S u mme r 2 015
What’s INSight
Illustration of Florence Wilson by Royal BC Museum artist in residence AimĂŠe van Drimmelen.
Follow in the Footsteps of Florence Wilson Florence Wilson arrived to BC from England in 1862 on a ‘bride ship’ that was intended to send more women to the colony. While other women married or found employment in Victoria, Florence was self-reliant and opened her own store on Government Street. In 1864, she sold off everything and left for Barkerville, where she ran a small saloon. Then in 1868, a great fire swept through the town and destroyed her saloon! She rebuilt it next to the fire hall and called it The Phoenix after the mythical bird rising from the ashes. Florence had a lively spirit. Newspapers in 1865 reported that she travelled through the snowy Fraser Canyon on snowshoes, returning two months later with 130 books for the town! Bring this page along with you to the Gold Rush! El Dorado in BC exhibition to follow in the footsteps of Florence Wilson.
Pemberton Dress
to a woman from the This silk dress belonged s worn in a BC gold rush Pemberton family, and wa eves and collar were community. The white sle ing when things got dirty. removable for easy wash s ce wearing a dress like thi Could you imagine Floren ough the Fraser Canyon? when she snowshoed thr town? ng this dress to a mining Why would someone bri
Play Scripts
Florence Wilson had a passion for theatre and acted in many plays with the Ca riboo Amateur Dramat ic Association in Barkerville. Her sp ecialty was acting in comedies. Along with acting, mu sic, playing games, ga mbling, and reading were po pular pastimes in gold rush town. What would you do fo r fun in a gold rush to wn?
For more activities related to this feature exhibition and our permanent galleries, visit royalbcmuseum.bc.ca/schools/self-guided-visits
Why are People so Crazy About gold? Gold has been considered a precious and valuable item for thousands of years. It’s primarily used to make jewellery and currency but has some other pretty incredible uses. For example, gold is a non-corrosive metal and is a highly efficient conductor of electricity so it’s used to manufacture electronics like cellphones, calculators and GPS. Do you know anyone with gold fillings in their teeth? Gold is great filling for your cavities. Gold is also used in life support devices and it can be injected to treat rheumatoid arthritis and certain cancers. Astronauts have a layer of gold in the glass in their helmet visors to protect their skin and eyes from dangerous solar radiation. Wow! If you’re curious about gold, come for a visit and learn all about how gold contributed to the creation of the province of British Columbia and the amazing stories of how gold has transformed lives, broke dreams and built empires.
Are You Worth Your Weight in Gold? Use a scale to weigh yourself, then fill out the calculation below to determine how much you would be worth if you were made of solid gold.
1 gram is equal to approximately $52.52 in Canadian dollars today. _________ grams x $52.52 = $________.__ Example 60000 grams x $52.52 = $3,151,200
Check out the Gold Rush! El Dorado in BC exhibition on now until October 31, 2015.
Gold Miner’s Word Search Can you find everything you need to pack for your journey along the Gold Rush Trail?
Miners at the Neversweat Tunnel Claim near Williams Creek, about 1868. This photo is by Frederick Dally.
Certificate You need a permit to be able to go and mine for gold. Shovel Can’t go gold digging without that. Pick Break up rocky surfaces into smaller rocks. Pan Sift through the river rocks with this! The gold will sink to the bottom because it’s heavier than just regular rock. Tweezers Pick out the little bits of gold from your pan. Bar Use this to help you move large rocks and boulders.
D T Y C T P Q L M A T Z R L M I M F Y T
I X K S W Y A P X R W R H A E U U O K E
U I
E T K O E I I M K B S C N W C R O D S G
I X L Q Z Z F D A B H A A U F F C H V A
T E A Z E E B O H E O S H U F X X X S M
C Q V C R D F C S D O A P M Z K D Y S H
O Q V K S R A B V C Y W R H M N B G K Z
O M P Y D J F B X C H P N D Y Y B J A E
D H R R T Z F J Y C H A B H A T Z Q V O
K S C Y S S A P M O C M K F Y J K E R L
N I A H N W B S C Z Q O W T H X I C M Y
P O B W G O J B M O I Q M O V S U J F D
N O T J E Q Q N T B X H X R I O Q T J A
X E P X P X Y M Z V U B C D F G P N O D
P H N A Q T H L I S Q C N P P J K H U K
V I N N X S A W C E R T I F I C A T E K
Y P C V U E R F R P N V K N I F E S B Y
K W G K M O F X O K Q H Y
T D S M O K Z Q N Q H X G Y D N O B C C
J C E S Z C G U N I T Y I V Y O M N
Axe Cut down brush, cut fire wood and it can also be used as a hammer square your claim posts. Magnet Separate your gold from black sand, otherwise known as manganite. Map You won’t be able to find your way without this! Food Flour, water, bacon and anything that doesn’t need to be kept cold. You won’t be able to carry your refrigerator! Packboard Another name for a packsack or backback. A packbaord was used for very long journeys.
Z V Z
J K Y P
Matches Light a fire to keep warm and cook your food. Compass This will help you find your way if you end up off the trail. Sieve Find the smaller gold flakes and sift through the dust dirt. Saw Cut down trees to build shelter and for fire wood. Knife For hunting, whittling wood and cleaning fish. Gun For protection!
Alongside the Gold Rush! El Dorado in BC exhibition visitors can enjoy the magnificent Allure of Gold exhibition which features more than 100 golden artifacts from the Museo del Oro in Bogotå, Colombia. Bat-man pendant. Tairona Period, 900 – 1600 A.D. Clark M. Rodriguez photograph; Museum del Oro, Banco de la Republica, Colombia.
Learn How to Say Gold in Different Languages! Can you connect the word for gold to the correct language?
Oro German
Slato Danish
Aur Welsh
Guld Czech
Gold
Spanish
Or Polish
Zloto/Polish Or/French Gold/German
Zloto French
Guld/Danish Aur/ Welsh Slato/ Czech Oro/Spanish Answer Key
Learn more The Greater Victoria Public Library has a variety of resources available to discover even more about the gold rush. Check out their recommended reading list! www.gvpl.ca
The Gold Rush By Bobbie Kalman
A Trail of Broken Dreams The Gold Rush Diary of Harriet Palmer By Barbara Haworth-Attard
Hard Gold The Colorado Gold Rush of 1859, A Tale of the Old West By Avi
Cariboo Slang On August 6, 1863, The Daily Colonist printed a list of ‘Cariboo Slang’ often heard by miners in the gold fields. Here are some of the wackiest words:
“Pay Dirt” ----- dirt containing gold “Slum-gullion” ----- clay “In a hog’s eye” ----- never! “You bet your boots” ----- definitely yes “Vamoose the ranch” ----- leave for parts unknown “Got the dead wood on them” ----- to have an advantage over someone “Gone up a flume” ----- to get into trouble
iboo Slang’ Try out some ‘Car d friends! on your family an u bet your boots! Will it be fun? Yo e saying? tand what you ar Will they unders In a hog’s eye!
My
Gold Rush Adventure
(adjective)
Ask someone to fill in the blank words to create an adventure about finding ‘pay dirt’ in BC’s gold rush (and don’t show them the sheet!). Once they’ve given you all the words you need, read the story out loud! Ever since I was ____________ years old, the shine of gold has always _________________ me. When I heard there (number)
(verb ending in -ed)
was a gold rush in BC, I couldn’t believe my _______________! I found myself saying ”________________ “! (plural body part)
(exclamation)
I decided to leave my home in _______________ for the Cariboo to try my luck at finding gold. Before I left, I had (place)
to gather all of the supplies that would help me strike it rich; like my trusty ________________, a handy dandy (noun)
______________, and who could survive in BC’s wilderness without _________________s!!! After travelling by boat (noun)
(piece of clothing)
and _____________ *, I finally got to the gold fields. I spent over ______________ looking for gold, but with no luck! (animal)
(amount of time)
What was I to do? I decided that I could make more money ________________, so I sold off my mining supplies, and (verb ending in -ing)
began my very successful career selling __________________ to the other miners around! (plural noun)
Did you have fun? Try making up your own story with blanks for someone else to fill in!
*No horsing around Travelling on the muddy trails to get to the Cariboo gold fields was very hard for the mules and horses that carried supplies. In 1862, 25 camels were imported to BC to use on the trails instead. Things did not go well. They scared mules and horses off the trails. Also, because camels are used to walking through sand, they were injured by the muddy and rocky roads. After two years, miners had learned their lesson and stopped using the desert dwellers to do their dirty work.