David Milton McGowan

The Journey: The Overlander’s quest for gold by Bill Gallaher ISBN 978-1-894898-99-7 Touch Wood Editions http://www.touchwoodeditions.com/ As I have mentioned in earlier posts, gold was found early on in the fur trade days of what is now Canada ’s west coast. However the first publicized “discovery” was in 1850 on Haida Gwaii and that on the lower Fraser River in 1858. By the time the Cariboo Country was producing (Williams Creek or Barkerville discovery, spring 1861) those in Upper and Lower Canada ( Ontario and Quebec respectively) had already given some consideration to expending effort toward a new future. Since those areas and most of the world where suffering what we call today, “a serious depression” many of those with an adventurous bent thought nothing could be worse than what they where going through. The next problem was how to get to the gold fields. Those already involved in prospecting and mining, primarily from the Western US , Australia and So...

Forward             For many years I have been writing and telling stories about people I’ve known, places I’ve been, experiences I’ve had and the country I have spent time in or passed through. I have found that my experience with people, places and events sometimes clashes violently with those scenes depicted in Canadian history books. As a result I enjoy taking historical events and weaving them into my own stories.             My first attempt at publishing, “The Great Liquor War” was done in the “traditional” manner with the printing of 600 copies in 1998. A fine thing to start I thought, but within three months all copies were gone.             Since then “Partners” was released in 2008 and “Homesteader: Finding Sharon” in 2009.             “Homestea...

How important was the Cariboo Road ? What would be the state of development for Western Canada today if that road had not been forced through where a road could not go a century and a half ago? Without the force created by the scramble for gold would it have been built at all? There had been trappers in the British Columbia Mountains for decades. Many indigenous people and a few of European heritage had traded furs with the Hudson ’s Bay Company and the American Fur Company for decades. As a result there was transportation up as far as was navigable by stern-wheeler to Hope and sometimes Yale down stream on the Fraser from Hell’s Gate Canyon . A view of a small piece of Hell's Gate demonstrating why shipping did not attempt to go further up-river. There are several miles of this and worse. The HB Company’s steamer SS Beaver was the first having entered Pacific waters in 1835. She supplied trade goods to the various posts – Fort Langley , Hope and Fort V...

During the first weeks of April, 2016 as the result of a winter with very little snow followed by early, hot, dry weather, several hundred fires sprang up in British Columbia and Alberta . Thousands of people were evacuated from their homes and thousands lost those homes. Most notable where those living north of Fort St. John, Buick Creek, Goodlow, Stoddard Creek, Cecil Lake BC, but the worst destruction was in Fort McMurray, AB. The last report I heard concerning the Fort McMurray fire stated that 20% of the houses in that town no longer exist. I’m sure there will be many more homes and businesses that will be severely damaged. Here is a picture of Fort Mac before the fire. Several individuals and companies performed magnificently and few are or will ever be recognized for their commitment and support of their fellow humans. As an example, here is a Facebook post from Tom Grande Getting No Credit, Getting No Coverage. ms that some of the companies that are prov...