Dear Mr. Chrismas-- 
Further to your inquiry of 31 ult. regarding Chinese placer gold miners in 
British Columbia, I inquired of a friend in B.C. who sent me by facsimile 
transmission an article entitled "New Barkerville 'gold' rush seen in Chinese ties", 
published in the Vancouver Sun newspaper of 25 Oct. 2005.  The writer is 
Derrick Penner. Unfortunately the material received was not too clear, but I can 
provide the following copy without too much trouble:

The Chinese province of Guangdong has an historical connection to the gold 
rush boom town of Barkerville, a connection that some B.C. communities hope will 
help preserve a unique cultural aspect of what has become a mere ghost town.  


Chinese from Hong Kong and the Chinese province of Guangdong were among the 
tens of thousands drawn to the Barkerville area during the 1858 Cariboo Gold 
Rush, and Prince George Mayor Colin Kinsley now hopes Guangdong's latter day 
government will show an interest in preserving that heritage and promote it as a 
tourist attraction back home. 

Kinsley met with senior cultural officials in China's foreign affairs office 
during the Hong Kong and Guangdong business forum in Vancouver to talk about 
the possibility  of forming a partnership with the Barkerville Trust, which has 
taken over operations of the tourist attraction east of Quesnel. ...

... it is thought the population of Barkerville's Chinatown numbered as high 
as 8,000.

In the early1990s, Simon Fraser archeologist Phil Hobler and a team of 16 
students unearthed a trove of 4,000 artifacts from beneath a building that still 
stands in Barkerville. 

Items included dominoes, clothing, hats, ceramics, opium pipes ....

Perhaps contacting the archeologist at Simon Fraser University, near 
Vancouver, would be worth considering.

Yours faithfully,   

Noel Kirshenbaum
San Francisco, California

In a message dated 10/31/2005 2:07:11 PM Pacific Standard Time, 
[log in to unmask] writes:

> Subj: Chinese placer gold miners in British Columbia 
>  Date: 10/31/2005 2:07:11 PM Pacific Standard Time
>  From: [log in to unmask]
>  Reply-to: [log in to unmask]
>  To: [log in to unmask] 
> 
> >From: "Lawrence Chrismas" <[log in to unmask]>
> >To: "Mining History List" <[log in to unmask]>
> >Subject: Chinese placer gold miners in British Columbia
> >Date: Fri, 28 Oct 2005 16:49:20 -0600
> >
> >  In the late 1850's prospectors made their way up  the Fraser River
> >panning and sluicing the gravel bars. The white prospectors  were
> >subsequently followed by Chinese placer gold miners who meticulously 
> >removed the larger boulders by hand to get at the fine gold-bearing sands. 
> >Today, one can find the carefully stacked piles of boulders along certain 
> >sections of the Fraser River. In some instances the little log houses built
> >by  the Chinese still exist.   I am looking for any  information I can get
> >about these Chinese miners. Where did they come from. What  methods did
> >they use for recovery. Did they have previous experience in China or 
> >California. Did they do this type of mining in other locations after they 
> >finished with the Fraser River. Thanks for your assistance in this  matter.
> >Lawrence Chrismas