SS9 – Mr. Bilan
Name/Block:______
Date:______
The Gold Rush in BC
Before 1858, British Columbia’s population ______ population was tiny; only about 800 living on ______and just around ____living on the ______. But around then, ______was discovered in the banks of the ______River, a branch of the ______River. This news reached ______, where many American ______decided to move north to try and become rich. Over the next year, the mainland population of British Columbia ______by over 10,000, mostly consisting of ______trying to find gold on the Fraser River.
The gold rush was based on the______that anyone could get _____quick. People believed that you could simply walk along rivers and find huge ______just lying in wait on the ______. In reality, the process was much more ______; a ______had to ______along a river, dig a ______through thick ______to potentially reach gold. Many miners ______on their journeys, most never returned to their ______, and the vast majority of them did not become ______. Most prospectors ended up working as ______and ______for people who staked the first claims.
To serve the rapidly ______population of British Columbia, many new ______would be formed near mining areas. The most famous of these was ______in central British Columbia, founded by named after a prospector who had struck ______in the area. It was initially just a small town with a few cabins and tents, but soon had a population of about ______. For a time, it was a largest city north of ______and west of ______. However, as soon as the gold rush began to fade, its population quickly ______, and it was a ______by the 1900s. These kinds of cities that quickly faded away were common in gold rush regions.
Because many ______ended up staying in British Columbia, the area now had a large ______population. ______, governor of Vancouver Island, was worried that this could lead to America ______the region. He reached out to the ______, who responded by turning the region into the ______, an official ______.They also sent ______under the command of ______to help build roads and ______the region.
Before to the gold rush, BC’s ______were the ______group of people in the region. They often held an ______position; they would ______with prospectors and acted as ______for people travelling to the ______. But in the 1860s, BC built a ______from ______to ______to make sure that gold would leave the region by the Fraser River. This ______the need for natives to act as guides for people travelling north to mines. Furthermore, many American and European miners would disturb their ______, disrupting the salmon harvest for natives.
In 1862, a ______epidemic struck ______. While everyone was affected, it was ______for BC’s ______. Because they had not been ______to it before, smallpox was almost always ______for BC’s natives. In response, authorities ______the homes of Natives living near Victoria and forced them to ______the area. They then would travel further north, ______other Native peoples, causing entire ______to die away. Vancouver Island had an estimated population of about 60,000 natives prior to the ______,and over ______of them died.
The epidemic was made even worse by European ______, who would ______blankets and other goods from ______Natives and sell these to other Native communities. This caused smallpox to spread to BC’s ______, where it continued to affect the natives living there. This caused even more deaths; even more Natives died of the ______on the mainland than on Vancouver Island. This drove some natives to ______; in 1864, a group of ______smallpox survivorsattacked railway workers, killing fourteen of them. Five Chilcotin were arrested and ______for their role in the attack.