the gold, which were to be seen turning, constantly, as far as they eye could reach.” “The magnitude of the works was surprising.” These were due to the neighbouring sawmill, which produced lumber on the spot, and must have also yielded a rich return to the proprietors, for the price was high, of course, 25c. a foot and upwards.

The mining “holes” were described as shining with gold. When the “bed-rock” was laid bare it was found studded or paved with “lumps” of gold, and every shovelful contained a considerable amount, in some cases to the value of 10l. sterling, and required no “washing,” the nuggets or pellets of gold being picked out by hand.

The diggings were now found to be not only rich but extensive, which led to a new enterprise. A drift was driven into one of the hills. This “tunnelling” is now the chief mode of working practised in California, where the efflorescence of gold has been long exhausted, and where the placers are nearly so. Labourers were in demand (in Cariboo) for this work at $8 a-day and board, so that, with health, no man who chose to labour could fail to make money. A miner told my informant, at this time, that his “claim” would last him 10 years “to work it out.” […]

The miners were now in good heart. Their condition was much improved by the abundance of salmon caught in the Fraser and other up-country rivers. There was abundance of grass, also, on the mountains all through the summer – a supply as necessary as human food, as all commodities being “packed” there were many mules and horses to feed.

A miner writes that his gains far surpass anything ever produced in California, and cites the fact of $1,700 having been dug out of two crevices in the rock less than three feet under the surface. In fact, the explanation of the enormous yields is, as I before stated, the large, solid, nuggety character of the gold and its proximity to the surface. Men who had never mined before, tradesmen, mechanics, and labourers new to the work, did just as well as the old, practised miner. This result will cease as the efflorescence of gold near the surface becomes exhausted. Then some skill and much labor will be needed to produce far less results than paid the exertions of the Cariboo last season.

“Veins and boulders of quartz are seen in every direction in the hills, such as would of themselves create an excitement in any other country,” but they are here neglected for the placers, which are so much more easily worked. […]

The account of September’s work is but an exaggerated repetition of that of the two previous months. Prodigious quantities of gold were found in limited spaces, such as 65oz. form a crevice, 22oz. washed out of one panful of dirt – all nuggets. […]

Money was also made by other industrial pursuits besides mining. Packers made large sums, and so did traders, of which we have ample proof in Victoria, for these parties brought their money here, and I know two cattle-dealers who made 10,000l. profit in the season.

A fall of two feet of snow in the first week of October forced the miners to relax their labours in most cases, and the great bulk of the population left the country in the course of the month for Victoria, California, Oregon and other parts – some to re-unite their social ties, and others on business, but all with the intention of returning. About 200 men have remained to winter in Cariboo. Many claim owners left men to guard them from interlopers in their absence, at wages of $10 a-day. News reached this place last week that some of the claims had been “jumped,” and were being worked by parties who had usurped the possession. Several miners have gone back, in consequence, to vindicate their rights, and they are likely to adopt a very expeditious process in so doing. The revolver will in all probability decide the contest. The approaches to the country are now sealed to every means of travelling except on snow shoes, for between the Forks of Quesnelle, the nearest inhabited place, and Cariboo there are 18 to 20 feet of snow, and the distance between these two places is 50 miles. […]

At New Westminster the other day I met a man who had worked as a journeyman carpenter for me some time ago, and whom I was in the habit of seeing occasionally in Victoria. He made up to me to consult me on the best means of disposing of his gold, there being a scarcity of coin in both colonies, which rendered it impossible to “convert” bullion; while gold bars were at a discount from 3 to 5 per cent. on their value, for the same reason of the scarcity of coin. […]

In consequence of the scarcity of coin and the heavy depreciation on gold bars he went down by the last steamer to San Francisco to have his gold coined at the American mint there. He is a sharp fellow. He “calculated” that he would save $600 by the trip, for he would go down in the second cabin at a low fare, [and] he would save freight on his gold by carrying it about him on going on board. Once the vessel started the purser would take care of it for him, and at San Francisco he would get full value for his gold. […]

The day before yesterday I met Dr. Romsey, of Victoria, […] who has passed the season in Cariboo. […] I asked Dr. Romsey why it was that when “claims” which did not pay $20 were rejected, the “unlucky” miners did not take them and work them, particularly as wages were less than that amount. He answered, as others did the same question, that no good reason could be assigned for it, but that it was so, and that the miners held peculiar notions. The fact is the miner generally does entertain queer notions – an odd mixture of perverseness, indifference, and pride. I have known them idle away their time rather than labour in the ground which did not pay as well as their neighbours’ claim. Then, many of the miners, who have been at work in California for 10 or 11 years, are very much “broken down” and cannot endure much hard work. “Prospecting” and selling claims suits them better. […]

The native Indians […] are beginning to “dig,” in imitation of the white men, in some parts, and will eventually increase the yield of gold, as the desire for wealth grows upon them. As a proof of their aptitude and success in this, to them, new field of labour, I may mention that the Bishop of Columbia found a gang of them “washing” on Bridge River last summer, and that he had the day’s earnings of one Indian weighed when he ceased his labours and found it to contain one ounce of gold. His Lordship purchased it of him and paid him $16 50c., the current issue, and carried it away as a souvenir.

The miner of British Columbia pays but a very small tribute for permission to dig for gold wherever and whenever he pleases in the colony. The mining license is only 1l. sterling a-year to foreigners and to British subjects alike without any distinction or preference of any kind. And this trifle is optional. It may be paid or not at pleasure.

The payment gives the miner the protection of the law in vindicating his rights of property to his mineral ground or claim; and this advantage naturally operates as an inducement to take out the license, while it has at the same time the effect of preserving order by rendering the “wild justice” of Judge Lynch uncalled for.

The cost of a miner in getting from Victoria to Cariboo would be from 10l. to 12l. As to security of life, I consider it just as safe there as in England. As to the mining prospects, they are clear as the sun at noon. Every able man who chooses to work will make money.

Reverting for a moment to the gold production, it is rather mortifying to have to relate that nearly the whole of the wealth which the country produces goes to San Francisco and to Oregon, to enrich foreign communities. Most of it is taken to thee countries by miners from there, on their return, but a great deal goes below in the course of trade which ought to remain here or go to England. It is impossible to give a return of the gold exported in these ways; but one house alone – Wells Fargo’s Express – remitted from August, 1858, to the 17th of November last, 1861, the gross amount of $3,642,058 30c. The great bulk was carried down in the same period by miners.

The causes of this large export of bullion, which leaves the balance of trade so much against these two colonies, are various; and I can only here just glance at them.

The high duties of the American tariff prevent an exchange of commodities. Our fish, lumber, and coal, &c., are virtually excluded from the market of San Francisco, which compels us to pay in bullion.

We produce neither breadstuffs nor cattle to feed our population, owing to the small number of agriculturists, so we have to draw our supplies from the two countries named.

We do not receive from England direct a tithe of the merchandise which we consume, such as cloth, groceries, wearing apparel, and the thousand and one articles which enter into general consumption, consequently we have to procure these supplies also from San Francisco.

We have not one-millionth of the population which the products of our soil would support, and for the same reason we have not the home industries which would create a large local circulation of money.

We have no regular postal communication with England, but are left dependent upon foreign vessels which visit us at long intervals. This is the 7th of December, and the steamer from San Francisco is just arrived. She came at about 2 o’clock in the day and leaves at midnight, staying so short a period as will not enable men of business to answer their letters satisfactorily, and the intervals are too long. This is the 25th day since she has left us, and there has not been a steamer from San Francisco since till to-day.

This infrequency of communication lessens our correspondence with England, and tends to keep us dependent upon San Francisco for much merchandise, which prompt postal communication would induce to come from England. […]

Then, a most baneful consequence to business has been the mistake of having placed the Government assay-office in the wrong place. It is at New Westminster, where there is no commerce and only 300 inhabitants, men, women, and children, and which would be deserted if the Government officials were removed.

Victoria is the mart of commerce for British Columbia and Vancouver Island. Here are all the merchants and other business establishments; and here naturally should the assay-office be placed. Had it been so, nearly all the gold which now goes in dust to San Francisco would be converted into bars on the spot – a circumstance which would greatly facilitate business, and which to the success of banking business is absolutely essential.

1

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UNEQUAL PARTICIPANTS: RACE AND SPACE
IN THE INTERRACIAL INTERACTIONS

OF THE C A R I B 0 0 GOLD FIELDS, 1860-1871

Christopher Douglas Herbert

Bachelor of Arts, Simon Fraser University, 2003

THESIS
SUBMITTED IN PARTIAL FULFILLMENT OF
THE REQUIREMENTS FOR THE DEGREE OF

MASTER OF ARTS

In the
Department

of
History

O Christopher Douglas Herbert 2005

SIMON FRASER UNIVERSITY

Summer 2005

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Approval

Name:

Degree:

Title of Thesis:

Examining Committee:

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Date Approved:

Christopher Douglas Herbert

Master of Arts

Unequal Participants: Race and Space in the
Interracial Interactions of the Cariboo Gold Fields,
1860-1871

Dr. Mark Leier
Associate Professor, Department of History

Dr. Paige Raibmon
Senior Supervisor
Assistant Professor, Department of History
University of British Columbia

Dr. Karen Ferguson
Supervisor
Associate Professor, Department of History
Simon Fraser University

Dr. Graeme Wynn
External Examiner
Professor, Department of Geography
University of British Columbia

\ w e 2 Z i D O C
J

SIMON FRASER UNIVERSITY

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Abstract

Contrary to traditional historiography, the Cariboo region of British Columbia was

the site of complex interracial interactions involving Chinese, White, Black, and Native

participants during the gold field period from 1860-1 871. The presence of three sub-

regions within the Cariboo; the hinterland, gold towns, and mines, explains the

complexity of these interactions. Different social norms characterized and shaped the

nature of interracial interactions in each sub-region. In the hinterland, a diversity of

economies ensured that interracial interactions took place without the White dominance

that characterized the towns and mines. Elite Whites attempted to create the towns as an

idealized space through the application of social norms that reinforced their power.

Finally, a community of gold miners dominated by working class Whites attempted to

dictate social norms, and therefore interracial interactions, in the mines. In each of these

spaces, interracial interactions responded to the power relationships present in sometimes

contradictory ways.

Acknowledgements

As with any work of his nature, it is far more than the product of one person. This

thesis would never have seen the light of day without the support of many key people.

My heartfelt thanks goes to the staff and curators at the British Columbia Archives, the

Anglican Diocese of the Cariboo Archives, the Anglican Provincial Synod of British

Columbia and Yukon Archives, the Cariboo-Chilcotin Archives, the Quesnel District and

Museum Archives, and at the University of British Columbia’s Special Collections, all of

whom were exceedingly helpful in conducting my research. Correspondence, discussions

and advice came from C.S. Giscombe, Elder Jess Mitchell, James Murton, Keir Reeves

and Richard Mackie. I must especially thank Bill Quackenbush, curator of the

Barkerville Historic Town and Archives, both for the access he granted me to the

archives and town and for the personal guidance and expertise he shared during my visit.

My supervisor, Dr. Paige Raibmon, has consistently pushed me to improve my

methodology, theory, and writing style while allowing me the freedom to follow my own

path. This thesis owes much to her invaluable input and guidance. I would be remiss if I

did not mention my fellow graduate students, Chelsea Horton and Matthew Scalena, both

of whom read and re-read this work an embarrassing amount of times, always offering

the most incisive and constructive criticism a writer can ask for. Of course, the flaws in

this work are wholly of my own doing.

Table of Contents

Approval ……………………………………………………………………………………………………………. ii
…

Abstract …………………………………………………………………………………………………………….. 111
Acknowledgements ……………………………………………………………………………………………. iv

………………………………………………………………………………………………… Table of Contents v
..

List of Photos ……………………………………………………………………………………………………. VII
. .

List of Graphs …………………………………………………………………………………………………… VII
..

List of Maps ……………………………………………………………………………………………………… v11
Introduction ………………………………………………………………………………………………………… 1
Interracial Interactions in the Hinterland …………………………………………………………… 19

The Subsistence Economy ………………………………………………………………………………… 22
The Fur Trade Economy …………………………………………………………………………………… 25
The Gold Field Economy ………………………………………………………………………………….. 26

…………………………………………………………………………………………………… Conclusions 42
Social Norms and the Space of the Gold Field Towns ………………………………………….. 45

Enforcing Order: The Idealized Space of the Gold Field Towns …………………………… 48
The Challenges to Idealized Space ……………………………………………………………………… 53
Chinese Interracial Interactions in the Gold Field Towns ………………………………………. 54
Black Interracial Interactions and the Idealized Space ………………………………………….. 62
Native Interracial Interactions in the Gold Field Towns ………………………………………… 66
Sites of Multi-Racial Alternatives to the Social Norms of the Idealized Space ……….. 71

……………………………………………………………………………………………………. Conclusions -78
……………………………………………………….. The Miners’ Community of the Gold Mines 79

From “Leech” to Miner: The Chinese Adaptation to the Gold Mines …………………….. 84
The Davis Dispute and the Limits of Black Integration …………………………………………. 93
Natives: The Missing Presence ……………………………………………………………………….. 100

………………………………………………………………………………………………….. Conclusions 1 0 2
Conclusions ……………………………………………………………………………………………………… 105

……………………………………………………………………………………………………. Bibliography 110
Abbreviations ……………………………………………………………………………………………….. 1 0

…………………………………………………………………………………………….. Primary Sources 110
Archival Sources ………………………………………………………………………………………… 110

……………………………………………………………………………………………. Visual Records 114

Published Primary Documents ……………………………………………………………………… 1 14
………………………………………………………………………………………………. Newspapers 1 15

……………………………………………………………………………………….. Secondary Sources 1 15
Books and Journals ……………………………………………………………………………………… 1 15
Theses and Dissertations ……………………………………………………………………………… 1 17

vii

List of Photos

Photo 1: Jean Caux’s (Foreground. Left) Multi-Racial Packers ………………………………. 33
……………………………………. Photo 2: Government Assay Office. Two Natives Far Left 67

………………………. Photo 3: Chinese-White Drinking in a Chinese Miner’s Cabin. 1904 73
Photo 4: Moses with Fire Brigade (Centre Rear. Arrow) ………………………………………… 76

…………… Photo 5: White Employers (Foreground). Chinese Employees (Background) 88
Photo 6: Chinese Employees (Left) at Mucho Oro Claim ……………………………………… 89

List of Graphs

…………………………………… Graph 1: Packing Prices Compiled from Period Newspapers 30
Graph 2: Population of the Gold Field Towns, 1866 ………………………………………………. 58

………………………………………………. Graph 3: Population of the Gold Field Towns, 187 1 58
Graph 4: Results of Chinese versus White Lawsuits for Wages Owed in the Gold

………………………………………………………………………. Field Towns, 1860- 187 1 -90

List of Maps

……………………………………………… Map 1: Traditional Territories of the Native Nations 2
Map 2: Cariboo Region ……………………………………………………………………………………… 3

……………………………………………………………………………….. Map 3: Cariboo Mountains 4

Introduction

For centuries, gold has fired the dreams of humanity. Empires have risen and fallen

under the weight of this elusive substance. The 1 9 ~ century saw the rise of the “gold

rush”: waves of humanity that followed rumours of gold around the globe, reshaping and

redefining social and physical environments wherever they went. In 1860, the rush for

gold hit the Cariboo. When news of Peter Dunlevy’s 1859 strike on the Horsefly River

became known,’ thousands of White, Chinese, and Black Newcomers poured into the

traditional territories of the Tsilhqot’in (Chilcotin), Shuswap, and Carrier peoples, (Map

1) imposing their own conception of space, the Cariboo, (Map 2) and their own social

norms on to the landscape.2 The social norms and expectations bound up in the idea of

the Cariboo acted to shape interactions between “racial” groups, such as the Chinese,

Natives, Blacks, and Whites.

I Robin Skelton, They Call it The Cariboo (Victoria: Sono Nis Press, 1980), 34-36. Personal
Communication from Elder Jess Mitchell. 6 July, 2004.

2 Margaret L. Tobey, “Canier” in Handbook of North American Indians, William C. Sturtevant, gen. ed.
Vol. 6. Subartic. (Washington: Smithsonian Institution, 1981), 414. Marianne Boelsher Ignace,
“Shuswap,” in Handbook of North American Indians, William C. Sturtevant, gen ed. vol. 12. Plateau.
(Washington: Smithsonian Institution, 1998), 175,205. Robert B. Lane, “Chilcotin,” Handbook of
North American Indians, William C. Sturtevant, gen. ed. vol. 6. Subarctic. (1981), 402. It should be
noted that these groupings are anachronistic European constructions and had little relevance during the
period. For the designation of the Native groups I use the traditional nomenclature rather than the
more common nomenclature found in the majority of historical records and familiar to most readers.
Because of this, the first time I use a traditional name, I include the more common label.

Map 3: Cariboo Mountains.

Detail of Gust. Epner, “Map of the Gold Regions in British Columbia, 1862,”
BCARS, CM A1913. The area the main goldfield towns occupied is located in
the centre of this map in

the Cariboo Mountains.

Map OB. C. Archives, by permission.

1 As historian Adele Perry has noted, race served as a major organizing trope in the 1
Cariboo, subsuming, to an extent, gender and class concerns within it.3 That is, an

interaction between, for example, a mine owner and an employee became something

more when the interaction occurred between a White mine owner and a Chinese

employee. While these exchanges took place over a constantly shifting terrain of racial

meanings and definitions due to the constraints of language and scope, this thesis uses

static-sounding racial terms such as Chinese, Black, White, and Native to argue about the

interracial interactions that occurred in the Cariboo. An examination of this type of

social interaction can help reveal the ways in which “race” affected the experiences of

different racial groups, not only in the Cariboo, but in similar contexts as well.

From 1860 to 1871, the Cariboo was a liminal space that opened up possibilities for

a variety of social interactions to occur. During this period, the Cariboo saw a shift in

settlement patterns from scattered Native settlements and isolated fur trade posts to a

heterogeneous Newcomer population concentrated in the Cariboo Mountains. (Maps 1,

2,3) Concurrent with this demographic and spatial shift was the transition from the fur

trade and subsistence economies to an industrialized gold mining economy. Changing

ideas as to the meaning and nature of race permeated the constantly changing early

Cariboo society. Like Rome, the Cariboo was not built in a day; instead, its Native and

Newcomer inhabitants continually socially created it.

A wide variety of interracial interactions occurred between the Chinese, White,

Black, and Native inhabitants of the Cariboo. These interactions occurred within one of

three sub-regions socially constructed by the Newcomers: the mines, the gold field

3 Adele Perry, On the Edge of Empire: Gender, Race, and the Making of British Columbia, 1849-1871.
(Toronto: University of Toronto Press, 2001), 44.

towns, or the surrounding hinterland. In each of these sub-regions, economic processes

encouraged the formation of different power relations between the inhabitants. In turn,

these power relations interacted with other social and cultural factors, physical realities,

and the actions of the inhabitants to shape the nature of interracial interactions in the

Cariboo. This thesis seeks to account for the variations in a specific type of social

interaction, namely interracial interactions or those interactions that occurred between

groups or individuals in which “Race” was a factor. Rooting interracial interactions in a

particular “place” in the hinterland, towns or mines allows an examination of how a

location within one of these sub-regions shaped the nature of the interracial interactions

that occurred in the Cariboo gold fields.

Traditionally, the historiography of the Cariboo, like the historiography of most

gold rushes, has concentrated on the Newcomer societ(ies) that occupied the gold field

towns and mines.4 Unfortunately, this focus has denigrated the importance of the

hinterland in analyses of the Cariboo. The power relationships and interracial

interactions of all three sub-regions were inter-dependent. The hinterland cannot be

understood without reference to the towns and mines, nor can the mines and towns be

understood without reference to the hinterland. For instance, Whites could not describe,

let alone understand, the “civilization” of the towns without reference to the “savagery”

of the hinterland or the somewhat distasteful “roughness” of the mines themselves.

Additionally, traditional historiography has focused on White and, to a lesser

extent, Chinese, miners. Little attention is given to the impact of Black and Native

participants in the Cariboo, yet both Blacks and Natives affected the interracial

4 See, for example: Marie Elliot, Gold and Grand Dreams: Cariboo East in the Early Years (Horsdal &
Schubert, 2000). F.W. Howay and E.O.S. Schofield, British Columbia from the Earliest Times to the
Present. I-IV (Vancouver: 1914).

interactions of the Chinese and Whites and were, in turn, affected by them. Only by re-

contextualizing the towns and mines with the hinterland, and broadening our analysis to

include previously silenced voices, can we begin to understand the nature of interracial

interactions in the Cariboo.

Differences between how the economic activities of a given area related to gold

mining, the primary economic engine of the Cariboo, largely determined the definition of

each of the three sub-regions of the Cariboo. The common impetus of gold propelled

Black, White, and Chinese Newcomers to the Cariboo and shaped how they understood

the spatiality of the region. To the Newcomers, gold mining was the reason for the

existence of the Cariboo and represented the future of the region. Of course, Natives, to

whom gold mining was not central to their understanding of the region, had a very

different perception of the space the Newcomers labelled the Cariboo. The influence and

nature of the gold economy distinguished each of the sub-regions. Specifically, the gold

field economy shaped the power relationships present in each sub-region. In the towns

and mines where the gold field economy was dominant, the Newcomers prioritized the

facilitation of mining and mining interests over all other concerns, while in the

hinterland, where the gold field economy was one of three major economies, power

relationships between Natives and Newcomers were far more balanced. Power

relationships in the Cariboo could be encoded or manifested in several different ways.

The most important, for our purposes, is the racial encoding of these relationships.

Unlike in the towns or mines, Native peoples who did not fall under the control of

the colonial state dominated the hinterland.5 In the hinterland, where the colonial state

was virtually ineffective in regulating space, Native-Newcomer interracial interactions

occurred over a geography of Newcomer fear.6 Native dominance and a lack of state

power in the hinterland meant that many Native-Newcomer interracial interactions were

favourable to the Natives in comparison to the situation in the towns and mines. Native

dominance and its effects also affected interactions between Newcomer groups. In

particular, the lack of state regulation encouraged interracial interactions that did not

conform to the town elites’ wishes to occur between Newcomer groups along the Cariboo

Wagon Road and in the roadhouses.

Support and facilitation of gold mining characterized the gold field town sub-

region. One group in particular, the British-influenced elites who controlled positions of

power in the gold field towns, such as editors, magistrates, firemen, and politicians,

sought to impose their vision of social relations on the Cariboo. While the town elites

desired to shape the entire Cariboo, limited resources meant they had to focus on those

areas that had the most importance to them, namely, the gold field towns and mines. One

step removed from the economic activity of gold mining, the town elites constructed the

space of the gold field towns to prioritize a certain social order they believed countered

the somewhat unavoidable “roughness” of the gold mines themselves. The elites also

“New Diggings- Excitement- Poisoned Salmon,” Daily British Colonist, 15 July, 1859. “Further From
Cariboo,” Daily British Colonist, 6 April, 1861. “Additional From Cariboo,” Daily British Colonist,
11 September, 186 1. “The Roads,” British Columbian, 16 March, 1865. “Trans-Continental
Railroad,” Cariboo Sentinel, 9 August, 1868.

British Columbian, 17 September, 1862. Argus, “Letter From Cariboo,” Daily British Colonist, 25
September, 186 1. “The Miners Returning,” British Columbian, 18 October, 1862. Brutus, “Letter
From Our Richfield Correspondent,” Daily British Colonist, 1 September, 1863. Robert Stevenson,
“Rose Expedition of 1862,” BCARS MS 0315, Robert Stevenson Fonds, 1838-1922, 1862. Thomas
Robert Mitchell, “Letter to Parents, 1862,” 12 pages, 7 October, 1862, BCARS MS 0838.

constructed the towns to be a dichotomous “civilization” to the hinterland’s “savagery.”

The gold field towns therefore became sites of prioritized British social norms and

b e h a v i o u r ~ . ~ These social norms had a spatiality to them that depicted the gold field

towns as an idealized space. In reality however, various factors meant that the town

elites were unable to enforce this idealized space with the result that a variety of

interracial interactions occurred that challenged the idealized space of the gold field

towns.

The third sub-region was the gold mines themselves. The mines were the focal

point of power relations, and hence interracial interactions, in the Cariboo. A dominating

concern with property and access to the gold mines characterized interracial interactions

in the mines themselves.* Alone, the colonial state was unable to effectively monitor the

mines, but the internal surveillance of the miners complemented this surveillance.

Specifically, a “community of miners” predominately consisting of White and Black men

existed in the mines. These miners regulated the mines according to what they defined as

proper mining behaviour and privileged Black and White miners’ participation while

restricting the participation of the Chinese and ~ a t i v e s . ~ In the mines, interracial

interactions had to respond to this “community of miners.”

‘ I.D.C., “A Man’s a Man for A’ That,” British Columbian, 4 June, 1862. ***, “William’s Creek,” Daily
British Colonist, 24 July, 1863. K., “Letter From Richfield,” Victoria Daily Chronicle, 20 July, 1864.
“Cariboo Letter,” Daily British Colonist, 23 August, 1864. “Profits of Agriculture,” Cariboo Sentinel,
24 July, 1869. “Reception of the Governor,” Cariboo Sentinel, 22 September, 1869.

8 “Our Chinese Population,” Cariboo Sentinel, 16 May, 1867. “County Court,” Cariboo Sentinel, 1
August, 1867. “County Court,” Cariboo Sentinel, 23 August, 1868. “Jumped,” Cariboo Sentinel, 13
May, 1869. County Court of the Cariboo, “County Court Summons Book,” vol. 2 , 9 June, 1865,
BCARS GR 0584.

“News From Above,” British Columbian, 30 May, 186 1. “Arrivals From the River,” Daily British
Colonist, June 10, 1861. Argus, “Letter From Cariboo,” Daily British Colonist, 7 October, 1861.
Vialor, “En Route to Cariboo,” Daily British Colonist, 1 June, 1863. “Labor,” Cariboo Sentinel, 18
June, 1870. See any issue of Cariboo Sentinel for its “Mining Intelligence” column that scrutinized the
gold mines.

It would be overly simplistic, however, to attribute differences in interracial

interactions solely to their locations within socially constructed sub-regions of the

Cariboo. The economic activities, and the power relations they informed, that largely

characterized each sub-region also interacted with physical realities and the socio-cultural

“baggage” held by each group to shape the interracial interactions within each sub-

region.

Human and physical geography formed the basis of the physical realities that

influenced the form of interracial interactions in the Cariboo gold fields. Prior to the

Fraser River gold rush of 1858, there had been only rather isolated Newcomer settlements

scattered throughout British ~olumbia.” The only Newcomer settlements that pre-dated

the Cariboo gold rush of the early 1860s were relatively remote fur-trading forts at the

confluence or along the course of the major navigable waterways in the region. In the

Cariboo Mountains, the site of the main gold deposits, no previous Newcomer

settlements existed.” In contrast, the Native peoples were semi-nomadic and widely

dispersed along the waterways of the region, with at least one group, the Cariboo

Mountains Band, located in the main gold field area.12

The miners that came in pursuit of gold had virtually no existing Newcomer

infrastructure to use. Outside of limited routes and settled areas, Newcomers had to rely

on the pre-existing transportation routes of the Tsilhqot’in, Shuswap, and Carrier

10 Tina Loo, Making Law, Order, and Authority in British Columbia, 1821-1871 (Toronto: University of
Toronto Press, 1994), xiii.

”

Ibid.

12 Elizabeth Furniss, Dakelh Keyoh: The Southern Carrier in Earlier Times (Quesnel: Quesnel School

District, 1993), 5-7.

peoples.13 The lone major road, the Cariboo Wagon Road, was only completed in 1865

and took almost a month to travel. The limited ability of non-Natives to penetrate into

the hinterland underscored the dominance of Natives in the area surrounding the towns

and mines. Because the gold field towns existed to service the gold mines, the location of

the major deposits had the obvious effect of concentrating the bulk of Newcomer

settlement in a small spatial area in the Cariboo Mountains. These factors encouraged the

persistence of a relatively independent hinterland region at the same time that they helped

focus the concerns of the gold field society inward toward the towns and mines of the

Cariboo Mountains. Additionally, as the geographer Robert Galois noted, the nature of

the gold deposits in the Cariboo Mountains necessitated industrialized resource extraction

and encouraged the formation of companies that shaped the economic and social

interactions of the ~ a r i b o o . l 4

Each group in the Cariboo also brought “cultural baggage” with them informed by

their histories and experiences prior to their participation in the Cariboo. The Tsilhqot’in,

Shuswap, and Carrier peoples all occupied different portions of the territory that the

Newcomers designated the ” ~ a r i b o o . ” ‘ ~ (Map 1) These Native peoples had varying

degrees of contact with Europeans. Some groups, such as the Shuswap and Carrier, had a

relatively high degree of involvement in the fur trade.16 Indeed, the Lhtakot’en and the

Lheidli T’enneh, sub-groups of the Carrier, modified their seasonal rounds to be in closer

l 3 “Roads,” Cariboo Sentinel, 19 July 1868.

l4 Robert M. Galois, “Gold Mining and its Effects on Landscapes of the Cariboo.” (M.A. Thesis,
University of Calgary, 1972), 3.

” Margaret L. Tobey, “Carrier” Handbook, 414. Marianne Boelsher Ignace, “Shuswap,” Handbook, 175,
205. Robert B. Lane, “Chilcotin,” Handbook, 402.

16 Margaret L. Tobey “Carrier,” Handbook, 414. Cariboo Sentinel, 22 September, 1868.

proximity to the fur trade forts.17 In contrast, other groups, notably the Tsilhqot’in, had

far less contact with Europeans, preferring to remain outside the fur trade economy.’8

The degree of existing familiarity between Natives and Newcomers influenced the

likelihood of Natives choosing to interact with the gold mining society in the towns or

mines. For example, the lack of contact between Tsilhqot’in and Newcomers decreased

the likelihood of Tsilhqot’in individuals choosing to participate in the gold fields.

Instead, the Tsilhqot’in were far more likely to remain attached to their traditional

round subsistence strategies. The Shuswap and the Carrier also continued with their pre-

rush subsistence e c o n ~ m i e s . ‘ ~ These alternative economies, dependent on the existence

of a relatively independent and “unsettled” hinterland, provided the economic base for

the favourable position of Natives in the power relationships of the hinterland.20

“Traditional” Native technologies, such as the snowshoe, combined with an intimate

knowledge of the landscape, facilitated the continued dominance of Natives in the

hinterland.21 Conversely, the same skill sets that helped Natives adapt to the conditions

of the hinterland helped reinforce the stereotype held by the Newcomers of the hinterland

Ibid. Cosmopolite, “Letter From Cariboo,” Daily British Colonist, 7 April, 1864. “From Ornineca,”
Daily British Colonist, 24 July, 1870. Joseph William MacKay, “Letter to the Board of Management,
HBC Western Department,” p. 2 4 , 6 June, 1867, BCARS MS 1917.

Robert B. Lane, “Chilcotin,” Handbook, 410-412.

l9 Argus, “Letter From Beaver Lake,” Daily British Colonist, 1 1 June, 1861. “Arrival of an Exploring
Party from Fort Alexandria to the Coast,” Daily British Colonist, 12 June, 1861. “News From
Cariboo,” Brirish Columbian, 2 July, 1862. “News From Peace River,” Cariboo Sentinel, 8 July, 1865.
“Indian Drying Olla Berries, Fraser Lake,” 1905, BCARS Visual Records, E-08394. Margaret L.
Tobey, “Carriers,” Handbook, 41 8.

20 “Unsettled” here means lacking farms, roads and other European social indicators of occupancy. I am
not implying that the land was unoccupied; precisely the opposite, in fact.

2′ “Letter From Quesnelle River,” Daily Brirish Colonist, 5 May, 1862.”Letter From Cariboo,” Daily
British Colonist, 18 June, 1863. “The Roads,” British Columbian, 16 March, 1865.

as “Native space.”22 This, combined with their different languages, religions, and

physical apperances, marked Natives, in the eyes of much of Newcomer society, as

improper inhabitants of the gold field towns and mines. In turn, this meant that

Newcomers discouraged Native participation in these areas by choosing not to hire

Natives and subjecting them to other obstacles.

The Chinese too, came with a history that shaped how they would interact in the

Cariboo. The pattern of temporary migration for wages known as “sojourning” shaped

the Chinese experience in the Cariboo, as it did in much of North ~ m e r i c a . ‘ ~ Sojourners

were overwhelmingly male peasants from the Pearl Delta region of Sojourners

migrated using a system of chain migration, wherein they tended to settle with other

sojourners with whom they had village or kinship ties.25 This practice helped reinforce

the primacy of the home village and family and encouraged sojourners to maintain

cohesive social units in the ~ariboo.” Combined with the general anti-Asian sentiment

of the Natives and the other Newcomers, sojourning contributed to the formation of

separate Chinatowns adjacent to nearly every gold field town in the Cariboo and to the

large numbers of Chinese-only mining companies.27 Other aspects of Chinese culture

and society also affected interracial interactions in the Cariboo. Distinct languages,

22 “Trans-Continental Railroad” Cariboo Sentinel, 9 August, 1868. “Profits of Agriculture,” Cariboo
Sentinel, 24 July, 1869.

23 Ying-ying Chen, “In the Colonies of the Tang: Historical Archaeology of Chinese Communities in the
North Cariboo District, British Columbia (1860’s-19401s).” (Ph.D. Dissertation, Archaeology, Simon
Fraser University, 2001), 103.

24 Ibid., 157.

25 Ibid., 80. Zaffaroni summarizes David Lai’s analysis of Chain Migration in her 1987 thesis. Irene
Genevieve Marie Zaffaroni, “The Great Chain of Being: Racism and Imperialism in Colonial Victoria,
1858-1871 .” (M.A. Thesis, University of Victoria, 1987), 152-153.

26 Ibid.
27 Ying-ying Chen, In the Colonies of the Tang, 168-192.

religions, and social conventions all reinforced a sense of Chinese difference among both

the Chinese and non-Chinese. All of this had the effect of discouraging Chinese

integration with the White and Black segments of Newcomer society.

The experience of California and the United States shaped the Black experience in

the Cariboo. The majority of Black immigrants to the Cariboo had experienced racial

oppression and intolerance in the United states.” The initial Black immigrants came to

British Columbia with the explicit purpose of escaping this racial oppression. The Blacks

viewed the Pacific Colonies as a “Promised and”” where their aspirations of “equality

before the law” could be reali~ed.~’ With this background, it is not surprising that the

Blacks were extremely vocal in asserting their equality with Whites in the Cariboo.

A number of factors aided Blacks in these assertions of equality. Blacks spoke and

wrote in English and dressed in European fashions, which helped them integrate with the

dominant English-speaking White population of the Cariboo gold field towns.31 This was

especially true when compared to the Chinese or Native town inhabitants who often

lacked basic competency in English and sometimes wore non-European clothes.32 Blacks

also had experience in European-style businesses and trades and easily integrated into the

Robin W. Winks, The Blacks in Canada: A History. 2″d ed. (Montreal & Kingston: McGill-Queen’s
University Press, 1997), 272. James Pilton, “Negro Settlement in British Columbia, 1858-1871.”
(M.A. Thesis, University of British Columbia, 1951), 19-23. Rudolph M. Lapp, Blacks in Gold Rush
California, (New Haven, Yale University Press), 60- 65.

29 James Pilton, Negro Settlement, 36.

30 See the subtitle of any issue of The Elevator, one of San Francisco’s two major Black newspapers.
3 1 D.L., “To the Editor of the ‘Cariboo Sentinel’,” Cariboo Sentinel, 2 July, 1866. James Pilton, Negro

Settlement, 29-32, 205.
32 H.H.S., “Further From Cariboo,” Daily British Colonist, 6 April, 1861. Richard Maynard, “Men

Carrying Freight Up The Cariboo Road,” 1867, BCARS Visual Records, F-09603.

White economy.33 Relative to other non-White groups, Blacks in the Cariboo appeared

to more successfully abide by the social norms held by the dominant British society.

Blacks were still an “Other” to the White population of the Cariboo, but they were not as

alien or threatening in their difference as the Chinese or Natives. That Whites did not

perceive Blacks as threatening allowed Blacks, despite their relatively small numbers, to

act on their strong desires for equality without provoking overt repression by

Two main “national” groups of Whites came to the Cariboo, those from the United

States and those from the British Empire. Besides skin pigmentation, these two groups

shared similar traits of language, Christian, often Protestant, religions, and similar

attitudes toward the accumulation of capital and material wealth. While this did tie the

disparate White populations together to an extent, important divisions remained. In

particular, Britain’s control of the colony of British Columbia meant that British and

British-influenced men overwhelmingly occupied positions of power within the Cariboo.

Politically and socially, these British-influenced White elites reacted to what they

perceived as the rampant effects of “mob rule” in the United states.” The elites publicly

espoused racial equality and a concern with civil order, by which they meant stability

3 3 “From Our Special Correspondent,” British Columbian, 27 August, 1862. “British Columbia,” Daily
British Colonist, 13 June, 1864. Harry Guillod, B.C. Historical Quarterly, vol. X I X , no. 3 & 4, 29
July, 1862, BA. BohanodFuller, “Day Books: Jan. 1868- Aug. 1868,” 18 January, 1868, QA, fonds
#8, series 2, box B, item 1.

34 The Black population in the Cariboo was never more than four percent of the total population, even by
the most generous estimates.

35 James Pilton, Negro Settlement, 18-19. William Loren Katz, The Black West: A Documentary and
Pictorial History of the African American Role in the Westward Expansion of the United States
(Toronto: Touchstone, 1996), 125-127. Charles R. Duane, Against the Vigilantes: The Recollections
of Dutch Charley Duane. John Boessenecker, ed. (Norman: University of Oklahoma Press, 1999), 3,
19- 21. Tina Loo, Making Law, 55-58.

through deference to the existing social order.36 This meant that, officially at least, the

society of the gold field towns and mines was open to non-White participation to a degree

that was impossible in California.

While this division between the United States and the British Empire was extremely

important for the nature of the social norms articulated by the elites in the Cariboo, other

divisions were also present. Some nationalities, such as the Irish and Welsh, occupied a

hazy ground between White and non-White during this period. Nevertheless, while

occasional references to individual ethnic and national difference do occur in the

historical record, for the most part these groups were subsumed within the larger category

of White in reaction to the perceived threat of the Chinese, much as Noel Ignatiev has

analyzed in the context of the Blacks and the Irish in the United Shared White

understandings of biological racism particularly restricted the types of activities that

Whites felt suited Natives, Chinese, and to a lesser extent Blacks.

While race was a dominant social organizing trope in the Cariboo, scholars such as

Anne McClintock and Gail Bederman have emphasized the centrality of gender in

defining and maintaining the racial basis of the colonial enterprise.38 In the Cariboo,

gender and class concerns shaped the way the different groups, but especially the Whites

and Blacks, understood interracial interactions. For instance, in the mines and towns,

Chinese labour was inferior not only because of their race but also because the work they

36 “Later From the Cariboo,” Victoria Daily Chronicle, 20 January, 1865. Tina Loo, Making Law, 55- 58.
Adele Perry, On the Edge of Empire, 125. Cole Harris, Making Native Space: Colonialism,
Resistance, and Reserves in British Columbia. (Vancouver: UBC Press, 2002), 5,21.

37 The Welsh-Who Are They?,” Cariboo Sentinel, 30 January, 1867. Noel Ignatiev, How the Irish Became
White (New York: Routedge, 1995). David Roediger, The Wages of Whiteness: Race and the Making
of the American Working Class (New York: Verso, 1991), 19-20.

38 Anne McClintock, Imperial Leather: Race, Gender and S e x u a l i ~ in the Imperial Contest (New York:
Routledge, 1995), 6-7. Gail Bederman, Manliness & Civilization: A Cultural History of Gender and
Race in the United States, 1880-1917, (Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 1995), 12-18,42.

did tended to be gendered feminine. In particular, Chinese labour in the towns was in

jobs dominated elsewhere by women, such as washing or domestic labour.39 The

representation of Chinese labour as feminine mattered in so much as the degree to which

this representation affected their interracial interactions. By gendering Chinese men

feminine, Whites and Blacks justified discriminatory practices against them such as

differential wage patterns and social stigmatism. In this way, the gender and class

aspects of Chinese washermen and domestic labour as waged employees helped reinforce

the social inferiority already proscribed by White and Black understandings of the

Chinese as a racial group.

The state’s ability to surveil and coerce the space of the Cariboo influenced the

power relationships that formed the basis of interracial interactions in the Cariboo. Both

philosopher Michel Foucault and historical geographer Cole Harris have analyzed how

the state projects control over space through surveillance. In the Cariboo, the usefulness

of surveillance as a disciplinary strategy depended on the ability of an authority to extend

its influence over the surrounding area.40 Physical factors such as population

concentration, “narrow” communication and transportation corridor^,^’ mountain ranges

and other physical barriers combined with an overriding concern with regulation within

39 Furnte, “John Chinaman,” Daily British Colonist, 6 January, 1865. “The Street,” Cariboo Sentinel, 8
June, 1868. Provincial Court, “Cariboo West,” vol. 1 , 30 September, 1864; 3 1 October, 1864; 3 1
January, 1865; 1 February, 1865; 30 April, 1865; 1 , 3 , 7 May, 1865,6 February, 1866, BCARS GR
0597. Government Agent, “Cariboo West Collecterate,” vol. 5, 6 February, 1866; 3 April, 1866; 5
May, 1866; 16 June, 1866; 5 October, 1866, BCARS GR 3052. J. Monroe Thoington, ed. The
Cariboo Journal of John Macoun, 27 November, 1872, BA. Vera Baker Currie. “Susie: A
Manuscript on the Life and Times of Cecila Elmore Baker, 1867-1958,” (Unpublished Manuscript,
Cariboo Historical Society, Jan. 14, 1978), 3 , 5 , QA.

40 Michel Foucault, Discipline and Punish: The Birth of the Prison. (New York: Pantheon Books, 1977).
Cole Hams, Making Native Space, 204,269-27 1 .

41 “Narrow” here means lacking depth of penetration into the surrounding countryside. In the Cariboo,
contact between gold field towns and the metropole of New Westrninster and Victoria was
predominately along the Cariboo Wagon Road.

the gold field towns resulted in a distinct lack of effective surveillance of the hinterland

by colonial authorities. Even within the gold field towns and mines, aspects of what

anthropologist James Scott has called the “hidden transcript” of subordinated groups

limited the surveillance of colonial a ~ t h o r i t i e s . ~ ~ For instance, barriers of language and

culture diminished the ability of the state to regulate significant segments the inhabitants

of the gold field towns.43 The Chinatowns, in particular, are indicative of the inability of

colonial authorities to have meaningful control over all aspects of the gold field towns.

These differential levels of surveillance helped characterize the sub-regions of the

Cariboo. The level of surveillance in a given sub-region either facilitated or hindered

certain types of interracial interactions. In the Cariboo between 1860-1870, socially

created spatial sub-regions structured the interracial interactions that occurred between

the Chinese, White, Native, and Black inhabitants. Differences between the spaces of the

hinterland, gold field towns and mines meant that in some areas very different interracial

interactions occurred than were possible in the other sub-regions. Specifically, interracial

interactions in the hinterland were more openly diverse than either the towns or mines

largely because the multiple economies of the hinterland, the understanding of the

hinterland as a predominately Native space, and the concurrent lack of surveillance by

non-Natives opened a space for a diversity of interracial interactions. Unlike the

hinterland, in the towns the elites’ idealized space characterized and shaped interracial

interactions, while in the mines the miners’ community publicly articulated a discourse of

proper behaviour that shaped the nature of interracial interactions in that space.

42 James Scott, Domination and the Arts of Resistance: Hidden Transcripts. (New Haven: Yale University
Press, 1990), 63-64 especially.

43 Ibid., 32.

Interracial Interactions
in the Hinterland

The hinterland, understood by Newcomer society as an area that diffused out from

the outer limits of the gold field towns and mines and, lacking firm geographic

boundaries, blended into the neighbouring regions of the Ornineca, Peace, and Okanogan,

is usually overlooked in analyses of the Cariboo; and yet racial understandings

propagated by the town elites affected interracial interactions

in the hinterland.

Conversely, interactions in, and understandings of the hinterland affected interracial

interactions in the towns and mines. Indeed, experiences and understandings of the

various sub-regions of the Cariboo intertwined, making it impossible to understand one

sub-region without reference to the others.

The presence of multiple economies in the hinterland set it apart from the gold field

towns and mines. Three major economies existed in the hinterland: the “traditional”

subsistence and trade economies of the Natives peoples, the fur trade economy, and the

gold mining economy.44 The traditional economy was those social and economic

activities based on fishing, hunting, berry picking, and the trade of these resources. The

fur trade economy involved the hunting, preparing and trading of furs to the Hudson’s

Bay Company or independent traders. Finally, the gold mining economy shaped

interracial interactions in the hinterland in a variety of contexts, from the experiences of

migrants travelling between the Cariboo gold fields and the metropoles of New

The term “traditional” is used in this thesis to refer to those aspects of Native society that pre-date the
gold rush. It does not imply an unchanging set of traditions; it simply signifies aspects of Native
society that pre-date the impact of the gold rush.

Westminster and Victoria to the experiences that arose out of the roadhouses along the

route to the gold fields.

Each of the three different economies in the hinterland had distinct effects on the

power relations, and therefore the interracial interactions of the hinterland. The more

removed an activity was from the gold field economy, the greater the degree of freedom

the participants had from the influence of the town elites. The traditional and fur trade

economies had very different economic bases than the gold field economy and

consequently limited the influence of the town elites on those involved.

Alone, the divisions between the three economies are not enough to explain the

nature of the various interracial interactions in the hinterland. Social and geographic

factors also influenced interracial interactions. While both Natives and Newcomers

understood the hinterland as Native space, the meanings attached to this space differed

for each group. T o Natives, the area was their homeland and the gold field mines and

towns recent intrusions upon the proper order of things. Natives were comfortable and

competent within their traditional territories. (Map 1)

Newcomers shared a basic understanding of the hinterland as an antithetical space

to that of the gold field towns. This manifested both as physical danger, represented by

natural hazards and physical acts of and as social danger, represented by

“savage” Natives and the degradedlcrirninal society of the hinterland.46 For Whites,

Chinese, and Blacks, the greatest manifestation of this fear was armed Native resistance.

The 1864 Bute Inlet resistance, in particular, led to fear that the Tsilqhot’in attacks would

spread into the Cariboo. In response, the town elites attempted to put the surrounding

wilderness under the surveillance of the state with mounted patrols.47

The physical reality of the hinterland also influenced the nature of interracial

interactions. The disparity between the highly centralized Newcomer populations located

in the towns and the more dispersed Native populations meant that Natives occupied the

hinterland to a greater extent than Newcomers. Additionally, Natives had survival

45 Argus, “Letter From Cariboo,” Daily British Colonist, 25 September, 186 1. British Columbian, 17
September, 1862. “The Miners Returning,” British Columbian, 18 October, 1862. Brutus, “Letter
From Our Richfield Correspondent,” Daily British Colonist, 1 September, 1863. “From Cariboo,”
Daily British Colonist, 2 March, 1868. W.D. Moses, “Diary #2, 1869,” 18 May, 1869, BCARS
A01046. British Columbia Supreme Court, “Notes of Procedure,” 1 July, 1867, BCARS B05086.
Cariboo Quesnelle, “County Court Book, July 28, 1864-Oct. loth, 1877,” BCARS GR 0570. County
Court, “Summons Book,” BCARS GR 0584, vol. 1, 2 , 4 , 5 , 8 . Cariboo West, “Provincial Court,”
BCARS GR 0597, vol. 1. County Court of the Cariboo, “County Court Record Book, July 30, 1866-
May 18,” BCARS GR 0822. British Columbia Colony Court, “Cariboo West, 1864-187 1 ,” BCARS
GR 2528, box 1, file 2,7. Robert Stevenson, “Robert Stevenson Fonds, 1838-1922,” Rose Expedition
of 1862, BCARS MS 0315. Thomas Robert Mitchell, “Letter to Parents, 1862,” 12 pages, 7 October,
1862, BCARS MS 0838. See also: Cariboo Sentinel, 14 October, 1865; 7 May, 1866; 5, 16
September, 1867; 4, 18 June, 1868; 14 August, 1869. The Daily Colonist, 10 July, 1862; 6 October,
1862; 24,27 August, 1863; 27 May, 1864. Victoria Daily Chronicle, 17 May, 1863; 5 July, 1863; 12
November, 1863; 24 December 1863; 19 June, 1864; 22 July, 1864.

46 See, for example: Cariboo Sentinel, 5 September, 1867; 14 August, 1869. British Columbian, 18 April,
1866; 17 September, 1862. Victoria Daily Chronicle, 17 May, 1863; 5 July, 1863; 6 July, 1863; 23
August, 1863; 24 December, 1863; 27 January, 1865. Frederick W Howay, “Day Book [Unidentified]
6 Sept 1865-27 Apr. 1867,” 1 March, 1861, UBCSC, box 23, file 12. Note: I have excluded reports
that do not appear to be confirmed or are especially suspicious.

47 “Dreadful Massacre,” and “The Last Indian Atrocity,” Daily British Colonist, 12 May, 1864. “British
Columbia,” Victoria Daily Chronicle, 8 December, 1864. “British Columbia,” Daily British Colonist,
3 1 December, 1864. “Later From Cariboo,” Victoria Daily Chronicle, 27 January, 1865. John Boyles
Gaggin, “Colonial Correspondence,” “Gold Commissioners office at Quesnellemouth to Colonial Sec.
(Victoria),” 21 January, 1865, BCARS B 1330, file 624.

strategies and technologies adapted to the countryside.48 In contrast, Newcomer groups

tended to lack concrete familiarity with any “wilderness,” let alone the specific

biogeoclimatic conditions surrounding the gold field towns.49 These physical realities

had the effect of constraining Newcomer ability and facilitating Native dominance in the

hinterland. The physical environment, combined with the Newcomer understanding of

the hinterland as a landscape of fear and the presence of non-gold field economies,

maintained the hinterland as Native space, a dynamic that shaped interracial interactions

in the hinterland.

The Subsistence Economy

Native groups participated in the traditional subsistence and trading economies to

different extents. Some, such as the Tsilqhot’in, maintained a high level of involvement

in traditional economies throughout the gold field period.50 Others, such as the Shuswap,

became comparatively more involved in the gold field economy.51 Those Natives

participating primarily in traditional economies existed largely independent of Newcomer

48 “New Diggings-Excitement-Poisoned Salmon,” Daily British Colonist, 15 July, 1859. “Further From
Cariboo,” Daily British Colonist, 6 April, 1861. “Letter From Quesnelle River,” Daily British
Colonist, 5 May, 1862. “The Roads,” British Columbian, 16 March, 1865. “Indian Fish Trap, Tatchi
River,” 1923, BCARS Visual Records, D-06402. “Indian Drying Olla Berries, Fraser Lake,” 1905,
BCARS Visual Records, E-08394. Marianne Boelscher Ignace, “Shuswap,” Handbook, 209.
Margaret L. Tobey, “Carriers,” Handbook, 418.

49 “Further From Cariboo,” Daily British Colonist, 6 April, 1861. “Additional From Cariboo,” Daily
British Colonist, 11 September, 1861. “Letter From Cariboo,” Daily British Colonist, 25 September,
1861. “Letter From Quesnelle River,” Daily British Colonist, 5 May, 1862. “The Roads,” British
Columbian, 16 March, 1865.

“Arrival of an Exploring Party from Fort Alexandria to the Coast,” Daily British Colonist, 12 June, 1861.
“News From Cariboo,” British Columbian, 2 July, 1862. Margaret L. Tobey, “Carriers,” Handbook,
418. “Indian Fish Trap, Tatchi River,” 1923, BCARS Visual Records, D-06402. “Indian Drying Olla
Berries, Fraser Lake,” 1905, BCARS Visual Records, E-08394.

5 1 Prof. L. Bushell, “To the Editor of The British Columbian,” British Columbian, 5 July, 1862. Joseph
William MacKay, “Diary,” 9 June, 1865, BCARS MS 1917.

society. They produced much, though not all, of their food and supply requirements and

either generally consumed these items themselves or traded with other Native groups.

Overall, the traditional subsistence economy did not encourage interracial

interactions. In some cases, the traditional economy intersected with the gold field

economy, as when Natives traded foodstuffs and other items to the gold miners, but these

uncommon instances represent only a fraction of the total production of these

economies.52 These limited occurrences of trade benefited both Natives and Newcomers

and a fair degree of friendliness between the parties characterized these interaction^.^^

Despite the negative stereotype attached to “traditional” Native activity by

Newcomers, the town elites seem to have perceived these interactions favourably. A

combination of the myth of the “vanishing Indian” and Native support of miners

encouraged this positive perception of Native activity in the subsistence economy. The

town elites’ stereotype of Natives posited that the traditional economy would naturally

recede before the advance of White-defined “ci~ilization.”~~ The town elites hoped that

the Natives would recognize the subordinate nature of their way of life and assist with the

expansion of “civilization.” In the Cariboo, the town elites and much of the mining

population equated “civilization” with the gold field economy and the British-influenced

5 2 Argus, “Letter From Williams’ Lake,” Daily British Colonist, 3 June, 1861. Cosmopolite, “Letter From
Cariboo,” Daily British Colonist, 7 April, 1864. “Canyon Creek,” Cariboo Sentinel, 27 August, 1866.
“Oolahans,” Cariboo Sentinel, 27 May, 1867. Bishop George Hills, ” Diary 1861 ,” transcribed, 23
June, 1861, 2 July, 1862, ADCA. Harry Guillod, cited in B.C. Historical Quarterly, vol. X I X , no. 3 &
4. 6 October, 1862, BA.

53 Ibid.

54 “Trans-Continental Railroad” Cariboo Sentinel, 9 August, 1868. “Profits of Agriculture,” Cariboo
Sentinel, 24 July, 1869. Adele Perry, On the Edge of Empire, 20,92. Robin Fisher, Contact and
Conflict: Indian-European Relations in British Columbia 2nd ed. (Vancouver: UBC Press, 1992),
102, 104-105.

society of the gold field towns.” In this context, Whites (rnis)interpreted Native trading

as a sign of their s~bordination.’~ Whites in general, and the town elites in particular,

understood the supply of food and supplies by Natives to be recognition of the primacy of

the gold field economy.57 Additionally, the more remote the location from the gold field

towns, the more the town elites saw dependency on Natives as acceptable because they

expected Natives to be more adept than Whites at surviving in the “savage ~ i l d e r n e s s . ” ‘ ~

While this trade physically supported the gold field economy, it is doubtful that the

Natives who chose to trade with the Newcomers saw themselves as subordinate. Instead,

they most likely viewed the miners and prospectors as convenient trading partners who

supplemented their pre-existing trading networks.

” I.D.C., “A Man’s a Man for A’ That,” British Columbian, 4 June, 1862. ***, “William’s Creek,” Daily
British Colonist, 24 July, 1863. K., “Letter From Richfield,” Victoria Daily Chronicle, 20 July, 1864.
“Cariboo Letter,” Daily British Colonist, 23 August, 1864. A.H. Francis, “Letter from our Victoria
Correspondent,” Elevator, 2 June, 1865. “Mining Intelligence,” Daily British Colonist, 10 August,
1865. A.H.F., “Victoria,” Elevator, 1 December, 1865. B.D., “Letter from Cariboo,” Daily British
Colonist, 27 March, 1868. Bell, “Letter From Victoria, B.C.,” Elevator, 26 June, 1868. Bell, “Letter
From Victoria, B.C.,” Elevator, 31 July, 1868. “Profits of Agriculture,” Cariboo Sentinel, 24 July,
1869. “Reception of the Governor,” Cariboo Sentinel, 22 September, 1869. Cariboo Quesnelle,
“County Court Book, July 28, 1864-Oct. loth, 1877,” 23 September, 1863, BCARS GR 0570. John B.
Wilkinson, “Letters,” Victoria, June 27, 1860; Vancouver Island, 27 June, 1860, BCARS MS 0048,
file I. W.D. Moses, “Description: Lady Franklin visits the Pacific Northwest: Being extracts from the
letters of Miss Sophia Cracroft, Sir John Franklin’s Niece, February to April 1861 and April to July
1870,” Ed. Dorothy Blakey Smith. Victoria BC. Provincial Archives, memoir no. XI. 1974. 1861?,
BA.

56 Argus, “Letter From Williams’ Lake,” Daily British Colonist, 3 June, 1861. Cosmopolite, “Letter From
Cariboo,” Daily British Colonist, 7 April, 1864. “Canyon Creek,” Cariboo Sentinel, 27 August, 1866.
“Oolahans,” Cariboo Sentinel, 27 May, 1867. Harry Guillod, B.C. Historical Quarterly, 6 October,
I862 BA. Bishop George Hills, “Diary, 1861 ,” transcribed. 23 June, 1 8 6 l , 2 July, 1862, ADCA.

57 Argus, “Letter From Williams’ Lake,” Daily British Colonist, 3 June, 1861. Cosmopolite, “Letter From
Cariboo,” Daily British Colonist, 7 April, 1864. “Canyon Creek,” Cariboo Sentinel, 27 August, 1866.
“Oolahans,” Cariboo Sentinel, 27 May, 1867. “News From the Peace River,” Cariboo Sentinel, 8 July,
1868. Harry Guillod, B.C. Historical Quarterly, 6 October, 1862, BA. Bishop George Hills, “Diary,
1861,” transcribed. 23 June, l 8 6 l , 2 July, 1862, ADCA. George Blair, Diary of George Blair Feb 17,
1862-Dec. 29, 1863, (transcribed by Macintosh, July 17, 1962), 1862,43144, BA, 97 1.12 BLA.

58 Compare, for instance: “News From Peace River,” Cariboo Sentinel, 8 July, 1868 and “Stewart’s Lake
Indians,” Cariboo Sentinel, 14 August, 1869.

The Fur Trade Economy

In the hinterland, the fur trade remained a significant economy for some Natives

and Newcomers. The Hudson’s Bay Company operated several forts in the interior of the

colony and there was a proliferation of independent Newcomer fur traders during the

gold field period.59 To Native groups such as the Carrier and Beaver, the fur trade was a

familiar mode of economic activity that provided a viable alternative to the mining

economy .(jO

Even more alarming to the town elites than the alternative fur trading offered to

Natives, was the alternative to the gold field economy fur trading offered to Whites and

other Newcomers. To the town elites it seemed as though the fur trade encouraged

Whites to act in a “savage” manner.61 The town elites therefore viewed the fur trade as a

direct threat to the social norms and values they tried to promulgate within the gold field

towns.(j2

While both Natives and Newcomer fur traders suffered from negative stereotyping

by the town elites, this appears to have been the extent of their influence on the fur trade

economy.63 Several factors worked to mitigate the effect of the town elites’ criticisms of

fur trading. First, other than public derision, no sanctions seem to have been brought

against the fur traders. Many fur traders lived outside the gold field towns, and those that

– – – – –

59 Jean Barman, The West Beyond the West: A History of British Columbia. (Toronto: University of
Toronto Press, 1991), 85. Margaret L. Tobey, “Camer,” Handbook, 418.

60 “News From Peace River,” Cariboo Sentinel, 8 July, 1868. “Stewart’s Lake Indians,” Cariboo Sentinel,
14 August, 1869.

61 “How Provoking,” Cariboo Sentinel, 8 June, 1868. “Trans-Continental Railroad” Cariboo Sentinel, 9
August, 1868. “Stewart’s Lake Indians,” Cariboo Sentinel, 14 August, 1869. Adele Perry, On the
Edge of Empire, 20,92. Robin Fisher, Contact and Conflict, 102, 104-105.

63 “News From Peace River,” Cariboo Sentinel, 8 July, 1868. “Stewart’s Lake Indians,” Cariboo Sentinel,
14 August, 1869.

lived in the towns probably derived economic benefits that offset the occasional

derogatory reference in the newspaper and the general air of c o n d e s c e n ~ i o n . ~ Second,

criticism of the hinterland was not primarily intended to chastise the fur traders, though it

may have had that effect, but rather, the intended audience was the other inhabitants of

the gold field towns. By criticizing the fur trade, and especially the miscegenation that

accompanied it, the town elites encouraged greater conformity in the towns to the social

norms they articulated. In the hinterland, good business practices, including a more open

attitude toward Natives by Newcomer fur traders, continued to characterize the interracial

interactions between Natives and Newcomers in the fur trade economy despite the

criticism of the town elites in the towns.65

The Gold Field Economy

The town elites had more control over the nature of interracial interactions in

situations that involved the gold economy directly, such as packing, roadhouse

sociability, and food production. While the town elites recognized the need for these

activities, they nonetheless regarded them as secondary to events in the towns and

mines.66 Even here, where the influence of the town elites was at its pinnacle in the

hinterland, interracial interactions did not conform to the ideal promulgated from the gold

field towns. Instead, social and physical conditions specific to the hinterland modified or

mitigated the impact of the town

elites.

64 Cosmopolite, “Letter From Cariboo,” Daily British Colonist, 7 April, 1864. “Stewart’s Lake Indians,”
Cariboo Sentinel, 14 August, 1869. “From Omineca,” Daily British Colonist, 24 July, 1870.

65 Robin Fisher, Contact and Conflict, 80-83.

66 “Trans-Continental Railroad” Cariboo Sentinel, 9 August, 1868. A cursory read of Cariboo Sentinel
shows that “Mining Intelligence” was the focus of every issue, and other economic concerns relevant
in so much as they affected the mining industry.

Miners travelling to and from the Cariboo gold mines made up the bulk of the

Newcomers in the hinterland. Newcomers travelled to the Cariboo in mono- and multi-

racial groups. While Whites, Blacks, and Chinese all travelled in mono-racial groups, it

is the Chinese who stand out as the least likely to travel in multi-racial groups, whereas

Blacks and Whites travelled in multi-racial groups with relative frequency.67 The relative

homogeneity of Chinese immigrants and the virulent anti-Asian sentiment that

predominated among Whites, Blacks, and Natives conspired to make the Chinese the

most likely to remain within their racial group when entering the ~ a r i b o o . ~ ‘

While Black and White miners shared many basic social, cultural and economic

characteristics, with the result that multi-racial associations predominately formed

between them, these associations were not necessarily equitable.69 In one example, a

Black tinsmith traded wheelbarrow repairs for a meal and shared accommodation in a

tent with two White men. The tinsmith was more likely to engage in trade with the

relatively familiar Whites than with Natives, who had less need of his services and were

unfamiliar in language and customs.70 Trade between individuals was predicated on a

sense of equality of skills and goods, but not necessarily of the individuals that possessed

67 See, for example: Argus, “Letter from Williams’ Lake,” Daily British Colonist, 3 June, 1861. “Yale,
May 231d,” Cariboo Sentinel, 28 May, 1866. “For Cariboo,” Cariboo Sentinel, 6 May, 1867.
“Criminal Trials,” Cariboo Sentinel, 4 July, 1867. Harry Guillod, B.C. Historical Quarterly, 29 July,
1862, BA. Ying-ying Chen, In the Colonies of the Tang, 103. Benson Tong, The Chinese Americans,
Revised ed. (Boulder: University Press of Colorado, 2003), 9-15.

“News From Above,” British Columbian, 30 May, 1861. Vialor, “En Route to Cariboo,” Daily British
Colonist, 1 June, 1863. “Blacks vs. Yellow,” Elevator, 30 March, 1866. Ying-ying Chen, In the
Colonies of the Tang, 103, 161. Gillian Marie, Attitudes Toward Chinese Immigrants to British
Columbia, 1858-1885.” (M.A. Thesis, Simon Fraser University, 1976), 21. Benson Tong, The Chinese
Americans, 9 – 15.

69 James Pilton, Negro Settlement, 43,44. C.S. Giscombe, Into and Out of Dislocation. (New York: North
Point Press, 2000), 7. Dan Marshall, Indians, Goldseekers And the Rush to British Columbia. (Ph.D.
Dissertation, UBC, 2000), 21.

‘O Harry Guillod, cited in B.C. Historical Quarterly, 29 July, 1862, BA.

them. Therefore, it was easy for Harry Guillod, one of the White men, to label his

travelling companion a “nigger” while sharing a tent with him.71

Native interracial interactions while travelling along the Cariboo Wagon Road

differed from the other groups. Unlike the Whites, Chinese, and Blacks, Natives rarely

travelled to the Cariboo to mine and instead worked as packers along the route. Natives

packed, usually on foot, miner’s goods or shop supplies to the gold field towns.72 Natives

also packed supplies out from the gold field towns into the hinterland for prospecting

parties. In both circumstances, Newcomers employed Natives. The town elites

considered packing on foot an industry particularly suited to Natives because they

believed Natives could carry heavier burdens than their White c ~ u n t e r ~ a r t s . ~ ‘ The town

elites therefore saw Native employment in foot packing as a necessary, but regrettable,

holdover from the fur trade economy.

It is doubtful whether the town elites’ concern with the symbolism of foot packing

significantly affected the interracial interactions between the packers and their employers.

While The Cariboo Sentinel railed against Native foot packers, in doing so, the paper also

revealed the dependency of the gold field towns on those same foot packers.74 Moral

indignation aside, the necessity of transporting goods by Native foot packers allowed

Natives the opportunity to exercise a degree of control in the packing industry that they

lacked in any aspect of the gold field economy in either the towns or the mines. For

example, Natives often packed in family groups, with all family members hauling their

71 Ibid.

72 Progress, “The Upper Country,” British Columbian, 13 June, 1861. “How Provoking,” Cariboo Sentinel,
8 June, 1868. “Stewart’s Lake Indians,” Cariboo Sentinel, 14 August, 1869.

73 Progress, “The Upper Country,” British Columbian, 13 June, 1861.

74 Ibid.

share of the load.75 By doing this, Native packers maintained family cohesion while

modifying their traditional round economies to incorporate wage labour. In this way,

Natives controlled the nature of their involvement in the packing industry.

Further evidence of Native control of packing can be seen when examining the

available records of the price per pound charged by Native packers during the gold field

period. (Table 1) The first evident trend is a cyclical increase in the value of Native

labour in the summer, usually from April to ~ u n e . ~ ~ Elevated demand cannot be

considered the major factor in this trend. Demand should have logically peaked later, in

August or September, when the miners were well established in the gold fields and the

initial supplies the gold miners had brought with them had been exhausted. Instead,

Native participation in other activities, such as fishing, reduced the supply of labour.77

For example, in June 1861, “Argus” admitted “[ilt was almost impossible to get

provisions up, as nearly all the Indians had gone on their usual fishing excursions to the

lakes.”78 Natives used wage labour such as packing when it suited their interests but their

traditional subsistence strategies usually remained their primary economic interest. This

trend varied somewhat between Native groups with the Tsilqhot’in emerging as one of

the Native groups least likely to engage in packing.79 Largely of their own volition, the

75 Bishop George Hills, “Diary 1861,” transcribed, 25 June, 1861, ADCA. R. Byron Johnson, Very Far
West Indeed: A Few Rough Experiences on the North- West Pacific Coast (London: Sampson Low,
Marston, Low & Searle, 1872), 78.

76 Ibid.
77 Argus, “Letter From Beaver Lake,” Daily British Colonist, 1 1 June, 1861. “Arrival of an exploring

Party from Fort Alexandria to the Coast,” Daily British Colonist, June 12, 1861. Progress, “The Upper
Country,” 13 June, 1861. “News From Cariboo,” British Columbian, 24 May, 1862. “From
Omineca,” Daily British Colonist, 24 July, 1870. Chartres Brew, “Correspondence,” 22 April, 1869,
BCARS B01311, file 197.

78 Argus, “Letter From Beaver Lake,” Daily British Colonist, 11 June, 1861.

79 “Arrival of an Exploring Party from Fort Alexandria to the Coast,” Daily British Colonist, 12 June, 1861.
“News From Cariboo,” British Columbian, 2 July, 1862.

Packing also provided a context for a very different interracial interaction for the

Chinese who packed a particularly large amount of supplies into the Cariboo. While

Whites permitted the Chinese to enter the packing industry without contention, they did

place constraints on where the Chinese could pack. Until 1863, Whites, in an attempt to

stop the Chinese from mining in the main Cariboo gold fields, did not allow Chinese

packers to enter the Cariboo ~ o u n t a i n s . ~ ~ Instead, White and Native packers met the

Chinese packers at the entrance to the Cariboo Mountains and carried the loads into the

actual gold fields.83 In this case, the social and economic meanings of race in the gold

mines and towns as a non-Chinese space affected the social and economic meanings of

race in the hinterland, restricting the Chinese from packing into the Cariboo Mountains.

Instead, Whites confined Chinese packers in this early period to packing along the Fraser

and Quesnel Rivers.

The other major form of packing in the Cariboo, mule teams, were both mono and

multi-racial in character.84 A tension existed between the extremely high demand for

goods to be brought into the Cariboo, and the town elites’ desire to favour White, or more

generally, non-Chinese mule packers.85 Mono-racial Chinese mule teams were not

dependant on White businesses, however. Although it is not known to what extent it

82 “News From Above,” British Colurnbian, 30 May, 1861. “Arrivals From the River,” Daily British
Colonist, June 10, 1861. Argus, “Letter From Cariboo,” Daily British Colonist, 7 October, 186 1.
Vialor, “En Route to Cariboo,” Daily British Colonist, 1 June, 1863.

83 Argus, “Letters From Williams’ Lake,” Daily British Colonist, 3 June, 1861. Vialor, “En Route to
Cariboo,” Daily British Colonist, 1 June, 1863.

84 Argus, “Letter From Williams Lake,” Daily British Colonist, 3 June, 1861. “Later From The Interior,”
British Columbian, 4 January, 1865. “The Horse Fly Prospecting Expedition,” Cariboo Sentinel, 23
July, 1865. “Cruelty To Animals,” Cariboo Sentinel, 24 June, 1867. “Road Traffic,” Cariboo
Sentinel, 14 May, 1870. “Wilson’s Pack Train; Near Quesnel,” 189-, BCARS Visual Records, A-
05277.

85 Bishop George Hills, “Diary 1861 ,” transcribed, 23 June, 1861, ADCA. W.M. Mark. Cariboo: A True
and Correct Narrative. (Stockton: W.M. Wright, 1863), 1862, BA 971.12 MAR 1863.

occurred, Chinese packers packed in goods for non-Chinese busine~ses.’~ The defensive

Chinese community that privileged other Chinese over co-operation with other racial

groups increased the likelihood that Chinese goods were largely imported, where

possible, by Chinese packers.87 Also, the Kwong Lee Company, the major Chinese

business in British Columbia, seems to have been vertically integrated, controlling most

of the different aspects of making, selling, and delivering the products and services it

offered, including, to the advantage of the Chinese men involved, packing.88 As in

virtually all economic fields in which the Chinese competed, the town elites depicted the

Chinese as having an unfair advantage. In one case, The Cariboo Sentinel depicted the

Chinese as cruelly overburdening their pack animals with loads of 200-300 l b ~ . ‘ ~ In

contrast, less than a month later, the Sentinel expressed admiration when White-owned

mules bore loads of up to 400 l b ~ . ~ ‘ Despite these biased characterizations, Chinese

mule teams persisted during the gold field era, undoubtedly aided by the presence of a

significant and secure Chinese market for their services in the gold field towns. The

economics of mule packing mitigated the effects of the town elites’ criticism and helped

the Chinese packers persist in the face of resistance by the town elites.

86 “Cruelty To Animals,” Cariboo Sentinel, 24 June, 1867.
87 Harry Con, Ronald J. Con, et al. From China to Canada: A History of the Chinese Communities in

Canada. (Toronto: McClelland and Stewart Limited, 1982), 31.

B., “Later From The Interior,” Daily British Colonist, 18 February, 1865. “Mainland Items From A
Correspondent,” Daily British Colonist, 5 August, 1869. Chartres Brew, “Colonial Correspondence,”
1 August, 1869, BCARS GR 0216, v.11. Provincial Court, “Cariboo West,” 30 April, 1865, 1.3 May,
l865,22 February, 1868, BCARS GR 0597, vol. 1. Bohanon/Fuller, “Day Books: Jan. 1868-Aug.
1868,” 20 October, 1869, QA, fonds #8, series 2, box B, item 2. Much more research needs to be done
on the Kwong Lee Company and its place in the early history of British Columbia.

89 Argus, “Letter From Williams Lake,” Daily British Colonist, 3 June, 1861. “Cruelty To Animals,”
Cariboo Sentinel, 24 June, 1 867.

90 “M.C. Davis,” Cariboo Sentinel, 22 July, 1867

labour.95 Due to the long journeys over relatively isolated areas, employees in multi-

racial packing companies had extensive interactions with members of other racial groups.

The ameliorating effects of such interactions, if any, on the stereotypes possessed

by each group seems to have been largely confined to the individuals directly involved.

The heterogeneity of Cataline’s pack trains is remembered in the historical record as an

exception worth commenting upon, not as indicative of a larger trend.96 Those packers

that did come to view their co-workers in a new light as the result of working beside them

may not have translated that understanding to the “race” as a whole and, although the

town elites had little direct control over the packing industry, common stereotypes proved

resilient enough to continue to perpetuate racial difference in the hinterland.

These stereotypes of subordinate Natives and dominant Newcomers would seem to

be confirmed by an examination of those Natives who prospected for White miners.97

This relationship seems to be an example of White miners using Natives to accomplish

financially risky, but necessary, work. A closer examination, however, reveals a different

power relationship present in this interracial interaction. Natives prospected for Whites

with whom they had a relationship or who would pay them for the i n f ~ r m a t i o n . ~ ~ In this

way, Natives benefited from the gold mining industry from which social and economic

factors excluded them and rewarded those Whites who were more tolerant, or at least

95 Ibid.

% Ibid., passim.

97 “The Late Discoveries,” Daily British Colonist, 23 January, 1861. “Probable Important Discovery,”
Cariboo Sentinel, 27 June, 1867. “Mining Intelligence,” Cariboo Sentinel, 8 July, 1867. “History of
The Peace River Mines,” Daily British Colonist, 17 February, 1870. “Peace River and Cariboo News,”
Daily British Colonist, 17 May, 1870. William George Cox, “Colonial Correspondence,” 1 December,
1863, BCARS B 13 12, file 378.

98 Ibid.

able to appear more tolerant, of them. In reality then, Native prospectors actually

exercised a fair degree of power in their relationships with White miners.

Besides Native prospectors, other groups who travelled out from the gold field

towns into the surrounding hinterland were also less likely to abide by the social dictates

of the town elites, despite being based out of the towns. Prospecting and survey parties

comprised one of the main ways that Newcomers travelled out from the towns into the

surrounding hinterland. These exploratory parties could be composed of only one racial

group, such as Blacks, Chinese or but were usually multi-racial, employing

Natives as both packers and guides and often Chinese as cooks.1oo Both types of

exploratory parties were heavily dependent on the goodwill of the Native inhabitants of

the regions they entered. As these parties moved greater and greater distances from the

support network of the gold field towns, they became more vulnerable, not only to hostile

Natives, but also to disasters such as capsizing or storm^.’^’ In any case, the disposition

of local Natives to these exploratory parties could make the difference between life and

99 Observer, “Letter From Richfield,” Victoria Daily Chronicle, 29 January, 1864. “Prospecting,” Cariboo
Sentinel, 22 July, 1867. “John Chinaman and Wages,” Cariboo Sentinel, 1 1 June, 1870. “From
Cariboo,” Mainland Guardian, 25 June, 1870. Linda Eversole, “John Giscome: Jamaican Miner and
Explorer,” British Columbia Historical News. 1 1- 15, 1862, BA.

loo Argus, “Letter from Quesnelle City,” The British Colonist, 9 August, 1861. “The Horse Fly Prospecting
Expedition,” Cariboo Sentinel, 23 July, 1865. “Good News from the Interior,” British Columbian, 7
October, 1865. “Latest from Cariboo,” Daily British Colonist, 18 May, 1866. “Up Country
Telegrams,” British Columbian, 19 May, 1866. “Return of the Telegraph Expedition,” British
Columbian, 27 October, 1866. H.M. Ball, “Journal,” transcribed, 1-2 September, 1864, BCARS MS
0750.

I01 Argus, “Letter From Cariboo,” Daily British Colonist, 25 September, 1861. “The Miners Returning,”
British Columbian, 18 October, 1862. Brutus, “Letter From Our Richfield Correspondent,” Daily
British Colonist, 1 September, 1863. “Dreadful Massacre,” and “The Last Indian Atrocity,” Daily
British Colonist, 12 May, 1864. “British Columbia,” Victoria Daily Chronicle, 8 December, 1864.
“British Columbia,” Daily British Colonist, 3 1 December, 1864. “Later From Cariboo,” Victoria Daily
Chronicle, 27 January, 1865. “From Cariboo,” Daily British Colonist, 2 March, 1868. W.D. Moses
Diaries, “Diary #2, 1869,” 18 May, 1869, BCARS A01046. John Boyles Gaggin, “Colonial
Correspondence,” “Gold Commissioners office at Quesnellemouth to Colonial Sec. (Victoria),” 21
January, 1865, BCARS B 1330, file 624.

death.lo2 The distance of the hinterland from the support of the gold field towns meant

that these extensions of the gold field economy into the surrounding hinterland were

inherently weak. This weakness allowed Natives to position themselves in a relatively

strong social and economic position. Natives influenced the price of their labour, their

working conditions and, finally, decided if they wanted to work at all.

Joseph McKay’s experience on a telegraph survey expedition for the Hudson’s Bay

Company in 1865 provides a particularly telling example of the dependency of surveyors

and prospectors specifically, and non-Natives in general, on Natives in the hinterland.lo3

In his official correspondence, McKay attributed the failure of his expedition and the

death of his partner to the desertion of their Native guide who left them with wet

gunpowder.104 However, an examination of McKay9s diary reveals that McKay9s partner

was injury-prone and, despite the best efforts of the Native guide, the food situation

continually worsened.lo5 After several days, the Native guide abandoned McKay and his

hapless partner, apparently convinced they were doomed.lo6 Over the next few days,

McKay and his hunting partner were unable to shoot even large game even at close range,

due to their lack of any skill at hunting, rather than because of wet gunpowder.107 McKay

is an example that outside of areas of settlement, non-Native groups were dependent on

Io2 B. “Amval of an Exploring Party from Fort Alexandria to the Coast,” Daily British Colonist, 12 June,
1861. “News From Cariboo,” British Columbian, 2 July, 1862. Joseph William McKay, “J.W.
MacKay to the Board of Management HBC, Victoria, Vancouver Isl,” 2 5 , 3 June, 1865, BCARS MS
1917. Thomas Elwyn, “Colonial Correspondence,” 5 July, 1866, BCARS B1327, file 526.

I o 3 Joseph McKay was actually of MCtis heritage on both his father’s and mother’s sides. Richard Mackie,
personal communication, 4 February, 2005.

104 Joseph William McKay, “J.W. McKay to the Board of Management Hudson’s Bay Company,”
Correspondence, 3 June 1865, BCARS MS 1917. Joseph William McKay, “J.W. McKay to the Board
of Management Hudson’s Bay Company: Draft,” Correspondence, 6 June, 1865, BCARS MS 1917.

’05 Joseph William McKay, “1865 Diary,” 17-18 May, 1865, BCARS MS 1917.

Io6 Ibid.

lo’ Ibid., 26 May, 1865. Starvation, fatigue and injury eventually killed McKay’s partner.

Native assistance, often purchased at a very high price.108 In the hinterland, non-Native

groups were even less effective at coercion than they were in the conflicted spaces of the

gold field towns and mines.

One of the major Newcomer institutions located in the hinterland were the

roadhouses usually spaced about a day’s travel apart along the main routes into the

Cariboo gold fields, and which offered a roof, food, drink, and sociability.109 The

roadhouses of the Cariboo could both relax and enforce social b o ~ n d a r i e s . ” ~ In the act of

drinking, social boundaries could be relaxed and interracial interactions between

individuals could occur with a semblance of equality. This is especially true when the

custom of “standing” for drinks was practiced. “Standing” drinks meant that travellers

would take turns buying rounds for their companions. Drinkers shunned travellers who

refused to participate.111 The records from roadhouses indicate that Chinese and White

working class miners, in particular, gambled and drank together.l12 While it is

impossible to determine how widespread this trend was given the paucity of surviving

records, a combination of boredom, a shared homosocial environment, the common

availability of both liquor and cards, and a lack of alternative sites of sociability increased

the likelihood of such interactions.ll3 Blacks, too, frequented roadhouses and took part in

108 Joseph William McKay, “1865 Diary,” 31 May, 1 June, 1865, BCARS MS 1917. Cariboo Quesnelle,
“County Court Book, July 28, 1864- Oct. loth, 1877,” 17 May, 1864, BCARS GR 0570.

lo9 “Later From Cariboo,” Daily British Colonist, 1 1 January, 1866. Adele Perry, On the Edge of Empire,
42-43.

“O Julia Roberts, “‘A Mixed Assemblage of Persons’: Race and Tavern Space in Upper Canada,” in 7’he
Canadian Historical Review, vol. 83, no. 1, (March 2002), 1-3.

I l l Adele Perry, On the Edge of Empire, 40-42. W.D. Moses, “Diary,” 29 August, 1869, Barkewille
Computer Reference System, BA.

‘ I 2 John Boyd, “Unidentified Day Book,” 18-19,23 January, 29 March, 1868, BCARS A01030.

Adele Perry, On the Edge of Empire, 40.

the multi-racial sociability present.114 However, the town elites looked down upon the

drinking that occurred in the roadhouses and feared that the interracial mixing there

would be imported to the towns.l15 That interracial mixing was the norm in the

roadhouses speaks to the lack of an effective means of coercion by the town elites and

influence of countervailing factors that encouraged these interactions.

However, the roadhouses were not booze-fuelled racial utopias. Laws preventing

Native consumption of alcohol officially excluded Natives from the socialization of the

roadhouses.116 Furthermore, while drinking and gambling together is indicative of a

blurring of social boundaries, in some ways these activities may actually have helped

enforce racial stereotypes. During this period, Whites stereotypically understood the

Chinese as, among other things, users of immoral substances, and as inveterate

gamblers.117 In contrast, White men engaged in drinking and gambling reinscribed their

White masculinity by reaffirming a rugged man lines^.”^ The participation of both these

groups in the sociability of the roadhouses would have appeared to confirm these

stereotypes. In addition to this double standard, most of the social acquaintances formed

in the roadhouses would be transitory by nature, further limiting any sustained challenges

to racial stereotypes.

‘I4 Frederick W. Howay, “Day Book [Unidentified] 6 Sept 1865-27 Apr. 1867,” 2,25 March, 1865,
UBCSC, box. 23, file 14. BohanonIFuller, “Day Books: Jan. 1868- Aug. 1868,” 17 March, 1871. 8
April, 187lQA, fonds #8, series 2, subseries 2, box B, item 2.

” 5 Adele Perry, On the Edge of Empire, 40-43,80-83.

‘ I 6 Ibid., 40.
117 Provincial Court, “Cariboo West,” 7 September, 11 November, 1867; 8 February, 22 September, 1868,

BCARS GR 0597, vol. 1. Kay Anderson, “Engendering Race Research: Unsettling the self-other
Dichotomy,” in Bodyspace: Destabilizing Geographies of Gender and Sexualiry, (New York:
Routledge, 1996), 204-207. Kay Anderson, Vancouver’s Chinatown: Racial Discourse in Canada,
1875-1980 (Montreal & Kingston: McGill-Queen’s University Press, 1991), 51.

118 Adele Perry, On the Edge of Empire, 38-44.

The business structure of the individual roadhouses also belies the notion of racial

utopias along the route to the Cariboo. While both Blacks and Whites operated

roadhouses, neither Chinese nor Natives emerge from the historical record as

proprietors.1 l9 Generally, Natives and Chinese predominated as employees, especially in

the more arduous tasks of manual labour, while Blacks and Whites tended to occupy

positions of ownership. While the roadhouses employed workers from all different

groups, specific jobs seem to have had loose racial designations. Therefore, the majority

of cooks were chinese,l2′ but there were also a few Black cooks.121 Roadhouse owners

hired Natives and Chinese to cut lumber, collect hay for the horses, and do other odd

jobs.122 The need for investment capital to fund roadhouse operations favoured

ownership of roadhouses by Whites and Blacks who, in turn, favoured social norms that

confined Natives and Chinese to subordinate positions.

The populations of the gold field towns and mines were especially dependant on

one aspect of the gold field economy in the hinterland. Interracial interactions revolving

around food production by Newcomer groups in the hinterland placed the food producers

‘ I 9 “From Our Special Correspondent,” British Columbian, 27 August, 1862. “British Columbia,” Daily
British Colonist, 13 June, 1864. BohanodFuller, “Day Books: Jan. 1868-Aug. 1868,” 18 January,
1868, QA, fonds #8, series 2, box B, item 1. For probable locations refer to: Branwen C. Patenaude,
Trails to Gold (Victoria: Horsdal & Shubart, 1995), 160.

120 “Cariboo and British Columbia,” Daily British Colonist, 3 September, 1863. John Boyd, “Unidentified
Day Book,” 14 December, 1868, BCARS A01030. BohanodFuller, “Day Books: October 1869-
October 1870,” 15 November, 1869, QA, fonds #8, series 2, subseries 2, box B, item 3.
BohanodFuller, “CashlAccount Books ca 1868-1882,” 7 April, 1870, QA, fonds #8, series 2, subseries
3, box D, item 2. James Reynard, ”Barkemille, 1869-1906. Cariboo Mission-Rev. J. Reynard,” 1869,
ADCA.

121 “Cariboo and British Columbia,” Daily British Colonist, 3 September, 1863. BohanodFuller,
“Cash/Account Books ca 1869-1876,” 9 January, 1872, QA, fonds #8, series 2, subseries 3, box D,
item 3.

122 John Boyd, “Unidentified Day Book,” 15 April, 10 September, 14 December, 1868; 21 April, 8 June,
1869, BCARS A01030. BohanodFuller, “Day Books: Aug. 1868-Oct. 1869,” 7 December, 1868; 7
February, 18 April, 1869, QA, fonds #8, series 2, box B, item 2.

in an advantageous social position and individuals from the different Newcomer groups

all participated through either ranches or farms.123 In particular, the Chinese rapidly

implemented Chinese gardens, akin to those in both California and ~ u s t r a 1 i a . l ~ ~ The

Chinese gardens supplied considerable quantities of fresh vegetables such as “lettuce,

onions, [and] radishes” and the gold field staple, potatoes.125 Additionally, Chinese

gardens in the Cariboo adapted to grow wheat, accounting for one-quarter of the total

wheat production in the region by 1 8 6 7 . ‘ ~ ~ There is also evidence of Chinese ranches, or

at least Chinese swine and cattle herds in the ~ a r i b o o . ‘ ~ ‘

Blacks and Whites also farmed and ranched.’28 Land records exist for pre-emptions

by two Blacks, John Giscome and Henry McDames, on the Bonaparte River near

Iz3 “The Chinese are.. . ,” Cariboo Sentinel, 10 May, 1866. “Quesnelmouth,” Cariboo Sentinel, 10
September, 1866. “Vegetables” and “Wheat Crop,” Cariboo Sentinel, 8 July, 1867. “Vegetables,”
Cariboo Sentinel, 22 May, 1869. J. Monroe Thoington, ed., “The Cariboo Journal of John Macoun,”
27 November, 1872, BA. Frederick W. Howay, “Day Book [Unidentified] 6 Sept 1865-27 Apr. 1867,”
23 February, 2 March, 13 April, 1865, UBCSC, box 23, file 14. BohanonFuller, “Day Books: Aug.
1868- Oct. 1869,” 15 November, 1868, QA, fonds #8, series 2, box B, item 2.

Iz4 “Mining Intelligence,” Daily British Colonist, 28 September, 1865. “Quesnelmouth,” Cariboo Sentinel,
10 September, 1866. “Snow,” Cariboo Sentinel, 5 May, 1868. Ying-ying Chen, In the Colonies of the
Tang, 195.

Iz5 “The Chinese are.. .,” Cariboo Sentinel, 10 May, 1866. “Quesnelmouth,” Cariboo Sentinel, 10
September, 1866. “Vegetables,” Cariboo Sentinel, 8 July, 1867. “Vegetables,” Cariboo Sentinel, 22
May, 1869. J. Monroe Thoington, ed., “The Cariboo Journal of John Macoun,” 27 November, 1872,
BA, Barkerville Archival System.

Iz6 “Wheat Crop,” Cariboo Sentinel, 8 July, 1867. “Up Country News,” British Columbian, 4 November,
1868.

Iz7 B., LLLater from the Interior,” Cariboo Sentinel, 18 February, 1865. “Mining Intelligence,” Cariboo
Sentinel, 16 May, 1867. “Mining Intelligence,” Cariboo Sentinel, 8 July, 1867. “Porcine,” Cariboo
Sentinel, 19 June, 1869. J. Monroe Thoington, ed. The Cariboo Journal of John Macoun. 27
November, 1872, BA. BohanonFuller, “Day Books: Aug. 1868-Oct. 1869,” 2 October, 1868,29
June, 1869, QA fonds #8, series 2, box B, item 2. Bohanon/Fuller, “Day Books: Jan. 1868-Aug.
1868,” 23 June, 1868, QA fonds #8, series 2, box B, item 1.

Iz8 Frederick W. Howay, “Day Book [Unidentified] 6 Sept 1865-27 Apr. 1867,” 23 February, 2 March, 13
April, 1865, UBCSC, box 23, file 14. BohanonFuller, “Day Books: Aug. 1868-Oct. 1869,” 15
November, 1868, QA, fonds #8, series 2, box B, item 2.

~ u e s n e l l e m o u t h . ‘ ~ ~ Account books from nearby roadhouses show that both Giscome and

McDames kept livestock, although to what extent is not certain.l3′ Within a year of

recording their pre-emptions, both Giscome and McDames sold to their White neighbour,

James ~ e e d . ‘ ~ ‘ While it is uncertain how many other Blacks farmed or ranched in the

Cariboo, the example of Giscome and McDames shows that some Blacks had both the

knowledge and the capital necessary for this type of business venture.

Neither the Black ranches nor the Chinese market gardens did not meet with

criticism from the town elites.’32 Indeed, the town elites praised the Chinese for the

produce of their market gardens.’33 Given the general anti-Asian sentiment of the gold

field towns, this is quite remarkable. This acceptance can be traced to several

complementary factors. Next to gold, food was the most important commodity in the

gold field towns. It was scarce, extremely expensive, and often of dubious quality.134

“British Columbia,” Daily British Colonist, 13 June, 1864. John K. Giscombe, “Barkerville Computer
Index Search: Giscombe,” Land Registry, BA. Henry McDames, “Barkerville Computer Index
Search: McDames,” Land Registry, BA. British Columbia Department of Lands and Works, “Pre-
emption Records Taken by P. O’Reilly 1862- 1864, Alexandria and Miscellaneous Districts,” 1-2,
BCARS GR 1 182, file 2.

I3O Frederick W. Howay, “Day Book [Unidentified] 6 Sept 1865-27 Apr. 1867,” 23 February, 2 March, 13
April, 1865, UBCSC, box 23, file 14. BohanonIFuller, “Day Books: Aug. 1868-Oct. 1869” 15
November, 1868, QA, fonds #8, series 2, box B, item 2.

13′ Jas. Reed, “Barkerville Computer Index Search: Reed,” Land Registry, BA. John K. Giscome,
“Barkerville Computer Index Search: Giscome,” Lot Survey, 16 September, 1862, BA, lot 82. Henry
McDames, “Barkerville Computer Index Search: McDames,” Lot Survey, 16 September, 1862, BA,
lot 83.

132 A rare case of ambiguous criticism of Chinese farmers: “The Chinese Are Not Behind Their White
Brethren.. .” Cariboo Sentinel, 10 May, 1866.

133 “Mining Intelligence,” Daily British Colonist, 28 September, 1865. “The Chinese are…,” Cariboo
Sentinel, 10 May, 1866. “Quesnelmouth,” Cariboo Sentinel, 10 September, 1866. “Our Agricultural
Resources,” Cariboo Sentinel, 15 October, 1866. “Vegetables” and “Wheat Crop,” Cariboo Sentinel,
8 July, 1867. “Vegetables,” Cariboo Sentinel, 22 May, 1869. J. Monroe Thoington, ed., The Cariboo
Journal of John Macoun. 27 November, 1872, BA.

’34 “Quesnelmouth,” Cariboo Sentinel, 10 September, 1866. “Our Agricultural Resources,” Cariboo
Sentinel, 15 October, 1866. County Court, “Summons Book,” 16 July, 1866, BCARS, GR 0584, vol.
3.

While the food suppliers commanded high prices for their produce, the goods they

offered helped relieve demand, lowering prices overall, and were of better quality than

anything shipped from further Additionally, the food production industry in the

hinterland could not begin to fill the needs of the gold field towns, resulting in a rather

uncompetitive market.’36 The various groups growing food did not feel threatened by

each other because the high demand reduced the need for competition between food

producers. Also, most Whites, including the town elites, saw food production as

supporting, not competing with, the main economic activity of the area, gold mining. All

of these factors combined to make the interracial interactions surrounding food

production rather equitable.

Conclusions

All residents of the Cariboo had to spend some time in the hinterland travelling

between the gold field towns and their experiences there affected how they understood

the Cariboo more generally. While not a top priority, the hinterland was a concern of the

town elites. However, the hinterland’s physical, economic, and social character mitigated

the effect of the town elites. The different economies of the hinterland allowed Natives

the opportunity to be relatively independent which helped in the formation of the

Newcomer understanding of the space of the hinterland as “Native.” The alternative

economies combined with the Newcomer understanding of the hinterland as Native space

’35 See, for example: County Court, “Summons Book,” 16 July, 1866, BCARS, GR 0584, vol. 3. Bishop
George Hills, “Diary 1861 ,” transcribed, 23 June, 1861, ADCA.

136 “Mining Intelligence,” Daily British Colonist, 28 September, 1865. “Vegetables,” Cariboo Sentinel, 8
July, 1871.

tended to slant many Native-Newcomer interactions in the hinterland to the benefit of

Natives.

The gold field economy present in the hinterland was not the dominant force it was

in the towns or the mines. In some aspects of the gold field economy, Natives’

interactions benefited from the strength of the subsistence and fur trade economies as

well as the relative weakness of the Newcomers, most notably in the packing industry.

However, the gold field economy did give the Newcomers some ability to influence

Natives in the hinterland. In some types of interactions, such as those around drinking,

the presence of Newcomer social norms that denied Natives access by depicting them as

savage1 childlike shaped their participation.

The other non-White groups in the hinterland also took part in the gold field

economy in the hinterland. Blacks, in a very similar pattern as to what emerges in the

gold field towns and mines, displayed the greatest degree of intermixing with Whites.

Notably, Blacks interacted with Whites as owners of roadhouses, employees, farmers,

and travelling companions. Yet, as the example of Harry Guillod illustrates, the

particular context of the hinterland, with its dearth of town elite coercive power, did not

lack differences based on race for the Blacks or other groups.

The exclusion of the Chinese serves as the most potent example of the ability of the

social norms of the gold field towns to affect the space of the hinterland. However, the

Chinese also took advantage of the relative inability of the town elites to regulate their

activity. In particular, the Chinese capitalized on the split between the town elites and the

rough culture of the working class miners to interact in roadhouses over drinks and cards.

The Chinese also exploited the general weakness of the gold towns by fanning,

positioning themselves in a strong economic and social position in their interactions with

other Newcomers.

The hinterland was a fundamentally different space than the gold field towns or

mines. The hinterland was characterized by a lack of surveillance by the town elites that

shaped the hinterland as “Native” in the perceptions of the Newcomers and contributed to

the strength of Natives in their interactions in the hinterland. This weakness of the town

elites in the hinterland also allowed the Chinese, Blacks, and common Whites to

articulate social and economic relationships that varied greatly from the towns and mines.

However, this relative freedom from the surveillance and control of the town elites did

not mean that the social norms of the towns and mines did not affect the hinterland.

Instead, Newcomers carried social norms and understandings from the towns into the

hinterland where they primarily affected interracial interactions related to the gold field

economy. Interracial interactions in the hinterland were significantly different, but not

completely separate from the gold field towns and mines.

Social Norms and the Space
of the Gold Field Towns

The towns of the Cariboo Mountains and the lesser towns located outside the main

mining area all served as regional centres for gold mining in the Cariboo. (Map 3) The

gold field towns shared the common characteristics of possessing multiple businesses,

higher population densities and aspects of colonial government such as a constabulary,

judiciary, and tax collectors. Additionally, the gold field towns acted as nexuses for

social and business interactions between miners and non-miners alike. These interactions

made the gold field towns distinct from the hinterland and mines. Within these towns,

the elite Whites particularly shaped the nature of interracial interactions.

Four main distinct racial groups occupied the towns: the Whites, Chinese, Blacks,

and Natives. The Chinese were distinctive in their settlement patterns in that they tended

to settle in Chinatowns adjacent to the gold Additionally, numerically small,

but socially significant numbers of Blacks and Natives settled within the gold field

towns.138 While Blacks settled throughout the White areas of the gold field towns,

Natives tended to live either along the periphery of the town or in mixed-race

13′ “News From Cariboo,” British Columbian, 14 June, 1862. “Highly Interesting News From Cariboo,”
British Columbian, 21 June, 1862. “Death and Inquest,” Cariboo Sentinel, 29 July, 1868. J.P. Gibbs,
22 September, 1868, BA, Barkerville Archival System. A. Hickman, “Hickman, A.,” 22 September,
1868, BA, Barkerville Archival System. Old Survey 22, “Lot 25-Old Survey 22, 1866,” BA,
Barkewille Archival System.

13′ “The Census,” Cariboo Sentinel, 15 December, 1866. Mallandaine, Edward, First Victoria Directory,
3d issue, and British Columbia Guide. (Victoria, B.C.: Mallandaine, 1871), 94-95.

d ~ e 1 l i n ~ s . l ~ ~ The majority of the population of the gold field towns was White, but

national, linguistic, sexual, and class divisions complicated this category. Most

importantly for the nature of interracial interactions, the White population of the gold

field towns can be seen as divided into two social stratums, the elites and the working

class labourers.

The town elites were particularly important in shaping interracial interactions in the

gold field towns. British-influenced White men dominated the ranks of the town elites by

controlling the vast majority of positions in the government bureaucracy (including the

judiciary), elected positions, the Anglican Church, most of the newspapers as well as

being some of the wealthiest business owners.140 In contrast, the working class White

miners were from a variety of national backgrounds and ranged from the abject poor to

the fairly well-to-do. While some nationalities, such as the Welsh, experienced

discrimination at the hands of other “Whites,” for the most part, the majority of White

racism was targeted at the “threatening” non-White groups, the Chinese and ~ a t i v e s . ‘ ~ ‘

What united the working class as a social stratum was a shared exclusion from the ranks

of the town elites and a common status as labourers, often in the mines. While many

139 “News From Cariboo,” British Columbian, 14 June, 1862. “Highly Interesting News From Cariboo,”
The British Columbian, 21 June, 1862. “Important From Cariboo,” Daily British Colonist, 30 January,
1863. “Important From Cariboo,” Daily British Colonist, 25 February, 1863. “News From Cariboo!,”
Daily British Colonist, 27 February, 1863. “Letter From Lillooet,” Victoria Chronicle, 19 February,
1864. El Oro, “Another Letter from Lillooet,” Victoria Chronicle, 11 May, 1864. “British Columbia,”
Victoria Daily Chronicle, 17 March, 1865. Winnemucca, “Gossiping Letter from Quesnellemouth,”
Victoria Daily Chronicle, 3 June, 1685 [sic, 18651 “The Indian Liquor Traffic,” Cariboo Sentinel, 14
October, 1865. “Death and Inquest,” The Cariboo Sentinel, 29 July, 1868. Gibbs, J.P., “Barkerville
Computer Index Search: Gibbs, J.P.,” 22 September, 1868, BA. A. Hickman, “Hickman, A.,” 22
September, 1868, BA, Barkerville Archival System. Old Survey 22, “Lot 25- Old Survey 22, 1866,”
BA, Barkerville Archival System.

140 See, for example: “Cariboo Letter,” Daily British Colonist, 23 August, 1864.

14′ “The Welsh-Who Are They?,” Cariboo Sentinel, 30 January, 1867. David Roediger, The Wages of
Whiteness, 19-20.

working class miners owned shares in mining companies, they also performed the actual

labour in the mines, in contrast to the town elites who also owned shares but rarely

appear to have mined themselves. Finally, working class White miners lacked the same

access to the resources of the colonial state as the town elites. Despite these differences,

both the workers and the elites shared a basic understanding of the non-White racial

groups in the towns as “Others.” This meant that working class and elite Whites often

acted similarly in their interracial interactions. Occasionally however, the working class

Whites’ interests diverged from those of the elites so that the working class Whites

engaged in interracial interactions that conflicted with the idealized space of the town

elites.

Largely on the word of the town elites who dominate the written record of the gold

field towns, traditional historiography has understood the towns as generally lacking

racial conflict, while, in fact, this social calm existed largely only as the town elites’

ideal. The social norms inherent in the elites’ idealized space of the gold field towns

conflicted with the day-to-day interactions of the majority of the population of the gold

field towns. Instead of embodying one set of social norms, the gold field towns

embodied a variety of often-conflicting social norms. Interracial interactions particularly

challenged the racial basis of the town elites’ idealized space of the gold field towns.

Each racial group responded to the idealized space of the town elites in different ways.

The Chinese initially formed Chinatowns and only integrated with the non-Chinese

population of the gold field towns slowly over the gold field period. In contrast, Blacks

took advantage of the Whites’ fear of Chinese difference to spatially, socially, and

economically integrate within the White areas of the towns. According to the town elites,

Natives belonged in the hinterland, so the presence of Natives in the towns, let alone the

economic and social interactions they engaged in those spaces, repudiated the idealized

space of the gold field towns. Nor were the Whites unified in their attitudes toward the

“ideal” social norms of the gold towns. While the majority of working class Whites often

agreed with the elites as to what social norms should dominate the towns, there were also

significant differences, especially over the frequency and type of interracial interactions

permissible in

the towns.

Enforcing Order:
The Idealized Space of the Gold Field Towns

The reality of an economic and political system that placed Whites at the top of the

social, economic, and political hierarchy shaped interracial interactions within the gold

field towns. Those Whites who occupied the upper echelons of Cariboo society

disproportionately affected the representations of the “race” of the remaining White and

non-White population of the Cariboo in a manner that was denied to these other groups.

Specifically, the town elites explicitly disseminated racialized representations of

“Others,” and therefore implicitly of themselves, through the media and courts by using

their social capital as elites to dictate to their “inferiors.”

In particular, the town elites represented the idealized space of the gold field town

as one in which British mid- and upper-class social norms of behaviour, law, housing,

and styles of dress d01ninated.l~~ For example, the visit of the Governor of British

Columbia, Anthony Musgrave, to the Cariboo in 1869 prompted public displays of

loyalty to the Empire, colonial authority, and the underlying British-based social norms

that informed the town elites’ notion of the idealized space of the towns.143 Additionally,

the town elites portrayed sources of immigration to the gold fields other than the “White”

areas of the British Empire, such as the United States, China, and the Caribbean, as sites

of degradation, corruption or antiquarianism.’44 However, the town elites’ idealized

space of the Cariboo was not an explicitly racial construction, but instead was primarily

social in character. For instance, the town elites welcomed Blacks who were strong

supporters of the social order embodied in the idealized space of the Cariboo while

fearing oppositional populist or republican-leaning whites.14′ The preservation of the

existing social order was the primary goal of the town elites.

14′ I.D.C., “A Man’s a Man for A’ That,” British Columbian, 4 June, 1862. ***, “William’s Creek,” Daily
British Colonist, 24 July, 1863. K., “Letter From Richfield,” Victoria Daily Chronicle, 20 July, 1864.
“Cariboo Letter,” Daily British Colonist, 23 August, 1864. A.H. Francis, “Letter from our Victoria
Correspondent,” Elevator, 2 June, 1865. “Mining Intelligence,” Daily British Colonist, 10 August,
1865. A.H.F., “Victoria,” Elevator, 1 December, 1865. B.D., “Letter from Cariboo,” Daily British
Colonist, 27 March, 1868. Bell, “Letter From Victoria, B.C.,” Elevator, 26 June, 1868. Bell, “Letter
From Victoria, B.C.,” Elevator, 31 July, 1868. “Profits of Agriculture,” Cariboo Sentinel, 24 July,
1869. “Reception of the Governor,” Cariboo Sentinel, 22 September, 1869. Wilkinson, John B.,
“Letters.” Victoria, June 27, 1860; Vancouver Island, 27 June, 1860, BCARS MS 0048, file I.
Cariboo Quesnelle, “County Court Book. July 28, 1864-Oct. loth, 1877,” 23 September, 1863,
BCARS GR 0570. W.D. Moses, “Description. Lady Franklin visits the Pacific Northwest: Being
extracts from the letters of Miss Sophia Cracroft, Sir John Franklin’s Niece, February to April 1861 and
April to July 1870,” Ed. Dorothy Blakey Smith. Victoria BC. Provincial Archives, memoir no. XI.
1974. 1861?, BA. Cole Hams, Making Native Space, 1-6.

’43 “Preparations for the Governor’s Reception,” Cariboo Sentinel, 18 September, 1869. “Reception of The
Governor,” Cariboo Sentinel, 22 September, 1869.

‘” “Effect of Emancipation on the African Race in the British West Indies,” Daily British Colonist, 21
October, 1859. “West India Emancipation,” Daily British Colonist, 24 October, 1859. A.H. Francis,
“Letter from our Victoria Correspondent,” Elevator, 2 June, 1865. A.H.F., “Victoria,” Elevator, 1
December, 1865. “Our Chinese Population,” Cariboo Sentinel, 16 May, 1867. “A Graphic
Description of China,” Cariboo Sentinel, 22 July, 1867. “The Chinese Floating Islands,” Cariboo
Sentinel, 13 February, 1869. “Scrimmage,” Cariboo Sentinel, 12 June, 1869. “Chinese Testimony.. .,”
Cariboo Sentinel, 5 February, 1870.

14′ W.D. Moses, “Diary #2, 1869,” 24 May, 1869, BCARS A01046. Tina Loo, Making Law, 55-58.

However, the town elites saw some groups, such as the Chinese and Natives, as

innately opposed to the social norms and idealized space that they a r t i ~ u 1 a t e d . l ~ ~ In the

towns, the elites understood the Chinese as “alien” hordes whose separate Chinatowns

stood as markers of the social threat they represented.147 The town elites accepted Native

opposition more easily than Chinese opposition because they perceived Natives to be

diminishing in the face of the advance of the frontier of civilization, whereas they

perceived the Chinese population to be rapidly increasing.14′ In contrast, in the eyes of

the elites, the Blacks were the non-White group least threatening to the social order.’49

The Blacks worked, spoke, dressed, and ate in a manner that was familiar to Whites.

Additionally, the Blacks also vocally supported British law and authority.150 In the same

146 “Criminal Trials,” Cariboo Sentinel, 4 July, 1867. Alexander Allan, “Alexander Letterbook Jan. 2,
1868-Oct. 20, 1876,” transcribed by Winnifred Macintosh, July 12, 1963. Letter to Mr. Suter (ed. Of
Mainland Guardian) 6 Jan. 1870 from Barkerville, 6 January, 1870, BA.

14′ “The Welsh-Who Are They?,” Cariboo Sentinel, 30 January, 1867. “A Graphic Description of China,”
Cariboo Sentinel, 22 July, 1867. “The Chinese Labour Question,” Cariboo Sentinel, 28 July, 1869.
“Preparations for the Governor’s Reception,” Cariboo Sentinel, 18 September, 1869. “Chinese
Punishment,” Cariboo Sentinel, 3 September, 1870. Provincial Court, “Cariboo West,” 22 January,
1868; 22 September, 1868, BCARS GR 0597. J. Monroe Thoington, ed., The Cariboo Journal of
John Macoun, 27 November, 1872, BA. George Blair, “Diary,” transcribed by Macintosh, July 17,
1962, 1862, BA, 971.12 BA. Alexander Allan, “Alexander Letterbook Jan. 2, 1868-Oct. 20, 1876,”
transcribed: Winnifred Macintosh, July 12, 1963, Letter to Mr. Suter (ed. Of Mainland Guardian), 6
Jan. 1870 from Barkerville, 6 January, 1870, BA.

148 *** “Williams Creek,” Daily British Colonist, 24 July, 1863. “Decay of the North American Native
Races,” Cariboo Sentinel, 9 September, 1867. “The Chinese Labour Question,” Cariboo Sentinel, 28
July, 1869. Alexander Allan, “Alexander Letterbook Jan. 2, 1868-Oct. 20, 1876,” transcribed:
Winnifred Macintosh, July 12, 1963. Letter to Mr. Suter (ed. Of Mainland Guardian) 6 Jan. 1870
from Barkerville, 6 January, 1870, BA.

149 “Victoria,” The Elevator, 1 December, 1865. “Black vs. Yellow,” Elevator, 30 March, 1866.
“Prevention is Better Than Cure,” Cariboo Sentinel, 21 June, 1866. Coloured Miner, “To the Editor of
the ‘Cariboo Sentinel’,” Cariboo Sentinel, 25 June, 1866. D.L., “To the Editor of the ‘Cariboo
Sentinel’,” Cariboo Sentinel, 2 July, 1866. Bell, “Letter From Victoria, B.C.,” and “When and by
Whom was America Peopled?,” Elevator, 26 June, 1868. “Bathhouses,” 9 July, 1866, Barkerville
Archival System, BA. W.D. Moses Diaries, Diary #2, 1869, 16,24 May, 1869; 7 April, 1869,
BCARS A01046. BA. Moses, W.D. Description. Lady Franklin visits the Pacific Northwest: Being
extracts from the letters of Miss Sophia Cracroft, Sir John Franklin’s Niece, February to April 1861 and
April to July 1870. Ed. Dorothy Blakey Smith. Victoria BC. Provincial Archives, memoir no. XI.
1974, 1861?

150 D.L., “To the Editor of the ‘Cariboo Sentinel’,” Cariboo Sentinel, 2 July, 1866. James Pilton, Negro
Settlement, 29-32,205.

way that the Blacks made the Irish white in the United States, the Chinese nearly made

the Blacks white in the ~ a r i b o o . ‘ ~ ‘ At the same time however, the town elites still

separated the Blacks from White society with racial labels and descriptions.’52

The town elites sought to defend the idealized space of the Cariboo gold field towns

in a number of ways. When it was in their interest, working class Whites supported the

town elites’ articulation of an idealized space in the gold field towns. In one example

from the early gold field period, working class and elite Whites barred the Chinese from

entering the towns in the Cariboo Mountains by physically preventing them from

travelling East past ~ u e s n e l l e m o u t h . ‘ ~ ~ This policy seems to have been successful from

1859 until it collapsed around 1 864.lS4 While the working class White and Black miners

sought to exclude the Chinese because of their economic threat, the town elites attempted

to exclude the Chinese primarily because of the social threat they represented.

Unable to exclude the Chinese or effectively regulate the Chinese space of

Chinatown, elite Whites could enforce a position of White dominance in the interracial

interactions of the gold field towns through systemic racism. A consistent underlying

“common sense” systemic racism denigrated the Chinese, Natives, and Blacks to

different extents at the same time that it shored up the White’s own social position within

the gold field towns. This systemic racism is evident in the use of racial jokes found in

15′ David Roediger, The Wages of Whiteness.
152 “A Nigger’s Idea of the Telegraph,” Cariboo Sentinel, 6 May, 1867. “Riddle Me This,” Cariboo

Sentinel, 20 June, 1867.

153 “News From Above,” British Columbian, 30 May, 1861. “Amvals From the River,” Daily British
Colonist, June 10, 1861. Argus, “Letter From Cariboo,” Daily British Colonist, 7 October, 1861.
Vialor, “En Route to Cariboo,” Daily British Colonist, 1 June, 1863.

’54 In essence, finding the front door closed, the Chinese simply went around the back. Argus, “Letter From
Cariboo,” Daily British Colonist, 7 October, 1861. “Letter From William Creek,” Victoria Daily
Chronicle, 4 July, 1863. Robert M. Scott, “Diaries Snowshoe Creek, 1863- 1892,” 25 June, 1863,
BCARS MS 2604. Ying-ying Chen, In the Colonies of the Tang, 168.

The Cariboo ~ e n t i n e 1 . l ~ ~ The jokes reinscribed an inferior social position for non-Whites

by highlighting the subjects’ skin colour and by labelling them with derogatory names

and terms. Additionally, non-Whites, with their lack of White attributes, provided the

“humorous” punch line for the jokes.156 Humour was just one of the more noticeable

aspects of the systemic “common sense” racism that underlay the White conception of

the gold field towns of the Cariboo. Further indications of systemic racism can be

discerned in segregated competitions for “Siwashes” at celebration^,’^^ in the everyday

use of racial terms such as “squaws,” “niggers,” or “children of the woods,”’58 in the

pervasive use of “Ah” instead of Chinese names, and in the common stereotypes of

Chinese as heathens and economic leeches,159 Natives as “savages,” and Blacks as

childlike or overly emotional.lm These common everyday assumptions of working class

and elite Whites were the town elites’ most pervasive and powerful method of

promulgating the idealized space of the Cariboo, and with it, a particular vision of British

society. Nor were Whites the only group to contribute to this systemic racism. Blacks

singled out the Chinese as particularly inferior, and there are indications of a significant

155 “A Nigger’s Idea of the Telegraph,” Cariboo Sentinel, 6 May, 1867. “Riddle Me This,” Cariboo
Sentinel, 20 June, 1867. Untitled, Cariboo Sentinel, 20 March, 1869. Kurnkumly, “A Voice From The
Wilderness,” Cariboo Sentinel, 1 January, 1870. “Corning Events Cast There Shadows Before,”
Cariboo Sentinel, 8 January, 1870. “A Laughable Incident,” Cariboo Sentinel, 24 September, 1870.
Untitled, Cariboo Sentinel, 20 March, 1869.

’56 Ibid.

15′ “Queen’s Birthday Races,” Cariboo Sentinel, 28 May, 1870.

“Indian ROW,” Cariboo Sentinel, 16 January, 1869.

15′ “Arrival of the Governor Douglas,” Daily British Colonist, 8 May, 1860. Tal. 0 Eifion, “The Bed-Rock
Drain,” Cariboo Sentinel, 10 April, 1869.

160 “According to.. . ,” Cariboo Sentinel, 4 September, 1869. “The Assizes,” Cariboo Sentinel, 3 June,
1871. “The Cariboo Sentinel, Barkerville,” 8 August, 1871, CCA, Barkemille, Cariboo Gold Fields.
Alexander Allan, “Alexander Letterbook Jan. 2, 1868-Oct. 20, 1876,” transcribed: Winnifred
Macintosh, July 12, 1963. Letter to Mr. Suter (ed. Of Mainland Guardian) 6 Jan. 1870 from
Barkerville, 6 January, 1870, BA.

amount of Chinese-Native tension.I6′ These forms of racism served to directly or

indirectly reinforce the social position of Whites in the gold field towns by denigrating

other non-Whites. While racism that targeted Whites almost certainly existed, in the

social order of the gold field towns it would have been unwise on the part of non-White

groups to openly discriminate against Whites and risk retaliation by Whites who were

generally socially, economically, and politically more powerful.

The Challenges to Idealized Space

Reality did not reflect the idealized space of the gold field towns. Whites and non-

Whites alike challenged the “official” racialized spatial meanings of the gold field towns

by articulating very different racial meanings of space through their interracial

interactions. W.D. Moses provides an excellent example of one articulation of a

competing notion of space and the social norms implicit in it. In his diary, Moses records

acting as an informal bank for two Natives, Johnny and Annie, saving and lending

significant amounts of money.162 By acting in this manner, Moses recognized and

facilitated a Native presence and participation in the gold field towns denied by the elites.

In so doing, Moses acted out an alterative to the elites’ idealized concepts of interracial

interactions in the gold field towns.

“Black vs. Yellow,” Elevator, 30 March, 1866. Bell, “Letter from Victoria, B.C.” and “When and by
Whom was America Peopled?,” Elevator, 26 June, 1868. “Omineca Intelligence,” Cariboo Sentinel,
23 April, 1870.

I62 W.D. Moses, “Diary, Diary #3, 1871, Memoranda,” 27 July, 1870, BCARS A01046. One deposit was
for 60.00.

Chinese Interracial Interactions
in the Gold Field Towns

The Chinese tended to reside in distinct Chinatowns, often separated physically

from the main area of the gold field towns.’63 Like Chinatowns elsewhere in North

America, Chinese shops, residences, and, in some cases, a T’ong Hall characterized the

Chinatowns of the ~ a r i b o o . ‘ ~ ~ The Chinatowns represented an area that, despite attempts

by Whites to enforce control, remained a relatively autonomous space where Chinese

customs and social values camed great weight.’65 These Chinatowns were not

completely socially and economically insular. The Chinese frequented shops outside of

the Chinatowns while non-Chinese entered into the Chinatowns for business or

entertainment.

While non-Chinese assumed that the Chinatowns represented a homogenous

population, there do appear to have been internal factions, possibly between the more

numerous Cantonese-speakers from Guangdong province and the fewer Mandarin-

’63 “Our Chinese Population,” Cariboo Sentinel, 16 May, 1867. “Burning of Barkerville,” Cariboo
Sentinel, 22 September, 1868. “North Fork of Quesnel,” Cariboo Sentinel, 21 November, 1868.
“Nuisances,” Cariboo Sentinel, 16 July, 187 1. Government Agent, “Cariboo West Collectorate.”
1863-1866, 30 September, 1863, BCARS GR 3052, vol. 2. Ying-ying Chen elaborates between the
different types of Chinatowns in the Cariboo in far more detail than is possible here. Ying-ying Chen,
In the Colonies of the Tang, 38-47.

Provincial Court, “Cariboo West,” 14 January, 1869; 9 December, 1870, BCARS GR 0597, vol. 1.
County Court of the Cariboo, “County Court Record Book,” 6 January, 1869, BCARS GR 0822.
Ying-ying Chen, In the Colonies of the Tang, 158, 191, 197-198.

16′ “Porcine,” Cariboo Sentinel, 19 June, 1869. “Preparations for the Governor’s Arrival,” Cariboo
Sentinel, 18 September, 1869. Provincial Court, “Cariboo West,” 7 September, 1867; 14 January,
1869, BCARS GR 0597, vol. 1.

“Latest From Cariboo,” Daily British Colonist, 31 August, 1863. Cariboo Quesnelle, “County Court
Book. July 28, 1864-Oct. loth, 1877,” 27 April, 1865, BCARS GR 0570. County Court of the
Cariboo, “County Court Summons Book,” 24 April, 1868, BCARS GR 0584, vol. 5. Provincial Court,
“Cariboo West,” 22-23 May, 1866; 19 September, 1866, BCARS GR 0597, vol. 1. W.D. Moses,
“Diary #3, 187 1 ,” 15 August, 187 1, BCARS A0 1046. Richard Thomas Wright, Quesnelle Forks: A
Gold Rush Town in Historical Perspective. (Friends of Barkerville Historical Society, July 1987),
1876, CCA, box Quesnel Forks.

speakers from more northern regions, such as ~ e i j i n ~ . ‘ ~ ~ Whatever the exact source of

this rift, its intensity became more evident over time.16′ Also, as the Chinese and non-

Chinese became accustomed to each other during the gold field period, the Chinese began

to make wider use of the court system.169 The Chinese adoption of aspects of White

society to regulate interactions within the Chinese space of Chinatown may have been the

result of the inability of the T’ongs and other Chinese social structures to maintain order

in an increasingly fragmenting society.170 In other words, internal Chinese divisions may

have provided the impetus for Chinese attempts to selectively integrate into the non-

Chinese society of the Cariboo.

The collapse of the exclusion of the Chinese from the gold field towns encouraged

greater Chinese settlement and increased the number and scope of interracial interactions

in the towns. Non-Chinese initially reacted with hostility to this new presence because of

the economic and social threat they believed the Chinese represented.171 The situation

evidently reached a boiling point during the winter of 1865, when two Chinese men

injured Moresby, a White man, with an axe and pick during a dispute over wood in

~ a r k e r v i 1 l e . l ~ ~ In response to the “attack,” White miners held an indignation meeting in a

I67 James Reynard, “Barkerville, 1869- 1906. Cariboo Mission-Rev. J. Reynard,” ADCA. Overall
immigration demographics would seem to conflict with this theory.

M.R.M., LLLetter From the Forks of Quesnelle,” Victoria Daily Chronicle, 18 June, 1863. “British
Columbia,” Daily British Colonist, 5 November, 1866. “Police Courts,” Cariboo Sentinel, 10
December, 1870. “Celestial Row,” Cariboo Sentinel, 17 June, 187 1.

16′ “Ah Toy vs. Sing Gee & Co.,” Cariboo Sentinel, 9 October, 1869. “Police Court,” Cariboo Sentinel, 10
December, 1870. “County Court,” Cariboo Sentinel, 22 April, 1871. County Court of the Cariboo,
“County Court Summons Book,” 6 July, 1864; 9 June, 1865, BCARS GR 0584, vol. 2. Provincial
Court, “Cariboo West,” 1 September, 1864, BCARS GR 0597, vol. 1. Cariboo Quesnelle, “County
Court Book. July 28, 1864-Oct. loth, 1877,” 27 October, 1864; 27 April, 1865; 13 September, 1865,
BCARS GR 0570.

I7O Ibid.

“””~ritish Columbia,” Victoria Daily Chronicle, 27 January, 1865.

Ibid.

local saloon and announced they would “run the Chinamen off the The miners

eventually settled for petitioning the Chinese to leave, but it is doubtful that anything ever

came of this; certainly, there is no record of an attempt to “run” the Chinese out of the

Cariboo ~ o u n t a i n s . ‘ ~ ~ While the relative numbers and strength of the Chinese may have

quickly tempered the initial response of the White miners, the influence of the upper

levels of White society also seems to have had some role in mitigating the response.

Immediately following the incident, newspaper coverage stressed that the authorities

would maintain law and order “without respect to color or nationality.”175 Many of the

town elites had a vested interest in preserving the social order by preventing any sort of

American-style “mob justice” and maintaining a supply of cheap Chinese 1ab0ur.I~~ In

this case, the town elites mitigated the anger of the working class miners because it suited

their economic interest.

Over the gold field period and despite the creation of Chinese space in the

Chinatowns, the Chinese increasingly integrated into the Cariboo gold field towns.’77 In

one respect, this resulted from the overall demographic shift that saw the Chinese become

an increasing proportion of the population of the gold field towns in the years

’73 “Later From the Cariboo,” Victoria Daily Chronicle, 20 January, 1865.

174 “British Columbia,” Victoria Daily Chronicle, 27 January, 1865. Although an attempt may have
occurred some years earlier: Argus, “Letter From Beaver Lake,” Daily British Colonist, 11 June,
1861.

175 “Later From the Cariboo,” Victoria Daily Chronicle, 20 January, 1865.

176 “Later From Cariboo,” Daily British Colonist, 5 September, 1864. “Later From Cariboo,” British
Columbian, 5 August, 1865. “Hospital,” Cariboo Sentinel, 20 August, 1866.

177 Argathalian, “Letter From Lytton,” British Columbian, 2 May, 1865. Jas. Reynard, “Correspondence,”
Cariboo Sentinel, 16 January, 1869. Provincial Court, “Cariboo West,” 14 February, 1870, BCARS
GR 0597, vol. 1. County Court of the Cariboo, “County Court Record Book. July 30, 1866-May 18,”
18 July, 1871, BCARS GR 0822.

approaching 187 l.17′ As their numbers increased, the Chinese both had less need for the

safe social site of the Chinatowns and the non-Chinese were less able to exist without an

increasing amount of interaction with the Chinese population. This shift meant that those

Chinese who wished to integrate could more easily do so.

However, demographics did not cause this movement toward integration alone.

Other social and economic changes were also factors. Over the gold field period, both

the Chinese and the non-Chinese changed their attitudes toward the Chinese place within

the gold field towns. On one hand, the Chinese seem to have begun to see themselves as

belonging to the wider community of the gold field towns and began to act

accordingly.’79 This trend was most noticeable with the increasing numbers of Chinese

who began to take out mining l i ~ e n c e s . ‘ ‘ ~ To the Blacks and Whites, the lack of Chinese

mining licences signalled that the Chinese did not wish to abide by the social and legal

norms of the Cariboo. The Chinese movement to conform to this basic regulatory

practice of the gold fields greatly diminished the passion with which the Whites

portrayed the Chinese as “leeches” on the economy and changed the nature of Chinese

interracial interactions, especially with the elites.lS1 At the same time, the demographic

shift and the depression of the main gold field economy that sparked an exodus of many

178 “The Census,” Cariboo Sentinel, 15 December, 1866. Mallandaine, Edward, First Victoria Directory, 3d
issue, and British Columbia Guide. (Victoria, B.C.: Mallandaine, 1871), 94-95.

’79 Argathalian, “Letter From Lytton,” British Columbian, 2 May, 1865.
180 “Mining Intelligence,” Cariboo Sentinel, 8 July, 1865. “Chinese Licences,” Cariboo Sentinel, 4 June,

1866. “Chinese Licences,” Cariboo Sentinel, 21 June, 1866. “Chinese Licences,” Cariboo Sentinel, 5
July, 1866. “Chinese Licences,” Cariboo Sentinel, 9 July, 1866. “Chinese Licences,” Cariboo
Sentinel, 19 July, 1866. “Untitled,” Cariboo Sentinel, 23 July 1866. “Police Court,” Cariboo Sentinel,
6 August, 1866. “Jumped,” Cariboo Sentinel, 13 May, 1869. Government Agent, “Cariboo West
Collectorate,” 15 August, 1863; 12 October, 1863; 12, 14 March, 1864; 18 April, 1864, BCARS GR
3052, vol. 2.

181 “Amval of the Governor Douglas,” Daily British Colonist, 8 May, 1860. “Jumped,” Cariboo Sentinel,
13 May, 1869.

Unlike the hinterland or, to a lesser extent, the mines, where Whites and Blacks

generally welcomed the Chinese as a source of labour, the Chinese faced much more

economic resistance in the gold field towns.lg3 In some ways, the Chinatowns helped

mitigate this reality. The Chinatowns provided a safe economic site where Chinese

merchants and businessmen located their stores and provided an array of goods, including

specialty items, to the Chinese inhabitants.lg4 While it is uncertain to what degree non-

Chinese did business in chinatowns,lg5 it is known that as consumers, the Chinese

frequented non-Chinese establishments, especially for specialty items such as “brandy,

wine, oysters, and meats.”lg6 After 1865, the depressed economic situation of the

Cariboo gold field towns meant that the non-Chinese could not afford the luxury of

refusing to sell to Chinese customers.1g7 While non-Chinese society did not refuse

Chinese business, paradoxically, they refused to acknowledge its presence. Despite the

Is3 “Quesnellemouth,” Cariboo Sentinel, 10 September, 1866. “Our Chinese Population,” Cariboo
Sentinel, 16 May, 1867. “Vegetables,” Cariboo Sentinel, 8 July, 1867. “A Hint to the Unemployed,”
Cariboo Sentinel, 21 October, 1867. “The Chinese Labour Question,” Cariboo Sentinel, 28 July,
1869. County Court of the Cariboo, “County Court Summons Book,” 16 July, 1866, BCARS GR
0584, vol. 3. William George Cox, “Colonial Correspondence,” 2 November, 1865, BCARS B 13 12,
file 379. Kay Anderson, “Engendering Race Research,” in Bodyspace, 204-207.

184 K., “Letter From Richfield,” Cariboo Sendnel, 20 July, 1864. “Burning of Barkerville,” Cariboo
Sentinel, 22 September, 1868. “Porcine,” Cariboo Sentinel, 19 June, 1869. “Stabbing Affray,”
Cariboo Sentinel, 27 May, 1871. County Court of the Cariboo, “County Court Summons Book,” 20
March, 1868, BCARS GR 0584, vol. 5. Provincial Court, “Cariboo West,” 22 February, 1868,22
September, 1868, BCARS GR 0597, vol. 1.

18′ County Court of the Cariboo, “County Court Summons Book,” 20 December, 1867, BCARS GR 0584,
vol. 5. County Court of the Cariboo, “County Court Summons Book,” 13 November, 1865, BCARS
GR 0584, vol. 3. County Court of the Cariboo, “County Court Summons Book,” 16 July, 1866,
BCARS GR 0584, vol. 3. Cariboo Quesnelle, “County Court Book. July 28, 1864-Oct. loth, 1877,”
27 April, 1865, BCARS GR 0570. BohanodFuller, “Day Books: Jan. 1868-Aug. 1868,” 19 January,
1868; 3 February, 1868; 10 April, 1868, QA, fonds #8, series 2, box B, item 1.

186 “Latest From Cariboo,” Daily British Colonist, 31 August, 1863. County Court of the Cariboo, “County
Court Summons Book,” 24 April, 1868, BCARS GR 0584, vol. 5. Provincial Court, “Cariboo West,”
22-23 May, 1866; 19 September, 1866, BCARS GR 0597, vol. 1. W.D. Moses, “Diary #3, 1871,” 15
August, 1871, BCARS A01046. Richard Thomas Wright, Quesnelle Forks.

I87 “Our Chinese Population,” Cariboo Sentinel, 16 May, 1867. “A Hint to the Unemployed,” Cariboo
Sentinel, 21 October, 1867.

Chinese involvement throughout the gold field economy, non-Chinese society, especially

White society, publicly articulated a stereotype of the Chinese as economic parasites who

gave nothing back to their host c ~ r n r n u n i t ~ . ‘ ~ ~ This stereotype began to recede later in

the gold field period when the changing economic and demographic situation made it

increasingly difficult to ignore the contradictions in such a position.

The Chinese also sought employment in the otherwise non-Chinese areas of the

gold field towns. While Chinese butchers, cooks, and woodcutters worked either directly

in, or as suppliers for, various non-Chinese hotels, saloons, and other employers in the

gold field towns, they tended to move into lower-status jobs usually reserved for women

or ~ a t i v e s . ” ~ These jobs were usually manual labour such as woodcutting, but also

included gendered feminine jobs, such as work as domestic servants.lgO The low status

of these jobs meant that even when the economy of the Cariboo was depressed, very little

conflict seems to have occurred between the Chinese and Whites or Blacks over

employment. Indeed, the only group they did compete against, the Natives, had little

power in the

gold towns.

188 “The Chinese Labour Question,” Cariboo Sentinel, 28 July, 1869. “The Chinese on the Pacific Coast,”
Cariboo Sentinel, 31 July, 1869.

Furnte, “Letter From Cariboo,” Daily British Colonist, 6 January 1865. BohanonFuller, “Day Books:
Aug. 1868-Oct. 1869,” 11,24 March, 1869, QA, fonds #8, series 2, box B, item 2. Bohanon/Fuller,
“Day Books: Jan. 1868-Aug. 1868,” 7,25 May, 1868; 23 July, 1868, QA, fonds #8, series 2, box B,
item 1. BohanonFuller, “Day Books: October 1869-October 1870,” 28 October, 1869; 6, 15
November, 1869; 3 January, 1870, QA, fonds #8, series 2, subseries 2, box B, item 3. BohanonFuller,
“Oct. 1870-Nov. 1871,” 22 December, 1870, QA, fonds #8, series 2, subseries 2, box B, item 4.
Government Agent, “Cariboo West Collectorate,” 6 February, 1866; 5 May, 1866; 5 October, 1866,
BCARS GR 3052, vol. 5.

190 Furnte, “John Chinaman,” Daily British Colonist, 6 January, 1865. “The Street,” Cariboo Sentinel, 8
June, 1868. Provincial Court, “Cariboo West,” 30 September, 1864; 3 1 October, 1864; 31 January,
1865; 1 February, 1865; 30 April, 1865; 1 , 3 , 7 May, 1865,6 February, 1866, BCARS GR 0597, vol.
1. Government Agent, “Cariboo West Collectorate,” 6 February, 1866; 3 April, 1866; 5 May, 1866;
16 June, 1866; 5 October, 1866, BCARS GR 3052, vol. 5. J. Monroe Thoington, ed, The Cariboo
Journal of John Macoun, 27 November, 1872, BA. Vera Baker Cume, Susie: A Manuscript on the
Life and Times of Cecila Elmore Baker, 1867-1958. Unpublished Manuscript, (Cariboo Historical
Society, Jan. 14, 1978), 3,5, QA.

As geographer Kay Anderson has indicated though, the desire for cheap Chinese

labour was spatially ~ a r i a b l e . ‘ ~ ‘ When the Chinese worked for large capitalists, either in

the hinterland on road construction or maintenance, or in the mines as wage labour,

developers viewed the low cost of their labour positively.192 In the towns however, the

Chinese had no such readily available “Chinese work.” This contributed to the general

White view of the Chinese in the Chinatowns as a drain on the economic and social well

being of the gold field towns.lg3

One of the most public debates on Chinese labour within the gold field towns took

place over the hiring of a steward for the Williams Creek hospital. The goodwill and

financial contributions of the inhabitants of the gold field towns sustained the Cariboo

hospital, located in ~arkervi1le.l’~ When the gold field economy was booming, the

hospital appears to have been little burden, but in times of economic depression, the cost

of maintaining the hospital could become an issue, as it did in 1866.19′ However, the

suggestion of hiring a Chinese steward to cut costs divided the hospital board.196

Initially, John McLaren favoured hiring a Chinese steward for fiscal reasons,lg7 but when

Judge Cox pointed that “he did not think a chinaman [sic] was a fit and proper person to

undertake the duties of steward where white men required attention,” McLaren reversed

191 Kay Anderson, “Engendering Race Research,” in Bodyspace, 204-207.

192 “The Chinese Labour Question,” Cariboo Sentinel, 28 July, 1869. Kay Anderson, “Engendering Race
Research,” in Bodyspace, 204-207.

193 ‘LArri~al of the Governor Douglas,” Daily British Colonist, 8 May, 1860. Alexander Allan, “Alexander
Letterbook Jan. 2, 1868-Oct. 20, 1876,” transcribed: Winnifred Macintosh, July 12, 1963. Letter to
Mr. Suter (ed. Of Mainland Guardian) 6 Jan. 1870 from Barkemille, 6 January, 1870, BA.

194 “Hospital,” Cariboo Sentinel, 20 August, 1866.

’95 “Cariboo Sentinel,” Cariboo Sentinel, 7 May, 1866. “Hospital,” Cariboo Sentinel, 20 August, 1866.

19′ “Mining Board Meeting,” Cariboo Sentinel, 27 August, 1866.

19′ “Hospital,” Cariboo Sentinel, 20 August, 1866. Mr. McLaren was also a local literary figure. Adele
Peny, On the Edge of Empire, 86.

his opinion.19* The suggestion of the Chinese steward, while economical, raised

racialized fears of mixing of the blood and the desire to avoid placing vulnerable White

men in the hands of a Chinese steward, which would reverse “proper” racial dynamic of

“strong” Whites and “weak” Chinese. These concerns trumped the racially-based

economy of using Chinese labour in the hospital. Because the town elites saw the

hospital as a critical site for the protection of “Whiteness” it therefore became a site

where one aspect of the systemic racism of the Cariboo was reinscribed at the cost of

another. In short, White masculinity was deemed to be more important than the economy

of subordinated Chinese labour.

Black Interracial Interactions
and the Idealized Space

While Blacks made use of White society’s concern with the Chinese population to

spatially integrate with relative ease, Whites contested the social integration of Blacks,

though not to the same extent as either the Chinese or the Natives. Although, as many

Blacks quickly pointed out, British law guaranteed them equal rights, the actual

implementation of this law was often far less equitable.’99 In response, Blacks were very

politically active, voting and using letters to the editor of The Cariboo Sentinel to

publicly call into question the hypocrisy of British law in practice, though not the social

norms that informed this practice.200 That is, many Blacks tended to assert equality

before the law, but neglected social discrimination and other fonns of day-to-day

198 “Mining Board Meeting,” Cariboo Sentinel, 27 August, 1866.

‘” Colored Miner, ‘”To the Editor of the ‘Cariboo Sentinel’,” Cariboo Sentinel, 25 June, 1866. D.L., “To
the Editor of the ‘Cariboo Sentinel’,” Cariboo Sentinel, 2 July, 1866.

200 Ibid.

systemic racism. The Blacks had a vested interest in maintaining a version of the

idealized space of the Cariboo, especially given the alternative of the racially intolerant

California that many of them had fled.201

Occasionally, Blacks used newspapers to push for social equality in addition to

legal equality. An example of this can be seen in Anne Wheeler’s defence of her actions

in the Sentinel. On 1 October, 1870 the Sentinel ran an article stating that

On Tuesday night last the house occupied by Mrs. Ann Wheeler (colored),
Richfield, was broken into and a trunk abstracted containing clothing and
jewellery valued at $400. At the time of the robbery the “fair” lady was
enjoying the hospitalities of a distinguished colored resident.202

Besides indicating that Wheeler was wealthy enough to have $400 in “clothing and

jewellery” in a trunk, the article contrasted Wheeler’s skin colour with her social

aspirations.203 Wheeler was fair with quotation marks because her skin colour and her

choice of companions, the unnamed “colored resident,” denied her the ability to become

a fair lady without quotation marks. In other words, Wheeler’s race constrained her

identity so that she was unable to become a true member of elite society, because the elite

were, in the definition of the Cariboo, White Britishers. While Wheeler’s status was

above that of the Chinese or Natives, she was constrained from becoming elite because of

her race and, to an extent, her gender.

In the next issue of the Sentinel, Wheeler posted an advertisement asking for the

return of “the deeds and other papers taken” from her house.204 In the second half of the

advertisement, Wheeler stated that she

James Pilton, Negro Settlement, 15-33,35.

’02 “Burglary,” Cariboo Sentinel, 1 October, 1870.

lo3 Ibid.
204

“Notice,” Cariboo Sentinel, 8 October, 1870.

begs to correct the statement that she was “enjoying the hospitalities of a
distinguished colored gentleman the night of the robbery,” having
adjourned at the house of a white friend on the evening referred to.205

The first half of Wheeler’s advertisement in the Sentinel was not only a simple request

for the return of stolen items; it was also an assertion of property rights. When Wheeler

demanded the return of “the deeds and other papers taken” she asserted ownership over a

house that the Sentinel had previously classified as simply being “occupied” by her.206 In

this way, Wheeler re-asserted some of the legitimacy of her claim to “fairness.” Wheeler

also responded to the criticism of her personal associations by stating that she had not

been with a Black man; rather, she had been with a White, probably female, friend.207 By

distancing herself from other Blacks and by putting forth a “proper” public persona,

Wheeler asserted a claim to a particularly British conception of “fairness.” Ultimately,

however, Wheeler could not fully move past the imposed quotation marks on her

“fairness” because she could not erase the primary signifier of her race, her skin colour.

Wheeler defended her right to own property in the White area of town and to a certain

type of racial equality and gender respectability vested in British notions of propriety

without questioning the racial assumptions that positioned her there originally.

Economically, Blacks also integrated fairly well into the gold field towns of the

Cariboo. Blacks appear to have been the proprietors of a number of small business and

205 Ibid.

206 “Burglary,” Cariboo Sentinel, 1 October, 1870. “Notice,” Cariboo Sentinel, 8 October, 1870.
207

“Notice,” Cariboo Sentinel, 8 October, 1870. My thanks to James Murton for his insight into the gender
of Mrs. Wheeler’s companion. Murton has suggested that the “White friend” was female on the basis
that Mrs. Wheeler was attempting to defend a claim to certain kind of gendered respectability,
especially because as a Black woman she would have been assumed to be more sexually available.
James Murton, Personal Communication, May, 2004.

hotels scattered throughout the gold field towns.208 These Black-owned businesses

served White, Black, Chinese, and Native clientele.209 However, Blacks seem to have

dominated within a few “Black trade” sectors of the economy, most notably barbering

and washing.210 Some of the most influential Blacks in Barkerville, W.D. Moses and

Isaac Dickinson, worked as barbers.211 While both of these men were involved in other

economic ventures, their barbering was the focus of their economic activity.212 In

208 “News from Cariboo,” British Columbian, 14 June, 1862. “Letter From Williams Creek,” Daily British
Colonist, 10 July, 1862. Dixie, “Shampooin ‘Stablismen,” Cariboo Senfinel, 12 June, 1865. “Moses
Hair Invigorator,” Cariboo Sentinel, 15 July, 1865. “Prevention is Better than Cure,” Cariboo
Sentinel, 21 June, 1866. “Burning of Barkerville,” Cariboo Sentinel, 22 September, 1868. W.D.
Moses, “Description. James William Pilton. Negro Settlement in British Columbia with Notes
Concerning W.D. Moses (1858-1871),” BA, Barkerville Archival System. Chartres Brew, “Report on
Barkerville Fire to Col. Sec. List of Cases. Report on Rebuilding,” 15 September, 1868, BA.
BohanonFuller, “Day Books: Jan. 1868-Aug. 1868,” 18 January, 1868, QA, fonds #8, series 2, box B,
item 1. A. Hickrnan, “Hickman, A,” 6 July, 1868; 22 September, 1868; 20 October, 1868; 2 , 9 July,
1870, Barkerville Archival System, BA. Bathhouses, “Bathhouses,” 9 July, 1866; 16 June, 1869,
Barkerville Archival System, BA. Bishop George Hills, “Diary,” transcribed, 15 July, 1862, ADCA.

209 Provincial Court, “Cariboo West,” 11 March, 1869, BCARS GR 0597, vol. 1. W.D. Moses, “Diary #3:
Memoranda,” 27 July, 1870; August, 1871, BCARS A01046. Alexander Allan, “Alexander
Letterbook, Jan. 2, 1868-Oct. 20, 1876,” transcribed: Winnifred Macintosh, July 12, 1963. Letter to
Mr. Thomas Dearberg, Victoria V.I. Jan 2, 1868 from Williams Creek, 31 December, 1867, BA.
W.D. Moses, “Description. Sentinel refs. Advertising,” Barkerville Archival System, 23 October,
1868, BA.

210 “Letter From Williams Creek,” Daily British Colonist, 10 July, 1862. Dixie, “Shampooin ‘Stablismen,”
Cariboo Sentinel, 12 June, 1865. “Moses Hair Invigorator,” Cariboo Sentinel, 15 July, 1865.
“Prevention is Better than Cure,” Cariboo Sentinel, 21 June, 1866. “Burning of Barkerville,” Cariboo
Sentinel, 22 September, 1868. W.D. Moses, “Diary #I,” 10 September, 1865, BCARS A01046.
BohanodFuller, “Cash/Account Books ca 1869-1876,” 9 January, 1872, QA, fonds #8, series 2,
subseries 3, box D, item 3, BA. J.P. Gibbs, “Barkerville Computer Index Search: Gibbs, J.P.,” 16
August, 1868, BA. R. Byron Johnson, Very Far West Indeed: A Few Rough Experiences on the
North-West Pacijic Coast (London: Sampson Low, Marston, Low & Searle, 1872), 179.

2 1 ‘ Dixie, “Shampooin ‘Stablismen,” Cariboo Sentinel, 12 June, 1865. “Moses Hair Invigorator,” Cariboo
Sentinel, 15 July, 1865. “Prevention is Better than Cure,” Cariboo Sentinel, 21 June, 1866. “Burning
of Barkerville,” Cariboo Sentinel, 22 September, 1868. BCARS GR 0584 vol. 4 County Court
Summons Book, 6 November, 1866. “Dixon,” 24 June, 1865; 26 August, 1865, Barkerville Archival
System. W.D. Moses, “Description. James William Pilton. Negro Settlement in British Columbia
with Notes Concerning W.D. Moses (1858-1871),” BA.

2 ‘ 2 W.D. Moses, “Diary #2, 1869,” 9 May, 1869; 17-18 November, 1869, BCARS A01046. Provincial
Court, “Cariboo West,” 17,21 August, 1866; 11 March, 1869, BCARS GR 0597, vol. 1. W.D. Moses,
“Diary #I,” 7 July, 1865; 21 September, 1865; 4 October, 1865; 20 March, 1866; 9 January, 1869,
BCARS A01046. W.D. Moses, “Description. Sentinel refs. Advertising,” BA. W.D. Moses,
“Description, The British Columbia Genealogist. Vol. 14. June 1985, no.2 ed. Catherine J.
Aitchison,” BA. Chartres Brew, “Report on Barkerville Fire to Col. Sec. List of Cases. Report on
Rebuilding,” 15 September, 1868, BA, 971.12 BRE 1868.

contrast, there do not appear to have been any non-Black barbers and few, if any, non-

Black washermen outside of Chinatown. Black concentration in these industries is hardly

surprising given that many Blacks came from the United States where those professions

were considered “Black work” and therefore would have had the necessary experience

and skill sets to continue those jobs in the ~ a r i b o o . ~ ‘ ~ Additionally, the lack of

substantial competition from non-Blacks speaks to the degree that both Blacks and non-

Blacks considered these jobs the domain of Blacks, even when the economy of the

Cariboo suffered a downturn. This limited integration into the White aspects of the

economy, still far more than any other group, is indicative of the influence of the

expectations of both Blacks and Whites as to what place Blacks should occupy within the

gold field towns. Perhaps by occupying “Black” jobs, Blacks made the other, more

integrated, aspects of their participation, such as voting or ownership of mining

companies, more palatable to Whites. In that case, for a modicum of conformity to racial

difference, White society rewarded Blacks with a degree of integration.

Native Interracial Interactions
in the Gold Field Towns

The Native presence in the gold field towns also challenged idealized notions of

White space in the towns. The physical locations of Native spaces in the towns are hard

to specify, but it appears they tended to either live along the outskirts of the towns or

John B. Wilkinson, “Letters. Fergeson’s or Rich Bar- forty Miles above Alexander Fraser River,” 22
September, 1860, BCARS MS 0048, file I. James Pilton, Negro Settlement, 47-48.

order of the towns. The elites worried that the influence of “savage” Natives would

corrupt British-dictated standards of “civilization” within the gold field towns.217 The

Native presence in the towns therefore directly challenged the White dichotomy of

civilization1 savagery and the assumption of White superiority on which it was based,

raising a fear of degeneracy among many ~ h i t e s . ~ ” In response, the elites tended to

simply deny the Native presence in the towns by excluding them from the census and

other records.219 Indeed, Whites tended to remark on Natives in the town only when they

acted in a “criminal” or “anti-social” manner.220

In many ways, Natives in the towns bore the brunt of the colonial justice system.

Natives lacked the safe social space of a Chinatown or the fluency of the Blacks in the

language and ideas that underlay British justice and had to cope with stereotypes that

portrayed them as naturally These factors combined to make the legal

system in the Cariboo grossly unfair to ~ a t i v e s . ~ ~ ~ Judge Begbie convicted and

sentenced Natives to death on flimsy, circumstantial evidence that, even according to

himself, “would [not] have convicted a White man.”223 Natives also tended to suffer

harsher penalties for major offences than their non-Native compatriots. For example,

217 “Indian Row,” Cariboo Sentinel, 16 January, 1869. “Profits of Agriculture,” Cariboo Sentinel, 24 July,
1869. Adele Peny, On the Edge of Empire, 16-17,21.

218 Albert Holloway, “Profits of Agriculture,” Cariboo Sentinel, 24 July, 1869. Adele Peny, On the Edge
of Empire, 16-17,21.

2’9 “The Census,” Cariboo Sentinel, 15 December, 1866. Mallandaine, Edward, First Victoria Directory,
3dissue, and British Columbia Guide. (Victoria, B.C.: Mallandaine, 1871), 94-95.

220 See, for example, Native “criminality” in the court records.

221 “Criminal Trials,” Cariboo Sentinel, 4 July, 1867. “Trans-Continental Railroad” Cariboo Sentinel, 9
August 1868. “Stewart’s Lake Indians,” Cariboo Sentinel, 14 August, 1869.

222 M.B. Begbie, “Colonial Correspondence, 1863,” BCARS B01308, file 142f. Bishop George Hills,
“Diary,” transcribed, 30 November, 1861, ADCA.

223 M.B. Begbie, “Colonial Correspondence, 1863,” 2 July, 1867, BCARS B01308, file 142f.

Natives accounted for twenty-two of Judge Begbie’s twenty-seven hangings.224

Additionally, for lesser offences, Natives served longer and harsher sentences than their

non-Native counterparts, with the exception of the ~ h i n e s e . ~ ~ ~ This is probably due to

the town elites’ perception of the Chinese as a growing threat, whereas the Natives were

both “vanishing” and “savage.”226

As in the hinterland, Newcomers also employed Natives throughout the gold field

towns. However, unlike non-Native groups, Natives did not own their own businesses

but seem to have primarily used short to medium-term wage labour as a subsistence

strategy. In particular, Whites and Blacks employed Natives to chop wood, cook, clean,

and do miscellaneous other odd jobs.227 This small-scale economic activity posed little

threat to non-Native labour, with the occasional exception of Chinese labour, and

therefore did not trigger repressive measures against Native economic activity. Natives

took part economically in the gold field towns, largely because Native economic

participation, like Black participation, seems to have been overlooked by the majority of

White society because White attention was fixated on the Chinese. While the town elites

224 Jean Bannan, The West Beyond The West, 77. Cariboo Quesnelle, “County Court Book. July 28, 1864-
Oct. loth, 1877,” 24,26 October, 1864, BCARS GR 0570. Other examples: British Columbia
Supreme Court, “British Columbia Court of Assizes, Dec. 2, 1864-March 22, 1867.,” 13 May, 1865; 7
November, 1865, BCARS B 14170.

225 “Cariboo Police Court,” Cariboo Sentinel, 2 September, 1865. “British Columbian Telegram,” Victoria
Daily Chronicle, 3 May, 1866. “Police Court,” Cariboo Sentinel, 20 September, 1866. Provincial
Court, “Cariboo West,” 30 March, 1866; 10 March, 1868, BCARS GR 0597, vol. 1. County Court of
the Cariboo, “County Court Record Book, July 30, 1866-May 18,” 19 April, 1867; 26 April, 1868,
BCARS GR 0822. British Columbia Supreme Court, “British Columbia Court of Assizes, Dec. 2,
1864-March 22,1867.,” 13 May, 1865; 7 November, 1865, BCARS B14170.

226 Oliver Hare, “Colonial Correspondence,” 26 June, 1872, BCARS GR 02 16, vol. 1, f 14-376. Provincial
Court, “Cariboo West,” 19 September, 1866; 9 November, 1870, BCARS GR 0597, vol. 1. County
Court of the Cariboo, “County Court Record Book, July 30, 1866-May 18,” 14 November, 1866; 8
January, 1867 BCARS GR 0822.

227 Provincial Court, “Cariboo West,” 31 October, 1864; 1,30 November, 1864; 1 December, 1864; 12
September, 1865, BCARS GR 0597, vol. 1. Government Agent, “Cariboo West Collectorate,” 2
February, 1866; 30 March, 1866, BCARS GR 3052, vol. 5.

concentrated on regulating the Chinese, Natives managed to quietly integrate within the

gold field towns to a remarkable extent.

Natives also found support from some sectors of White society. The demographic

imbalance of the Cariboo meant that Native women could use their sexuality to gain

access to the space of the gold field Much to the consternation of the town

elites, some Native women had personal relationships with working class

Equally prominent were the several “squaw” dance houses in the gold field towns, such

as Loring’s Dancing Saloon in Cameronton, a dance house at Quesnellemouth, two at

Lytton, and two on Williams Creek, one of which a Black woman, Ann Wheeler,

owned.23o Along with prostitution, these interactions created a space for Native women

in the gold field towns that the town elites saw as antithetical to their idealized space.231

Despite this “official” disapproval, Native women made a place for themselves in the

towns with support of working class Whites and non-Whites alike.

The sexualization of Native women had other social repercussions. Shortly before

Christmas Eve, 1870, W.D. Moses, a Black man, got a Native woman, Full Moon, drunk

228 Joseph Haller, “Cariboo Letters, 1858-1866,” 26 December, 1862, CVA. Edward Mallandaine, First
Victoria Directory, 3d issue, and British Columbia Guide. (Victoria, B.C.: Mallandaine, 187 1).

229 I.D.C. “A Man’s A Man For That,” British Columbian, 4 June, 1862. “British Columbia,” Victoria Daily
Chronicle, 23 August, 1863. El Oro, “Letter from Lillooet, B.C.,” Victoria Daily Chronicle, 16 April,
1864. Yelkcab, “Letter from Lillooet, B.C.,” Victoria Daily Chronicle, 22 April, 1864. “Letter From
William Creek,” Victoria Daily Chronicle, 27 November, 1864. “The Indian Liquor Traffic,” Cariboo
Sentinel, 14 October, 1865. “The Mosquito Affray-Fatal Result,” Cariboo Sentinel, 20 March, 1869.
“Profits of Agriculture,” Cariboo Sentinel, 24 July, 1869. “Sudden Death and Inquest,” Cariboo
Sentinel, 16 July, 1870. W.M. Mark, Cariboo: A True and Correct Narrative. (Stockton: W.M.
Wright, 1863), 1862, BA, 97 1.12 MAR 1863. James Reynard, “Barkerville, 1869-1906, Cariboo
Mission-Rev. J. Reynard,” 16-17, ADCA. Bishop George Hills, “Diary,” 26 June, 1861; 10 June,
1861, ADCA, vo1.3.

230 “Letter From Lillooet,” Victoria Daily Chronicle, 19 February, 1864. El Oro, “Another Letter From
Lillooet,” Victoria Daily Chronicle, 11 May, 1864. “British Columbia,” Victoria Daily Chronicle, 17
March, 1865. “The Indian Liquor Traffic,” Cariboo Sentinel, 14 October, 1865. B.D. “Letter From
Cariboo,” Daily British Colonist, 27 March, 1868. W.D. Moses, “Diary #2, 1869,” 27 July, 1869,
BCARS A01046. W.D. Moses, “Description. Barber,” Barkerville Archival System, BA.

23′ “Profits of Agriculture,” Cariboo Sentinel, 24 July, 1869.

and sexually assaulted her, tearing her In the majority of cases in the Cariboo,

men from all racial backgrounds perpetrated sexual assaults against Native women.23″

This trend partly stemmed from the massive demographic imbalances in the non-Native

populations in the Cariboo that meant that Native women were the most available target

for sexual assaults.234 Demography did not account for these assaults alone, instead

racial and gender ideologies that depicted Native women as both inferior and sexually

available facilitated these crimes.235 In the official records, the attacks on Native women

were not described as sexual assaults; instead, as in the case above, euphemisms were

used, underscoring the degree to which Native women were legally disempowered in the

gold towns.

Sites of Multi-Racial Alternatives
to the Social Norms of the Idealized Space

Multi-racial alternatives to the idealized space of the Cariboo are most evident in

the gold field towns within the context of interracial interactions. The consumption of

alcohol in the Cariboo provides an illuminating example of the different permutations and

effects of space in which interracial interactions occurred. The town elites subjected the

232 Provincial Court, “Cariboo West,” 24 December, 1870, BCARS GR 0597, vol. 1.

233 “Local Intelligence From Above,” British Columbian, 21 March, 1861. I.D.C. “A Man’s A Man For
That,” British Columbian, 4 June, 1862. British Columbia Colony Court, “Cariboo West 1864-
1871,” BCARS GR 2528, box 1, file 2. Richfield Police, “Court Case Book, July 30th 1862-July 15th,
1874,” 5 December, 1863, BCARS GR 0598, vol. 1. Provincial Court, “Cariboo West,” 22 August,
1865; 24 December, 1870; 18 July, 1871, BCARS GR 0597, vol. 1. John Boyles Gaggin, “Colonial
Correspondence; Gold Commissioners office at Quesnellemouth to Colonial Sec. (Victoria), 13 March,
1865,” BCARS B 1330, file 624.

234 “The Census,” Cariboo Sentinel, 15 December, 1866. Edward Mallandaine, First Victoria Directory, 3d
issue, and British Columbia Guide. (Victoria, B.C.: Mallandaine, 1871), 94-95.

235 Rayna Green, “The Pocahontas Perplex,” in Unequal Sisters: A Multi-Cultural Reader in U.S. Women’s
History, Ellen Carol Dubois and Vicki Ruiz, eds. (New York: Routledge, 1990), 17-19.

consumption of alcohol to social and legal regulation.236 Public drunkenness was illegal

for all groups and Native consumption of alcohol was completely banned.237 Because the

town elites wanted to limit the effects of drinking on society, they officially tolerated

drinking in saloons, and to a lesser extent, homes. However, the town elites made

exceptions for “colourful” characters and private “excessive” drinking among

Even a cursory examination of criminal charges in the gold field towns reveals that

members of all the different racial groups in the Cariboo frequently broke these social

and legal regulations. Blacks and Whites both seem to have drunk primarily in the

saloons or dance houses, mixing their alcohol with dancing, singing, gambling, and

gossip.239 Consumption of alcohol provided a way for individual Blacks to make social

connections with Whites at the same time that it asserted their position within Cariboo

society as equitable to that of

The Chinese, on the other hand, do not appear to have frequently drunk outside of

Chinatown during the early period in the gold field towns. However, they did purchase

some alcohol from White suppliers, most notably Brandy, while undoubtedly purchasing

the bulk of their alcohol from Chinese suppliers.241 Conversely, very few non-Chinese

appear to have drunk within the Chinatowns during this period. This trend began to shift

236 Adele Perry, On the Edge of Empire, 40-44.

237 Sinbad, “Letter from Lytton,” Cariboo Sentinel, 15 July, 1864. “Yung Hang,” Cariboo Sentinel, 6
August, 1870. “Letter from Lillooet,” Victoria Daily Chronicle, 19 February, 1864. Provincial Court,
“Cariboo West,” 14, 15 January, 1869, BCARS GR 0597, vol. 1.

238 Tourth of July in Cariboo,” Cariboo Sentinel, 8 July, 1865. H.M. Ball, “Journal,” transcribed, 18 May,
1864, BCARS MS 0750.

239 Shall a Colored Man Drink at a White Man’s Bar?,” and “The Vexed Question Settled,” Daily British
Colonist, 5 July, 1862.

240 “Shall a Colored Man Drink at a White Man’s Bar?,” and “The Vexed Question Settled,” Daily British
Colonist, 5 July, 1862. But it was also a way to get free drinks: Fumte, “John Chinaman,” Daily
British Colonist, 6 January, 1865.

24′ See, for example: Ying-ying Chen, In the Colonies of the T’ang, 191-192.

Unlike the Chinese or Blacks, the town elites denied Natives the right to drink; yet

the historical record is full of instances of Native men and women drinking in the gold

field Native drinking tended to occur in what spaces they created for

themselves, usually in their homes or in the homes of miners who supplied them with

a l ~ o h o l . ~ ~ ~ h r o u ~ h the consumption of alcohol, Natives signalled their rejection of the

town elites’ authority at the same time that they staked a claim to a type of basic equality

between themselves and non-Natives. This claim rejected the Newcomer construction of

the gold field towns as either a non-Native space or as a space in which Natives were

inferior. This claim to equality was a necessarily subversive claim that needed to avoid

the regulatory power of the state.

Gold field society tended to view Native drinking and drunkenness as confirmation

of Native inferiority and it was the non-Natives that supplied Natives with alcohol that

especially concerned the regulators of social order in the gold field towns.246 These non- 1

“The Missing Four Thousand Dollars,” British Columbian, 19 November, 1862. “The Indian Liquor
Traffic,” Cariboo Sentinel, 14 October, 1865. “Indian Row,” Cariboo Sentinel, 16 January, 1869.
“Sudden Death and Inquest,” Cariboo Sentinel, 16 July, 1870. British Columbia Colony Court,
“Cariboo West, 1864-1 87 1 ,” 3 1 August, 1863; 1 1 March, 1865; 15 December, 187 1, BCARS GR
2528, box 1, file 2. Provincial Court, “Cariboo West,” 10,30 March, 1866; 20 April, 1867; 10 March,
1868; 27 June, 1868; 14, 15 January, 1869; 25 June, 1869; 4 September, 1869; 7 January, 1870; 4,22
April, 1870; 12 September, 1870; 24,31 December, 1870; 16 January, 187 1; 17 March, 1871; 24
April, 1871; 5, 18, 28 July, 1871, BCARS GR 0597, vol. 1. County Court of the Cariboo, “County
Court Record Book, July 30, 1866-May 18,” 19 April, 1867; 13-14 January, 1869; 3 September, 1869;
6 January, 1870; 3, 13,22 April, 1870; 11 September, 1870, BCARS GR 0822.

245 “The Mosquito Affray-Fatal Result,” Cariboo Sentinel, 20 March, 1869. “Sudden Death and Inquest,”
Cariboo Sentinel, 16 July, 1870. “Yung Hang,” Cariboo Sentinel, 6 August, 1870. British Columbia
Colony Court, “Cariboo West, 1864-1871,” 31 August, 1863, BCARS GR 2528, box 1, file 2.

246 White supplier: “The Indian Liquor Traffic,” Cariboo Sentinel, 14 October, 1865. “Sudden Death and
Inquest,” Cariboo Sentinel, 16 July, 1870. Provincial Court, “Cariboo West,” 10,30 March, 1866; 6
September, 1869; 6 July, 1871, BCARS GR 0597, vol. 1. Chinese supplier: “Yung Hang,” Cariboo
Sentinel, 6 August, 1870. Provincial Court, “Cariboo West,” 4 August, 1870, BCARS GR 0597, vol. 1.
County Court of the Cariboo, “County Court Record Book, July 30, 1866-May 18,” 4 August, 1870;
18 July, 1871, BCARS GR 0822. Indians, “Indians,” 6 August, 1870, Barkerville Archival System,
BA. Black supplier: Provincial Court, “Cariboo West,” 24 December, 1870, BCARS GR 0597, vol.
1.

Natives rejected the authority of the town elites to regulate social norms and, largely

inadvertently, opened the door for the Natives to articulate different racialized meanings

of space through drinking. These White, Black, and Chinese suppliers received far

harsher penalties than the Natives convicted of drinking the alcohol because their actions

represented a greater threat to the social order of the Cariboo than the Natives who the

town elites “expected” to behave in a manner counter to the idealized space of the gold

fields.247

The social order of the Cariboo towns was most clearly articulated during

Governor Musgrave’s 1869 visit. The Governor’s visit was important because he was an

important figure not only for the political and economic patronage he could dispense but

also because he represented the pinnacle of British society during the gold field period

and was, in of himself, a potent symbol of that order.

Local commentators singled out the efforts of the fire brigade to provide a “proper”

greeting for the overn nor.^^^ Like contemporary fire brigades in other parts of North

America, the fire brigade in the Cariboo was an important social institution and its

members tended to have some standing within the community. The fire brigade provided

its members with “badges of office” in the form of fireman hats with a badge on the front.

Further underscoring Black integration, W.D. Moses appears to have been a member of

247 “Yung Hang,” Cariboo Sentinel, 6 August, 1870. British Columbia Colony Court, “Cariboo West,
1864-187 1,” 3 1 August, 1863, BCARS GR 2528, box I , file 2. Provincial Court, “Cariboo West,” 10,
30 March, 1866; 27 June, 1868; 14,15 January, 1869; 25 June, 1869; 4 September, 1869; 7 January,
1870; 4,22 April, 1870; 4 August, 1870; 24,3 1 December, 1870; 16 January, 1871; 17 March, 1871;
24 April, 1871; 5,6, 18,28 July, 1871, BCARS GR 0597, vol. 1. County Court of the Cariboo,
“County Court Record Book, July 30,1866-May 18,” 19 April, 1867; 13,14 January, 1869; 3
September, 1869; 6 January, 1870; 3,13,22 April, 1870; 4 August, 1870, BCARS GR 0822. Indians,
“Indians,” 6 August, 1870, Barkerville Archival System, BA.

248 “Preparations for the Governor’s Reception,” Cariboo Sentinel, 18 September, 1869.

would appear somewhat peripheral and subordinate to the White firemen, underscoring

the limitations of Black integration in the Cariboo gold field towns.

The Chinese also decorated a large arch at the entrance to Chinatown and set off

fireworks in celebration of Governor Musgrave’s visit.251 By erecting this arch, the

Chinese made a dramatic assertion of their place in the wider society of the gold field

towns.252 At the same time however, the Chinese also asserted a separate Chinese space

by positioning the arch at the entrance to, instead of within, ~ h i n a t o w n . ~ ~ ~ The Chinese

speech to the Governor and his response to the Chinese were equally mixed. The

Chinese thanked Governor Musgrave for the equality of British law and Musgrave

reciprocated by thanking the Chinese for their loyalty and assured them that the law

would continue to be implemented equitably.254 ~ i v e n the disparity in the treatment of

Chinese and Whites in the courts, these statements can be read as political theatre. The

Chinese speech used British notions of equality before the law that were so important to

the British identity at exactly that time when that identity was being very publicly

articulated and celebrated. The Chinese used the discourse of equality before the law to

both position themselves publicly within the gold town society and to try and ensure that

the law would, in fact, be implemented somewhat equitably. Given the public discourse

over British identity and loyalty his visit had excited, Governor Musgrave had to

acknowledge the Chinese arch and speech in a manner that reflected the public

articulation of idealized British social norms being celebrated by the inhabitants of the

2 5 ‘ “Preparations for the Governor’s Reception,” Cariboo Sentinel, 18 September, 1869. “Reception of the
Governor,” Cariboo Sentinel, 22 September, 1869.

252 Ibid.

253 “Reception of the Governor,” Cariboo Sentinel, 22 September, 1869.

254 Ibid.

gold field towns. While these events may have meant a great deal to the Chinese, they

do not seem to have effected any great change in the society of the Cariboo gold field

towns.
Conclusions

The social norms embodied in the idealized space of the gold field towns acted to

shape the nature of the interracial interactions that occurred in the towns. The different

“racial” groups of the gold field towns: the Chinese, Blacks, Natives, and Whites, all

responded to the social norms articulated by the town elites in different ways resulting in

a space characterized by a variety of meanings and interracial interactions.

These different articulations of space were not static over time or between gold field

towns. In the southernmost extent of the Cariboo in Cayoosh and Lillooet, Natives were

far more accepted than in the Cariboo Mountain gold field Additionally, there

was a noticeable shift in the attitude of the inhabitants of the gold field towns toward the

Chinese from the early exclusionary movements of the 1860s to a more widespread

acceptance of the Chinese place in the towns by the late 1860s and early 1 8 7 0 s . ~ ~ ~ Both

of these are indicative of a “letting go” of the idealized space of the gold field towns by

dominant echelons of society and of a de facto recognition of the challenges to the

idealized space. This did not translate into recognition of equality, but rather was simply

recognition of the place of non-Whites within the gold field towns.

255 Attorney General, “Colonial Correspondence,” 4 July, 1860, BCARS B01304, file 95.

256 “News From Above,” British Colurnbian, 30 May, 1861. “Amvals From the River,” Daily British
Colonist, June 10, 1861. Argus, “Letter From Cariboo,” Daily British Colonist, 7 October, 1861.
Vialor, “En Route to Cariboo,” Daily British Colonist, 1 June, 1863. Fumte, “John Chinaman,” Daily
British Colonist, 6 January, 1865.

The Miners’ Community
of the Gold Mines

While the town elites believed that the gold towns were important as markers of

social status, the gold mines were the raison d’etre of the gold field society of the

Cariboo. More than just the economic base of gold field society, the gold mines also

represented a place where dreams of social and financial aggrandizement could be

realized. Because of their economic and social significance, the society of the Cariboo

closely scrutinized the mines. The greatest attention came from the White miners who

subjected themselves and others to intense levels of surveillance. In particular, White

working class miners articulated a discourse of legal and social egalitarianism based on

equality before the law and the sanctity of property and sought to implement that

discourse “on the ground” in the gold fields. This discourse and the other social,

economic and environmental factors present in the mines affected the interracial

interactions of Black, White, Chinese, and Native miners. While the Chinese found their

participation constrained by the working class White miners, the White miners quickly

accepted the Blacks, though the Blacks were soon to discover the limits to this

acceptance. Finally, due to a combination of social, economic, and environmental

factors, Native participation in the gold mines was virtually non-existent for the majority

of the gold field period.

A greater degree of surveillance permeated the mines than in the towns or the

hinterland. The apparatus of the colonial state monitored and regulated the gold mines

through surveys, licences, claims, and mining courts.257 The physical location of the

majority of the main gold fields concentrated in the Cariboo Mountains near, or in some

cases within, the towns aided the state in monitoring and regulating the mines. Even with

these advantages however, the town elites, through the apparatus of the colonial state,

could only exercise partial surveillance over interracial interactions in the mines.

Unlike in the gold field towns, where the town elites controlled the upper echelons

of society, the “community of miners” in the mines was far more egalitarian. The social

and legal norms articulated by White working class miners in the mines centred on a

discourse of equality and the sanctity of property.258 Appearing to abide by these dictates

through ownership of a mining licence, compliance with mining regulations and

etiquette, and patterns of consumption that stressed European goods, and a “proper” level

of local spending meant that an individual was a “proper” miner, rather than a “leech” on

the economy.259 Membership in the community of miners translated into relative

freedom from social and legal sanctions from other miners or the state. While the town

elites were members of the community of miners, they, despite attempts to monitor the

2’7 See, for example: “Chinese Licences,” Cariboo Sentinel, 4 June, 1866. “Chinese Licences,” Cariboo
Sentinel, 21 June, 1866. “Chinese Licences,” Cariboo Sentinel, 5 July, 1866. “Chinese Licences,”
Cariboo Sentinel, 9 July, 1866. “Chinese Licences,” Cariboo Sentinel, 19 July, 1866. “Untitled,”
Cariboo Sentinel, 23 July 1866. “Police Court,” Cariboo Sentinel, 6 August, 1866. “Police Court,”
Cariboo Sentinel, 20 August, 1866. “The Gold Commissioner’s Court,” Cariboo Sentinel, 30 August,
1866. “Jumped,” Cariboo Sentinel, 13 May, 1869. “Our Chinese Population,” Cariboo Sentinel, 16
May, 1867. “County Court,” Cariboo Sentinel, 1 August, 1867. “County Court,” Cariboo Sentinel, 23
August, 1868. County Court of the Cariboo, “County Court Summons Book,” 9 June, 1865, BCARS
GR 0584, vol. 2.

2’8 “Mass Meeting,” Cariboo Sentinel, 25 June, 1866.

2’9 “Chinese Licences,” Cariboo Sentinel, 4 June, 1866. “Chinese Licences,” Cariboo Sentinel, 21 June,
1866. “Chinese Licences,” Cariboo Sentinel, 5 July, 1866. “Chinese Licences,” Cariboo Sentinel, 9
July, 1866. “Chinese Licences,” Cariboo Sentinel, 19 July, 1866. “Untitled,” Cariboo Sentinel, 23
July 1866. “Police Court,” Cariboo Sentinel, 6 August, 1866. “Our Chinese Population,” Cariboo
Sentinel, 16 May, 1867. “Prospecting,” Cariboo Sentinel, 22 July, 1867. “Jumped,” Cariboo Sentinel,
13 May, 1869.

mines, did not control the attitudes of this Instead, the attitude of the working

class members determined the outlook of the community of miners.

As historian Tina Loo argued in her study of the Cariboo gold fields, miners used

the legal system to regulate their interactions with each other.261 The miners had a vested

interest in maintaining a system of order among themselves to minimize disputes and

lessen distractions that could interfere with gold mining. As Loo noted, miners

consistently filled the mining courts of the Cariboo with disputes over claims, wages, and

other aspects of the extraction of gold.262 This internal surveillance meant that the wishes

of the working class miners and the town elites were often indistinguishable. By

safeguarding a social system that placed Whites ahead of non-Whites, the town elites

preserved their dominance while the White working class miners kept their wages

elevated above those of the ~ h i n e s e . ~ ~ ~

The working class miners attempted to shape the interracial interactions of the

mines to conform to their priorities through surveillance. If an individual or group did

not abide by one or more of the legal and social precepts of the “community of miners”

they were fair game for discrimination and recrimination by the mining community and

”Mass Meeting,” Cariboo Sentinel, 25 June, 1866.
26 1 Tina Loo, Making Law, 13.

262 Ibid. See for example: “Police Court,” Cariboo Sentinel, 20 August, 1866. “The Gold Commissioner’s
Court,” Cariboo Sentinel, 30 August, 1866. “County Court,” Cariboo Sentinel, 1 August, 1867.
“County Court,” Cariboo Sentinel, 23 August, 1868.

263 Argus, “Letter From Cayoosh,” Daily British Colonist, 2 May, 1861. “News From Above,” British
Columbian, 30 May, 1861. “Mining Intelligence,” Cariboo Sentinel, 30 September, 1867. WM.
Srnithe, “Editor Cariboo Sentinel,” Cariboo Sentinel, 1 June, 1868.

the town elites.264 Moreover, the working class miners saw some groups, such as the

Chinese and Natives, as naturally incapable of acting “properly” in the mines.265

Physical realities also shaped interracial interactions in the gold mines. Unlike the

surface deposits of the lower Fraser River, gold deposits in the Cariboo Mountains tended

to be located metres below the surface.266 Extracting these deposits required the

formation of companies to re-route and harness rivers and to dig substantial underground

mining shafts.267 In this environment, these companies needed significant amounts of

capital and experience to operate.268 These environmental conditions particularly

constrained Native involvement in the gold mines. Natives in the Cariboo lacked the

capital to fund mining companies and the experience to build the mechanisms and

structures such as flumes or fly wheels needed to access the main gold deposits. The

environment also shaped the nature of the mining companies in general. The

underground gold deposits encouraged company formation and while some of the smaller

companies were made up entirely of shareholders, it was far more common in the

Cariboo Mountains to have large companies with waged employees who could help

”Chinese Licences,” Cariboo Sentinel, 4 June, 1866. “Chinese Licences,” Cariboo Sentinel, 21 June,
1866. “Chinese Licences,” Cariboo Sentinel, 5 July, 1866. “Chinese Licences,” Cariboo Sentinel, 9
July, 1866. “Chinese Licences,” Cariboo Sentinel, 19 July, 1866. “Untitled,” Cariboo Sentinel, 23
July 1866. “Police Court,” Cariboo Sentinel, 6 August, 1866. “Our Chinese Population,” Cariboo
Sentinel, 16 May, 1867. “Jumped,” Cariboo Sentinel, 13 May, 1869.

265 “Chinese Licences,” Cariboo Sentinel, 4 June, 1866. “Chinese Licences,” Cariboo Sentinel, 21 June,
1866. “Chinese Licences,” Cariboo Sentinel, 5 July, 1866. “Chinese Licences,” “Mining Intelligence,”
Cariboo Sentinel, 9 July, 1866. “Chinese Licences,” Cariboo Sentinel, 19 July, 1866. “Untitled,”
Cariboo Sentinel, 23 July 1866. “Police Court,” Cariboo Sentinel, 6 August, 1866. “Our Chinese
Population,” Cariboo Sentinel, 16 May, 1867. “Prospecting,” Cariboo Sentinel, 22 July, 1867.
“Trans-Continental Railroad,” Cariboo Sentinel, 9 August, 1868. “Jumped,” Cariboo Sentinel, 13
May, 1869.

Robert M. Galois, Gold Mining and its EfSects, 3.
267 “Forks of Quesnelle,” British Columbian, 13 February, 1864. “British Columbia,” Daily British

Colonist, 3 1 December, 1864. Robert M. Galois, Gold Mining and its Effects, 23, 34.
268 Robert M. Galois, Gold Mining and its Effects, 34.

extract the ore.269 The physical environment of the Cariboo shaped interracial relations in

the gold mines by constraining who could participate and in what manner.

Unlike either the hinterland or the towns, the gold mines tended to lack safe social

spaces for non-Whites, especially the Chinese. Even the Chinese languages did not

create enough of a barrier to form safe social sites in the mines.270 The main mines

located near the gold field towns tended to have Chinese and non-Chinese mining

companies inter-mixed along a gold seam and this heterogeneity and close proximity to

the gold field towns exposed the Chinese in these locations to a fair degree of

surveillance despite the language barrier.271 Only in the more remote mines located

further away from the Cariboo Mountains could the Chinese create safe social sites and

even then, miners, reporters, and tax collectors attempted to subject these sites to

surveillance.272 These outer mines tended to have already been worked by Whites and

had predominately Chinese populations.273 In these locations, the Chinese mostly

avoided the regulatory powers of the state and other miners, but these exceptions were,

by definition, spatially, economically and socially peripheral.

269 “Supreme Court,” Cariboo Sentinel, 21 June, 1866. Bedrock Drain, “Bedrock Drain,” 28 June, 1864,
Barkerville Archival System, BA. W.D. Moses, “Diary #2, 1869,” 9 January, 1869, BCARS A01046.

270 “Chinese Licences,” Cariboo Sentinel, 4 June, 1866. “Chinese Licences,” Cariboo Sentinel, 21 June,
1866. “Chinese Licences,” Cariboo Sentinel, 5 July, 1866. “Chinese Licences,” Cariboo Sentinel, 9
July, 1866. “Chinese Licences,” Cariboo Sentinel, 19 July, 1866.

271 “Mining Intelligence,” Cariboo Sentinel, 8 July, 1867. “Mining Intelligence,” Cariboo Sentinel, 25
July, 1867. “Mining Intelligence,” Cariboo Sentinel, 29 July, 1867. “Mining Intelligence,” Cariboo
Sentinel, 16 September, 1867.

272 “Chinese Licences,” Cariboo Sentinel, 19 July, 1866. “Mining Intelligence,” Cariboo Sentinel, 16 May,
1867.

273 “Chinese Licences,” Cariboo Sentinel, 5 July, 1866. “Chinese Licences,” Cariboo Sentinel, 9 July,
1866. “Chinese Licences,” Cariboo Sentinel, 19 July, 1866. “Mining Intelligence,” Cariboo Sentinel,
16 May, 1867.

From “Leech” to Miner:
The Chinese Adaptation to the Gold Mines

From 1860 to approximately 1864, White miners, with the complicity of the

colonial state, excluded the Chinese from the main gold fields in the Cariboo

~ o u n t a i n s . ~ ~ ~ Instead, during this early gold field period, the Chinese predominately

mined along the Quesnel and Fraser rivers.275 White miners justified this exclusion on

the basis of stereotypes that portrayed the Chinese as unfair competition and as drains on

the colonial economy because it was believed they could cheaply subsist on rice and

vegetables, while White men needed meat, especially expensive red meat.276 According

to this logic, the Chinese could live on cheaper wages than a White man possibly

Additionally, White society understood sojourning as a drain on the colonial

economy. In combination with their reputed frugality, the sums of money Chinese

sojourners sent home shaped the White miner’s image of the Chinese population as an

economic and social ill.278

Correspondingly, sharp racial divisions in mining areas characterized the early gold

field period, with the Chinese dominating the more peripheral gold mines outside the

274 “News From Above,” British Columbian, 30 May, 1861. “Arrivals From the River,” Daily British
Colonist, June 10, 1861. Argus, “Letter From Cariboo,” Daily British Colonist, 7 October, 1861.
Vialor, “En Route to Cariboo,” Daily British Colonist, 1 June, 1863.

275 “Later Mining News,” Daily British Colonist, 11 September, 1860. Argus, “Letter From Williams’
Lake,” Daily British Colonist, 3 June, 1861. A.W.C., “Correspondence,” British Columbian, 4 July,
186 1. “Cariboo,” Daily British Colonist, 22 July, 186 1. “Amval of the Enterprise-Later From
Cariboo,” Daily British Colonist, 25 August, 1862. “Mining News,” British Columbian, 1 October,
1862.

276 “Our Chinese Population,” Cariboo Sentinel, 16 May, 1867. “Prospecting,” Cariboo Sentinel, 22 July,
1867. Elizabeth Vibert, Trader’s Tales: Narratives of Cultural Encounters in the Columbian Plateau,
1807-1846. (Norman: University of Oklahoma, 1997), 179-1 8 1.

277 Argus, “Letter From Cayoosh,” Daily British Colonist, 2 May, 1861. “News From Above,” British
Columbian, 30 May, 1861. “Mining Intelligence,” Cariboo Sentinel, 30 September, 1867.

278 “Our Chinese Population,” Canboo Sentinel, 16 May, 1867. “Mining Intelligence,” Cariboo Sentinel,
30 September, 1867.

Cariboo Mountains and non-Chinese miners dominating within the Cariboo Mountains.

While the exclusion of the Chinese appears to have collapsed in 1864 due to Chinese

miners finding alternate routes into the Cariboo Mountains, this collapse also corresponds

to the end of the major gold rush in the Cariboo and the beginning of the long decline of

the gold field economy.279 The depression of the gold economy and the exodus of White

miners to new diggings may have helped facilitate the Chinese entry into the gold fields

by lessening the intensity with which Whites defended the mines.

Non-Chinese miners still discriminated against Chinese miners after they managed

to penetrate into the main gold fields of the Cariboo Mountains. While the Chinese may

have entered the main gold fields, they did not conform to White or Black expectations of

what proper members of a mining community should act like. In particular, non-Chinese

miners seized on the lack of Chinese mining licences as a major and visible issue.280

Mining licences were important, not only because they provided a basic standard of

conformity for members of the mining community, but also because the revenue

generated from them went to support public services and projects in the ~ a r i b o o . ~ ~ ‘

Additionally, discrimination against the Chinese on the basis of a lack of licences allowed

the town elites to present the attacks on the Chinese as a response to the criminality of the

Chinese instead of the result of bigotry on the part of White miners. The British-

279 K., “Letter From Richfield,” Victoria Daily Chronicle,, 20 July, 1864. “Later From Cariboo,” British
Columbian, 20 May, 1865. “Later From Cariboo,” British Columbian, 6 June, 1865. The main entry
into the Cariboo was from the West along the Quesnelle River. The Chinese began to come over
various routes from the South and Southwest in 1864.

280 “Chinese Licences,” Cariboo Sentinel, 4 June, 1866. “Chinese Licences,” Cariboo Sentinel, 21 June,
1866. “Chinese Licences,” Cariboo Sentinel, 5 July, 1866. “Chinese Licences,” Cariboo Sentinel, 9
July, 1866. “Chinese Licences,” Cariboo Sentinel, 19 July, 1866. “Untitled,” Cariboo Sentinel, 23
July 1866. “Police Court,” Cariboo Sentinel, 6 August, 1866. “Jumped,” Cariboo Sentinel, 13 May,
1869.

28′ ”Chinese Licences,” Cariboo Sentinel, 5 July, 1866.

influenced town elites wished to set themselves apart from a California that was actively

discriminating against the Chinese on the basis of racial difference during this period.282

Under colonial law, mining without a licence nullified any right to a claim a miner might

have, and some Whites took advantage of this, jumping Chinese claims that appeared to

be doing Alternatively, some miners “raided” Chinese miners, convincing the

Chinese to take out licences through the application of Intense resistance by

White working class miners and British-influenced town elites to “unfair” Chinese

participation characterized the initial period of Chinese penetration into the gold fields of

the Cariboo Mountains.

However, the movement in 1866 by Chinese miners to procure mining licences

diminished the occurrence of these claim “jumps” and seems to have sparked a shift in

the perception of the Chinese in the gold mines.285 After the Chinese began to take out

mining licences, the town elites began to call for non-Chinese miners to imitate Chinese

mining, specifically, to return to supposedly “played-out” claims and re-work them,

extracting any possible gold.286

By taking out mining licences, the Chinese gained limited legal and social

legitimacy in the eyes of the town elites and partially entered into the White-defined

– p p p p p

282 “The Chinese of the Pacific Coast,” Cariboo Sentinel, 3 1 July, 1869.

283 “Lightning Creek, Cariboo Sentinel, 6 June, 1865. “British Columbia,” Daily British Colonist, 20 July,
1865. “Bridge River,” Cariboo Sentinel, 17 May, 1866. “Jumped,” Cariboo Sentinel, 13 May, 1869.

284 “Mining Intelligence,” Cariboo Sentinel, 8 July, 1865.

’13’ “Lightning Creek, Cariboo Sentinel, 6 June, 1865. “Mining Intelligence,” Cariboo Sentinel, 8 July,
1865. “Chinese Licences,” Cariboo Sentinel, 4 June, 1866. “Chinese Licences,” Cariboo Sentinel, 21
June, 1866. “Chinese Licences,” Cariboo Sentinel, 5 July, 1866. “Chinese Licences,” Cariboo
Sentinel, 9 July, 1866. “Chinese Licences,” Cariboo Sentinel, 19 July, 1866. “Untitled,” Cariboo
Sentinel, 23 July 1866. “Police Court,” Cariboo Sentinel, 6 August, 1866. “Jumped,” Cariboo
Sentinel, 13 May, 1869. Government Agent, “Cariboo West Collectorate,” 15 August, 1863; 12
October, 1863; 12, 14 March, 1864; 18 April, 1864, BCARS GR 3052, vol. 2.

286 “Prospecting,” Cariboo Sentinel, 22 July, 1867.

mining society. Having discriminated against the Chinese because of their lack of mining

licences, working class miners found themselves forced by the town elites into at least

partly recognizing the legitimacy of Chinese miners when they acquired mining licences.

In one example, John Williams, R. Booth, and James Wooten jumped Ah Wah’s claim

asserting that he did not have a mining licence and had not recorded his claim. However,

Ah Wah proved his ownership of both the claim and a mining licence and Judge Cox

promptly returned his property. Despite the clearly calculated attempt by the defendants

to unlawfully deprive Ah Wah of his claim (the defendants had surreptitiously removed

his stakes), Judge Cox only issued them a warning.2s7 By removing Ah Wah’s stakes,

Williams, Booth, and Wooten showed that they understood Ah Wah’s legal rights but

that this was not enough to protect his claim from them. Williams, Booth, and Wooten’s

actions demonstrated how little Ah Wah’s rights meant without legal enforcement.

Additionally, Judge Cox’s warning to Williams, Booth, and Wooten, especially when

contrasted with the sentence handed out for theft against ~ h i t e s , 2 ~ ~ underscores the

degree to which the Chinese were excluded from the full extent of the protection of the

law and the community of miners, even when seemingly protected by them.

As the numbers of Chinese increased in the Cariboo and they became tolerated by

the wider mining community, White-owned mining companies began to hire Chinese

miners as cheap labour. T o White employers, the supposed cheapness of the Chinese

miner’s diet justified the paying of “Chinese wages.”289 This trend raised concerns

“Gold Commissoner’s Court,” Cariboo Sentinel, 28 June, 1866.
288 Provincial Court, “Cariboo West,” 19 September, 1866, BCARS GR 0597, vol. 1.

289 Argus, “Letter From Cayoosh,” Daily British Colonist, 2 May, 1861. Alexander Allan, “Alexander
Letterbook Jan. 2, 1868-Oct. 20, 1876,” (Transcribed: Winnifred Macintosh, July 12, 1963), Letter to
Mr. Suter (ed. Of the Mainland Guardian) 6 Jan. 1870 from Barkemille, 6 January, 1870, BA.

part, by the wage differential between White and Chinese labourers. White labourers

expected higher wages than Chinese labourers and to work for a Chinese company would

have reversed the power dynamic that Whites believed should properly exist in the

~ a r i b o o . ~ ~ ‘ Whites believed that the majority of Chinese mining companies only took

out “Chinese wages” from the claims they worked and that they would only earn Chinese

wages working in a Chinese mine.298 Finally, the Chinese mining companies may not

have been willing to hire non-Chinese. The Chinese mining companies may have

operated on social networks, like kin or clan networks, rather than a European-style

employer and employee company structure.299 If so, this company structure would have

lessened the chances of Chinese mining companies employing White miners.

There is, however, one notable exception to this trend. In 1869, a forest fire killed

at least eleven Chinese miners working claims along the North Fork of the Quesnelle

~ i v e r . ~ ” The Kwong Lee Company had to hire White labour to recover the bodies from

the mines because Chinese labourers refused to, believing they had been targeted by

supernatural force^.^” This one example of a Chinese company employing Whites in the

gold mines demonstrates the exceptionalism of the situation. It took a major disaster and

the refusal of Chinese labour for a Chinese employer to hire White labour. Additionally,

the White employees could justify their involvement in the recovery of the bodies by

297 Argus, “Letter From Cayoosh,” Daily British Colonist, 2 May, 1861. WM. Srnithe, “Editor Cariboo
Sentinel,” Cariboo Sentinel, 1 June, 1868.

298 Argus, “Letter From Cayoosh,” Daily British Colonist, 2 May, 1861. “Mining Intelligence,” Cariboo
Sentinel, 9 July, 1866.

299 Ying-ying Chen, In the Colonies of the Tang, 139.

300 “The Quesnel River Disaster,” Cariboo Sentinel, 14 August, 1869.
301 “Recovery Expedition,” Cariboo Sentinel, 3 1 July, 1869.

stressing the superstitious nature of the Chinese that prevented them from doing it.302

Both sides understood this occurrence as a justified exception and it did not affect the

other interracial interactions between Whites and Chinese in the gold mines. Overall,

where Whites and Chinese worked together, it was as Chinese employees in White

companies.

The practical limits of Chinese legal equality became apparent when, in May 1869,

Chinese employees of a White mining company struck for higher wages.lo3 In response

to the strike, the White mine owners brought in White labourers whose wages were

higher than the increase that the striking Chinese asked for.304 The Chinese strike

collapsed shortly thereafter.305 In this case, the White employers used racial divisions to

break a strike. While keeping Chinese wages depressed was undoubtedly a major

motivating factor in using strike-breakers, by using White strike-breakers, the White

employers signalled the limits of Chinese participation within the community of miners.

While Chinese miners may have been entitled to equal protection under the law, those

aspects of the gold mines that fell outside legal regulation, such as the setting of wages,

remained explicitly raced. White employers could not raise Chinese wages without

threatening the White-Chinese wage disparity that was one of the significant remaining

indicators of White and Chinese difference in the Cariboo gold mines. In the gold field

period, the Chinese in the Cariboo only ever earned a partial and conflicted acceptance

into the community of miners. As partial as this acceptance was, it still enabled the

302 Ibid.

303 “Had To Come Back,” Cariboo Sentinel, 15 May, 1869.

304 Ibid.

305 Ibid.

Chinese to use the legal system of the Cariboo to exercise a basic right to payment for

work done.

The Davis Dispute and
the Limits of Black Integration

Black miners integrated more successfully than the Chinese because Blacks better

met the basic standards of the community of gold miners. Blacks tended to own mining

licences, abide by the rules and etiquette of mining and display a pattern of consumption

and investment that closely paralleled that of the majority of the White working class

miners and town elites.306 This conformity accounted for the radically different nature of

Black compared to Chinese or Native interracial interactions in the mines. Indeed,

Blacks integrated on many levels throughout the mines. Some Blacks, such as W.D.

Moses, owned shares in mixed-race or all-Black companies and hired non-Black

employees to work for them.307 Blacks also mined as employees in mixed-race or all-

Black companies.308 The most prominent example of an all-Black mining company was

originally known as the Harvey-Dixon In 1865, the Harvey-Dixon

Company became embroiled in a legal battle that revealed the limited extent to which the

3″ See, for example: British Columbia Gold Commissioner, “Cariboo, Mining Licences,” 1,28 May,
1866; 6 June, 1866; 29 May, 1867; 6,20,26 July, 1867; 5 July, 1868; 23 May, 1870; 26 July, 1870; 23
May, 187 1; 2 October, 1871, BCARS GR 0255, box 1, file 5.

307 W.D. Moses, “Diary #2,1869,” 9 January, 1869; 9 May, 1869, BCARS A01046. W.D. Moses, “Diary,”
15 May, 1869, BA.

308 “Arrival of the Enterprise- $250,000 in Gold Dust,” Daily British Colonist, 20 October, 1862. “British
Columbia,” Victoria Daily Chronicle, 10 July, 1863. “British Columbia,” Victoria Daily Chronicle, 12
July, 1863. “News From Cariboo,” British Columbian, 15 July, 1863. “Cariboo,” Daily British
Colonist, 30 July, 1863. “Correspondence,” British Columbian, 5 August, 1863. “Later From
Cariboo,” Daily British Colonist, 20 July, 1864. “British Columbia,” Victoria Daily Chronicle, 18
September, 1865. “British Columbia,” Victoria Daily Chronicle, 28 September, 1865. “Mining
Intelligence,” Daily British Colonist, 17 October, 1865. “British Columbia,” Daily British Colonist, 4
December, 1865. “Accident,” Cariboo Sentinel, 25 June, 1870.

309 James Pilton, Negro Settlement, 157.

unifying category of “miner” superseded divisive racial classifications and the different

ways Blacks used racial and social classifications in the gold mines.

In 1864, the Harvey-Dixon Company on William’s Creek extended their claim into

land that had been allowed to lapse by the neighbouring Aurora After the

Harvey-Dixon Company expanded their claim, they amalgamated with the White-owned

Davis Company and, in 1865, made a strike on the disputed ground between the newly-

formed Davis and Aurora The Aurora Company immediately began

litigation to reclaim the land they claimed had been “jumped” by the amalgamated Davis

It was this litigation that propelled the Davis Company, and especially its

Black shareholders, to the forefront of public awareness and concern in the Cariboo.

After Judge Cox of the County Court threw out the Aurora Company’s initial

the Aurora Company appealed to Judge Begbie of the Supreme Court for a

stop-work injunction.314 Begbie agreed, but a broken-down wagon kept him from issuing

the injunction himself and he ordered Cox “as Deputy Registrar of the Supreme Court, to

issue an injunction, and attach the Seal of that Court to the same.”315 Cox’s reply was

public and unequivocal. Cox claimed to “HOLD NO COMMISION AS DEPUTY

REGISTRAR OF THE SUPREME COURT, NOR NEVER DID HOLD ONE” and

although he professed to hold Begbie and his office in high regard, Cox emphatically

voiced his opposition to Begbie’s request:

3’0 Ibid., 154.

3″ b i d .

3 1 2 “Gold Commissioner’s Court,” Cariboo Sentinel, 24 May, 1866.

j I 3 b i d .
314 “Irresponsible Deputies: Decisive Stand Taken By Judge Cox,” Cariboo Sentinel, 3 1 May, 1866.

Uppercase in original.

3″ Ibid.

BUT FINDING NOW THAT IT IS ATTEMPTED TO DRAG ME INTO
THIS DISAGREEABLE QUARREL AND ACT CONTRARY TO MY
OWN RULING AND CONSCIENCE, I WOULD, IF I ACTUALLY DID
HOLD A COMMISION AS DEPUTY REGISTRAR OF THE SUPREME
COURT AT THIS MOMENT, RESIGN THE POST AT ONCE.^^^

At the heart of Cox’s opposition was his desire to protect the integrity of property rights

in the Cariboo mines.317 Many White miners and the Sentinel shared this concern, as is

evidenced by the differing treatment Cox and Begbie received in the paper and the

protests that shadowed Begbie for the rest of the affair.318

Despite this opposition, Begbie eventually succeeded in issuing an injunction

against the Davis Company without Cox’s assistance and brought the case to trial before

a This trial launched a war of words between the few supporters of Begbie and

his various detractors. Begbie’s supporters, like “Onyx,” upheld the Judge’s right to

make and interpret law because of his “intimate knowledge,” while his critics argued that

he acted in an autocratic manner and was demonstratively biased against the Davis

Company during the proceedings.320 One of the most articulate of Begbie’s detractors,

“Miner,” concluded that Begbie was “absurd, oppressive, and unjust” and Begbie and his

supporters sought to rule over the miners, “who alone maintain this colony.”321 Begbie’s

actions and autocratic style of ruling became increasingly identified as opposed to the

interests of the working class miners’ community in the Cariboo.

3’6 Ibid.

3’7 Ibid.

3’8 Compare the treatment of Cox and Begbie in: “Irresponsible Deputies: Decisive Stand Taken By Judge
Cox,” Cariboo Sentinel, 31 May, 1866. and Onyx, Allan, and Lambert, “Judge Begbie and His
Judges,” Cariboo Sentinel, 4 June, 1866.

3’9 “Davis Co’y vs. Aurora,” Cariboo Sentinel, 7 June, 1866.
320 Onyx, Allan, and Lambert, “Judge Begbie and His Judges,” Cariboo Sentinel, 4 June, 1866. Caustic,

“Judge Begbie and His Judges,” Cariboo Sentinel, 1 1 June, 1866. Miner, “A Daniel Come To
Judgement, Yea A Daniel!!,” Cariboo Sentinel, 14 June, 1866.

32′ Miner, “A Daniel Come To Judgement, Yea A Daniel!!,” Cariboo Sentinel, 14 June, 1866.

With these property issues in mind, the jury returned a verdict on 18 June, 1866

that rejected the Aurora Company’s claims but recognised the labour they had put into

the disputed land and therefore recommended that the land be divided evenly between the

two companies.322 This ruling apparently met with widespread satisfaction, at least from

the Davis Company s ~ ~ ~ o r t e r s , 3 ~ ~ but Begbie stated that while he “quite agree[d] with the

findings of the Jury with the exception of one small point,” he was concerned that the

ruling would “not end the litigation, and the expense of actions in one or two other

branches of this Court would be heavy on both parties.”324 Begbie thus suggested

binding arbitration, to which both parties consented.325

In arbitration the next day, Judge Begbie announced that if he had known the

particulars of the case, he would never have called a special jury, and that the Aurora

Company had actually, and contrary to the testimony provided during the trial, staked out

the disputed ground, and that the Harvey-Dixon Company had therefore “jumped” the

Aurora Company’s claim.326 Begbie drew a further distinction between the shares in the

Davis Company owned by the Blacks of the Harvey-Dixon Company and the shares

owned by the White members of the Davis Company. Begbie ruled that the disputed land

be divided up into nineteen and three-quarter sections, corresponding to the total shares

owned by the Aurora Company and the total White shares in the Davis Company. Five

and three-quarter sections of land were given to the White partners of the Davis Company

in recognition of their shares, while the other fourteen sections of land were ceded to the

322 “Supreme Court,” Cariboo Sentinel, 2 1 June, 1866.

323 “Untitled,” Cariboo Sentinel, 18 June, 1866.
324 “Supreme Court,” Cariboo Sentinel, 21 June, 1866.

325 Ibid.

326 “Supreme Court,” and “Davis Co. vs. Aurora Co.,” Cariboo Sentinel, 21 June, 1866.

Aurora Company in keeping with the amount of their company shares.327 The Blacks,

who Begbie held accountable for claim “jumping” and who controlled two and a quarter

shares of the Davis Company, got nothing.328

In response to this ruling, a “mass meeting” of approximately six hundred men,

mostly miners, met on the 23rd of June 1866 in front of the courthouse in ~ i c h f i e l d . ~ ~ ~

Tina Loo has suggested that the reaction of Cariboo miners to Begbie’s decision needs to

be understood as originating out of a conflict between two competing conceptualizations

of the law, one originating from the state, the other originating from the community of

miners.330 Begbie’s decision did not support the interests of the community of miners

because it appeared to undercut the basis of the mining economy and society, the sanctity

of property rights and law.33′ Begbie had discriminated against Black miners, but the

Blacks were firmly ensconced as part of the mining community. White miners, therefore,

interpreted Begbie’s decision as a threat to the community as a whole, while overlooking

that it had been an all-Black Company that had felt the full weight of Begbie’s

decision.332

Indeed, working class White miners extended solidarity to the Blacks of the Davis

Company despite their status as Black men. Mr. Laumeister, a White owner of the Davis

Company, made this clear when he labelled his Black partners of the Harvey-Dixon

327 “Supreme Court,” Cariboo Sentinel, 2 1 June, 1866.

328 Ibid.

329 “Mass Meeting,” Cariboo Sentinel, 25 June, 1866. This, in an area with only several thousand
inhabitants.

330 Tina Loo, Making Law, 128.
331 Ibid.

332 “Mass Meeting,” Cariboo Sentinel, 25 June, 1866.

Company “colored” and ” d a r l ~ i e s . ” ~ ~ ~ Yet, in spite of their race and the decision of Judge

Begbie, Laumeister re-affirmed that the Blacks of the Davis Company would earn their

“pro-rata share.”334 Laumeister framed the Black miners of the Davis Company as

miners, who, despite their Blackness, were entitled to the same equitable distribution of

recovered gold that the White miners were.

In spite of not speaking at the mass meeting, Blacks found other avenues through

which to raise the issue of race.335 For example, “Colored Miner” wrote to the Sentinel

on the same day as the mass meeting with the following questions:

First- Have we as colored men the right to pre-empt ground for mining
purposes?
Second- Have we any rights in common with White men?
Third- Why were our interests taken from us and given to White men?336

With these three questions, “Colored Miner” cut to the heart of the contradiction in the

White miner’s definition of a unitary mining community that existed in concert with a

racially divided colonial society. By questioning Judge Begbie’s decision through an

explicitly racial lens, “Colored Miner” highlighted the effects of race within the

supposedly equitable community of miners. Additionally, “Colored Miner’s” comments

underscored that while White miners may not have understood the Davis dispute as a

racial case, the Blacks perceived and experienced the situation through an explicitly

racial understanding of law and society.

“Colored Miner’s” questions elicited an immediate and sustained response.

Directly below “Colored Miner’s” letter, the editor of the Sentinel opened his response

333 Ibid.

334 Ibid.

335 Ibid.

336 Colored Miner, “To the Editor of the ‘Cariboo Sentinel’,” 25 June, 1866.

with a rather peculiar statement given the full page, four-column coverage of the “mass

meeting” in the same issue. The editor of the Sentinel stated that he “had hoped that

discussion in this matter would have ceased with the decision of the case, and were it not

that we consider a great injury has been done to men whose rights have been outraged.. .

we should have let the matter drop.”337 The editor went on to make it perfectly clear that

he was concerned with the violation of miners’, not Black, rights. The editor felt that it

was “unnecessary to state in answer of “Colored Miner’s” first and second questions, that

the mining laws of this colony make no distinction as to the color of a man’s skin; the

laws have been wisely and judiciously framed.”338 Furthermore, in responding to

“Colored Miner’s” third question, the editor merely restated Judge Begbie’s justification

that the Blacks had knowingly claim jumped and did not question this reasoning other

than to say that it had not been accepted by the

On July 2, 1866 the Sentinel carried another response to “Colored ~ i n e r . ” ~ ~ ‘ D.L.

went to great lengths to stress that “[w]hatever might appear wrong in that judgement let

it not be attached to any bias, feeling, or prejudice, so far as English justice is concerned,

her history is known in every quarter of the globe.”341 D.L. went on to state that he did

“not think that one holding the position that Hon. Chief Justice does could be biased with

any feeling respecting In the face of “Colored Miner’s” attack on one of the

law’s symbolic cornerstones, equality, D.L., a Black man, while disagreeing with Judge

337 Ibid.

338 Ibid.

339 Ibid.
340 D.L., “To the Editor of the ‘Cariboo Sentinel’,” Cariboo Sentinel, 2 July, 1866.

34′ Ibid.

342 Ibid.

Begbie’s decision, felt it necessary to defend the institution of British Law. In D.L.’s

estimation, Judge Begbie could be wrong, but neither he, nor the system he represented,

could be fundamentally biased because to be so would undermine the system as a whole.

While D.L. responded to “Colored Miner’s” questions in much the same manner as the

Sentinel had previously, he also voiced criticism of Mr. Laumeister’s comments at the

Richfield Courthouse meeting.343 D.L. felt that that “word (darkies I mean) should not be

used by any gentleman.”344 Under a guise of English civility, D.L. attempted to minimise

the role of race in the dispute largely because of the threat that the discourse of race

posed to the supposed sanctity of equality in British law. D.L. attempted to keep from

the public’s view the underlying discourse of race and discrimination in Begbie7s ruling

in order to help maintain the legitimacy of one of the main institutions that, at least

theoretically, gave the Blacks equality and so that Blacks would still be able to use it to

assert equality in their relationships with While the Blacks’ day-to-day

interactions with Whites in the gold mines may have been somewhat free of racial

tension, undercurrents of racial difference were always present and capable of being

manifested. 346

Natives: The Missing Presence

Economic and social factors also affected Native interracial interactions in the gold

mines. While environmental constraints explain the lack of Native mining companies in

the Cariboo Mountains, they do not explain the complete lack of Native employees in

343 Ibid.

344 Ibid.
345 D.L. “New Advertisements,” Cariboo Sentinel, 23 July, 1870.
346 Argus, “Letter From Cariboo,” Cariboo Sentinel, 16 September, 186 1.

multi-racial companies until 1 8 7 0 . ~ ~ ~ Economic and social factors can explain this late

adoption of Native wage labour. The labour surplus of skilled White and Chinese miners

meant that any potential Native miners entered a highly competitive job market.348

Additionally, aspects of the gold field economy in other sub-regions such as packing in

the hinterland may have been more appealing to Natives because they could more easily

be incorporated into their “traditional” rounds. Alternatively, Natives may have chosen

to remain independent of the gold field economy entirely by working in the fur trade or

subsistence economies rather than attempting to work directly in the mines.349

Natives seeking employment in the gold mines faced the added constraint of

Newcomers socially understanding Natives as properly belonging in the “savage”

wilderness beyond the frontier of ” c i ~ i l i z a t i o n . ” ~ ~ ~ Newcomer society in the Cariboo

perceived the gold field economy to be the epitome of civilization, and the industrialized

extraction of gold was central to their understanding of the progress of civilization over

savagery.351 The Newcomer inhabitants of the gold field towns of the Cariboo Mountains

saw themselves living on the frontier of civilization and Native participation in the gold

mines, even as subordinated wage labour, challenged the legitimacy of the advance of

that frontier.352 Moreover, unlike in the towns, Newcomers could effectively exclude

Natives from the mines by choosing not to hire them. Only in 1870, when the demand

347 “Bridge River,” Cariboo Sentinel, 17 May, 1866. “Lillooet and Douglas,” Cariboo Senfinel, 20
September, 1866. Clip, “Letter From Lytton,” British Columbian, 16 April, 1864. “Labor,” Cariboo
Sentinel, 18 June, 1870.

348 “Labor,” Cariboo Sentinel, 18 June, 1870.

349 See “Interracial Interactions in the Hinterland.”

350 “Trans-Continental Railroad” Cariboo Sentinel, 9 August 1868. “Profits of Agriculture,” Canboo
Sentinel, 24 July, 1869.

3″ Ibid.

352 “HOW Provoking,” Cariboo Senfinel, 8 June, 1868.

for labour became such that mining companies had to either reduce activity or hire

Natives did they finally begin to do so, though only in limited quantities.353 Thus, the

Native absence from the Cariboo Mountain gold mines was as much a result of

environmental constraints, in the form of ore deposits that necessitated the formation of

mining companies, as it was the result of social and economic factors.

Conclusions

Environmental, economic and social factors shaped interracial interactions in the

mines of the Cariboo Mountains. The increased degree of surveillance in the gold mines

resulted in less diversity and freedom of action than was evident in the gold field towns

or hinterland. The non-White groups’ interactions with the “community of miners’

shaped their experiences of the gold mines. By defining to what extent someone was or

was not a member of this community, and therefore entitled to legal protection, the

working class White miners encouraged non-White miners to conform, to differing

degrees, to their social norms or risk exclusion from the gold mines.

The Chinese managed, throughout the gold field period, to incorporate themselves

somewhat into the community of gold miners by meeting the strict legal requirement for

membership, that is, the procurement of a mining licence. However, social and economic

differences, both real and perceived, kept non-Chinese miners from fully recognizing

Chinese miners and labour as equal in the gold mines. Instead, Chinese miners and

labourers found themselves the target of various discriminatory practices that fell outside

the purview of the law.

353 “Labor,” Cariboo Sentinel, 18 June, 1870.

The Blacks, on the other hand, integrated far more successfully into the community

of miners than did the Chinese. Yet even their success was tainted by White beliefs of

Black difference that could act to constrain Black actions in the mines. Blacks

themselves were divided on how to respond to this. Some Blacks, such as “Colored

Miner,” wished to challenge the system of British law to reveal its hypocrisies and force

it to live up to its ideals, others, such as D.L., opposed challenges to British law, fearing

the repercussions of challenging the main institution of the state that gave Blacks at least

theoretical equality.

Finally, Natives also encountered the social meanings of the mines. Whites

believed that the Natives were antithetical to the space of the gold mines and therefore

excluded Natives on that basis. It was only when economic depression caused the

Cariboo Mountain gold mines to lose their significance as a site of the advancement of

the frontier and the surplus labour pool disappeared that mining companies hired Native

employees.

Social understandings as to what should shape the character of the mines largely

determined interracial interactions in the Cariboo Mountain gold fields. Using the

apparatus of the state, working class White miners enforced a vision of the mines that

was particularly grounded in British notions of equality and sanctity of property. If non-

White groups in the region wished to participate in mining and to gain access to legal and

social protection while doing so, they had to respond to working class White miners’

standards of “proper behaviour” in the mines. A group like the Blacks were far more

capable, if they wished, of integrating into the miners’ community than the Chinese or

Natives because working class White miners saw them as racially capable of imitating

White patterns of consumption unlike the Chinese or Natives who Whites understood as

“alien” and “savage,” statuses that constrained their ability to integrate in the eyes of

White miners. While some of the working class White miners’ criteria could be met

relatively easily, such as the purchase of mining licences, other criteria, such as socially

acceptable patterns of consumption, were tied to each group’s racial identities.

Conclusions

During the Cariboo gold field period from 1860 to 187 1, the nature of interracial

interactions between the Blacks, Natives, Whites, and Chinese varied depending on the

sub-region of the Cariboo in which they occurred. Economic processes formed the basis

of how the various groups understood the hinterland, gold towns, and mines. In the

hinterland, three different economies shaped the understanding of that sub-region as an

area of Native dominance. In the gold field towns, industries that supported or regulated

the gold field economy and society dominated those spaces. This economic base and the

presence of the institutions of the colonial state put one group of Whites, the elites, in a

position to attempt to enforce their social norms on the other groups. Finally, the

environment and the gold extraction industry shaped who could participate in the mines

and encouraged the formation of a working class community. Whites, and to a lesser

extent, Blacks, Chinese, and Natives, came to see each of these sub-regions as distinct,

yet related spaces, in which different social norms governed interracial interactions.

Informed by the presence of alternative Native-dominated economies and a general

lack of knowledge of the “wilderness,” Newcomers understood the hinterland as a space

of Native dominance and therefore did not attempt to regulate the hinterland to the extent

they did the towns or mines. This Newcomer understanding shaped the interracial

interactions that occurred in the hinterland. Native interactions with Newcomers in the

hinterland took place within the context of multiple livelihoods for Natives that allowed

Natives to choose if, and to what extent, they wished to interact with Newcomers. This

dynamic was most apparent in how the price of Native labour in the packing industry

varied with the state of the fisheries. Even at roadhouses, where Newcomers attempted to

regulate Native-Newcomer interactions, Natives contested the social norms propagated

by Newcomers.

Native dominance and the concurrent lack of dominance by the town elites in the

hinterland also affected interracial interactions between Newcomers. In many ways, the

lack of elite dominance opened up a space in the hinterland for interracial interactions to

occur that directly challenged the social norms embedded in the idealized space of the

gold field towns. Chinese, Whites, and Blacks all interacted in more fluid and equitable

ways than they did in either the towns or mines. While the town elites did not affect

control over the interracial interactions of the hinterland, the working class White and

Black Newcomers in the hinterland shared many of the basic values of town elites and

attempted to regulate limited spaces within the hinterland, such as the roadhouses, to

conform to social norms they had in common with the elites. In this way, while some

interracial interactions in the roadhouses challenged the elites, such as Chinese-Black-

White interracial drinking, other interracial interactions closely conformed to the elites7

wishes, as when White and Black roadhouse owners hired Chinese and Natives for the

more menial jobs.

In contrast to the hinterland, a group of Whites, the town elites, were moderately

successful in implementing their ideal social norms in the gold field towns. Using the

positions of power they occupied in the colonial hierarchy, the town elites sought,

through the regulation of social interactions, to create the gold field towns as an idealized

space that embodied their ideal social norms that, in turn, would shape the nature of

interracial interactions in the gold field towns. That the town elites occupied positions of

power within the gold field towns forced the other occupants to respond to the elites’

articulation of idealized space in their interracial interactions.

The elites’ idealized space of the gold field towns was predominately aimed at

preserving the British-dominated social order against the perceived threats of American

republicanism, Native savagery and Chinese “foreign-ness” by encouraging conformity

to British-influenced notions of society. However, the elites understood some groups,

such as the Natives and Chinese, to be fundamentally incapable of abiding by their social

norms. To this end, the idealized space of the gold field towns sought to exclude the

Natives and Chinese from these areas and when that could not be accomplished, the elites

attempted to exclude these groups from certain social and economic interactions within

the towns.

The interracial interactions in the towns took place within the context of this

attempted imposition of an idealized space by the elites. Rather than the homogenous

idealized space propagated by the elites, a diversity of interracial interactions and

meanings characterized the gold towns. At times, the non-elites’ interracial interactions

opposed the idealized space of the elites, as when W.D. Moses acted as a bank for Annie

and Jack, but in some cases these interracial interactions acted to reinforce the town

elites’ idealized space, as in the exclusion of the Chinese from the gold fields in the early

gold field period until 1864. The point of reference for both situations remained the

idealized space of the gold town elites, underscoring the importance of this group’s view.

Generally, both the Chinese and Natives’ interracial interactions conflicted with the

social norms articulated by the town elites. However, over the gold field period the

Chinese more successfully integrated within the gold field towns than the Natives who

continued to be largely officially excluded from the space of the gold field towns until the

end of the study period. Blacks, on the other hand, integrated quickly and successfully

into the gold field towns. Despite their success in the gold field towns, Blacks still found

some points of contention with the elites, as is evident by Anne Wheeler’s defence of her

actions in The Cariboo Sentinel. The nature of these non-Whites’ interracial interactions

varied depending on the degree to which they integrated within the gold field towns.

Greater degrees of integration meant that groups were less subject to social and economic

regulation and could better access the resources of the state.

The last spatial sub-region, the gold mines, often existed within the physical

boundaries of the gold towns but was conceptually a very different place. Because

working class and elite White society understood the mines as a site of possible social

and economic aggrandizement, they both sought to regulate the space of the mines to

similar, profitable, ends. The result was an informal “community of miners” that

enforced social and legal regulations in the gold mines. The social norms articulated by

this community of miners shaped the interracial interactions of the non-White groups in

the mines. For example, the community of miners initially excluded and later oppressed

Chinese miners because they saw the Chinese did not purchase mining licences and

worked for far cheaper wages than White miners. While the Chinese slowly gained

limited access to the community of miners and, hence, to the legal and social discourse

that underlay it, they could never fully integrate because of their perceived biological

difference. Blacks, on the other hand, managed to fairly successfully integrate into the

community of miners. However, Blacks experienced the limits of this integration into the

community of miners when the Davis dispute made it clear that the equality of miners

would protect them only insomuch as they were miners, not as Black men. Like the

Chinese, Natives were restricted from mining in the Cariboo. Unlike the Chinese, the

miners did not have to physically block the Natives from the mines; the economic

structure, Native lifestyle choices, and hiring preferences were sufficient to exclude

Natives until the end of the gold field period.

The group that dominated the economy(s) of a sub-region could dictate what sort of

social norms, and hence, what sort of interracial interactions could occur within its

bounds. The sub-region a subject was located in, as well as the larger context of the

Cariboo’s other sub-regions, shaped the types of interracial interactions that were

encouraged or discouraged in a given context. This basic process interacted with the

shared histories of the individual groups and their understandings of each other, as well

as the physical environment and economy of the gold fields to shape the nature of

interracial interactions in the Cariboo.

The wider implications of this beyond the Cariboo are obvious. Different groups

understand given spaces in different ways, but some groups are able to articulate their

understandings of space more effectively than others and are able to enforce these views

through spatial, economic, and social sanctions. This means that in most cases, one

particular understanding of space becomes the standard against which alternatives must

be posited. An understanding of the spaces in which interracial interactions occur is

absolutely necessary for understanding why interracial interactions take on particular

characteristics and can help account for apparent contradictions and inconsistencies

within a larger region, such as the Cariboo.

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Abbreviations

ADCA. Anglican Diocese of the Cariboo Archives, Vancouver, British Columbia.

BA. Barkerville Archives, Barkerville, British Columbia.*

BCARS. British Columbia Archives, Victoria, British Columbia.

CCA. Cariboo-Chilcotin Archives, Williams Lake, British Columbia.

CVA. City of Vancouver Archives, Vancouver, British Columbia.

QA. Quesnel Museum and Archives, Quesnel, British Columbia.

UBCSC. University of British Columbia Special Collections, Vancouver, British
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Mark, W.M. Cariboo: A True and Correct Narrative. Stockton: W.M. Wright, 1863.
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Newspapers

(Titles vary slightly over time)
The Cariboo Sentinel, (Barkerville), 1865- 187 1.
The British Columbian (New Westminster), 186 1 – 1869.
The Daily British Colonist & Victoria Chronicle (Victoria), 1859- 187 1
The Elevator (San Francisco), 1 865- 1 869.
The Mainland Guardian (New Westminster), 1870.
The Victoria Daily Chronicle, (Victoria), 1863- 1866.

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